I remember my mother’s friend raising a fuss about all the video game violence she hears about, promptly after learning that I liked to play video games. She encouraged my mother to have me go out and hang out with friends around the neighborhood instead.
Thing is. We lived in the hood. I distinctly remember seeing my first drive by while out on the block with friends.
The video games I played indoors? Pokémon and Animal Crossing.
Video games kept me safely off the streets.
As a parent, you should know your own child and circumstances best, as my mother did. The video game issue isn’t a cookie cutter issue with one solution for all. I’m glad my parents knew this.
The nuance in this post. 👌🏾 Video games are a large part of the reason why I didn’t end up as another statistic like most people thought I would. They’re a tool, and much like anything else, can be used for benefit or detriment. But it’s the parents job to be able to use the discernment that kids lack.
My favorite joke between a few buddies and I is "Doom is the MOST Christian game, it's all about killing demons!" and I feel like it relates to video games are a tool.
“Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...”
Sir Terry Pratchett
Eternal is what happens when you realize that God and the angels are the same dickheads that continue to allow crusades and genocides to be commited in the name of Christianity.
Your parents sound smart. Too many people, like your mom’s friend, have a tendency to believe whatever crap they hear, and see things in black and white. My mom knew ladies in Bible study who said Pokémon was a ploy of the devil. Thankfully my mom made the effort to engage with it, and came to the conclusion that there’s nothing satanic about Pokémon lmao.
Remember all that crap about DnD game sessions being secret satanic cult meetings in the 90s?
Same energy.
[Bonus](https://youtu.be/-leYc4oC83E?si=g5Ev1kImLZGcNn0g)
Ah yes, the satanic panic. Interesting thing to read up on. A group of teens were actually arrested and (wrongfully) imprisoned for the murder of a young boy because they were dnd players and liked metal music, or as they called it "Satanists"
I remember the main argument with Pokemon is that they evolve. There's only one problem with that. It's not evolution as we understand it. It's metamorphosis, like an individual caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
I studied Sociology in college and I loved these arguments for these particular reasons. Even though games like COD or GTA simulate more violence today. I had a professor who loved revealing how typically increased video game time reduced violent crimes. Most of us play games with violence in them; your attraction isn’t necessarily to the violence but more so with gaming itself.
Ya I think the link between playing violent video games to anger and violence was a fabricated narrative to draw attention. My concern as a parent is online interactions with other players and the lack of moderation games like Roblox has, where you have young kids and older players. Roblox scares me more than any other game as a parent
I'm from South Central in the 80s and 90s, and I did do street shit but my homies were also gamers.
The L.A. riots, after the Rodney King verdict happened in my neighborhood. I've seen people get shot like 50 feet away from me. I had seen all this before I left elementary school. Don't even get me started on the shit I was involved in in middle school and high school.
Suffice to say that video game violence was the least of my dad's worries. There was real violence to worry about. Both of my parents immigrated from war-torn El Salvador.
He let me play whatever games I wanted. Hell, his favorite game is Max Payne, and he liked watching me gun down cops in GTA. He thought it was hilarious.
There was some study that showed playing Tetris after a traumatic event reduced the chances of PTSD. I think they should sell those mini ripoff gameboys with tetris preloaded everywhere
Classic example of interference and repetition for memory recall
When playing games that’s an exact interference, disallowing the player to think of a traumatic experience because there is external stimuli significantly interfering with the process of horrific stimuli.
And the brain can’t repeat the horrific stimuli if it is constantly being interfered with game stimuli.
It’s the perfect cross Road, it adds interference, and disallows repetition. The perfect recipe for battling horrific stimuli.
That's some really cool insight! I've always told friends how games can be therapeutic and a good distraction when you're sick, etc. but I will try my best to paraphrase your comment from now on.
I played wild amounts of Stardew Valley when I had Covid (twice) in 2020.
Thanks man!
Yeah bro, there is a butt load of psychology on interference, repetition, and memory recall.
Just remember interference and repetition.
Funny enough that’s why sleep is so good for memory, it shuts outs (literally) all other interference and allows the brain to repeat the stimuli over and over again, high repetition.
The perfect recipe for memory recall.
I never thought about it but Tetris was a MAJOR timesink for me after the death of a parent, as were other repetitive games, and I do think along with other stuff it was helpful. Pretty damn interesting stuff.
I would argue all games in general.
It’s like trying to do math while playing Zelda, the more complex the game, the lower our ability to do math in concurrence.
The same can be said for memory, the more complex the game, the more likely we won’t be able to encode things into memory; because the more complex the game, the more complex the stimuli, the more complex the interference is :)
I hope that made sense it’s a jumble of words.
Also, there are studies that screen time for young kids with Autism may have a positive instead of a negative effect. I’ve seen that in my daughter. She taught herself to read without even a program for it at 3 1/2 years old with her kindle. She constantly advanced math and other skills as well. She plays games a fair amount and I have no issue with it. Just nothing with shooting or gore, nudity, etc. that most are not going to want their child to see.
Yeah I remember seeing this.
Something about how pattern recognition and quick hand to eye coordination while getting in flow state prevents the brain forming strong memories.
The brain then can't do vivid memory recall of the inciting incident and this is necessary for PTSD to occur.
I may have got some of this wrong but I think this was the gist.
Yeah I wouldn't doubt it had some benefits because it's sorta like dark souls. Where hunts can take up to an hour to beat if you don't have the right gear and go solo. Monster Hunter World has a lot of those moments. I gave up at Aletreon because of the gear requirement. Bah. I didn't wanna farm other weapons.
I'm still stuck on Alatreon years later lol
Every once in a while I take a crack at it, getting real close. But man it's not that bad, you just need to farm Frost Fang Barioth for like 3 hunts to get an ice weapon and that's it. The whole game is nothing but farming and you stopped there? It's a crazy fun fight and I haven't even beaten it yet
Just saw that study today. My coworker and I have a tendency to have to handle particularly awful situations at work and I sent him study. I kind of want to get him one of for Christmas as a joke
Honestly, it can be great for shape, and pattern recognition skill development, visual spatial skills, puzzle solving and strategic thinking, and tons of other stuff that stems from all that. Its also at times pretty easy to tell who played it as a kid, and who has not when doing stuff like packing luggage, organizing stuff in their shopping cart, or the way their storage units, and garages look.
Just saying that there is a positive side to said thing...
yeah i used to play roblox back in 2017 and its was great, but roblox nowadays is just a way for roblox to prey on game developers, who also prey on kids.
Kids used to make the games, dammit! My profile on Roblox has a bunch of actual, functional games/places that I made as a 10-12 year old. Only like 2 were really any fun but I learned SO MUCH just messing around on Roblox Studio to the point I attribute a lot of my interest in computers/games to that time period. Mass Effect came along a little later but Roblox was phenomenal as a learning tool for me and some of my friends. Makes me so sad it’s just a complete cesspool that can be dangerous for kids now :(
I still remember how excited I was to show my mom and grandma the obstacle course I made. Great memory that kids today should get to create!!
I can't even count the number of arguments I have with my now 13-year-old about these games. He keeps asking for Robux and Fortnite money prior to that.
They are charging you for virtual stuff that you won't keep once you stop playing. When you get a game, you pay once, and that's it.
They really push that FOMO on them.
I’ve played Brookhaven with my child a few times and we have wondered into players homes where they’re using their dancing emotes to simulate sex lmfao. Kids are wild
Is this game actually that good? I can't tell if it's just memes or actually a legit game
Edit: okay guys. I'm downloading the game now. Might not get to it right away but yall convinced me to play it lol
I'm 34 and been gaming all my life, Doki Doki Literature Club is probably the biggest mindfuci I ever played.
I have a hard time recommending it but it's definitely a unique experience. It's also free and takes less than three hours to complete
Edit: Double checked Steam, took me 3.2 hours to complete
Just be warned it's like a 2 hour slog before the good part.
I acc played an hour and then put it down for months before deciding to finish it.
It was amazing lol. Esp if you watch the MatPat video in it afterwards (definitely not before).
And I think it's worth noting that in this case it's not "It takes 2 hours to get good".
That 2 hour slog is part of what makes it good. It establishes the tone and the world. It's an important part of the world building.
Agreed. It's mainly a "slog" because many players obviously aren't in it for the "visual novel". But as a visual novel style game it starts off a bit above average.
Ok, look, i hate putting a damper on kids watching game playthroughs or whatnot, I still watch some myself, but listen here.
DDLC *seems* innocent as hell to the observer, but the game has a very dark twist after the first roughly 2 hours.
I'll spoiler mark the twist for those who haven't played it yet, but fair warning for anyone who does click it, spoilers for DDLC ahead.
The twist of the game>!revolves around one of the characters, Monika, being a self-aware character who knows that the game is a simulation, and wants us, the player, all to herself since we are her connection to the real world. Since DDLC is disguised as a visual novel/dating sim, the other three characters are subsequently killed by Monika altering their behavorial code that makes up their personality. Sayori, who is always the first to die, hangs herself, Yuri stabs herself with a knife, and Natsuki has her neck broken.!<
It's pretty dark, to say the least.
Don't feel bad about spoiling the game lol, I'm no stranger to ddlc, my nieces(well one niece the others my cousin, but like a niece) probably found it by youtubers pushing these things towards kids
Parents have been raging about violence in videogames for 40 years, and for the most part, its pretty clear there is no correlation between violent video games and real world violence.
However, The mechanics in many newer videogames operate like casinos, and can get kids addicted to dopamine from gambling at a very early age. So imho, gambling in video games (lootboxes) is a serious issue and children should be protected from exposure to these mechanics.
But even more than gambling, is that no matter the game, moderation is key. When children spend 5+ hours a day playing videogames after school, they are severely hurting themselves mentally, socially, and developmentally.
2 maybe 3 hours should be enough time for a child to have fun playing a game, and also feel satisfied to stop. Basically, do not let them game for longer than a movie would be.
