Most Parents Don't Game With Their Kids 130
A recent study, reported on by MSNBC, has found that a sizeable percentage of parents don't play games with their kids. Of those that do, many only play for a small portion of the time their kids are gaming, or have no real understanding of what their kids are playing. "Besides those who simply don't play the games with their children, another 30 percent say they spend less than an hour a week doing so. All told, about three in four parents of young gamers never or hardly ever touch the stuff. 'I don't think it's good for them, the violence, the obsession,' said Karen Kimball, 55, of Hale, Minn., another nonplayer who estimates her 17-year-old son plays 25 hours weekly. 'No longer is it, Let's go out and throw a football.'" I wonder how many parents object to their kids watching 20-25 hours a week of television. Is this a sign of current popular attitudes towards games, or honest parental concern over the 'dangers' of gaming?
Lies (Score:4, Insightful)
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The wife and I tried playing D&D with our 3 year old, and the kid stabbed the cat with a pencil.
No more gaming with the kid till she learns fluffy's instestines are not pencil holders.
Tell the kid Fluffy is a familiar (Score:3, Funny)
'Course, I guess it can backfire. Next thing you know, the kid could decide he/she wants a bat or a pig as a familiar. And may Mielikki have mercy on you if your kid wants to be a Druid or Ranger
Re:Lies (Score:4, Informative)
The poll also found that among gamers:
* 44 percent said they play over the Internet;
* 26 percent said they spent nothing on the pastime last year, another 46 percent spent up to $200 and 12 percent spent $500 or more, with men usually the bigger spenders;
* Price is the chief factor for people purchasing a gaming console, followed by the availability of games.
The poll involved telephone interviews with 2,016 adults conducted Oct. 9-11 and 16-18, and had a margin of sampling error of plus or minus 2.2 percentage points. Included were 770 people who said they play computer or video games, for whom the margin of sampling error was plus or minus 3.5 points.
Duh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Re:Duh? (Score:4, Funny)
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No, it doesn't matter at all. My parents never played video games with me. They just didn't care for it. Parent's should take an interest in what their kids do, not necessarily be interested in it. That is, my parents regulated what I played and how long I played because they had an interest and that interest was my well being. They knew what was appropriate for me both in terms of content and time. That's what's important, not that they are act
I DO (Score:2)
I for one find it kind of surprising. Both my wife and I are avid gamers, and our kids are too. I play games with my kids all the time. We always have a roaring good time with co-op games like Lego Star Wars or Harry Potter Goblet of Fire or -- the old stand-bys -- Mario Kart, Mario Party, and Smash Bros. Heck, even Project Gotham Racing gets in there. I mean, why wouldn't you game with your kids?
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Re:Duh? (Score:4, Insightful)
How many parents during the 80s-90s could have honestly said that they listened to Rock and Roll with their kids? How hard would it have been to find a quote just like the quote in the summary about Rock and Roll back then?
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My new wife loves my daughter as her own, as does my ex-wife's new husband. What's your point? If all you're trying to do is prove that you're a moron with no children and even less sense, than congratulations. You win.
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I can tell you've never had children, never been married, and likely never had a girlfriend. I guess my dig on nerds playing video games in the basement really hit home, eh dork?
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They do! (Score:2)
And the point is? (Score:1)
I'm sorry, I'm too competitive. (Score:5, Funny)
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Our family guild in WoW (Score:5, Funny)
I can't wait till the day I can play games online with my kids. I'll finally have a 2v2 partner for Arenas who I can ground if they suck
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Shared-screen PC gaming? (Score:1)
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Re:Our family guild in WoW (Score:4, Funny)
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I find it kinda stupid they're playing violent games yet people cry bout swearwords but meh, life goes on
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Not there yet (Score:2, Insightful)
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Other studies... (Score:2)
The same group has published other interesting studies [theonion.com] about teen behavior.
