too young to play?

[Dissy]

I'd like to start a little discussion! :D

in germany a lot discussed topic and i think in yours too?!

can people be too young to play computer the hole day? I'm not talking about 1 or 2 hours per day, i talk about "come from school, jerk your bag in the corner and start the computer"-people. On a german szene-site a journalist wrote a short columne about this fact. I found it really great and will try to translate it later if some one is interesting in it.

but back to the topic. if u have a child thats 15 years old. would u play him computer as long as he want to? or would u set boundaries?

[Meee]

Definitely limit his/her time at computer. I know from my own experience that playing too long is bad in the long run, so if the child can't set boundaries on its own, you should do it.

[AvatarTM]

Siding with Meee, although it could be fun playing the whole day, I would limit him to the number of hours that he plays. Knowing that if you play for like 8 hours of computer gives you a real headach, for the user and the parent, lol

[proswimma]

I agree on setting boundaries. I set my own boundaries though. i.e. i dont play SC at all on school nights.

[mc2]

I'm 18 and still at school myself, and I think on school days a maximum of 3 hours is a good limit. "Come home and goes on the comp right away" is not a good thing, at least he could have something to eat or something. On weekends though I would play anywhere from 1 hour to 8 hours. My parents don't usually care because most of the time I would finish my homework and do some housework and get some exercise before jumping onto the computer.

Even my mum plays like 1 hours of spider solitaire each day :P but she usually stops quickly because she says her eyes are hurting from staring at the monitor. So playing too much it's not good for his health either. Though both me and my mum realises that computer games can get a bit addictive at times. So the key here is to show him that computer games are boring and other activities are fun. :)

[[LightMare]]

how ever annoying those boundaries are for me. i would have to. my child has to have a social life, and has to do exercise a lot. also, school work! i know i went down that path, and my mom took away my keyboard and mouse for a month =C. but during summer, the rule would be a lot more lax. it would go from 2 hours a day to like 5. but being the only kid without a television, i have a lot of spare time, yet my mom always complains about me wasting my life upstairs all the time. then i ask her: what do you want me to be doing right now? she never seems to be able to answer me. but i go for bike rides and i always go chill at friends' houses.
oh! when playing battle.net, you know you can't pause games succesfully ever, some noob resumes it 1 second later. i tell her i can't go. then she asks me: are you in control of your life? that really gets me thinking

[coalescence]

You should really not play for hours every day, no matter the age; have a life and don't be a human joke.

[JBL]

Sometimes youngers have problem to stay balanced.. so yeah.. it's good to limit them in certain ways...but too much is like not enough.. the parents should know what they are doing..

[paragon]

They should focus on their social life, not on computer games. Or else they will become socially inept and be very unhappy later in life. I've seen this happen to people.

[Agamemnon]

Well I have seen both ends of the spectrum. My freshman year of college roommate was/is/will forever be addicted to WoW. Im talking this kid would get up at 9am on the weekend and not move till about 4 am and he did nothing but WoW. During the weekdays he would go to class and come back and immediately sign on and play until about 12 or 1 am then he would do his hw as fast and as carelessly as possible and go to bed. After a while I just stopped trying to talk to him because he would completely ignore you if you weren't in front of his screen. Even when all the guys from my floor went to go eat and he came along (very rarely) he would be distant and non talkative because he was thinking about WoW in his head. His family set no guidelines for him and it totally ruined his future (I only say that because he lacks anything that passes for social skills and will not easily develop them). My other high school friend loved playing games weather they be computer or console games. His parents would not let him during the week so he could only play on the weekend. He developed into a fine young guy with good health and good social skills. I forgot to mention that my college roomie is unnaturally skinny and frail. I could probably break him in half without trying.

In short, my kids will have boundaries if they don't set some for themselves. I want them to have lives and be physically healthy.

[Dissy]

ye... i met my cousin last weekend. He is.... ehm... older than me^^ i think 27 or something like that^^
And he has a little son, which is... 5? i dont really know... anyway he can speak and walk and that stuff^^
my cousin played counterstrike for a while and his son was watching him often.
So funny^^^^^ one day, he went to the kindergarten or school and played with the other kids. and what did they play? counterstrike^^^^ he always screamed "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" "enemy down" the carer/teachers were so damn shoked, that they had a conversation with his father (my cousin)^^

Now he only play it when his son falled a sleep. The rest of the time he plays Line Age^^ Freaks^^

[Zerat]

as for limitation it depends on the age, I have a friend, his son is about 5 years old and knows how to use the PC in a basic way: on, off, windiws games, and a comunicator (something simiular to ICQ) but as he dosen't know yet how to write, he writes in a phonetic way, it is funny to read it, but you can understand him :)
but a lot of kids at the age 8 - 16 spend a lot of time in front of a PC, 4h a day is a must, over time they spend it less, they just grow up and see it's not worth it siting this long on front of the PC, some of my friends simply use the PC to watch a movie or use it at work, and don't even want to look at it after geting back home. On the other end of it So me of my friends get up 2h earlier before going out to school to play a little (WOW, Lineage2, ect), and they stay up late (to 2 am tp play a little longer), the weekend is a record breaker, 18h or more wyth 30 min brake for bathroom, dinner or some work around the home

Some time ago on the tv there was some news about a kid that tryes to commit a suiside becuse he was the only one in his class that didn't have a PC

One way or the other ppl spend to mutch time in front of a PC

[UchihaItachi0129]