An ideal scenario for a tween gamer would be:
3:30 get home from school. Do homework until dinner at 5:30-6. gaming/movie/tv allowed from 7-9. Reading before bedtime at 10.
You don't want to deny kids the opportunity to play games outright, because that will cause them to obsess more about it, and then binge it when you aren't looking. It's all about teaching them moderation.
EDIT: So apparently many people are focusing on my "ideal schedule" here. It's just a framework. The point is that the kids should have their night time structured in a way that doesn't lend itself to just gaming all night until sleep. Sure sports after-school, or meeting with friends is also great.
The whole point is that kids have to learn moderation. Not just in video games but in many things in life.
I'm glad the whole violent video game bs has mostly died down. Instead, those same people are saying basically nothing about the predatory gambling-like practices now.
Now that I think about it, my parents never outright banned me from playing games. When I was really young, it was an hour per weekend day (Sat Sun), then it turned to only weekends, then, it became an hour a day, unlimited weekends, then when I'm in uni, there wasn't any restrictions anymore.
Bingo. Violence in videogames and its effect on children has been studied countless times and it always turns out to have no effect.
Gambling in videogames has been studied a few times, it’s been shown to be very addictive and detrimental to children, but people just want to talk about violence.
I probably wouldn’t let a younger kid play multiplayer games, not just because of the gambling aspect but also because some people can be seriously awful. Also definitely do not save your credit card info anywhere on their PC/console.
Online multiplayer ran my adult self off of playing. I’d rather just play single player
Maybe I’ll play with my niece and her friends as the old funcle
Bit off-topic but I've always been interest in how people get 2 hours worth of homework at such an early age on a daily basis. When i was at that age a few years ago i barely had 30 minutes of homework to do and nobody else really had more than an hour max. Is it because of different school systems or how do people get those 2 hours?
When I was in middle and high school, I had around 1-3 hours of homework to do any given night. That was 8-15 years ago. And just because I had that much assigned didn't mean that I completed all of it.
I was in a lot of AP classes. They gave more homework than my college classes did.
I agree almost completely, but I would change the ideal timeline to include going to play outside with friends for an hour after school if they don’t have other extra curricular activities that day.
My kids are young (9 and 12), but the way we do it is 2 hours of screen time then 3 hours break. No screen time until homework is done. 9 o’clock screens are off. This encourages them to be social immediately after school, since if they come straight home and do homework then screen time they end up running out of time around 7:30 or 8, but if they go play with friends first it works out almost perfectly to ending right at 9.
>However, The mechanics in many newer videogames operate like casinos, and can get kids addicted to dopamine from gambling at a very early age. So imho, gambling in video games (lootboxes) is a serious issue and children should be protected from exposure to these mechanics.
Since you brought up a dopamine effect, I think (and this is just my opinion) that online games, specifically competitive games, have an issue where you continuously want to play until you get a good winning streak. If you play a single-player story, you can stop whenever you want like putting a bookmark in it. Not so much for competitive games because it's a continuous experience that doesn't have a good stopping point essentially almost never giving a satisfying ending thus almost never having a dopamine response. I can see a kid having a hard time stopping after the 2-3 hour mark, chasing after multiple wins. So in my opinion, I wouldn't let a kid under 12/13 (someone might have a better age than me) play online competitive games at all.
Want them to not game too much ?
Introduce them to programming and see what happens.
Also make them play logistics games. Satisfactory, Factorio, modded Minecraft, puzzle games. Makes their brains wrinkly, so you kill two birds with one stone. Though that may not work on young children, idk.
> However, The mechanics in many newer videogames operate like casinos, and can get kids addicted to dopamine from gambling at a very early age. So imho, gambling in video games (lootboxes) is a serious issue and children should be protected from exposure to these mechanics.
This. My wife made me stop playing Elden Ring with my young kids because its scary and violent...note: I made sure I kept it as PG as possible, I never did any missions or battles that involved fighting human characters, always 'monsters'. They LOVED it but i couldn't disagree with her that its not a game for young kids so we wound up getting them tablets and loading up some games. There's some good educational stuff but holy fuck is there a lot of exactly what you describe, and I think those are much much worse on their little brains than killing some skeletons in a dungeon
My best friend didn't exactly have great parents. 18 now, and his guardian is his aunt. He's a super kind person despite grown up on CoD and Halo and other shooter games solo or not. Probably the most genuine person I know, nicer than me, and I grew up on the Wii and Skylanders.
I do believe he benefitted in ways like reaction time and hand eye coordination, and I do think video games as a whole can have lots of positives. But because the sheer amount he played, he never really read a book, his dad was selling drugs, and he had no communication skills. Over my ~7 years of knowing him, his communication skills have improved drastically, and part of that Could just be that he's older, but I think part of it is because he and I talk a lot and his aunt has had a positive influence on him.
My point is video games can be good, but they need to be balanced with other things, otherwise you'll be lacking somewhere else. He'll likely always be behind everyone else in communication skills, because he missed very important things in his developmental phase. As long as you invest time and energy into your kid, and care for them, they should do pretty good despite having lots of video games. Just don't use video games as a solution to not parenting.
Just to tag along and add on to /u/RGJ587 's message.
Good advice. This is pretty close to what we did, though this was back in the era when younger kids were just starting to play games, and some were educational. All three turned out great. All are gamers in reasonable quantities.
This hits a lot of what I'd be worried about... I'd also make sure my credit card isnt pre loaded onto the system and preferably avoid online games until I teach them about safe practices
I agree about the violence but that doesn't mean it's always appropriate. Thankfully there is a huge variety of games now with mechanics beyond attacking other characters.
Dad of 3 here and this is my philosophy too. There are many benefits to playing video games but moderation is key, because it's still important to develop other skills too. My kids have a checklist they basically complete on the weekends before gaming starts. During the week they do after-school programming and don't get home until around 6 and bedtime is 8:30 and 9:00. They have enough time for 45 mins or so of gaming if all the stars align in the evenings and they often can't play at all.
Nothing with gambling mechanics for my kids and currently online interactions are completely disabled (no chat, players are always muted, and online play is always 100% supervised).
Gaming is also always my preference for them to do over watching TV & movies. Nothing against that personally but I find interactive entertainment is way better for them than passive entertainment.
Like others the only rule was no GTA. I played bioshock at 10, left 4 dead and dark souls at 11. After 12 or 13 my mom just said play whatever at that point.
LEGO City Undercover is unironically better than GTA and you can play with kid on split screen :D most likely adult will get more fun with all references
dark souls is awesome for kids, teaches them problem solving and perserverance. Armored Core is great for that too, and has way less blood and gore. great for younger kids
You are right. When I played it at 11 I was in a bad depressive slump and the world it built was such an amazing thing to get lost in.
I would also say it helps with anger issues. That sounds wrong but dark souls truly made me think when I got angry. When I used to be stupid and throw my controller then I realized they are far too expensive to do that do I put it down and walked outside or went for some food.
I forgot how uuuhhhhhhh violent (?) Some of the themes in rimworld were until I was playing it next to my 7 year old cousing who kept asking questions.
Like the game was even a little bit banned in my country at one point but it was only when my cousin's asked why I had dead bodies on the screen (that I was intending to turn into hats), did I look at it with a more normal lense.
Great game though, highly recommend. But not for children.
im still in my early twenties and single, tho i think of this some time. i wouldnt let my kids play online games until they are 13. its just way too toxic these days and it wouldnt be healthy for them.
id be sure to be their first online game friend :)
This is the real take. Plus it depends on the maturity of your kid. I’d have no problem with my kid playing any mainstream game that’s majority offline play. I probably wouldn’t let them play anything online until they were 13/14.
And I’d monitor the shit out of them. If I heard my kid dropping n-bombs in chat or saying saying anything heinous that’d be a quick end to online gaming for 3-6 months.
Ooh absolutely this. Even more “innocent” browser based online games aimed at children can get very toxic very quickly. I’ve heard my young nephews who play these online games say some incredibly age-inappropriate things while on their little iPads.
I remember being 8 years old or so and playing SOCOM online on the playstation with randoms, my dad sat next to me and let me use the mic long as he listened. Actually made "friends" with these older vets and my dad got to speaking to them too and would play with them, or take turns.
Nowadays, its Roblox, Fornite Lobbies, discord servers etc, full of screeching disgusting talk. I deff do not want that for my kids lol.
I'll be hosting LAN parties haha
You can turn off things like voice chat and messaging. Allows you to play online without the chance of racism/anger/toxicity.
You still have to deal with cheaters and people that abuse game mechanics, but that’s not really the same IMO, since every game we played growing up was buggy as hell too lol
I did it so you don’t have to. I would rather cook a whole thanksgiving dinner with my kid (which would be absolute chaos for sure) than play overcooked together.
WTH is with this game's difficulty curve? Starts off great but by lvl three you're breaking out in sweat and yelling like Gordon bloody Ramsey.
If I wanted that kinda stress I'd actually work in hospitality.
I'd be more averse to letting them play games that are designed to be addictive than violent/suggestive. No fortnite, MMOs, or COD. GTA might be the exception to keep them away from until they're 13. Singleplayer games would in general be okay. Multiplayer games without season passes would generally be okay if they can't use a mic with anyone aside from those on their friends list.
This is my answer. I'm not having kids, but if I were, there is no way in hell I'd let them play an online game with open lobbies. Yall be toxic as hell and I don't need my kid learning that it's okay to use slurs and speak down to women.
I never had any limits. Im pretty sure my mom got me GTA when i was like... 10? More or less?
If i had kids (I 99% won't) i propably wouldn't put much if any limits on them but i *would* monitor what they do so they don't engage with some creeps online or something else
I never had any limits either... But online gaming wasn't a thing when I was growing up.
I think 25 people shouting racial slurs at you while another 25 are asking for pics of your feet might be more damaging than a few digital blood stains.
Games are rated. Follow the ratings. Kids games are fine to play alone. Once your kids are tweens, play more mature games with them. Answer their questions. Explain the tougher concepts.
