Dad says no to COD, takes kids to real warzone

[Marik2]

That's dad of the year right there. He didn't put his kids in harms way. He just took them to see what real war does to real people. And that's important. Too often are people apathetic towards such things because "out of sight, out of mind" is a thing. He should let them play The Witcher 3 though.

He should also let them play Metal Gear Solid, since it has a strong anti war message and shows how war affects different people. It's the only series that I can think of that shows there are multiple sides to the conflict and no country is as righteous as they think.

 

[Not Lord Atkin]

The boys seem old enough to comprehend what they saw. I think that's a great approach to parenting - better than pretending war does not exist. Teaching the kids to appreciate the difference between the fun, shooty gameplay and real world warfare is extremely responsible of him.

not to mention the fact that he gave them the choice of whether they wanted the game or not after having the oportunity to better understand the implications of violence... I just don't see the down side there.

 

[Weaver]

And with that comes the responsibility to educate ourselves and not just become zombies playing video games and consuming hamburgers.

I just completely burst out laughing when I read the hamburgers part. I think cause I was expecting the sentence to end at "Not just become zombies playing video games." but he just snuck that hamburger jab on the end completely unsolicited and seemingly having really little to do with the article. Oh man *wipes tear*.

 

[ADDLibrarian]

When his kids want to play Portal, he'll take them to a laboratory where they do experiments on living things, right?
When his kids want to play Super Mario Bros, he'll make them career shadow a real plumber, right?
When his kids want to play Pokemon, they're going to shove the family pet into a plastic egg, right?
When his kids want to play Journey, he'll take them on an existential trip across a barren wasteland, right?

His little indulgent social experiment is ridiculous, dangerous, and unnecessary. We all know that pushing buttons is JUST like firing a real gun, right? I agree-teach them the difference between fantasy and the real world. I'm all for teaching them about war. But there are ways to do this that DON'T involve dragging your kids to another country and immersing them in real life misery.

If they've learned anything, it's to never ask daddy if they can play video games again.

 

[prpshrt]

Good parenting but I hope it's more so that the kids have some sort of context because they're really young and don't really understand rather than "videogames = violence/mindless zombie failure". If it's the first, good on him! If it's the second, that would be rather disappointing.

 

[Vault101]

Dad says no to Aliens Colonial Marines, hires own tap-dancing xenomorph
.

in the dark

just as theyre going to sleep

now that will traumatise a kid...

 

[Muspelheim]

The quote and thread topic are inconclusive. Was it an actual warzone (e.g. current eastern Ukraine), a place where there's always some armed conflict not far away (e.g. Izrael, Somalia) or just a place where there was war in the not too distant past and now it's still recovering (Yugoslavia area)?

And how old are the kids?

I think seeing the effect of war is good education for everyone, within reason. That's why in Poland and other countries, school trips are often taken to WWII concentration camps. I'm sure war ruins are also popular places to visit. An actual warzone... I guess is not the best place to be with kids <18.

Interestingly, I think there is an educational program for holocaust denialists in most Nordic countries that also involves a visit to an extermination camp. Of course, that is less about "Here is the real deal, just so you know what it is" and more about "Yes, this did happen. See for yourself."

(The ethics of that could probably be discussed, but "Nah, didn't happen" simply don't and shouldn't fly in a history class, and providing real proof instead of just a big fat F problably won't hurt)

Mixed feelings on this, It's good he's not spoiling his kids or sheltering them but I get a 'video-game violence/war is analogous to real violence/war' feeling to this which doesn't sit well with me.

I find it to be quite the opposite. It starkly highlights that the two are not analogous, and that games emphasize fun, excitement and romance of a subject that is in truth wall to wall horror. It sucks some of the appeal out of such games, to be sure, but it is something people should be raised to be aware of.

Even if one decides to go ahead and enjoy such games in the future, it is best for everyone to know not to take them too seriously, and the sooner that is understood the better off we tend to be.

I remember growing up with people that had shaped a large chunk of their worldview on CoD-esque media, and couldn't really tell the distinction between pretend fun war and the real thing. The more I think back, the more I find myself understanding his decision. Perhaps it's a much better idea than it sounds on paper?

 

[Dragonlayer]

Hmmm....

On the one hand, I applaud the father's ingenuity and I fully approve of eduamacating those damn kids. On the other hand, it does sound like his kids wanted to play COD and he responded: "Oh, you want to play a fun game? Well FUCK YOU! LOOK AT THIS MISERY! YOU ARE INDIRECTLY RESPONSIBLE FOR THIS BECAUSE YOU WANTED TO PLAY A WAR GAME!"

 

[visiblenoise]

Bad title, the dad never said no...and at no point did the article even hint that the dad disapproves of people playing Call of Duty as a thing in itself.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

Well, it's all in good spirit. From the headline I was waiting for a dad to force a kid to go into a warzone, not offer the kid the opportunity to go through interviews and meaningful visits and get a video game on top of it. Life lessons, yo.