My son's a 3rd generation gamer (Score:3, Insightful)
I do all the usual Dad stuff with him too; we throw the ball around, I read books to him, we push around toy cars (Vrrooms, as he calls them), we hang out the park on weekends. But it's the digital age, and the generation that grew up with the Video game industry is going to incorporate it into their children's lives just as our parents grew up in front of the TV. The interactivity of video gaming just makes it a much better bonding experience -- it's something we do together actively, not passively.
Parents can game? (Score:1)
Is that strange?
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Gaming with the old man (Score:2, Interesting)
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Haha. When I was very young, I remember going to arcades with my dad who was pretty good at Pac-Man and Tron. Actually he was very good at Tron, he could get far enough that it started to seem more like Wario Ware with each mini-game lasting roughly 5 seconds.
But he pretty much stopped playing games at all for some reason. By the time I got my NES he was so out of practice it wasn't funny any more. He tried to play vid
Sad.. (Score:4, Interesting)
One of the first things my dad did for me was help me get our 486 to play the games I liked. This involved going into config.sys and autoexec.bat and REMing out a bunch of entries. That not only taught me critical thinking skills (as at a point he just said "ok, you have to figure it out from here") and made those hours upon hours I spent with my dad doing that very fun and rewarding.
Current parents...give the games a chance, try them, you might find out you actually *shock* like them too. What's the worst that could happen? You could only be as screwed up as your children are, and lets be honest, most kids are allright.
Stupidest article evar (Score:2)
What adult has an extra 25 hours a week to play video games? I run a business, I'm raising 3 kids, I try to have some time with my wife. I'm lucky if I get to play an hour or two of games a week.
Plus my kids don't WANT me sitting in their room all weekend playing video games with them.
I'd rather them playing games than passively watching TV though.
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I hate the media with their artificial sensation causing slants... "Common Cold Season To Start - Will You Die?"
SOME people don't have tinfoil face masks to protect themselves from the germs, man. Take it easy.
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I think that's the problem there: video games should be in that room shared by all family members, ie. the living room.
it's a shame (Score:2)
It's more interesting to consider those that did.
It's sad to see a parent just ignore his kid while his kid's in a game. You could be bonding with him, and suddenly you are working on something meaningful. Then he might actually want to spend time with you outside the game world.
side point: If anything in life can be considered meaningful outside of what we think of ourselves. A hobby is a hobby really. You could knit a sweater, but d
Um....duh? (Score:3, Insightful)
Even those that can usually do so by splitting the screen, which just causes confusion and even headaches for most adults.
Besides, I can't see it being that fun for either the kid or the parent, especially if the parent is a non-gamer in the first place. It really isn't very fun to get continually pwned by your opponent while you're still trying to figure out how to even hold the controller, much less which buttons do what. And the parent's aggravation will just aggravate the kid. "No, daddy, hit the X button! X BUTTON!" "Uh..." *looks down at the controller* "Which is the X button again?" *splat*
Yeah, that sounds like fun for all.
If anyone wonders why the Wii is doing so well, this is why. The controller and included sports games are easy enough to handle for newbie and expert alike, so at least the parent feels he can give the kid an appropriate challenge.
Shared-screen game design (Score:2)
After all most video games aren't even designed to support 2 players.
Even those that can usually do so by splitting the screen, which just causes confusion and even headaches for most adults.
Even Bomberman and Smash Bros.? Those games are zoomed out far enough to show the whole playfield, including all players' characters.
And the parent's aggravation will just aggravate the kid. "No, daddy, hit the X button! X BUTTON!" "Uh..." *looks down at the controller* "Which is the X button again?"
They're all the X button [pineight.com].
You underestimate adults (Score:2)
No offense, but... you underestimate adults, and seem to have forgotten your childhood days already too.
1. I've actually tried teaching grandma to play a Sierra em
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It really isn't very fun to get continually pwned by your opponent while you're still trying to figure out how to even hold the controller, much less which buttons do what. And the parent's aggravation will just aggravate the kid. "No, daddy, hit the X button! X BUTTON!" "Uh..." *looks down at the controller* "Which is the X button again?" *splat*
You know, while the XBOX and PS2 & 3 have tried to fix this issue with colors and symbols, I have found the best way to get a parent up to speed using a difficult controller is with two sports metaphors.
