Understanding Your Child's Gaming Habit
This video is about understanding a person's gaming habit, primarily aimed towards the parents of gaming children.
Subjects Covered Include:
- The origins of violent video games
- Why people play these games
- What signs a parent needs to look out for a possible addiction.
- How to deal with it
Step 1: Gaming Today
In this video we'll be covering the influence of popular and modern video games on your child, whether they are 6, 12 or 18 years old, or even adults.
This subject has been getting a lot of media attention lately, giving parents the idea that video games these days can turn their innocent child into a mindless killer. Well, in fact, nothing is farther from the truth. In the following minutes, I will be explaining the different aspects of gaming today, what it can do with your child, and what signs of behavior you have to take into account as a possible problem.
Step 2: The History Of Gaming
In the early 90's, games started to show their first signs of visual realism. Game like Wolfenstein 3D, Doom, and Mortal Combat looked extremely realistic for their time and used a fair amount of blood and gore. People unfamiliar with video games imediately started to fight this new wave of violence, claiming that they do nothing more than turning people into blood-thirsty killers. Even today, people are fighting games like Gears Of War and Grand Theft Auto for their use of violence.
But let's get one thing straight, if these games were only meant to shock and be violent, games would never have become as popular as they are today. I think I speak for every gamer when I say that games are all about fun and challenging experiences. If a game like Gears of War were all about violence, it would never be so popular and widely played.
Step 3: Why Play A Video Game
So let's understand why the average person plays a video game.
Most popular games these days are aimed at teenagers and adults. Most of these games can be looked upon as interactive films where the player has a certain amount of control over a character and the situation at hand.
For most people, a game is nothing more than an interactive form of visual entertainment. And it has little to no influence on them at all. It's just plain fun.
Instead of watching a movie where someone like Tom Cruise takes on a complete army of bad guys, you as a player can do it yourself. And with the advanced technololgy that games use today, the outcome of an action game today while playing it, the outcome is never linear as when watching a move.
Step 4: Free Game Play Experience
That's where the initial addiction factor comes in. The fact that there's a lot of reasons to play a game over and over again, and still always have a different experience every single time you play it.
A game like Gears of War or Grand Theft Auto is popular because they make great use of this feature. The blood and gore is just a visual bonus. But without the free game play experience these games would never gain such popularity.
Step 5: Online Gaming
A feaure that most of these "shooters", as they are called, also use is online play. Often resulting in infinite non-linear game play.
A game's AI, or artificial intelligence, can get predictable and boring, but when playing with or against other people from around the globe using the internet, who all have a will of their own, the gaming experience is almost never the same. And that's what makes it so addictive.
Online shooters are like a sport where you play on your own or within a team within a digital arena. There are different rules and different objectives that can be applied into a single shooter and that adds to your replay value. The addiction factor doesn't really lie so much on the fact that we shoot and kill other people, but in the fact that you are participating in a sport where you need to be better than your enemy and outsmart your opponent.
The run and gun action that takes place during these on-line games is just a visual experience you get as a bonus for playing the game, which in most cases is more attractive for a gamer than going outside and playing a game of football.
Step 6: The Vocabulary Of Gaming
Many of you parents out there might have taken concern to the fact that you hear your child shout out phrases like "look at that amazing head shot I got! " or "Whoa I killed 5 guys within 3 seconds!" and "Oh my god, I splattered those guys with a wart hog!"
These phrases are the same as phrases people shout out during a game of football like, "Look! my sixth goal in ten minutes," or "Whoa I passed eight guys and scored through the goalkeeper's legs."
Step 7: Gaming Frustration
However, with sports, not only comes fun, but also frustration. Maybe you've heard your child shoult out in anger, swearing at the game. Maybe even seeing or hearing them throw their controller, mouse, and/or keyboard through the room.
It's important to understand that this type of anger usually comes from being overtired after playing too much and too long. An unknown depression might also be part of this. It's not part of the game's content that causes this behavior.
