Step Away From The Controller
- Thread starter Andy Chalk
- Start date
You know, even having read that, I'd generally agree with him.
Of course, I was instilled with a strong sense that kids should be playing outside rather than gaming. During snow days for me, it was run around 'till you couldn't feel your legs, then come inside with hot cocoa and play Halo co-op with your sister.
Of course, I was instilled with a strong sense that kids should be playing outside rather than gaming. During snow days for me, it was run around 'till you couldn't feel your legs, then come inside with hot cocoa and play Halo co-op with your sister.
I perfectly agree with both of you but I'm the exact person that gets made into an example. I want to get up and do stuff but nothing I could do would be as interesting as what the tv does for me.
The gamers that sit in front of the TV for hours on end are the people my age. When I was a kid, my mom did daycare out of the house, so we had an NES with at least 30 games, but you'd be hard pressed to find me playing games on most days. Between baseball, basketball, football, karate, swimming, boy scouts, school, great weather during summer vacation, it's easy to say video games were toward the bottom of the list.
On the other hand, the current generation is growing up with a cell phone in their hand and the internet at their fingertips. They are connected 24/7 and that is how they communicate with each other. Some take it too far, but just like when I was growing up, the curiosity of life naturally brings people out of the house. They may still have the cell phone in hand, sending multiple texts to their friends, but that's just what happens as our culture evolves.
On the other hand, the current generation is growing up with a cell phone in their hand and the internet at their fingertips. They are connected 24/7 and that is how they communicate with each other. Some take it too far, but just like when I was growing up, the curiosity of life naturally brings people out of the house. They may still have the cell phone in hand, sending multiple texts to their friends, but that's just what happens as our culture evolves.
I think you're right, but I just want to know why everyone blows up whenever somebody mentions gaming being "Bad for your health" or "Promoting a sedentary lifestyle." But as soon as Obama says it, it's "OMIGOD WE HAVE TO GET THE KIDS OUTSIDE!"
I don't think hypocrisy's the right word, but it's fucking annoying.
I don't think hypocrisy's the right word, but it's fucking annoying.
Blame the parents, they are the ones buying the kids their games. It is their responsibility to kick their kids outside and not blame videogames.
I remember being a kid and having to do chores around the house for like 25-50 cents and saving up for a game. Nowadays kids going into stores with their parents and foam at the mouth while parents buy a handful of games.
I worked at a gamestop at some times and I would cry on the inside every time a parent would walk in and buy like 5 new releases while I could only afford 1 maybe 2 max and have to wait a month or two before I could save enough for another one.
I remember being a kid and having to do chores around the house for like 25-50 cents and saving up for a game. Nowadays kids going into stores with their parents and foam at the mouth while parents buy a handful of games.
I worked at a gamestop at some times and I would cry on the inside every time a parent would walk in and buy like 5 new releases while I could only afford 1 maybe 2 max and have to wait a month or two before I could save enough for another one.
I think it's still more of an anti-obesity crusade. God knows if I didn't have video games I'd be outside running laps around this giant lake.
I couldn't agree more. I read Gamepolitics.com all the time and I really think they have the wrong approach. I teach middle school and am disgusted at how many of my students don't have homework done and complain to me about being too busy, but can play Cod:WaW from 4 until 11. I know because I have their gamertags.
One kid came to school all sad because his dad was making him got to Six Flags one weekend and he wanted to play in a game tournament. He thought I would understand and he would get some sympathy from me.
This may seem like a different argument, but it's actually one in the same. Parents need to get their kids to put the controllers down and make sure they go outside and do their homework. All Obama is encouraging is responsible parenting and I'm all for that.
I may play video games a lot now, but I'm also a martial arts instructor and I would love to see parents encouraging their kids to come to Aikido. The kids would be active and the parents would be taking an active role in their kids' lives.
One kid came to school all sad because his dad was making him got to Six Flags one weekend and he wanted to play in a game tournament. He thought I would understand and he would get some sympathy from me.
This may seem like a different argument, but it's actually one in the same. Parents need to get their kids to put the controllers down and make sure they go outside and do their homework. All Obama is encouraging is responsible parenting and I'm all for that.
I may play video games a lot now, but I'm also a martial arts instructor and I would love to see parents encouraging their kids to come to Aikido. The kids would be active and the parents would be taking an active role in their kids' lives.