For the face buttons, baseball. First base, second base, ect.. It is highly effective. Almost everyone instinctively knows which base is which.
For the triggers and top buttons, it gets a little more complicated. With my Mom I found four square notation worked. A, B, C, D box. She instinctively knew wher
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I spend about a half an hour (...or an hour...) each night gaming with my four year old.
"Dad...Dad? Dad? Halo is a scary game, right? I can't play that game."
"No, Dad. I want to be Kit Fisto. The green one. Let's do the lava one. Where he turns into Vader. No..no..I'll be Anakin. You be Obi-Wan. Why doesn't Anakin like Obi-Wan anymore, Dad?" (And no...I didn't let him watch Sith. He got that from Lego Star Wars and "Star Wars H". "Star Wars
Better question... (Score:3, Insightful)
- Little kids don't like being beaten at a simple game consistently
- Older ones can be impatient attempting to show their parents the ropes.
- Sometimes parents want to play when they see their kids playing with their friends. The kids don't like to have their friends see how much the parents suck at the game.
- Stereotype of parents not being cool *period*
Disclaimer: I'm talking about parents born during the 50s through to the early 70s.
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So use a cooperative game instead. Little kids tend to try to help even IRL, so...
Again, a lot of games are cooperative and basically non-zero-sum. As long as you don't do something as spectacularly stupid as, say, figuring out how to aggro the whole level on top of the rest of the gang, even hanging around as arrow bait in NWN2 can be some modest contribution.
Hide and seek (Score:2)
A Rebuttal for the Star Witnesses (Score:5, Insightful)
And what, exactly, has he accomplished with his life that's got lasting value? The article declines to mention any charity work, artistic endeavours, or community programs he's involved in that his son's neglecting. Odds are good he spends his spare time in front of the TV, watching football and drinking beer.
News flash for parents: if you want your kids do great things, first you have to do great things with them. If your son's more interested in slaying monsters online than spending time with you, it's probably because whatever he's doing is more engaging than what you've got planned for "Quality Time".
"I don't think it's good for them, the violence, the obsession," said Karen Kimball, 55, of Hale, Minn., another nonplayer who estimates her 17-year-old son plays 25 hours weekly. "No longer is it, 'Let's go out and throw a football.'"
I really hope this is misquoted, because if this 55 year old mom is disappointed that her 17 year old son to offer to go outside (where his friends can see) and throw a football with her, she's got more problems than video games. How about challenging him to a game of Madden? Would it kill you to try and engage your teenage son on his level, rather than guilt him into breaking social norms? I'm not saying there's anything *wrong* with throwing around a football with your mother, but try explaining that to the pimple-faced horndog who's just trying to survive the pressures a high school social fishbowl.
Film at 11... (Score:1)
Small Portion (Score:3, Insightful)
I know I do, because my kids spend more time gaming in a day than my total free time. I find it hard to believe this is unusual.
I like to watch (Score:4, Interesting)
Last night I had both kids playing Garry's Mod (a HL2 mod) against each other. Emma, who's four and a half, was having a great time spawning in odd things and making rebel companions. I did have to step in and mediate Emma wailed "Sam's murdering my buddies." Ah, parenting.
They also both spent a lot of time playing the experimental game Darwin Hill [experimentalgameplay.com]. Emma requested it, "The one where there's the bugs and you get to squish them!".
It can be awkward (Score:2)
GTA Hot Coffee with your mom?
Some things are not meant to be.
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Difference in taste? (Score:2)
I mean, I wouldn't be shocked if most parents
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4 year old? (Score:3, Interesting)
At times, I'll also let him run my orc shaman (usually in Ghost Wolf form) around Thunder Bluff in WoW. He loves to make him swim through the pond on the lower rise. He learned to spell his first word - "dance" - by making my orc dance. So if you're logged onto Trollbane and you see an orc dancing in the middle of Thunder Bluff, it's probably him. Feel free to say hi - I'm standing right next to him at all times.
