Obama Advises Fathers to "Turn Off the Videogames"

[Pinstar]

So, Mr. President, can I take it that this comment means you actually see parents as having a choice in what their kids play, and therefor do not need to treat every M/bordering AO game as a sinister device being marketed directly to children by virtue of it being a game. After all, you just affirmed your confidence that Fathers (and by extension, parents in general) are actually capable of making wise gaming decisions on their own.

 

[The SettingSun]

He just made one comment about about fathers needing to take responsibility for their kids. He isn't launching a vendetta against videogames or anything.

 

[Owlslayer]

Hey, USA, nice president you've got there.
Seriously, not kidding. Said it nicely, not anything rage-inducing or whatnot.
Fathers, spend time with your kids, don't take the easy way out, aka plugging in the TV and console/PC

And i think 13 is a bit young to read Game of Thrones. But that's just my opinion.
Also, the old captcha's back. And i dislike it. The old one was nicer, cleaner.

 

[tigermilk]

My six-year-old son enjoys Minecraft and various flash games, and is trying to get into Portal but he gets very concerned about the turrets. (As if turrets weren't adorable enough already.)

His kindergarten followed a literacy program called 100 Book Challenge this year, and the goal was to read four hundred books by the end of the year (we're not talking novels here, at his age level books are pretty short).

He finished the year having read 1092 books, with probably half of them having been read with me following along to fix any mistakes. I'd guess he's doing well with his reading and time spent with me.

These comments aside I think it's worthwhile to discuss the importance of reading and of putting down games, there are a lot of kids who do too much of the former and not enough of the latter.

If I wasn't 28 I would be sending you adoption papers!

Good to see a thread and specific post where it isn't people taking it as a personal slight that a) Obama uses 'games' as a general term and people therefore complain that Valve/Bethesda produce a pure as the driven snow high culture where as activision produce child abuse imagery and b) A politician possibly removed from "gaming culture" isn't placating the mythic "Fox audience" with "boo games rhetoric".

 

[Formica Archonis]

So, Mr. President, can I take it that this comment means you actually see parents as having a choice in what their kids play,

Oh, heavens, no. To burn a woman, you have to kill the cop first. [http://abcnews.go.com/Technology/high-court-case-violent-games-tests-limits-speech/story?id=11990344] No parent can just play the game and know everything in it.

(Hehe.)

 

[SammiYin]

Calamity, advising parents to regulate the amount of games their children play and have some family time!
Gosh, being more attached to your parents than your xbox must be hell

 

[Jake Martinez]

I love video games. I really, really do. I have been playing them non-stop as my primary form of entertainment for over 20 years now.

That being said, I think the President is right. The vast majority of American kids need to put down the god damn controller and pick up a book. The inability of most people to effectively communicate themselves, or understand written or spoken language runs rampant in our society. It inhibits the ability of individuals to work together, to collaborate on complex issues and to reason.

I say this as a scientist, a software developer, and an avid gamer - language is our most valuable tool as human beings and it forms the basis of all human achievement. Reading fosters language in a way that no other format currently does. It promotes understanding, reasoning, problem solving and expands vocabulary (and the ideas/concepts attached to the new words).

In any case, people get enjoyment from reading as well as education. It's a fantastic medium for growing your mind, learning new concepts and ideas and broadening your perception of the world - far beyond what modern video games are capable of. I fully support telling kids to read more and game less. Hell, I wish kids could get as much fun out of doing math as they do reading... then we might really start getting somewhere.

 

[rileyrulesu]

I don't know, maybe it's just me, but my favorite quality time I remember was when my dad and I would play perfect dark together, or he'd help me with Mario 64!

 

[Scarim Coral]

If his suggestion help lessen the whole "blaming games for their child actions" then I'm ok with it.

I do got to admit he does raise a point since I play games more then I have ever reading books at the moment.

 

[Jamous]

I have no problems with this; surely it's a good thing; although I do read plenty anyway, so maybe I'm a little biased... Meh. Still a good thing.

 

[Wandrecanada]

You see if Obama were a good father he'd have learned that sitting down with your kids and playing games WITH them instead of commanding them to sit cloistered with a book by themselves might improve their learning experiences. It might also teach them to appreciate time with their father instead of learning he's an aloof stick in the mud with no interest in children.

 

[ho Huios tes Moiras]

As much as I agree with Obama about parents spending time with kids, as well as reading (very much the reading; my bookcase that is warping the floating wood floor will tell you how much I advocate reading), there's no reason you can't spend time with your kids while playing video games. Aside from the fact that there are a lot of kid-friendly games for Wii and Kinect (mostly Wii, of course), plus some great kid-friendly co-op games like LBP2, just the fact that both kids and adults can play video games provides great common ground that didn't really exist before this generation, where the parents are the people who grew up with Odyssey, NES, Genesis, SNES, Atari 2600, Dreamcast, Saturn, and PlayStation, in addition to knowing how great a social experience it can be from having lived through the era of the video arcade.