>.< i think i'm the only one who disagrees >.< anyways i spend A LOT of time on the computer. weekdays probably 3-4 hours. and then saturdays probably at the max 1 hour. then sunday sometimes if i can play probably 2-3 hours. yet i have a social life. i HAD a lot of friends ( i moved during the summer so i could go to a "better" high school ) and although sometimes they would joke about me and my starcraft everything was fine. yes i am a bit overweight. 5 pounds maybe? and i do get headaches sometimes ( i rarely get them though ... maybe i'm used to it >.< ). well i myself will probably not limit myself but i probably will watch my kids if i get some lol. i know i'm being a bit of a hypocrit in that sense, but the "new" age is getting really bad. i don't think my age group was THAT bad. i mean i see kids like in 5-7 grade. they spend more time on the computer than ME lol. and the t.v. that's gonna get REALLY bad too. because of all the new HD and cable and bigger screens and everything. my age group never had all that. and then highschool. well who has the time for that. i mean the age group below ours might do ok. but i mean in the age groups maybe 3-4 below mine might not do so well. they'll probably get hooked on better t.v.'s and computer and other new inventions that cure "boredom". but i think my age group will be fine. or at least i hope

[Meee]

he writes in a phonetic way, it is funny to read it, but you can understand him :)


Trust me, it has little to do with phonetics ;)


Time is one issue, but theres also another - how games affect children. It's important to make sure that the child knows difference between computer game and real life, i.e. real ppl don't respawn. It may sound funny but it's serious and with more photorealistic graphics in games nowadays even more important.

[Dissy]

like in my story with my cousin... thats the beginning :/

but on the other side the other kids play... this stupid police, gangsta-game in real, act like batman or spiderman... i think theres no difference between "any famous words of batman" and "fire in the hole"!

[coalescence]

one day, he went to the kindergarten or school and played with the other kids. and what did they play? counterstrike^^^^ he always screamed "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" "enemy down" the carer/teachers were so damn shoked, that they had a conversation with his father (my cousin)^^


Really? At that age we played 'war' at least once a week on the school property and the teachers didn't care.

[Meee]

one day, he went to the kindergarten or school and played with the other kids. and what did they play? counterstrike^^^^ he always screamed "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" "enemy down" the carer/teachers were so damn shoked, that they had a conversation with his father (my cousin)^^


Really? At that age we played 'war' at least once a week on the school property and the teachers didn't care.


Did you threw stones at each other or just pointed fingers? ^^

I agree that behaviour is not only from games, but other media also. Various anime like dragonball or *cough* pokemon *cough* are already known causes of suicides (maybe more in the east than west but still)
Good thing I was always able to seperate media from real. Sure I was a bit 'jumpy' after watching Mortal Kombat or smg like that but just for an hour or so and I didn't damage anything :p (well, maybe my brother...only a little ^^ )

[UchihaItachi0129]

one day, he went to the kindergarten or school and played with the other kids. and what did they play? counterstrike^^^^ he always screamed "FIRE IN THE HOLE!" "enemy down" the carer/teachers were so damn shoked, that they had a conversation with his father (my cousin)^^


Really? At that age we played 'war' at least once a week on the school property and the teachers didn't care.


Did you threw stones at each other or just pointed fingers? ^^

I agree that behaviour is not only from games, but other media also. Various anime like dragonball or *cough* pokemon *cough* are already known causes of suicides (maybe more in the east than west but still)
Good thing I was always able to seperate media from real. Sure I was a bit 'jumpy' after watching Mortal Kombat or smg like that but just for an hour or so and I didn't damage anything :p (well, maybe my brother...only a little ^^ )


lol mortal kombat. that was some jacked up sh** at the end with those messed up graphics XD

[Meee]

I actually meant the movie, I only played some NES ver and 4 for a while

[paragon]

If baffles me that people of any age cannot differentiate reality from a movie or game. I never once confused the two when I was growing up. Anyways, it isn't the game's or movie's fault, it's bad parenting. There are ratings for a reason, parents don't always follow these and this can cause problems if their kids are stupid.

Sometimes parents take it too far though. My mom didn't let me watch Saving Private Ryan when I was 17 because she thought the opening scene was so horrific and said that the movie was all about killing and had no substance to it. Now I own the DVD of that movie and it's a damn good movie with a great plot and lots of substance and I've seen it many times. Nothing in it would have any adverse affects on me when I was 17. I ended up watching it for the first time when I was 18 anyways. That my mom forbid me to watch it told me that she had a pretty low opinion of my ability to distinguish real from fake and that she did not know much about me since I've always been able to distinguish real from fake.

And I started playing StarCraft when I was 12.

[mc2]

Yes you are right. I think children starting at the age of 10 should be able to watch most horror movies. Especially when most of his/her friends at school have seen it and talks about it, it's embarrasing to say ''my mom won't let me watch it''. The same as movie containing sexual content, like most kids would have learnt about sex at school by the age of 12-13.

[Darktemplar_L]

I don't play on school days, only on weekends, unless there's a holiday. I usually do some chores around the house and ride bike bike for excersing, then at night I play some relaxing games on my computer. Although, sometimes the games aren't very relaxing... Like idiots and hackers ruin the game for me and i get stressed out.

[paragon]

Hahahaha chores. Those are funny. I stopped playing WC3 for two reasons
1) it sucked
2) way to many people who sucked and made it not fun

[drewcbarnard]

WC3 is just too kindergarten for me. I feel like I'm in 6th grade all over again when I play. Stickin with SC until SC2 comes out.

[paragon]

WC3 is just too kindergarten for me. I feel like I'm in 6th grade all over again when I play. Stickin with SC until SC2 comes out.

Thats probably because they dumbed down WC3 so that literally anyone could just pop in the CD and win games.

[paragon]

Plus they won't have the ****ty engine that is WC3 that would never be able to handle the unit load that SC2 needs.

[MrFrancko]

A kid has gotta learn to play videos only a certain amount per day. They gotta get out there and play sports. That way they can get the ladies. Sex is way better than video games.

[paragon]

Sex is way better than video games.

Understatement of the century.