You know, I'd actually feel like agreeing with Obama, but what with the violence that happens these days just outside your doorstep, I think it would be safer to just strap the PS3 to a treadmill and let the problem solve itself.
Well, it should have been known to anyone well before the election that Obama was planning an all out assault on video games as a platform to attacking greater freedom of speech issues. It's been on the democratic agenda for a while, and people in his Cabinet like Hillary cut their teeth on things like the Hot Coffee contreversy. The thing is that their smart and don't put all their eggs in one basket, they attack gaming on every front possible hoping that if they succeed on one front it will make things easier on the other fronts.
Truthfully the same criticisms of video games (including the fat, lazy, and stupid stuff) were made about comic books. That kid should be running around instead of reading "Tales From The Crypt", reading those funny books cause all his problems! OMG the violence, gore, and adult elements in these books are responsible for the problems today! ... and it just went on from there.
Let me be painfully blunt, no form of escapism is any more harmful than any other. People are going to find ways to lose themselves in fantasy. As society faces more problems, and the rat race grows more intense, you of course see more people seeking to lose themselves in whatever medium, this includes kids.
It's also important to note that we're dealing with "The Lost Generation" as well. Gen Xers had *NO* chance, we were told about this for decades. Sitting down and saying "see that 30 year old depressed nerd who never moved out of his parents house? video games caused that!" is simply a way of avoiding the whole issue that it's happened so frequently because the oppertunities that existed for Baby Boomers don't exist for Gen Xers because they are still held by Baby Boomers!
Okay, well enough rambling there, but I will also touch on another issue: The idea that kids should go outside and play.
Let's be blunt, society is what killed this. Yes, once there was a time when the neighborhood children would go romping through the streets getting into all kinds of mischief. Alas, while immortalized in Disney movies and family fare the reality is that people on the receiving end of having packs of kids running all over the place didn't much care for it. As a result in many areas unsupervised children roaming a neighborhood can get the parents in trouble. On a personal level, you might like the idea of the kids playing outside, but you don't want them running through YOUR yard.
The supervision aspect also become an issue because in a society where both parents are working, nobody is around to supervise the kids. At a certain age almost every kid needs to become self sufficient, and the only relatively safe place to be is in the home.
This is to say nothing of all of the predators, freaks, and sickos out there. When in many places you literally have a pusher on every corner, and kids disappear "going outside to play" in defiance of the general trends often enough to fill the walls of every Wal*Mart with notices... well you see the issues. For all their whining about their kids not being active, parents don't want them outside either.
"But Therumancer, what about going down to the local blacktop and shooting some hoops". Well sometime check out most of the places where "kids" play "Streetball". The "kids" are typically young adults, and mostly of the type few people want to be rolemodels or trust around their kids. As odd as it might sound a lot of these areas are now staked out by turf, sometimes by gangs, sometimes not, but in general a lot of the places NBA players from a generation or so again fondly reminice about will actually chase off children because they keep them reserved for "money games only". Simply put people gambling on the various games, matchups, and players. Too much is at stake at these "meets" for them to just move on and let a bunch of 10 and 12 year olds play, and after all they were there first (and trust me, someone is ALWAYS going to be there first). Not to mention of course all the pushers and such who hang out to sell to the winners, or bet their own money.
Heck, the 12 year old kid in the schoolyard might actually BE a pusher nowadays, they do try and get kids hooked that young.
The point of this is that with rare exception, kids don't roam for some pretty good reasons. In some places typically urban and suburban enviroments it's too dangerous, and even the whining parents realize this on some level. In more rural, and purely residential areas, the residents don't want the kids hanging out and might even have passed community rules about it.
Sure it would be nice if things were differant, but honestly Obama needs to work on changing the world, and honestly the kids are no longer where you start but the end result of certain efforts... and of course while everyone knows what needs to be done we spend all our time argueing about it and what order to do things in.
While somewhat misognyistic I will point out that Obama's efforts to get women to go to school and become more independant are sort of counter-productive with the idea of seeing more active children since it's ultimatly encouraging both parents to be out of comission. If you had more housewives like the much mocked "good 'ol days" then you might see more children roaming like the "good 'ol days" since there would be some degree of parental supervision as opposed to kids coming home to an empty house, or mostly being active when the parent who is doing a shift at home is so dead tired from work that all they can do is sleep.
