Poll: should parents monitor what video games their children are playing?

[Erin Wright]

Monitoring, yes; video game tyranny, no. They know their child well enough to know whether or not they have the ability to handle a game. My parents knew what I was into and if they thought I was old enough to handle it, they saw no problem with me having or playing it. This meant I played several games before the recommended age but they were cool with it and I'm no the worse for ware. Also they, like many others I see posted, played along with me. It gave them an opportunity to see just what I found entertaining and to just talk and have fun with me.

 

[similar.squirrel]

Yep. Same as movies, television and books. As long as they're not trying to filter 'un-Christian' content or some shit like that, it's completely acceptable.

 

[The_Deleted]

My son is five and has been gaming since he could hold a controller. He first took an interest in getting in and out of cars in GTA and since then has become just as keen a gamer as his old man.
Obviously as a responsible parent, it's my job, and my job alone, to dictate what I deem appropriate and what he should not be exposed to.

The main issue for me is context, there is a difference between violence as defence and violence as outright aggression. So while I'm happy enough for him to play through Mercenaries 2, I do get a bit uncomfortable when he plays Red Faction: Guerilla. In Mercs the lines of right and wrong are quite clear, but in RF:G he has a tendency to attack civilians who don't retaliate, and then keep shooting at them when they drop. This made me uncomfortable, so RF:G has been removed from his, already impressive, library.

To put it in some context, my son, Thomas, is the least aggressive 5 year old you could meet, indeed, he's soft as shite. But he does enjoy, nay love, the fantasy that gaming, movies. books, comics and his own imagination afford him, but by attacking civilians who don't defend themselves, or in the case of Mercs 2 get the hell out of his way, I felt he was getting a negative reinforcement of how to treat others, which goes against everything I have taught him as a parent.

A more immediate concern, however, is bad language in games. Anything with excessive or strong swearing is an automatic no-no. I also make sure that his gaming opportunities are varied and in some way educational: Scribblenauts, Elite Beat Agents (though he prefers Osu! Tatakae! Ouendan,) Little Big Planet, and Ratchet & Clank all offer different experiences that promote lateral thinking, quick reflexes or allow him to explore his creativity in other ways.

He has played through the opening of God of War (before the sex part) and is desperate to play Aliens Vs. Predator, but while the violence in the opening of GoW was all aimed at fantasy, Harryhausen style monsters the rest of the game gets far more visceral. And AVs.P is just a flat No Chance.

As he gets older, I won't deny him the thrill of playing games or seeing films he shouldn't, but I'd also have to be sure that he is emotionally ready to experience these fantastic works of art and continues to be the happy, social and considerate individual he is. And that, as with all of his upbringing, is my responsibility and no one else's.

 

[Nuke_em_05]

Parent of six weeks here, so I doubt that counts, but I think Yes anyway.

Know what they are playing, and know if it is appropriate for them. Not their "age bracket" or "grade-level", them your particular kid. Intervene as necessary, either remove it until a later date, or take the opportunity to address it.

I'm not sure what the "depends on the kid" option means. It depends on your kid if you parent them or not? Some kids... don't need parenting? I mean, how would you make that call without monitoring them in some way first? I can see this fitting if the question was specific "restricting X game(s)", then it would depend on the child, but the monitoring is what determines that... so... yeah. Oh well.

Edit: reading some of the responses, I guess I'm a little confused. The title phrasing "...monitor what video games their children are playing" indicated to me "should parents be aware of what games (titles/genres) their children are playing" like, "I know billy plays 'the Sims', 'Farmville', and 'Smash Brothers'". However, I guess some people are reading it as "should parents monitor their children while specifically in the act of playing video games" like, "be glued to the tv watching their every move". To that, I would say "No", but that's an odd interpretation considering the wording.

 

[VoidWanderer]

I would say yes in the context that they know what the game is the child is playing and maybe play with them.

 

[Arawn]

I watched a lady yell at a store clerk because he refused to sell a game to her child. The game was rated M, and the child in question was 12-14 at best. It was obvious she either didn't know about games, or didn't pay attention to what the kid plays. I say parents should pay attention to what kids play merely for the fact they can't play said games when the child has problems they can't shift the blame elsewhere.

 

[Racecarlock]

Monitor, yes. Now restrictions on the other hand, well, it really depends on the parent. If the parent doesn't want their kid watching or playing mature material, they have every right to restrict them. However, if the parents get to know their kid, and teach him the difference between reality and fictional universes, then they should let them. Also they should be sure about whether or not the content in question will cause nightmares or other psychological trauma for their kid. If he/she passes those checks, then let the kid play. That tactic works. Trust me, my parents did that with me. I was playing vice city at 10 and I've only punched a kid once due to totally unrelated reasons, and even then I cried for the whole morning. I still regret that punch, and I played Marathon games at 6 or 7. The bottom line is, if your kid turns violent because of games(not likely) or otherwise, that's the parent's fault. It's not the manufacturer's fault, not the government's fault. If you don't know how to parent, don't have a kid. The government is not your babysitter. There's plenty of resources to help you. There's youtube gameplay footage, screenshots, back of box screenshots, descriptions on the internet and on the back of the box, and ratings boxes on game boxes telling you which disturbing content the game contains. Bottom line, pay attention. Ignoring your kid is the worst thing you can do as a parent, because they'll probably either end up dead or criminalized(wow, that's a word? cool).

 

[BabyRaptor]

What kind of question is this? Of course parents should do their bloody jobs. o.0

 

[putowtin]

yes, if you buy your kids games (or if the borrow one from a friend) then logic dictates that you should be aware of the game and it's content.
(and recomend better games when the one their playing is crap!)

 

[Sonicron]

Well, obviously parents can't monitor their kids' gaming activities all the time, but they should take a keen interest in what the youngins play just the same. This issue is the real crux of the ongoing attempts to regulate, censor or ban games altogether; instead of doing their fucking jobs as parents, people just buy their children any games they want and then get up in arms about games when their 11-year-old son starts displaying violent tendencies after his 900th match of Mortal Kombat.

 

[Julianking93]

Honestly, so long as the kid knows it's a game and the parents take some interest in it, what's the big deal?
I played M games since I was... hell, I don't even know. I believe the first one I played was Resident Evil 2 when I was 5. It scared the fuck out of me and I didn't want to play anything like it for a while after that. I think my parents recognised then that I at least know how to make decisions for myself.
Granted, if you encourage your kid to play GTA, then of course that's bad and you're a bad parent but cartoony violence never seemed like that big of a problem to me.
Of course, it would be nice to not have to be called racial slurs by a 12 year old every time I want to play TF2 >.>

I think the ideal and obvious solution would be simply to take an interest in what the kids are playing. The parents should, if the kid doesn't already know, that it's simply a game and if it's excessively violent, they should take action since.... you know, they're the goddamn parent.
Then again, it's not like only M rated games are violent.
I used to act out bits from Zelda with my friends as a kid when I was 6 or so and get hurt all the time but no one's ever up in arms about that.