This episode [http://www.cracked.com/article_18819_the-4-most-important-things-to-know-as-gamer-parent.html] of the Ben Heck show also shows how parents can even turn normally 1-player games into a shared experience with their kids. (Figuring out how to build the set yourself alongside your kid would probably also be a good shared experience, as well as teaching a lot about electronics, which is becoming an increasingly important skill in today's society, even before you consider jobs in the field.)

 

[CM156_v1legacy]

You know, I'm no Obama fan at all(Let's not get into this). And yet I kind of agree with what he is saying.

He's not so much saying that video games are bad, but that he wants fathers to spend time with their children. This can be done many ways. Books are one. Others go fishing. What's important is that you spend time together.

I can remember my fondest memories with my father, watching him play a N64 while going through kemo. He would always talk with me about something durring those times.

So in short, despite me not liking your other policies, good move, Mr. President.

 

[Sir_Auron_the_Badass]

When I was a kid, I wished that my father could play some games with me, even for 5 minutes... [/foreveralone]

I know what you mean, my parents don't necessarily hate video games, but won't really touch them either. The one time they actually tried to play a video game was at a New Year's party with Guitar Hero, and they were terrible at it (albeit being a bit drunk). From this they decided not to play any other games at all. This is sad because even though they still generally get at least a few hours of free time a day, they would usually spend it watching mediocre TV shows, declining any invitations from my siblings and I on joining us with some multi-player games.

 

[FoolKiller]

"to encourage them to turn off the videogames and pick up a book; to teach them the difference between right and wrong; to show them through our own example the value in treating one another as we wish to be treated. And most of all, to play an active and engaged role in their lives," Obama wrote, with the emphasis mine.

I have a couple of problems with the way it is phrased.

1. The way it is written subtly equates video games with being wrong. I think that is a fairly narrow-minded statement. Now personally I don't think that he meant it as a bash on video games as much of an urge to read books, but it comes across as such.

2. The irony about the whole thing makes me laugh. He encourages being active and engaged in a child's life but video games can be a social interaction between parent and child. I remember my dad playing Pac-Man with me, taking turns, teaching me strategies. The ironic thing about his statement is that he is encouraging a solitary activity over the social one.

 

[SemiHumanTarget]

That's not how semi-colons work in this situation. It's just rattling off a list of things parents could be doing better. And what's wrong with that? I think the message overall is games are fine in moderation. He's clearly not crusading against video games as some inherently evil or mind-rotting experience, unlike a majority of Republicans.

And reading a book gets you places in life. Nobody takes you seriously in the real world if you can't cite a few serious books you like that aren't fantasy novels. Is there really any harm in getting a kid started early on this?

 

[vortexgods]

Dear Mr. President, when my daughter was more interested in a book I gave her than the Nintendo DS games I gave her, I repeated the wisdom of my favorite philosophers, Beavis and Butthead, "Books are for losers, if I wanted to read I'd go to school." She still spent more time with the book though. I have failed as a parent.

 

[silversnake4133]

I really hate that "adults" or people over 40 (to my generation) constantly view video games as an evil past time that only rots the brains of those who play them. They just don't seem to understand that video games are a way that we relax, have fun, make friends over the internet, etc. They seem to forget that most games have morals and classic story archetypes that instructors teach in literature classes. There are also games like Minecraft that teaches people to be resourceful when they are out in the wild (like what they need in order to survive (shelter, food, water) and it also encourages players to experiment with what they have or can find. Granted Minecraft is very superficial and it wasn't meant to be taken seriously, but it's a decent example of how even the simplest of game concepts can create the tools for future architects, artists, and business men and women (farmers too). Portal is famous for its physics puzzles and its simple problem solving using whatever is available to the player.

So, I (along with plenty of others) just wish that the people of these older generations would see past the stereotype of both games and the people who play them. Especially since gaming is the next big platform for expansion for entertainment and daily life.

 

[Grahav]

Applied not only to videogames but to all kind of cyber, imaginary or real babysitters. Parents are delegating too much nowadays.

 

[Beautiful End]

"to encourage them to turn off the videogames and pick up a book; to teach them the difference between right and wrong; to show them through our own example the value in treating one another as we wish to be treated. And most of all, to play an active and engaged role in their lives," Obama wrote, with the emphasis mine.

I have a couple of problems with the way it is phrased.

1. The way it is written subtly equates video games with being wrong. I think that is a fairly narrow-minded statement. Now personally I don't think that he meant it as a bash on video games as much of an urge to read books, but it comes across as such.

2. The irony about the whole thing makes me laugh. He encourages being active and engaged in a child's life but video games can be a social interaction between parent and child. I remember my dad playing Pac-Man with me, taking turns, teaching me strategies. The ironic thing about his statement is that he is encouraging a solitary activity over the social one.

Damn, I was ninja'd. Those were my thoughts exactly.

I'm all up for reading books and all, but it doesn't mean video games are evil as that statement makes it sound. Heck, there are some pretty good, educational games out there. Not every game is a GTA remake, you know! Of course, if people bothered to play at least a couple of good games before casting judgment, they'd know.