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My toon benefits from having nearly max skill fighting unarmed, and he gets to run around in WoW.
My dad was impressed how much my son could do, target a murloc at range, build up rage, thunderstomp. He even mines copper.
Now he wants to run around as my mage. Well son, that's a bit complicated and you don't get to wear plate armor.
On the other end of the spectrum... (Score:5, Funny)
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"He was hacking! Are you blind! Put my son in on this level! That other punk team killed my son!"
Change Coming? (Score:1)
Ironically, I was just reading this article, [gamedaily.com] that describes Super Mario Galaxy's coaster mode which looks like it is geared toward playing the game cooperatively with younger children.
As the second player, you don't get a character on screen, you get a cursor that is used to capture gems, gather coins, help give Mario jump boosts and distract would-be foes. So younger gamers still get to control the primary character, feel like they're controlling a game and ensures that the game experience lasts longer than what would occur based on their current abilities.
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TV, Video Games and Parents (Score:2)
How many PARENTS spend 20-25 hours a week watching TV and ignoring their kids?
Like it or not, raising a child is a full-contact sport and REQUIRES that you spend the time to learn about your children. Who knows? You might even find out that you like them and the video games they play!
My 4 year olds favorite activity... (Score:2)
I have thought about what my gaming policy will b
This is a ridiculous study. (Score:3, Insightful)
Let's see some numbers on parents that actually have a history of interacting with their children to begin with, then I'll be more interested.
Depends on what games you mean (Score:3, Interesting)
But outdoors? Um, dude, he has friends for that. We live in a city, not the country.
When I grew up in the boonies on a tree farm I played games with adults and older kids a lot more - because there were fewer kids my age in easy distance to play with - in a city, as our society has moved from a farm-based agrarian culture (1900) to a city-based culture (2000) it is very easy for kids to find nearby kids who are the same age to play with - who don't live (true fact) 25 miles away (most of my girlfriends since I was 10 lived about that far away).
Plus, in some online games, we even coexist on the same server and sometimes run each others characters
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I'm tempted to steal that as a sig. That is.... ah... quite a quote... when read without of context. LOL.
It's also amusing to flip around that "Sure, np" answer. "Dad! Can you make sure I don't die while I go to the bathroom?" "I told you not to interrupt me when I'm on the phone!! Just go to the damn bathroom! If you do die while you're in there it's your own damn fault and I'm gonna take all your stuff and sell it on eBay and spe
I used to... (Score:2)
I played Quake against my boyz (4 and 7), but it became increasingly difficult to afford enough machines to play the oncoming games. So I bought an XBox. But after 25 years of computer gaming, the controller is all wrong. joystick on left thumb!? WTF? I played until the screen looking disease took over me. I got p0wned by my eight-year old...
Well, I am not primarily my kids' FRIEND (Score:5, Funny)
We don't have to share interests, although it is nice. However my main priority when it comes to my kids is gaming in the real world.
One time I caught my son chasing his sister with a whiffle ball bat -- it's not heavy enough to really hurt somebody, but it certainly can sting like the dickens.
"Here, give me that," I said. "We're going to play a game. You are going to take this bat and tap me on the shin. But the rules of the game say I can tap you back on the shin just as hard."
So, my son takes the bat and gives me a tiny little tap. I take the bat and give him a tiny tap. Then he gives me a slightly harder tap which I return. Then he gives me a look that plainly says he doesn't believe I'm serious, then gives me a painful whack in the shin. I take the bat and promptly give him an equally painful whack in the shin. He then gives me light tap which I return.
This goes on for a while, and my son is literally whooping with laughter, when my wife walks in to see what's going on. She snatches the bat out of my son's hands. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she yells.
"I'm teaching our son about the Golden Rule," I reply. "Also, that it hurts to be whacked with a bat."
One other time, I walked into the room and caught my daughter calling my son a "shithead", for which I remonstrated with her.
"Do you want me to apologize?" she asked.
"Of course I want you to apologize," I replied," although I realize I can't keep you from insulting each other."
"You mean its OK to insult each other?" she asked.