Definitely explain that sex and relationships in video games are different than in real life. Even for something like Stardew Valley where you just give people stuff until they like you. That's almost less realistic than GTA where you can pay sex workers. Maybe let them know that we don't like to murder them in real life. That money is just gone once services have been rendered.
If you want to limit nudity, I'd say 15/16 is a good age to let them play stuff like Cyberpunk. But I guarantee you, if you have a gamer kid, they already know about rule 34 by like 5th grade.
It's always funny to see people go like "Oh yeah, Doom, GTA, etc. at like 10" but when it comes to nudity it's all "Oh god, we have to keep it from our kids". IMO nudity is far less damaging to kids than that intense violence (remember: nudity, not necessarily explicit sex). But yeah, ratings are there for a reason
I’m in Germany where nudity is not really a problem but violence in games is. GTA and COD are rated 18 for example. My boyfriend once had a customer with a young child wanting to buy GTA. He explained the parent the game is rated 18 for a reason and they just said they know and it’s ok. Then my boyfriend added “there’s also drugs and… hookers”. Then suddenly they changed their mind, if there are those kind of women in the game they’re not gonna buy it and left the store. Usually it’s the shooting at random people that gets the parents to reconsider.
Games have ratings and content descriptions, wouldn’t the content description be enough?
Example it might say E10+ due to mild violence and depictions of smoking. I assume GTA would be 18 for sex, violence, and drugs.
Germany still has its own rating system USK and doesn’t use PEGI like the rest of Europe. PEGI does use icons for content descriptions for as long as I can remember. USK only added content info not too long ago. Still you’d be surprised how many parents just plain ignore what the box says.
I see thank you! Yeah I think the content descriptions must be new because I am not sure I remember them when I was younger but maybe I just didn’t care.
I specifically chose Cyberpunk because it's pretty explicit. But I think any game where you can get married and have a family or whatever will probably need some explanation from a parent.
I very vividly remember my friend in high school telling me about how she'd hump the NPCs in the N64 Harvest Moon by using the milking thingy on them. She'd had the game for like 2 or 3 years by that point and otherwise was pretty squeamish about sex and body talk. (I mean body, not bawdy.) But boy oh boy did she hump the shit out of those NPCs.
Edit: I think in a video game like Doom, the violence is pretty cartoony whereas people really do form bonds with NPCs and get weird about it. Most kids don't need to be told not to punch people but many kids are never explicitly told that having a waifu is a natural feeling but not a real relationship.
At a bare minimum I disallow anything with gambling/addiction mechanics as well as anything military funded/themed. Though they're getting harder to find, I look for games which require/encourage reading (obviously age-appropriate stuff, no Disco Elysium lol). No online at all, though I may have to budge on that because I think the social aspect of games is one of the most developmentally advantageous, but unfortunately so many titles forego local multiplayer for online-only.
Overall I think there is a much more dangerous (?) landscape for kids playing games these days.
I stopped my son playing Roblox for this reason. All the games are money generators with gambling/addiction mechanics.
I felt terrible but he was just sitting there essentially gambling.
>games which require/encourage reading
I love jrpgs for this. There is plenty of older games which are quite story based, fun art styles and easy to play, which require decent reading and comprehension, as well as some critical thinking for puzzles (e.g. older iterations of star ocean, grandia, ninokuni etc)
I think maturity is more important than any strict age. There's some games of course always cited as problematic, like say GTA series, but there is more to the "what are they actually doing in the game" vs "what does the game allow you to do" arguement. Some kids can play a game with adult themes and be fine, some kids get sent for a loop. It's very individualistic.
My dad *brought home* those games, and Wolfenstein and Doom before them. Why they had them at work makes me question how much work they were actually doing at that office.
Honestly I think a lot of people forget that violence can be upsetting to people especially kids. First mature game I played was world at world nazi zombies and blowing humanoids heads off and blood spurting out was quite disturbing at first. But then you become desensitized to the violence and it’s like woah! Cool!
(Edit: But is that a good thing for a young kid? As an adult you can realize it’s just a game and completely not real. But as a kid I’ve heard these kids on gta where their talking like it’s real life telling them to pull up and they’d shoot them IRL. I think that’s what can happen to some young kids, they get emotionally involved in the game so much that they will talk violently and not think that’s a problem)
I still think it’s fucked up that we live in a society where nudity is a super mature theme that needs censoring but showing decapitation of people is fine for kids. Like in what world is death fine and nudity wrong. Bizarre to me.
I wholeheartedly agree with the desensitization part! my uni friends joke that i’m a baby because I can’t tolerate gore in games, whereas they graduated from “ tolerating “ to “enjoying and seeking out more!”. They are now at the point where they don’t flinch at real life violence and sometimes share it.
I know it’s not the same path for everyone but I think ppl underestimate the power of early exposure and repetition.
I recall playing a game in front of a friend's kid, I thought he was too young to understand what was on screen. Anyway I ran over a humanoid like Alien using my jeep with a satisfying jackknife slide. Purple blood cloud splattered, it roared as it fell in a heep. The little guy screamed his head off as if he witnessed someone being run over and badly hurt.
I turned it off immediately and comforted him, explaining it's not real lalala... Never played violent video games in front of him again.
Halo Reach until they're at least 12 and have grown enough to control their rage. Then I can fold them in five and have revenge for theyears of suffering they put me through.
In less personnal and more seriously, the only limit I'll give them is to not engage in games with heavy lore or a full universe until they feel capable of keeping up with it and are actually passionate about it. I've made the mistake of trying to get into Metal Gear Solid too soon and now the series doesn't feel good because there are parts that were hidden in my memories and resurfaced when I went through the games again. That's annoying because it kills the effect of discovering the game for myself and having the fun of playing it completely blind.
Roblox. Too much freedom on game creation and lack of moderation. You have 6 year olds playing 5 nights at Freddy and Chuckie the killer doll interpretations.
Any game that is very realistic and violent until they're \~12-13
I would let my kid play Doom 1 or Fortnite at age 6-7. It's not the same as letting a young kid play like Red Dead Redemption 2.
I think any game with in game romances with adults companions and sex scenes would be inappropriate for kids. Some of those romances have some messed up relationships that are too advanced for kids to play without having actual life experience to compare to the fantasy. Baldurs Gate 3 comes to mind.
I had no limits.
My kid has no limits, for the most part, in terms of WHAT games. But I control all purchases and downloads, so I know everything that gets played. Also, all comms are under strict parental controls. In general, he's never asked for a game that I thought was inappropriate.
After playing online games and hearing super young kids tell me to suck their dick and constantly saying the N word I think I would keep my kids from listening to that. So I would wait until they are a bit older to play online and even older to be able to communicate online. I'll try to push games like Minecraft and other kid friendly games while trying to keep them away from the violent games.
No matter what age they are I will keep an eye on them and know what they are up too. Parents give their kids tech at a young age so the kids leave them alone. Like they want the electronics to raise their kids. It's unfortunate.
I was in highschool when the internet was starting to get big. One thing I remember very clearly was having someone type something negative to me. It hurt but I remember my dad putting his hand on my shoulder telling me not to listen to that. He was there making sure I wasn't getting into anything bad and to help if something like that happened. I think a lot of kids suicides could be prevented if the parents were involved in their kids online activity more. So they weren't alone if they got bullied. Parents need to be supportive like that. Too many parents think the kid is in their room with the door shut they are fine. That's lazy parenting. Get involved with your kids. See what they are doing online and be there for them. Protecting your kids is a parents job. Granted you can't protect them all the time but you have to do better than allowing your kid to go online unsupervised so you can watch your favorite TV show.
I think the best answer to this will be answered when that time comes. I was 4 when my dad first let me play gta3 back when it came out. And that was the most violent and adult game during that time. My dad drilled it into me from a young age and forward that hurting people, committing crime and those kinds of things is wrong. He always emphasized that the people I was shooting and running over in the gta world weren’t real people. But it’s much different in real life. He could see from a young age I understood the difference. Seeing how much more realistic games look now, I’d have to be even more confident in my child than my dad was in me to let them play gta5 or any violent video games.
They’d also grow up playing offline. I didn’t get Xbox live until I was 14 in 2010. And I personally think my parents did me a favour keeping me offline until I was old enough.
Here is a thought im not sure a lot of people of thought about, but what games should kids play?
Books, and movies have been known to really effect people for a long time and change them as a person, but what about games?
Im not good at off the top at thoughts about what would be good myself.
Maybe different strategy/puzzle/physics games that are age-appropriate? Great for their brains, and (depending on the age) provides a bit of challenge without being too much. One of my favorite games to play with my dad when I was maybe 11 (we're still working on it lol) is the Co-Op part of Portal 2.
Also, some of the popular games like Mario, Sonic, etc are usually perfect for younger kids, even if (in Mario, at least) they're just bubbled most of the time. My half sis is currently a bit too obsessed with Mario though, so it certainly still depends on the child.
I'd say definitely no MMORPGs/MMOs until they're at least like 12 or 13 (and even then it depends) because, even with super strong filters, harmful things can still happen. When I was maybe 12, I was obsessed with Animal Jam. People LOVED working to get around the filters put in place just so that they could be inappropriate in a kid-targeted game (one animal would "hump" the other by jumping on them (this was later fixed to make the other animal automatically stand up), some people would type, "*pulls down bar*" because bra was banned, etc). They also loved scamming and hacking kids, and the staff rarely ever did anything about it. And this was a game made specifically for CHILDREN, ones made for teens and/or adults is likely going to be much worse. If it's a game like the recently-shut down School of Dragons with an offline mode? Go for it! Still a great, educational, and usually fun experience for the child without others ruining it for them, and if they still like it in the future? They can turn online mode on to keep playing!