Video games are just escapism and have NOTHING to do with the conditions that lead to people seeking them for escapism.
Make the world worth living in and then maybe more people will. Sadly I can't see Obama doing it because while well intentioned on many levels, he's too oriented on protecting the kinds of people that contribute to the problem. I'm for example the kind of guy who believes in building more prisons to warehouse the pushers and such, while turning more things like old school LA "CRASH" units and the disbanded NYC "Street Crimes Unit" with a free hand to sweep the trash off the streets so parents don't have to worry as much about their kids being outside (and I mean this literally, not as political rhetoric as many do). But Obama is the sort who might give a "tough on crime" speech but actually seems to be more about protecting the "rights" of criminals and human sleazepits than getting them off the streets.
If I was in power I would be hated so much that Bush would look popular in comparison. But I would get results. One of the problems with the US is that the people are resistant to sudden, radical change, and once changes start happening power shifts and it goes back in the other direction. I'd end that. You'd have unprecedented free speech with which to express your hate for me, as I turned cops loose with authority in some areas that would make Judge Dredd look like Andy Griffith.
Okay, okay. I'm going too far and this is too long and rambling. I doubt many even read this far (if you did, award yourself 2 kewkie points and list them somewhere on your profile).
Truthfully the same criticisms of video games (including the fat, lazy, and stupid stuff) were made about comic books. That kid should be running around instead of reading "Tales From The Crypt", reading those funny books cause all his problems! OMG the violence, gore, and adult elements in these books are responsible for the problems today! ... and it just went on from there.
Let me be painfully blunt, no form of escapism is any more harmful than any other. People are going to find ways to lose themselves in fantasy. As society faces more problems, and the rat race grows more intense, you of course see more people seeking to lose themselves in whatever medium, this includes kids.
It's also important to note that we're dealing with "The Lost Generation" as well. Gen Xers had *NO* chance, we were told about this for decades. Sitting down and saying "see that 30 year old depressed nerd who never moved out of his parents house? video games caused that!" is simply a way of avoiding the whole issue that it's happened so frequently because the oppertunities that existed for Baby Boomers don't exist for Gen Xers because they are still held by Baby Boomers!
Okay, well enough rambling there, but I will also touch on another issue: The idea that kids should go outside and play.
Let's be blunt, society is what killed this. Yes, once there was a time when the neighborhood children would go romping through the streets getting into all kinds of mischief. Alas, while immortalized in Disney movies and family fare the reality is that people on the receiving end of having packs of kids running all over the place didn't much care for it. As a result in many areas unsupervised children roaming a neighborhood can get the parents in trouble. On a personal level, you might like the idea of the kids playing outside, but you don't want them running through YOUR yard.
The supervision aspect also become an issue because in a society where both parents are working, nobody is around to supervise the kids. At a certain age almost every kid needs to become self sufficient, and the only relatively safe place to be is in the home.
This is to say nothing of all of the predators, freaks, and sickos out there. When in many places you literally have a pusher on every corner, and kids disappear "going outside to play" in defiance of the general trends often enough to fill the walls of every Wal*Mart with notices... well you see the issues. For all their whining about their kids not being active, parents don't want them outside either.
"But Therumancer, what about going down to the local blacktop and shooting some hoops". Well sometime check out most of the places where "kids" play "Streetball". The "kids" are typically young adults, and mostly of the type few people want to be rolemodels or trust around their kids. As odd as it might sound a lot of these areas are now staked out by turf, sometimes by gangs, sometimes not, but in general a lot of the places NBA players from a generation or so again fondly reminice about will actually chase off children because they keep them reserved for "money games only". Simply put people gambling on the various games, matchups, and players. Too much is at stake at these "meets" for them to just move on and let a bunch of 10 and 12 year olds play, and after all they were there first (and trust me, someone is ALWAYS going to be there first). Not to mention of course all the pushers and such who hang out to sell to the winners, or bet their own money.
Heck, the 12 year old kid in the schoolyard might actually BE a pusher nowadays, they do try and get kids hooked that young.
