The New Video Game Trend
When I was a boy I loved watching movies. I loved the smell of the popcorn, the taste of candy mixed with butter on my fingers, the larger-than-life sound of a high-budget film, crowding into a dark theater with lots of other anxious patrons, and of course there was the big screen! Watching movies on TV was okay, but what every kid really wanted was to experience the movies the way they were meant to be experienced: in the movie theater. Watching movies was one of the most entertaining things I did growing up.
Then very abruptly things changed. Sure I still went to the movies and still enjoyed the experience. Only I started going for different reasons. The new blockbuster wasn’t the only draw anymore. In fact what movie was playing became of little consequence. As adolescence crept in I became more interested in who I was meeting at the movies more than how a plot would unfold and anticipated who I would get to sit next to more than what the upcoming previews would be.
Just as I grew up being entertained by movies, many of you have students that have grown up being entertained playing video games. More recently the popularity and accessibility of the Internet has changed video games in almost every aspect. Regardless of what modern gaming console your students may have (even a computer) the games they play online look much different than video games did just a few years ago. Instead of playing against a computer whose responses can be anticipated and have an artificial feel to them, students now have the ability to play with other students that are just as real, just as smart, and just as unpredictable as themselves. While this online trend has changed the face of video games there is another, more fundamental, change occurring. The Internet has not only changed what video games look like, it has changed why your children play video games in the first place!
In the same way that I began going to the movie theater more to see my friends than to be entertained by the actors on the screen, the entertainment-factor of online video games is being replaced with social interaction that modern video games offer.
Parents of boys have been concerned about video games for some time now. Parents of only girls however have been able to largely ignore video game trends. However, according to recent reports(1) socializing is the most popular reason girls use the Internet. Since more and more video games and other technologies are moving to the Internet and offering interaction between peers, it makes sense that that same report also tells us that girls are now using the Internet at a slightly higher percentage than boys. Do not be surprised if you daughter begins showing interest in playing online video games more and more.
The Consequences Of This Online Trend
I didn’t exactly grow up in the stone ages, but when I started playing games online the technology was very different. It only enabled me to play against those I already knew. It just wasn’t possible to play against strangers. With the advent of the Internet, most online games allow and in fact encourage players to play with strangers. If you grew up near a neighborhood basketball court then you can understand how this works. Even when you met friends at the court perhaps you only had an odd number of players. Or you had 4 players and really wanted to play 3-on-3. Other times you just walked down to the court and tried to play a pick-up game with whoever was there. Whatever the specific situation is, you can see the position your parents would have put you in if they allowed you to play at the basketball court but only with people they knew. They would have put you in awkward situations that would have been very difficult to obey their wishes.
The same is true for playing online video games. Allowing your children to play modern online video games equates to allowing them to play online with strangers at least on occasion. While this is a concern, it’s probably for different reasons than you think. When we think about the dangers of meeting strangers on the Internet we immediately think about “chat rooms”. These are locations on the Internet designed to be where strangers go and communicate with each other, typically by typing back and forth. The dangers this presents our children seem obvious and it would seem the dangers for playing online video games with strangers are the same. As it turns out the more likely dangers are very different.
The more likely danger children will face when playing online games is the unbridled tongues of those they play against. The established video game rating system (ESRB) does not account for foul language that other players might use, only the language the game itself uses. Disrespectful attitudes and foul language run rampant in many online video games. Many games employ microphones so that language flows much more free than if players had to type all communication. A child chatting online with adult strangers is a concern all parents can appreciate. Alternatively, when it comes to playing online, your children are at risk of being exposed to foul language and attitudes regardless of the age of the strangers they play against. In fact a good rule of thumb is that the younger the adolescent your teen is playing with, the worse the language they hear.
While much of the language and attitudes students hear playing online games is offensive to most parents, it is probably no different than what they hear at a typical public or private school. The key deference there is those offensive remarks are no longer being left at the doorstep of the school but rather getting blasted into your home. Big difference! David was a man after God’s own heart. However he did not protect his home properly. He allowed his home to be in view of women bathing so that when he was relaxed with his guard down in his home, Satan was able to ensnare him. We must protect our homes if we are to be expected to protect anywhere.
So should children never be allowed to play online games? Perhaps. Many students will not be interested anyway. For those already playing or those very interested in playing online, perhaps you can offer to play with her or him. Once you see the game she plays you may find that online chatter is not an aspect of that particular game. Or your student, being hypersensitive because you are playing also, may realize how much foul language is present and actually see your point of view. If that does not work, try catching a flick together. Or better yet, take her to the neighborhood basketball court and try to play some pick-up games. Maybe I’ll see you there!
(1) Smart & Safe: Research and Guidelines for Children's Use of the Internet. Report funded by the Children's Television Workshop, National School Board Foundation, and Microsoft. Research conducted by Grunwald Associates and The Dieringer Research Group. 2000. [http://www.nsbf.org/safe-smart/full-report.htm].