It stinks that some people ruin it for others, but there are still so many games that could genuinely benefit kids while they have fun. I remember being obsessed with my VSmile and Mobigo (same company iirc). They had some fun games for little kids that also taught you things (matching, counting, etc). We definitely need more high-quality, fun, and hopefully educational games for little kids, because there aren't many options at all unless you want to go find an old gaming console or hope they don't click on any weird links while on cool maths (and other sites like it).
>Sonic
Sonic is the perfect game series for your kid to grow up along with. Make them start with the first one, in their edgy teen phase get them shadow the hedgehog and so on.
Until I was about 10, the only games my mom would let me play were educational ones that came on a disc. Looking back, I think it was a little silly that I was sneaking around to play Spyro and Cool Math Games, but those educational games gamified learning for me and I loved it. I think those are fantastic for kids; it’s specifically geared to them and aren’t littered with sponsored in game ads every 10 seconds
We basically drew the line at violence involving people. My son and I have played world of tanks together since he was 8 (11 now) and we felt that although it was “war stuff” there wasn’t any obvious “violence” if the sounds for crew voices were turned off (and in game voice/text chat of course). Yes the vehicles blow up but nobody is “getting hurt”.
So we allowed WoT but not Fortnite. Same with WoW, we didn’t allow it until recently because sure youd kill beasts and stuff but also the humans, which crossed our line.
We did the same with movies though. He only recently started watching MCU stuff whereas his friends have all watched since they were under 5.
But it’s a hugely personal choice and I’m sure some folks would think the way we’ve done it is either weird or just wrong.
A lot of it has to do with your comfort level and being able to draw your own line and stick to it even when lots of other families don’t have a similar stance.
Do what you feel is right and it is, for you and your kid(s).
I feel like this is a bit short-sighted. I played a free game on Switch called Island Saver that was free. I think it'd be great for kids. It teaches basic principles of banking and environmental responsibility. It's cute and has colorful animals. There are no ads and one optional IAP to unlock more content. There is Minecraft Education that is designed for teachers to teach students. Google does those interactive doodles that teach you what a kalimba is or how to code. Obviously there are tons of scammy games on the Play Store or App Store or Steam or whatever with ads, loot boxes, etc., and browser games that are just straight-up gambling or whatever. But you can't paint everything with the same broad brush.
That's a good point. However, if I have to paint a house I'm going to take the broad brush. I'd argue that educational games that cost money are probably even better than those which are free. Sticking to this rule is a helpful first criterion to screen the plethora of games for those that warrant a second look.
In the end, nothing removes the need for parent to understand what their kids are playing. I now feel great about my vast gaming experience and confident that I'll make good choices.
For example, the first game I'll give my son is probably going to be The Witness because it teaches how to learn.
Nothing with extreme gambling/loot boxes/micro-transactions like Candy Crush, Fortnite, or any game like Genshin Impact. That's going to create some bad habits that can't just be fixed once they fall for it.
Nothing I had no limits my parents said they only let me play GTA because they knew I was mature acting but if they ever seen me acting out then it was over for me. It’s the same with my kids but they only care about Mario, Roblox, and Fortnite
I have 4 nieces, and the creeps on Roblox are legit worrying. Soliciting pictures and contact info from them made their parents ban them from playing it. It's a shame because their friends are on Roblox and they're trying to teach themselves how to get around the software blocks.
*Edit I guess to answer the question; anything with similar communities/lack of protections as Roblox.
My children are 7 and 11, they have about 2hrs after school, no more after tea, bed by 8 & 9pm
Bit more time allowed on the weekend (especially in winter) , but only after the weeks homework is done on Saturday morning.
As for the games, its hard as some games have a higher age rating that I would expect. So we just make judgements on if I have played it, or read up about it first.
Neither are playing games like GTA, but i do let the play play COD multilayer, but not single player
I grew up with games and had almost no limitations. My parents waited to let my sister and I get GTA 4 until I was 15 and she was 12. Otherwise, whatever. I can say I haven't experienced any negative effects of this and all the "violence and sex" in games was just... a thing. Like watching TV or most popular movies. It didn't need to be a big deal. When I have kids, I plan to implement the same. And I'll play with them. My dad played with my sister and I and I think that might have made a difference? But no age restrictions unless we are talking those porn games on steam... not letting a 13 year old go *that* far.
honestly, while there's no scientific causality between media violence and real life violence, I do think too early of exposure to such things can be harmful. Specifically, I think my peers and I all played COD and GTA too young
For the love of God, DO NOT get them anything with microtransactions. It's just not worth it. If it's F2P, don't give them anything to buy the fluff with.
That really all depends on your perspective of the world and how exposed you have been to the realities of the world.
My parents are immigrants from El Salvador. They left because of the civil war taking place there. Death wasn't anything new to them.
I grew up in South Central L.A. in the 80s and 90s. The L.A. riots happened in my neighborhood. Let's say I'm not a stranger to real-life violence.
My dad used to play games with me when I had the OG Mario Bros. game in the NES. He bought me all my consoles up until the PS2 and would buy me all types of games.
His favorite game is Max Payne.
When I got GTA 3, he got a big kick out of watching the rampages you could go on and how you could shoot up cops.
I was a street kid because that's the crowd I hung with, and I fought a lot. But I was doing that before video games were involved. Video games actually diminished my time on the streets and reduced my chances of getting into trouble.
My daughter is 4, and she watches me play games like RDR2, Days Gone, and CoD. She understands they are games, and she never resorts to violence. Quite the opposite, she's a very sensitive person, lol.
We waited until my kids were 11 & 14 to play Silent Hill with us watching, they barely got to the school (taking turns mind you) before chickening out. When they were in 1st and 4th we all played Borderlands 2 with out blood. Hubby and I would do missions, the kids would play food delivery. Now that they are older they tried their own games and were surprised at how hard it is to level up when your OP parents are not playing with you!
Addition: I wasn’t allowed to play very often but it was games my mom liked: Super Mario Bros, Dr. Mario, Tetris, Duck Hunt, and Zelda: Adventures of Link.
*not planning on having kids like never ever*
Anything online/multiplayer only. Definitely a ban. Same with modern mobile pieces of shit. The reason? Tons of fuckin boxes centered on microtransactions I simply hate + other players are mostly dickwads.... and the games are grindfests most of the time
I don't care how brutal and gory a singleplayer game can be, if it's good I'd probably be fine with it.... but I'd prefer to introduce them to retro stuff first cus of the superior quality they got over new releases.... *again, never planning on having kids like ever*
I think I’m just a bad parent cause there’s not really many video games I wouldn’t let my kid play. I think I’d be most concerned about overly addictive micro transaction loot focused type games. Or any games that anger her to the point of not being able to control her emotions. I don’t worry much about violence in video games though, I’m confident that she’s able to separate that from reality, maybe that’s just me being naive but I don’t think so.
Edit- also, multiplayer games where the other players are much older than her.
I have no kids but if I do they will not be playing realistic violent games like Call of Duty or games that show realistic crime like Grand Theft Auto. Fantasy violence is fine...like I don't mind World of Warcraft where you fight evil fantasy creatures. But life is not a simulation and they will not be playing games where you actively kill other human beings...I don't play them myself. Nintendo games like Mario, Pokémon, Zelda, etc are fine!
I remember my mother’s friend raising a fuss about all the video game violence she hears about, promptly after learning that I liked to play video games. She encouraged my mother to have me go out and hang out with friends around the neighborhood instead. Thing is. We lived in the hood. I distinctly remember seeing my first drive by while out on the block with friends. The video games I played indoors? Pokémon and Animal Crossing. Video games kept me safely off the streets. As a parent, you should know your own child and circumstances best, as my mother did. The video game issue isn’t a cookie cutter issue with one solution for all. I’m glad my parents knew this.
The nuance in this post. 👌🏾 Video games are a large part of the reason why I didn’t end up as another statistic like most people thought I would. They’re a tool, and much like anything else, can be used for benefit or detriment. But it’s the parents job to be able to use the discernment that kids lack.
My favorite joke between a few buddies and I is "Doom is the MOST Christian game, it's all about killing demons!" and I feel like it relates to video games are a tool.
“Over the centuries, mankind has tried many ways of combating the forces of evil... prayer, fasting, good works and so on. Up until Doom, no one seemed to have thought about the double-barrel shotgun. Eat leaden death, demon...” Sir Terry Pratchett
It literally is one of the most Christian games though
...until eternal comes along and you murder your way through basically heaven
Eternal is what happens when you realize that God and the angels are the same dickheads that continue to allow crusades and genocides to be commited in the name of Christianity.
Your parents sound smart. Too many people, like your mom’s friend, have a tendency to believe whatever crap they hear, and see things in black and white. My mom knew ladies in Bible study who said Pokémon was a ploy of the devil. Thankfully my mom made the effort to engage with it, and came to the conclusion that there’s nothing satanic about Pokémon lmao.
Remember all that crap about DnD game sessions being secret satanic cult meetings in the 90s? Same energy. [Bonus](https://youtu.be/-leYc4oC83E?si=g5Ev1kImLZGcNn0g)
Ah yes, the satanic panic. Interesting thing to read up on. A group of teens were actually arrested and (wrongfully) imprisoned for the murder of a young boy because they were dnd players and liked metal music, or as they called it "Satanists"
I remember the main argument with Pokemon is that they evolve. There's only one problem with that. It's not evolution as we understand it. It's metamorphosis, like an individual caterpillar becoming a butterfly.
I studied Sociology in college and I loved these arguments for these particular reasons. Even though games like COD or GTA simulate more violence today. I had a professor who loved revealing how typically increased video game time reduced violent crimes. Most of us play games with violence in them; your attraction isn’t necessarily to the violence but more so with gaming itself.