On the other hand, he still took his impressionable kid to a warzone because he wanted a video game that millions of people are playing. That's... a bit like showing your kid a porno when they ask what sex is. Not really, but sort of.

 

[RealRT]

That's dad of the year right there. He didn't put his kids in harms way. He just took them to see what real war does to real people. And that's important. Too often are people apathetic towards such things because "out of sight, out of mind" is a thing. He should let them play The Witcher 3 though.

Why do I get the feeling he'll get them into a brothel for interviews and sights if they tell him they want to play a Witcher game?

 

[lacktheknack]

I'm all for teaching them about war. But there are ways to do this that DON'T involve dragging your kids to another country and immersing them in real life misery.

Quite frankly, more people could do with being immersed in misery (particularly on this site).

What's wrong with being exposed to human suffering? It's more visceral and it gets the point across. Do you think it's unhealthy? I think that remaining sheltered your whole life against reality is way less healthy.

When I told people that I'm leaving the country for six months, they assumed I was going to Europe or the tropics. Pffft. I'm going to Russia, one of the two least stable second-world countries in the world right now, and Cambodia, the site of brutal genocides. And it's not a vacation, it's missionary outreach and labor charity. We need MORE people out getting their hands dirty where the world hurts, not fewer.

The younger we get people doing it, the more likely they'll KEEP doing it when they mature.

I can go for that.

 

[marurder]

I think that dad has exactly the right approach to this. More parents should be like this. There are REAL consequences to fighting and war that just aren't shown/talked about in games. Let alone COD. A moronic father WOULD give his (I have to assume young) kids COD with no context or supervision.

 

[carnex]

Bad title, the dad never said no...and at no point did the article even hint that the dad disapproves of people playing Call of Duty as a thing in itself.

That is my mistake, and a bit of sensationalism to be honest. Well, it sounded too good to pass. My mistake and I-m sorry for it.

The quote and thread topic are inconclusive. Was it an actual warzone (e.g. current eastern Ukraine), a place where there's always some armed conflict not far away (e.g. Izrael, Somalia) or just a place where there was war in the not too distant past and now it's still recovering (Yugoslavia area)?

And how old are the kids?

I think seeing the effect of war is good education for everyone, within reason. That's why in Poland and other countries, school trips are often taken to WWII concentration camps. I'm sure war ruins are also popular places to visit. An actual warzone... I guess is not the best place to be with kids <18.

No.1 read the article, your questions are proof enough that you didn't

No.2 I'm from ex YU and believe me, ex YU would be a bad example. We bounced back incredibly fast mentally and great majority of fighting happened outside urban areas. Also there are no refugee camps and other such places outside camps for people who actually immigrate to this countries. Yes, there are people far worse off than we are and we are waist deep in shit. Bosnia would be the best bet but even then you would only get stories of glorified satanization of other side.

 

[4173]

And with that comes the responsibility to educate ourselves and not just become zombies playing video games and consuming hamburgers.

I just completely burst out laughing when I read the hamburgers part. I think cause I was expecting the sentence to end at "Not just become zombies playing video games." but he just snuck that hamburger jab on the end completely unsolicited and seemingly having really little to do with the article. Oh man *wipes tear*.

Dad's a moron; zombies eat brains, not hamburgers.



Dad says no to Deus Ex, cuts off kids arms and gives them prosthetics (kids say they didn't ask for this).

 

[Jandau]

When video games skirt too close to the real world, it might be beneficial to make sure kids know the difference. Raising a generation used to slaughtering a real-world ethnic group could use a bit of tempering.

Personally, I grew up in Croatia, one of the countries that came out of the dissolution of Yugoslavia at the start of the 90ies. And it wasn't a peaceful dissolution. I was lucky, the war front never reached my city, but I did spend nights in bomb shelters, my best friend in school was a refugee, I got to see people coming back from the front all messed up and for years after the war ended mass graves and other such surprises kept popping up. I never had any illusions that war was anything other than hell and went into any games with that knowledge. That being said, I never liked Modern Military Shooters...

Now, I'm not saying that video games cause violence and all that crap, but it still bears keeping an eye on. The only real case study are current 30-somethings who grew up blowing up large colorful pixels. The jury is still out on kids who spent formative years slaughtering various shades of brown people in photorealistic simulations. And while I don't think this automatically translates into bloodthirsty violence, I could see it affecting how their value systems develop and perhaps some perspective on what exactly DOES happen in such real world scenarios might be a good thing. Growing up shouldn't be all flowers, unicorns and butterflies...

 

[BathorysGraveland2]

What's wrong with just sitting them down and having a chat to them? Whenever I'd watch serious movies, or horror movies, my mother always talked to me about it and told me that it isn't real. That it's all done by actors. That's all I needed. This sounds way excessive to me.

 

[The Almighty Aardvark]

Dad says no to Octodad, sends kids to live with an octopus for a month
Dad says no to Spore, has kids raise civilization from petri dish instead

I think it's a good idea. I feel that most kids are way too sheltered (myself being one of them) having some real life experience with what a warzone is like would probably be a valuable experience without the game