The point of this is that with rare exception, kids don't roam for some pretty good reasons. In some places typically urban and suburban enviroments it's too dangerous, and even the whining parents realize this on some level. In more rural, and purely residential areas, the residents don't want the kids hanging out and might even have passed community rules about it.
Sure it would be nice if things were differant, but honestly Obama needs to work on changing the world, and honestly the kids are no longer where you start but the end result of certain efforts... and of course while everyone knows what needs to be done we spend all our time argueing about it and what order to do things in.
While somewhat misognyistic I will point out that Obama's efforts to get women to go to school and become more independant are sort of counter-productive with the idea of seeing more active children since it's ultimatly encouraging both parents to be out of comission. If you had more housewives like the much mocked "good 'ol days" then you might see more children roaming like the "good 'ol days" since there would be some degree of parental supervision as opposed to kids coming home to an empty house, or mostly being active when the parent who is doing a shift at home is so dead tired from work that all they can do is sleep.
Video games are just escapism and have NOTHING to do with the conditions that lead to people seeking them for escapism.
Make the world worth living in and then maybe more people will. Sadly I can't see Obama doing it because while well intentioned on many levels, he's too oriented on protecting the kinds of people that contribute to the problem. I'm for example the kind of guy who believes in building more prisons to warehouse the pushers and such, while turning more things like old school LA "CRASH" units and the disbanded NYC "Street Crimes Unit" with a free hand to sweep the trash off the streets so parents don't have to worry as much about their kids being outside (and I mean this literally, not as political rhetoric as many do). But Obama is the sort who might give a "tough on crime" speech but actually seems to be more about protecting the "rights" of criminals and human sleazepits than getting them off the streets.
If I was in power I would be hated so much that Bush would look popular in comparison. But I would get results. One of the problems with the US is that the people are resistant to sudden, radical change, and once changes start happening power shifts and it goes back in the other direction. I'd end that. You'd have unprecedented free speech with which to express your hate for me, as I turned cops loose with authority in some areas that would make Judge Dredd look like Andy Griffith.
Okay, okay. I'm going too far and this is too long and rambling. I doubt many even read this far (if you did, award yourself 2 kewkie points and list them somewhere on your profile).
I agree with both of you. Too much video games are bad for you. It's as simple as that. That doesn't mean they're bad. Too much food is bad for you, so is too much time spent inside reading a book. It's just about moderation, that's all.
I am glad i am one of those kinds who actually go out and do stuff.
i ride my bike several miles to friends houses... to play video games.
I play an instrament.... wait does Guitar Hero count?
.....
I.... AH! I Scuba Dive (No bs i swear!). that is physical activity that doesnt tie into gaming!
i ride my bike several miles to friends houses... to play video games.
I play an instrament.... wait does Guitar Hero count?
.....
I.... AH! I Scuba Dive (No bs i swear!). that is physical activity that doesnt tie into gaming!
Well said. The guy can't even use videogames as a metaphor and everyone is on his throat. Are we, gamers, so scarred by years of being considered nerds that we cannot live with anyone not lauding them as a higher art form?
Also, I'd vote for Therumancer. Of course, I'm not American, but if he succeeded I'd stage a coup and do the same thing in Brazil. If he didn't, hey, cheaper imports!
Also, I'd vote for Therumancer. Of course, I'm not American, but if he succeeded I'd stage a coup and do the same thing in Brazil. If he didn't, hey, cheaper imports!
I agree with this. Up until the age of 12 I was fine. I didnt care much for video games, then i moved around and got disconnected and my PS2 became all i did during the summer until i was in school, got forced interaction and made friends, then all the games took a back seat for a while. However most kids once ripped from the social womb find friends in their games and thusly gain weight, and become anti-social. If i could i would be doing laps up and down my streetmegapenguinx said:
I have to say that I wholeheartedly agree with your (America's) current slave-master (President), gaming isn't everything... But neither is Facebook, MySpace or Twitter. All of which I think are much larger threats to the well-being of the human-race, as well as being the worlds most popular penis-length competitions... Yeah, that's right, I went there.
--Xvito, fearing for the worlds future excellency.
--Xvito, fearing for the worlds future excellency.
Video games are an art form, and thus can be used for good as well as evil. "Instill a sense of excellence in your children" is a great moral, and we can use video games to do so. It's not like all we play is Galaga (although I freakin' love that game).