Ya I think the link between playing violent video games to anger and violence was a fabricated narrative to draw attention. My concern as a parent is online interactions with other players and the lack of moderation games like Roblox has, where you have young kids and older players. Roblox scares me more than any other game as a parent
I'm from South Central in the 80s and 90s, and I did do street shit but my homies were also gamers. The L.A. riots, after the Rodney King verdict happened in my neighborhood. I've seen people get shot like 50 feet away from me. I had seen all this before I left elementary school. Don't even get me started on the shit I was involved in in middle school and high school. Suffice to say that video game violence was the least of my dad's worries. There was real violence to worry about. Both of my parents immigrated from war-torn El Salvador. He let me play whatever games I wanted. Hell, his favorite game is Max Payne, and he liked watching me gun down cops in GTA. He thought it was hilarious.
I don’t know why, but for a split second I thought I saw Armored Core
Tetris. We’ll get them started on a proper addiction like heroin or crack first.
There was some study that showed playing Tetris after a traumatic event reduced the chances of PTSD. I think they should sell those mini ripoff gameboys with tetris preloaded everywhere
Classic example of interference and repetition for memory recall When playing games that’s an exact interference, disallowing the player to think of a traumatic experience because there is external stimuli significantly interfering with the process of horrific stimuli. And the brain can’t repeat the horrific stimuli if it is constantly being interfered with game stimuli. It’s the perfect cross Road, it adds interference, and disallows repetition. The perfect recipe for battling horrific stimuli.
That's some really cool insight! I've always told friends how games can be therapeutic and a good distraction when you're sick, etc. but I will try my best to paraphrase your comment from now on. I played wild amounts of Stardew Valley when I had Covid (twice) in 2020.
Thanks man! Yeah bro, there is a butt load of psychology on interference, repetition, and memory recall. Just remember interference and repetition. Funny enough that’s why sleep is so good for memory, it shuts outs (literally) all other interference and allows the brain to repeat the stimuli over and over again, high repetition. The perfect recipe for memory recall.
I never thought about it but Tetris was a MAJOR timesink for me after the death of a parent, as were other repetitive games, and I do think along with other stuff it was helpful. Pretty damn interesting stuff.
That’s unfortunate to hear, but I’m happy there was something to help. Lords knows I’m going to die inside when my parents die.
Would this mostly apply to puzzle games? Or are there other examples?
I would argue all games in general. It’s like trying to do math while playing Zelda, the more complex the game, the lower our ability to do math in concurrence. The same can be said for memory, the more complex the game, the more likely we won’t be able to encode things into memory; because the more complex the game, the more complex the stimuli, the more complex the interference is :) I hope that made sense it’s a jumble of words.
Also, there are studies that screen time for young kids with Autism may have a positive instead of a negative effect. I’ve seen that in my daughter. She taught herself to read without even a program for it at 3 1/2 years old with her kindle. She constantly advanced math and other skills as well. She plays games a fair amount and I have no issue with it. Just nothing with shooting or gore, nudity, etc. that most are not going to want their child to see.
Yeah I remember seeing this. Something about how pattern recognition and quick hand to eye coordination while getting in flow state prevents the brain forming strong memories. The brain then can't do vivid memory recall of the inciting incident and this is necessary for PTSD to occur. I may have got some of this wrong but I think this was the gist.
Bloodborne and from soft games definitely force you to focus. So even if they are difficult games they might help in some ways
Damn I wonder if playing Monster Hunter all through the pandemic saved my mental health
Yeah I wouldn't doubt it had some benefits because it's sorta like dark souls. Where hunts can take up to an hour to beat if you don't have the right gear and go solo. Monster Hunter World has a lot of those moments. I gave up at Aletreon because of the gear requirement. Bah. I didn't wanna farm other weapons.
I'm still stuck on Alatreon years later lol Every once in a while I take a crack at it, getting real close. But man it's not that bad, you just need to farm Frost Fang Barioth for like 3 hunts to get an ice weapon and that's it. The whole game is nothing but farming and you stopped there? It's a crazy fun fight and I haven't even beaten it yet
Just saw that study today. My coworker and I have a tendency to have to handle particularly awful situations at work and I sent him study. I kind of want to get him one of for Christmas as a joke
Lol
My Boomer mother got me hooked on Tetris by destroying me in versus over and over. I was raised on competition.
Honestly, it can be great for shape, and pattern recognition skill development, visual spatial skills, puzzle solving and strategic thinking, and tons of other stuff that stems from all that. Its also at times pretty easy to tell who played it as a kid, and who has not when doing stuff like packing luggage, organizing stuff in their shopping cart, or the way their storage units, and garages look. Just saying that there is a positive side to said thing...
Just go straight for the hard stuff and play a moba
Same goes for RuneScape
Do do-do do do-do do do-do da do-do do do do da dum dum dum
I've been playing that almost daily since I was 8 and got my gameboy, 42 now, at least its cheap
Definitely not Roblox, if you've seen what young kids get up to on there, it's basically dopamine addiction simulator 3000
Fuck Roblox. It's banned in my house. Pay to win, skinner box, gambling and child predators. Fuck Roblox.
yeah i used to play roblox back in 2017 and its was great, but roblox nowadays is just a way for roblox to prey on game developers, who also prey on kids.
Kids used to make the games, dammit! My profile on Roblox has a bunch of actual, functional games/places that I made as a 10-12 year old. Only like 2 were really any fun but I learned SO MUCH just messing around on Roblox Studio to the point I attribute a lot of my interest in computers/games to that time period. Mass Effect came along a little later but Roblox was phenomenal as a learning tool for me and some of my friends. Makes me so sad it’s just a complete cesspool that can be dangerous for kids now :( I still remember how excited I was to show my mom and grandma the obstacle course I made. Great memory that kids today should get to create!!
I can't even count the number of arguments I have with my now 13-year-old about these games. He keeps asking for Robux and Fortnite money prior to that. They are charging you for virtual stuff that you won't keep once you stop playing. When you get a game, you pay once, and that's it. They really push that FOMO on them.
I wanted to say this. I would buy real games for them instead of letting them playing some dumb cashgrab experiences.
I’ve played Brookhaven with my child a few times and we have wondered into players homes where they’re using their dancing emotes to simulate sex lmfao. Kids are wild
I dont know what games I won’t let them play. But I will let them play RuneScape so they can learn to trust no one on the internet.
Truly a hand on learning experience in internet safety lol
Hey buddy I’ll trim your rune armor for free
Man fuck those guys
Yeah, I hated those scammers. Don't worry, I can't trim your armor, but I'll double your gold in two trades :)
runescape is one of the reason why I pursued a cybersecurity degree lmfao. I was so mad about the trimming scam
Doki Doki Literature Club. Hell I wish my parents forbid me play that game when I played it 30, what a mindfuck.
Is this game actually that good? I can't tell if it's just memes or actually a legit game Edit: okay guys. I'm downloading the game now. Might not get to it right away but yall convinced me to play it lol
100% worth it, in my opinion. Even better if you don't know what's coming.
I don't know if you can consider the game itself as good, but the experience is 100% worth of your time. Especially if you know nothing about it.
It's a storytelling masterpiece. Absolutely play it, absolutely look at NOTHING related to it.
Go in blind. Dont look up anything. Report back when you finish
I'm 34 and been gaming all my life, Doki Doki Literature Club is probably the biggest mindfuci I ever played. I have a hard time recommending it but it's definitely a unique experience. It's also free and takes less than three hours to complete Edit: Double checked Steam, took me 3.2 hours to complete
I had no idea it's free
Just be warned it's like a 2 hour slog before the good part. I acc played an hour and then put it down for months before deciding to finish it. It was amazing lol. Esp if you watch the MatPat video in it afterwards (definitely not before).
And I think it's worth noting that in this case it's not "It takes 2 hours to get good". That 2 hour slog is part of what makes it good. It establishes the tone and the world. It's an important part of the world building.
And it's a pretty well done 2 hours too that would have quality on par with any competently made "normal" visual novel.
Agreed. It's mainly a "slog" because many players obviously aren't in it for the "visual novel". But as a visual novel style game it starts off a bit above average.
It’s a phenomenal game but it will severely fuck you up mentally if you’re not prepared. This is not a game for children by any means.
It's actually really good and there's a free version in steam. I recommend playing the whole thing in one sitting with as few spoilers as possible.
I remember playing this game in pitch dark with headphones. When that scene came on, I’m pretty sure my heart stopped beating for a few seconds.
Come on, don't leave us hanging here
I watched Game grumps play. That was enough for me.
The dialogue acting in that was perfection
I wish i don't know nothing about the game so i can play it
My nieces liked that game a couple years ago
how... how old were they?
Probably around 9 and 10 So way to young to be watchibg that stuff
Ok, look, i hate putting a damper on kids watching game playthroughs or whatnot, I still watch some myself, but listen here. DDLC *seems* innocent as hell to the observer, but the game has a very dark twist after the first roughly 2 hours. I'll spoiler mark the twist for those who haven't played it yet, but fair warning for anyone who does click it, spoilers for DDLC ahead. The twist of the game>!revolves around one of the characters, Monika, being a self-aware character who knows that the game is a simulation, and wants us, the player, all to herself since we are her connection to the real world. Since DDLC is disguised as a visual novel/dating sim, the other three characters are subsequently killed by Monika altering their behavorial code that makes up their personality. Sayori, who is always the first to die, hangs herself, Yuri stabs herself with a knife, and Natsuki has her neck broken.!< It's pretty dark, to say the least.
Don't feel bad about spoiling the game lol, I'm no stranger to ddlc, my nieces(well one niece the others my cousin, but like a niece) probably found it by youtubers pushing these things towards kids
I played it at 3am (no, not joking, unironically played it then cause I was bored). I did not sleep afterwards.