"Of course it's not OK," I replied. "I simply recognize I can't stop you from doing it. I insist, however, that we don't use potty language in this house."
"What do you mean?"
"Well," I replied, "let's play a little game. Try insulting me without using potty language."
"Er,'You are a stinky idiot.'"
"No, playground language isn't acceptable either," I said. "How about, 'You are a fetid addle-pate.'"
We went back and forth a few times, and were just getting into the swing of things when my wife came into the room. "WHAT ARE YOU DOING?" she cried.
"I am teaching our daughter not to use vulgar language," I replied. "I am also working on her vocabulary."
Sometimes I wonder if women understand child-rearing at all.
You guys may dislike our method. (Score:3, Interesting)
30 minutes a day is plenty of computer time right now. They get more on Saturdays. As they get older, computer time will increase, but it will have to be productive computer time. Programming, typing, i.e. learning...
Life's 90% work and 10% play. The kids that learn that early on have a better chance at being successful and self-controlled.
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Says you! Some people happen to have jobs that are... FUN! You know, the movie stars, the skydiving insturctors, the mythbusters, and maybe just maybe video game developers?
If your child has an intrest in video games, I think it's entirely possible to make that into a career someday.
football (Score:4, Insightful)
The kids and I play catch with the football. As soon as I stop watching, they're crashing into each other and dragging each other to the ground. That's the way football is actually played competitively. They see that and imitate it (without pads of course).
I understand what she's saying, but what an ironic choice of non-violent activity. I know I'm coming off like a weird hippy, by sometimes I see football games and think that we're not nearly as far separated from the Roman crowds watching the gladiators as we pretend.
Paying the kid's allowance in WoW gold!! (Score:1)
Re:Paying the kid's allowance in WoW gold!! Wii! (Score:1)
I see you don't own any Wii sports games.
I'll never forget (Score:1)
My wife said "Why couldn't you buy something ALL the family can enjoy!"
Two days later I couldn't get near the thing.
To answer the questing in the summary... (Score:2)
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Heh, and they think I don't have a life because I game and be social so I don't know who is who in American idol.
A family legacy (Score:2)
Consequently I played games with my kids and still do (they are now 18 and 2
I started my son on gaming. (Score:2, Interesting)
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A concerned parent plays games with their kids - partially to understand what they're talking about, partially to be able to encourage and discourage actions (my son originally wanted to grief people in WoW but now runs guilds instead and helps out starting players).
It's just the form of the games that varies.
Life is a teaching experience.
My personal fave thing to
My whole family games. (Score:1)
I tried.. he kept crying.. (Score:1, Funny)
Lordy I've Tried (Score:1)
My play style... play through things with careful consideration of my next move.
His play style
Neither of us really enjoys gaming with the other.
I play like a grownup and he plays like a kid.
We both end up frustrating each other.
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Sorry, but you aren't handling this correctly.
First off, you seem to be bent on winning, when the goal is to ahve a good time with your kid.
If your moves are carefully considered you should be able to beet him, because you know how they're is going to play.
Hell, run around like a madman and shoot things, who cares if you are just goofing off?
Play different games, like a board game. Carcassonne springs to mind.
I have kids, I know what it's like, but I decided I wanted to spend time so I a
Exile from Azeroth (Score:1)
Age Appropriate (Score:2)
I have a 3-year-old boy who has been playing games on Noggin.com and fischer-price.com for about a year now. I stay nearby, and make sure he's not doing anything inappropriate. Sometimes, I have to help him drag the little duckies to their Mama duck.
Several months ago, we got him a game called "Candy Land Adventures" or something like that. I helped him play through it once -- so that I was aware of the game contents. Its about 6 puzzles that are extremely easy and takes about 20 minutes for an adult
My dad played video games with me (Score:2)
Our tastes differed a little. He especially liked gimicky stuff like Gyromite, Pilotwings and Myst, whereas I could handle R
Wii (Score:2)
Then my mom kicked my ass at Wii golf. That sucked.
I'm probably not typical... (Score:2)