What most people, even gamers, don't seem to realize is that gaming eats up a lot of energy. If you do it too long and play a very intensive game, most of your stamina will be depleted within an hour.
If you as a parent see your child display this type of behavior, you need to start regulating their gaming habit. There's no need to take the game away entirely. In the end, your child plays the game to have fun, and you wouldn't want to spoil that, now would you?
We all need to realize that playing some types of games can get exhausting and the use of such a game needs to be regulated not forbidden.
Let us understand that games themselves do not make your children violent, They play these games to have a fun and entertaining challenge.
But if you see your child acting like this, there's likely to be something wrong with your child's mental state, and I don't mean like a birth defection or a mental illness. It could very well be a lot of stress being caused in the home or socially. And you might not even have noticed something is bothering your child if he didn't play the games.
Instead of misjudging the game thinking it's making your child angry, try to find out what's causing this anger. It's usually caused by more than one factor.
If nothing comes up, maybe you let your child play too much and too long in a row. Try to talk to them about it, but not when they're playing their game. Talk to your child when he gets out of school or at dinner. The last thing your child wants is a lecture during his game. That's like interupting an important game of football because you want to talk to one of the players about his problems. It's obvious that that's the worst moment you could pick.
Step 8: The MMORPG
Now, another type of gaming that has been causing private and social disorder is the MMORPG.
MMORPG stands for Massive Multi-Player Online Role-Playing Game. That might not mean a lot to you, but maybe the words World of War Craft, Moonscape, Guildwars and even Second Life will sound familiar to you.
These games all fit within that genre. These games aren't so popular because of their use of violence. On the contrary, most of these games aren't nearly as violent visually as most shooters are. An MMOPG like World of Warcraft gains its popularity from its online community and the fake feeling of progress that it gives the player while playing.
A game like World of War Craft is never ending. The character you control can always improve more and more. There's always a reason for the player to keep playing. And, again the same rules apply as when playing a shooter.
Step 9: Gaming Addiction
Although World of Warcraft isn't nearly as intense as a typical shooter is, it's just as exhausting. The fact that it's never really finished tends to make you play for hours and hours without even noticing it. Also, the signs of mental problems like stress and depression with your child might even be more severe here.
A lot of children are addicted to this game because the game gives them the feeling that their efforts in game have more meaning than their efforts in real life. For instance, your child might be bullied at school and therefore have some sort of inferiority complex. Or there might be some other reason for your child to want to escape from reality.
In the online world of World of War Craft people might look up to him as he might be an experienced player who helps out other players and is loved for this within the on-line community -- children and adults alike.
Its important to understand that games like these can work as a drug on your child since it's their way to escape from reality where they feel safe and secure.
Even people with little to no social problems can get pulled into this digital world if they don't watch out. It's extremely fun, but also extremley addictive.
If you see your child following this downward spiral, it's time to take action. But, again, it's unwise to try to confront them while they are playing. And it's also unwise to take their game away from them. Try to make a deal with them on regulating their gaming habit.
In some extreme cases, help from outside might be needed. These days more and more people are specializing in game addictions. So, if your own efforts show negative results, don't hesitate to seek help.
The best thing of course is to be ahead of these problems. In the case of World of War Craft, young children need their parents to pay the monthly fee to play the game. So if you allow them to play the game, keep an eye out for possible addictive behavior and stop in its tracks by simply reminding your child that it's just a game. The world won't come to an end if they get that sork they want so much tomorrow instead of today.
Step 10: The Truth Behind Games
To sum it up, games aren't evil like some people like to believe.
Gaming has evolved from just a new form of entertainment to probably the biggest player in the entertainment industry today. People need to realize that games have become more than the word might imply, and it's unwise to let your child loose in this modern world of gaming without the proper surveillance--even if your child is close to adulthood.
Hopefully this video has been of some use to you all. Until next time, and have a great game!