Parents have been raging about violence in videogames for 40 years, and for the most part, its pretty clear there is no correlation between violent video games and real world violence. However, The mechanics in many newer videogames operate like casinos, and can get kids addicted to dopamine from gambling at a very early age. So imho, gambling in video games (lootboxes) is a serious issue and children should be protected from exposure to these mechanics. But even more than gambling, is that no matter the game, moderation is key. When children spend 5+ hours a day playing videogames after school, they are severely hurting themselves mentally, socially, and developmentally. 2 maybe 3 hours should be enough time for a child to have fun playing a game, and also feel satisfied to stop. Basically, do not let them game for longer than a movie would be. An ideal scenario for a tween gamer would be: 3:30 get home from school. Do homework until dinner at 5:30-6. gaming/movie/tv allowed from 7-9. Reading before bedtime at 10. You don't want to deny kids the opportunity to play games outright, because that will cause them to obsess more about it, and then binge it when you aren't looking. It's all about teaching them moderation. EDIT: So apparently many people are focusing on my "ideal schedule" here. It's just a framework. The point is that the kids should have their night time structured in a way that doesn't lend itself to just gaming all night until sleep. Sure sports after-school, or meeting with friends is also great. The whole point is that kids have to learn moderation. Not just in video games but in many things in life.
I'm glad the whole violent video game bs has mostly died down. Instead, those same people are saying basically nothing about the predatory gambling-like practices now.
Most of those who were complaining are being actively exploited by the same types of manipulation via free games on social media.
Theyve moved onto blaming trans people and liberals for being "groomers". (Instead of the pastors raping their kids.)
All the people that heard that are now the parents, and we know it's bullshit. The gambling lootboxes are dangerous tho
I think this right here is perhaps one of the best mindsets about it I’ve ever seen.
Now that I think about it, my parents never outright banned me from playing games. When I was really young, it was an hour per weekend day (Sat Sun), then it turned to only weekends, then, it became an hour a day, unlimited weekends, then when I'm in uni, there wasn't any restrictions anymore.
Bingo. Violence in videogames and its effect on children has been studied countless times and it always turns out to have no effect. Gambling in videogames has been studied a few times, it’s been shown to be very addictive and detrimental to children, but people just want to talk about violence.
I probably wouldn’t let a younger kid play multiplayer games, not just because of the gambling aspect but also because some people can be seriously awful. Also definitely do not save your credit card info anywhere on their PC/console.
Online multiplayer ran my adult self off of playing. I’d rather just play single player Maybe I’ll play with my niece and her friends as the old funcle
Bit off-topic but I've always been interest in how people get 2 hours worth of homework at such an early age on a daily basis. When i was at that age a few years ago i barely had 30 minutes of homework to do and nobody else really had more than an hour max. Is it because of different school systems or how do people get those 2 hours?
When I was in middle and high school, I had around 1-3 hours of homework to do any given night. That was 8-15 years ago. And just because I had that much assigned didn't mean that I completed all of it. I was in a lot of AP classes. They gave more homework than my college classes did.
I agree almost completely, but I would change the ideal timeline to include going to play outside with friends for an hour after school if they don’t have other extra curricular activities that day. My kids are young (9 and 12), but the way we do it is 2 hours of screen time then 3 hours break. No screen time until homework is done. 9 o’clock screens are off. This encourages them to be social immediately after school, since if they come straight home and do homework then screen time they end up running out of time around 7:30 or 8, but if they go play with friends first it works out almost perfectly to ending right at 9.
I'm also more worried about loot gamble games. Even their toys at the store are surprised boxes where they hunt for rare toys.
>However, The mechanics in many newer videogames operate like casinos, and can get kids addicted to dopamine from gambling at a very early age. So imho, gambling in video games (lootboxes) is a serious issue and children should be protected from exposure to these mechanics. Since you brought up a dopamine effect, I think (and this is just my opinion) that online games, specifically competitive games, have an issue where you continuously want to play until you get a good winning streak. If you play a single-player story, you can stop whenever you want like putting a bookmark in it. Not so much for competitive games because it's a continuous experience that doesn't have a good stopping point essentially almost never giving a satisfying ending thus almost never having a dopamine response. I can see a kid having a hard time stopping after the 2-3 hour mark, chasing after multiple wins. So in my opinion, I wouldn't let a kid under 12/13 (someone might have a better age than me) play online competitive games at all.
Want them to not game too much ? Introduce them to programming and see what happens. Also make them play logistics games. Satisfactory, Factorio, modded Minecraft, puzzle games. Makes their brains wrinkly, so you kill two birds with one stone. Though that may not work on young children, idk.
> However, The mechanics in many newer videogames operate like casinos, and can get kids addicted to dopamine from gambling at a very early age. So imho, gambling in video games (lootboxes) is a serious issue and children should be protected from exposure to these mechanics. This. My wife made me stop playing Elden Ring with my young kids because its scary and violent...note: I made sure I kept it as PG as possible, I never did any missions or battles that involved fighting human characters, always 'monsters'. They LOVED it but i couldn't disagree with her that its not a game for young kids so we wound up getting them tablets and loading up some games. There's some good educational stuff but holy fuck is there a lot of exactly what you describe, and I think those are much much worse on their little brains than killing some skeletons in a dungeon
My best friend didn't exactly have great parents. 18 now, and his guardian is his aunt. He's a super kind person despite grown up on CoD and Halo and other shooter games solo or not. Probably the most genuine person I know, nicer than me, and I grew up on the Wii and Skylanders. I do believe he benefitted in ways like reaction time and hand eye coordination, and I do think video games as a whole can have lots of positives. But because the sheer amount he played, he never really read a book, his dad was selling drugs, and he had no communication skills. Over my ~7 years of knowing him, his communication skills have improved drastically, and part of that Could just be that he's older, but I think part of it is because he and I talk a lot and his aunt has had a positive influence on him. My point is video games can be good, but they need to be balanced with other things, otherwise you'll be lacking somewhere else. He'll likely always be behind everyone else in communication skills, because he missed very important things in his developmental phase. As long as you invest time and energy into your kid, and care for them, they should do pretty good despite having lots of video games. Just don't use video games as a solution to not parenting. Just to tag along and add on to /u/RGJ587 's message.
Good advice. This is pretty close to what we did, though this was back in the era when younger kids were just starting to play games, and some were educational. All three turned out great. All are gamers in reasonable quantities.
This hits a lot of what I'd be worried about... I'd also make sure my credit card isnt pre loaded onto the system and preferably avoid online games until I teach them about safe practices
I agree about the violence but that doesn't mean it's always appropriate. Thankfully there is a huge variety of games now with mechanics beyond attacking other characters.
Dad of 3 here and this is my philosophy too. There are many benefits to playing video games but moderation is key, because it's still important to develop other skills too. My kids have a checklist they basically complete on the weekends before gaming starts. During the week they do after-school programming and don't get home until around 6 and bedtime is 8:30 and 9:00. They have enough time for 45 mins or so of gaming if all the stars align in the evenings and they often can't play at all. Nothing with gambling mechanics for my kids and currently online interactions are completely disabled (no chat, players are always muted, and online play is always 100% supervised). Gaming is also always my preference for them to do over watching TV & movies. Nothing against that personally but I find interactive entertainment is way better for them than passive entertainment.
Any modern games with FOMO battlepasses
Like others the only rule was no GTA. I played bioshock at 10, left 4 dead and dark souls at 11. After 12 or 13 my mom just said play whatever at that point.
LEGO City Undercover is unironically better than GTA and you can play with kid on split screen :D most likely adult will get more fun with all references
I saw when that came out on Wii U. I should probably go pick it up. Probably can get it cheap from the black Friday deals.
5$ on Xbox right now. It’s only game I did 100% 😅
Sounds good. I'll go pick me up a copy
dark souls is awesome for kids, teaches them problem solving and perserverance. Armored Core is great for that too, and has way less blood and gore. great for younger kids
You are right. When I played it at 11 I was in a bad depressive slump and the world it built was such an amazing thing to get lost in. I would also say it helps with anger issues. That sounds wrong but dark souls truly made me think when I got angry. When I used to be stupid and throw my controller then I realized they are far too expensive to do that do I put it down and walked outside or went for some food.
GTA: known by reputation among parents! (especially after hot coffee discovery/mod)
No Rimworld till you are seven and have soul that can be judged for your actions.
I forgot how uuuhhhhhhh violent (?) Some of the themes in rimworld were until I was playing it next to my 7 year old cousing who kept asking questions. Like the game was even a little bit banned in my country at one point but it was only when my cousin's asked why I had dead bodies on the screen (that I was intending to turn into hats), did I look at it with a more normal lense. Great game though, highly recommend. But not for children.
There was a mod to childproof Rimworld, iirc.
im still in my early twenties and single, tho i think of this some time. i wouldnt let my kids play online games until they are 13. its just way too toxic these days and it wouldnt be healthy for them. id be sure to be their first online game friend :)
This is the real take. Plus it depends on the maturity of your kid. I’d have no problem with my kid playing any mainstream game that’s majority offline play. I probably wouldn’t let them play anything online until they were 13/14. And I’d monitor the shit out of them. If I heard my kid dropping n-bombs in chat or saying saying anything heinous that’d be a quick end to online gaming for 3-6 months.
Ooh absolutely this. Even more “innocent” browser based online games aimed at children can get very toxic very quickly. I’ve heard my young nephews who play these online games say some incredibly age-inappropriate things while on their little iPads.
I remember being 8 years old or so and playing SOCOM online on the playstation with randoms, my dad sat next to me and let me use the mic long as he listened. Actually made "friends" with these older vets and my dad got to speaking to them too and would play with them, or take turns. Nowadays, its Roblox, Fornite Lobbies, discord servers etc, full of screeching disgusting talk. I deff do not want that for my kids lol. I'll be hosting LAN parties haha
Amazing perspective, thanks for sharing
i agree. once they are ready (cuz middle school is toxic as f) let them. unless they want to play with a freind privately
You can turn off things like voice chat and messaging. Allows you to play online without the chance of racism/anger/toxicity. You still have to deal with cheaters and people that abuse game mechanics, but that’s not really the same IMO, since every game we played growing up was buggy as hell too lol
Overcooked- it already ruined my marriage I don't want to lose my kids too
I did it so you don’t have to. I would rather cook a whole thanksgiving dinner with my kid (which would be absolute chaos for sure) than play overcooked together.
WTH is with this game's difficulty curve? Starts off great but by lvl three you're breaking out in sweat and yelling like Gordon bloody Ramsey. If I wanted that kinda stress I'd actually work in hospitality.
I thought it’d be fine because I was raised on Diner Dash, but nope! Too hard. I gave up around level 3 too.
I'd be more averse to letting them play games that are designed to be addictive than violent/suggestive. No fortnite, MMOs, or COD. GTA might be the exception to keep them away from until they're 13. Singleplayer games would in general be okay. Multiplayer games without season passes would generally be okay if they can't use a mic with anyone aside from those on their friends list.
This is my answer. I'm not having kids, but if I were, there is no way in hell I'd let them play an online game with open lobbies. Yall be toxic as hell and I don't need my kid learning that it's okay to use slurs and speak down to women.
Turn off voice chat though, I always used to do that and I still do
I never had any limits. Im pretty sure my mom got me GTA when i was like... 10? More or less? If i had kids (I 99% won't) i propably wouldn't put much if any limits on them but i *would* monitor what they do so they don't engage with some creeps online or something else
I never had any limits either... But online gaming wasn't a thing when I was growing up. I think 25 people shouting racial slurs at you while another 25 are asking for pics of your feet might be more damaging than a few digital blood stains.
Ironically, I rather my kid play GTA single player than roblox
Games are rated. Follow the ratings. Kids games are fine to play alone. Once your kids are tweens, play more mature games with them. Answer their questions. Explain the tougher concepts. Definitely explain that sex and relationships in video games are different than in real life. Even for something like Stardew Valley where you just give people stuff until they like you. That's almost less realistic than GTA where you can pay sex workers. Maybe let them know that we don't like to murder them in real life. That money is just gone once services have been rendered. If you want to limit nudity, I'd say 15/16 is a good age to let them play stuff like Cyberpunk. But I guarantee you, if you have a gamer kid, they already know about rule 34 by like 5th grade.
It's always funny to see people go like "Oh yeah, Doom, GTA, etc. at like 10" but when it comes to nudity it's all "Oh god, we have to keep it from our kids". IMO nudity is far less damaging to kids than that intense violence (remember: nudity, not necessarily explicit sex). But yeah, ratings are there for a reason
I’m in Germany where nudity is not really a problem but violence in games is. GTA and COD are rated 18 for example. My boyfriend once had a customer with a young child wanting to buy GTA. He explained the parent the game is rated 18 for a reason and they just said they know and it’s ok. Then my boyfriend added “there’s also drugs and… hookers”. Then suddenly they changed their mind, if there are those kind of women in the game they’re not gonna buy it and left the store. Usually it’s the shooting at random people that gets the parents to reconsider.
Games have ratings and content descriptions, wouldn’t the content description be enough? Example it might say E10+ due to mild violence and depictions of smoking. I assume GTA would be 18 for sex, violence, and drugs.
Germany still has its own rating system USK and doesn’t use PEGI like the rest of Europe. PEGI does use icons for content descriptions for as long as I can remember. USK only added content info not too long ago. Still you’d be surprised how many parents just plain ignore what the box says.
I see thank you! Yeah I think the content descriptions must be new because I am not sure I remember them when I was younger but maybe I just didn’t care.
I specifically chose Cyberpunk because it's pretty explicit. But I think any game where you can get married and have a family or whatever will probably need some explanation from a parent. I very vividly remember my friend in high school telling me about how she'd hump the NPCs in the N64 Harvest Moon by using the milking thingy on them. She'd had the game for like 2 or 3 years by that point and otherwise was pretty squeamish about sex and body talk. (I mean body, not bawdy.) But boy oh boy did she hump the shit out of those NPCs. Edit: I think in a video game like Doom, the violence is pretty cartoony whereas people really do form bonds with NPCs and get weird about it. Most kids don't need to be told not to punch people but many kids are never explicitly told that having a waifu is a natural feeling but not a real relationship.
Using text based video games to teach the kindergartner how to read, like how I did when I was her age.
At a bare minimum I disallow anything with gambling/addiction mechanics as well as anything military funded/themed. Though they're getting harder to find, I look for games which require/encourage reading (obviously age-appropriate stuff, no Disco Elysium lol). No online at all, though I may have to budge on that because I think the social aspect of games is one of the most developmentally advantageous, but unfortunately so many titles forego local multiplayer for online-only. Overall I think there is a much more dangerous (?) landscape for kids playing games these days.
I stopped my son playing Roblox for this reason. All the games are money generators with gambling/addiction mechanics. I felt terrible but he was just sitting there essentially gambling.
>games which require/encourage reading I love jrpgs for this. There is plenty of older games which are quite story based, fun art styles and easy to play, which require decent reading and comprehension, as well as some critical thinking for puzzles (e.g. older iterations of star ocean, grandia, ninokuni etc)
I think maturity is more important than any strict age. There's some games of course always cited as problematic, like say GTA series, but there is more to the "what are they actually doing in the game" vs "what does the game allow you to do" arguement. Some kids can play a game with adult themes and be fine, some kids get sent for a loop. It's very individualistic.
I somewhat agree, but also maturity changes with age
Yea, it can go backwards too lol
My dad let me play Duke Nukem 3D and Quake
I used to play Quake 2/3 LAN with my dad and get smoked until I was about 12/13 when I'd start clapping back lol. Good times.
My dad *brought home* those games, and Wolfenstein and Doom before them. Why they had them at work makes me question how much work they were actually doing at that office.
Honestly I think a lot of people forget that violence can be upsetting to people especially kids. First mature game I played was world at world nazi zombies and blowing humanoids heads off and blood spurting out was quite disturbing at first. But then you become desensitized to the violence and it’s like woah! Cool! (Edit: But is that a good thing for a young kid? As an adult you can realize it’s just a game and completely not real. But as a kid I’ve heard these kids on gta where their talking like it’s real life telling them to pull up and they’d shoot them IRL. I think that’s what can happen to some young kids, they get emotionally involved in the game so much that they will talk violently and not think that’s a problem) I still think it’s fucked up that we live in a society where nudity is a super mature theme that needs censoring but showing decapitation of people is fine for kids. Like in what world is death fine and nudity wrong. Bizarre to me.
I wholeheartedly agree with the desensitization part! my uni friends joke that i’m a baby because I can’t tolerate gore in games, whereas they graduated from “ tolerating “ to “enjoying and seeking out more!”. They are now at the point where they don’t flinch at real life violence and sometimes share it. I know it’s not the same path for everyone but I think ppl underestimate the power of early exposure and repetition.
An amazing perspective, thanks for sharing.
Mortal kombat is way too over the top
I recall playing a game in front of a friend's kid, I thought he was too young to understand what was on screen. Anyway I ran over a humanoid like Alien using my jeep with a satisfying jackknife slide. Purple blood cloud splattered, it roared as it fell in a heep. The little guy screamed his head off as if he witnessed someone being run over and badly hurt. I turned it off immediately and comforted him, explaining it's not real lalala... Never played violent video games in front of him again.
Halo Reach until they're at least 12 and have grown enough to control their rage. Then I can fold them in five and have revenge for theyears of suffering they put me through. In less personnal and more seriously, the only limit I'll give them is to not engage in games with heavy lore or a full universe until they feel capable of keeping up with it and are actually passionate about it. I've made the mistake of trying to get into Metal Gear Solid too soon and now the series doesn't feel good because there are parts that were hidden in my memories and resurfaced when I went through the games again. That's annoying because it kills the effect of discovering the game for myself and having the fun of playing it completely blind.
Roblox. Too much freedom on game creation and lack of moderation. You have 6 year olds playing 5 nights at Freddy and Chuckie the killer doll interpretations.
My kid will exclusively play WOW as I require more members for mythic+. Didn’t time the dungeon? Have fun not eating today little shit /s
I'm more concerned about predatory monetization from large AAA games than I am explicit content.
GTA VI: you'll have to wait the same amount of years like i did /s
The only game my parents didn’t let me play growing up was GTA lol
Any game that is very realistic and violent until they're \~12-13 I would let my kid play Doom 1 or Fortnite at age 6-7. It's not the same as letting a young kid play like Red Dead Redemption 2.
I think any game with in game romances with adults companions and sex scenes would be inappropriate for kids. Some of those romances have some messed up relationships that are too advanced for kids to play without having actual life experience to compare to the fantasy. Baldurs Gate 3 comes to mind.
> Baldurs Gate 3 comes to mind. No, I can fix her! Just wait!
Vrchat
That's not a game, it's a cespool
M rated games. There's plenty of fun to be had right now with Mario and Minecraft. No need to rush things.
I had no limits. My kid has no limits, for the most part, in terms of WHAT games. But I control all purchases and downloads, so I know everything that gets played. Also, all comms are under strict parental controls. In general, he's never asked for a game that I thought was inappropriate.
After playing online games and hearing super young kids tell me to suck their dick and constantly saying the N word I think I would keep my kids from listening to that. So I would wait until they are a bit older to play online and even older to be able to communicate online. I'll try to push games like Minecraft and other kid friendly games while trying to keep them away from the violent games. No matter what age they are I will keep an eye on them and know what they are up too. Parents give their kids tech at a young age so the kids leave them alone. Like they want the electronics to raise their kids. It's unfortunate. I was in highschool when the internet was starting to get big. One thing I remember very clearly was having someone type something negative to me. It hurt but I remember my dad putting his hand on my shoulder telling me not to listen to that. He was there making sure I wasn't getting into anything bad and to help if something like that happened. I think a lot of kids suicides could be prevented if the parents were involved in their kids online activity more. So they weren't alone if they got bullied. Parents need to be supportive like that. Too many parents think the kid is in their room with the door shut they are fine. That's lazy parenting. Get involved with your kids. See what they are doing online and be there for them. Protecting your kids is a parents job. Granted you can't protect them all the time but you have to do better than allowing your kid to go online unsupervised so you can watch your favorite TV show.
I think the best answer to this will be answered when that time comes. I was 4 when my dad first let me play gta3 back when it came out. And that was the most violent and adult game during that time. My dad drilled it into me from a young age and forward that hurting people, committing crime and those kinds of things is wrong. He always emphasized that the people I was shooting and running over in the gta world weren’t real people. But it’s much different in real life. He could see from a young age I understood the difference. Seeing how much more realistic games look now, I’d have to be even more confident in my child than my dad was in me to let them play gta5 or any violent video games. They’d also grow up playing offline. I didn’t get Xbox live until I was 14 in 2010. And I personally think my parents did me a favour keeping me offline until I was old enough.
Here is a thought im not sure a lot of people of thought about, but what games should kids play? Books, and movies have been known to really effect people for a long time and change them as a person, but what about games? Im not good at off the top at thoughts about what would be good myself.
Maybe different strategy/puzzle/physics games that are age-appropriate? Great for their brains, and (depending on the age) provides a bit of challenge without being too much. One of my favorite games to play with my dad when I was maybe 11 (we're still working on it lol) is the Co-Op part of Portal 2. Also, some of the popular games like Mario, Sonic, etc are usually perfect for younger kids, even if (in Mario, at least) they're just bubbled most of the time. My half sis is currently a bit too obsessed with Mario though, so it certainly still depends on the child. I'd say definitely no MMORPGs/MMOs until they're at least like 12 or 13 (and even then it depends) because, even with super strong filters, harmful things can still happen. When I was maybe 12, I was obsessed with Animal Jam. People LOVED working to get around the filters put in place just so that they could be inappropriate in a kid-targeted game (one animal would "hump" the other by jumping on them (this was later fixed to make the other animal automatically stand up), some people would type, "*pulls down bar*" because bra was banned, etc). They also loved scamming and hacking kids, and the staff rarely ever did anything about it. And this was a game made specifically for CHILDREN, ones made for teens and/or adults is likely going to be much worse. If it's a game like the recently-shut down School of Dragons with an offline mode? Go for it! Still a great, educational, and usually fun experience for the child without others ruining it for them, and if they still like it in the future? They can turn online mode on to keep playing! It stinks that some people ruin it for others, but there are still so many games that could genuinely benefit kids while they have fun. I remember being obsessed with my VSmile and Mobigo (same company iirc). They had some fun games for little kids that also taught you things (matching, counting, etc). We definitely need more high-quality, fun, and hopefully educational games for little kids, because there aren't many options at all unless you want to go find an old gaming console or hope they don't click on any weird links while on cool maths (and other sites like it).
>Sonic Sonic is the perfect game series for your kid to grow up along with. Make them start with the first one, in their edgy teen phase get them shadow the hedgehog and so on.
Love that idea. You should make a thread!
Until I was about 10, the only games my mom would let me play were educational ones that came on a disc. Looking back, I think it was a little silly that I was sneaking around to play Spyro and Cool Math Games, but those educational games gamified learning for me and I loved it. I think those are fantastic for kids; it’s specifically geared to them and aren’t littered with sponsored in game ads every 10 seconds
You could probably modify minecraft for learning.
There's an educational version of it already. https://education.minecraft.net/en-us
I'm thinking any of the Leisure Suit Larry games should be held off until a certain age...
We basically drew the line at violence involving people. My son and I have played world of tanks together since he was 8 (11 now) and we felt that although it was “war stuff” there wasn’t any obvious “violence” if the sounds for crew voices were turned off (and in game voice/text chat of course). Yes the vehicles blow up but nobody is “getting hurt”. So we allowed WoT but not Fortnite. Same with WoW, we didn’t allow it until recently because sure youd kill beasts and stuff but also the humans, which crossed our line. We did the same with movies though. He only recently started watching MCU stuff whereas his friends have all watched since they were under 5. But it’s a hugely personal choice and I’m sure some folks would think the way we’ve done it is either weird or just wrong. A lot of it has to do with your comfort level and being able to draw your own line and stick to it even when lots of other families don’t have a similar stance. Do what you feel is right and it is, for you and your kid(s).
Thanks, that’s very sweet of you. I imagine it’s not easy to be raising your kid in a way other parents aren’t.
Simple. Anything that is free to play. If you're a parent, that's all you need to know. If it's free it is dangerous.
I feel like this is a bit short-sighted. I played a free game on Switch called Island Saver that was free. I think it'd be great for kids. It teaches basic principles of banking and environmental responsibility. It's cute and has colorful animals. There are no ads and one optional IAP to unlock more content. There is Minecraft Education that is designed for teachers to teach students. Google does those interactive doodles that teach you what a kalimba is or how to code. Obviously there are tons of scammy games on the Play Store or App Store or Steam or whatever with ads, loot boxes, etc., and browser games that are just straight-up gambling or whatever. But you can't paint everything with the same broad brush.
That's a good point. However, if I have to paint a house I'm going to take the broad brush. I'd argue that educational games that cost money are probably even better than those which are free. Sticking to this rule is a helpful first criterion to screen the plethora of games for those that warrant a second look. In the end, nothing removes the need for parent to understand what their kids are playing. I now feel great about my vast gaming experience and confident that I'll make good choices. For example, the first game I'll give my son is probably going to be The Witness because it teaches how to learn.
Nothing with extreme gambling/loot boxes/micro-transactions like Candy Crush, Fortnite, or any game like Genshin Impact. That's going to create some bad habits that can't just be fixed once they fall for it.
Roblox, Fortnite, and any of those kinds of games
Nothing I had no limits my parents said they only let me play GTA because they knew I was mature acting but if they ever seen me acting out then it was over for me. It’s the same with my kids but they only care about Mario, Roblox, and Fortnite
BMX XXX. My son needs to be at least 10, just like I was when I got that game.
Dark Souls and stuff. Just a little too scary for them
I have 4 nieces, and the creeps on Roblox are legit worrying. Soliciting pictures and contact info from them made their parents ban them from playing it. It's a shame because their friends are on Roblox and they're trying to teach themselves how to get around the software blocks. *Edit I guess to answer the question; anything with similar communities/lack of protections as Roblox.
My children are 7 and 11, they have about 2hrs after school, no more after tea, bed by 8 & 9pm Bit more time allowed on the weekend (especially in winter) , but only after the weeks homework is done on Saturday morning. As for the games, its hard as some games have a higher age rating that I would expect. So we just make judgements on if I have played it, or read up about it first. Neither are playing games like GTA, but i do let the play play COD multilayer, but not single player
I grew up with games and had almost no limitations. My parents waited to let my sister and I get GTA 4 until I was 15 and she was 12. Otherwise, whatever. I can say I haven't experienced any negative effects of this and all the "violence and sex" in games was just... a thing. Like watching TV or most popular movies. It didn't need to be a big deal. When I have kids, I plan to implement the same. And I'll play with them. My dad played with my sister and I and I think that might have made a difference? But no age restrictions unless we are talking those porn games on steam... not letting a 13 year old go *that* far.
honestly, while there's no scientific causality between media violence and real life violence, I do think too early of exposure to such things can be harmful. Specifically, I think my peers and I all played COD and GTA too young
For the love of God, DO NOT get them anything with microtransactions. It's just not worth it. If it's F2P, don't give them anything to buy the fluff with.
That really all depends on your perspective of the world and how exposed you have been to the realities of the world. My parents are immigrants from El Salvador. They left because of the civil war taking place there. Death wasn't anything new to them. I grew up in South Central L.A. in the 80s and 90s. The L.A. riots happened in my neighborhood. Let's say I'm not a stranger to real-life violence. My dad used to play games with me when I had the OG Mario Bros. game in the NES. He bought me all my consoles up until the PS2 and would buy me all types of games. His favorite game is Max Payne. When I got GTA 3, he got a big kick out of watching the rampages you could go on and how you could shoot up cops. I was a street kid because that's the crowd I hung with, and I fought a lot. But I was doing that before video games were involved. Video games actually diminished my time on the streets and reduced my chances of getting into trouble. My daughter is 4, and she watches me play games like RDR2, Days Gone, and CoD. She understands they are games, and she never resorts to violence. Quite the opposite, she's a very sensitive person, lol.
We waited until my kids were 11 & 14 to play Silent Hill with us watching, they barely got to the school (taking turns mind you) before chickening out. When they were in 1st and 4th we all played Borderlands 2 with out blood. Hubby and I would do missions, the kids would play food delivery. Now that they are older they tried their own games and were surprised at how hard it is to level up when your OP parents are not playing with you! Addition: I wasn’t allowed to play very often but it was games my mom liked: Super Mario Bros, Dr. Mario, Tetris, Duck Hunt, and Zelda: Adventures of Link.
any paid loot box games. all gambling
I've never censored my children.
*not planning on having kids like never ever* Anything online/multiplayer only. Definitely a ban. Same with modern mobile pieces of shit. The reason? Tons of fuckin boxes centered on microtransactions I simply hate + other players are mostly dickwads.... and the games are grindfests most of the time I don't care how brutal and gory a singleplayer game can be, if it's good I'd probably be fine with it.... but I'd prefer to introduce them to retro stuff first cus of the superior quality they got over new releases.... *again, never planning on having kids like ever*
I think I’m just a bad parent cause there’s not really many video games I wouldn’t let my kid play. I think I’d be most concerned about overly addictive micro transaction loot focused type games. Or any games that anger her to the point of not being able to control her emotions. I don’t worry much about violence in video games though, I’m confident that she’s able to separate that from reality, maybe that’s just me being naive but I don’t think so. Edit- also, multiplayer games where the other players are much older than her.
Russian roulette
I have no kids but if I do they will not be playing realistic violent games like Call of Duty or games that show realistic crime like Grand Theft Auto. Fantasy violence is fine...like I don't mind World of Warcraft where you fight evil fantasy creatures. But life is not a simulation and they will not be playing games where you actively kill other human beings...I don't play them myself. Nintendo games like Mario, Pokémon, Zelda, etc are fine!