Poll of the Day > I honestly don't know if I would let my young kids play video games

(+) Yeah! (+)

They create such a high level of stimulation that it kinda ruins your sense of enjoyment in other things, when they are older it's okay but letting eight year olds play CoD seems like a bad idea.

So you want to bore them senseless so when you occassionally let them out of the cupboard, they'll be satisfied with the sunbeams through the bars of their bedroom?

Let them enjoy themselves, there's more exciting things than games.
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I really see no reason to not let em play. But don't give a 8 Y/O COD, start him off with something like Zelda, Pokemon or minecraft
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I would let them play, but I would say only an hour or so a day at most (probably just before bed). The rest of the time they should be outside burning off energy or in the play room if the weather is bad.
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I'd say 2 - 4 hours a day should be fine. But definitely don't force him/her to play that long if he doesn't wanna.
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Having worked as a nanny/manny for awhile, and seeing so many kids addicted to ipads/video games etc now, I would at least caution parents to limit the amount of time they spend playing them. It's kinda getting scary how focused some kids can get on playing video games etc now. When I was young, it was still something kids could do all day, but you had to be at home with a game system (or a friends house etc) and most where at least slightly limited in the amount of time they spent.

Now with phones/ipads and everyone having game systems, pcs etc......even the very young 4-6 year olds can spend almost every waking moment playing games, and get grumpy/unhappy if they don't. Forget about getting your kids to go out to a park and play etc, they just want to play roblox for 18 hours, or minecraft etc etc.

I love video games, they have always been a great part of my life, but I think we may be creating video game addicts by allowing the youngest children to spend so much time playing them. Hate even saying that, since I would have fought against anyone restricting how much I played video games (and at one point I averaged 14 1/2 hours a day for a year), but I just see so many kids literally playing their games at the dinner table while eating and hardly even talking to real people anymore.
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Hmm, yeah definitely don't make addicts out of em, but at the same time definitely don't deprive em of something as great as video games. The thought of a kid growing up without having played a Pokemon game is very sad IMO.

LOL, I find it kind of weird how people complain about kids being addicted to video games but you never hear people complain about kids being addicted to Football, reading or playing outside. I know of kids that's whole life revolved around playing sports...
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My son started playing on a tablet like device called an Inotab when he was 3. He is now 5 and is getting into a couple of Wii games. My soon to be 11 stepdaughter always has an iPad or DS in her face.

I'm not a hypocrite at all when it comes to gaming since they see me playing games all the time.

Most of the time they don't give me any trouble if I tell them to turn it off to do some chores or anything. The stepdaughter does lose her devices quite often as punishment though.
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I find it really annoying though that there are so many 10 Y/O "gamers" that only play tablet games & don't know what Zelda, Final Fantasy or Mega Man is.

If you let your kid play games, try to raise em to be real gamers & not just some annoying kid with an android/IOS addiction.
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OlorinTheOtaku posted...

LOL, I find it kind of weird how people complain about kids being addicted to video games but you never hear people complain about kids being addicted to Football, reading or playing outside. I know of kids that's whole life revolved around playing sports...

Why would you say this?
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Because its true. What do you mean by "Why would you say this"?
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I let my son play gtav when he was three.

His favorite thing was going to the farm and tasering the cows.
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I've been playing video games since I was like 4 and look how I turned out

Yeah but like we played Mario and sonic back then. These games now are a whole different world.
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Seriously, though, I do get a little concerned when I'm at a restaurant or whatever and I see five year olds playing games on cell phones. Why do young kids even need cell phones? We got by without them when I was a kid. I wouldn't want my kid to have a cell phone until at least middle school, but I'm sure that will involve many years of suffering through "But all the other kids have one" since apparently at some point, new parents within the past fifteen years collectively decided that kids having cell phones is just going to be the norm

I don't really care if they play reasonably tame console games, if anything I bet playing video games helped me with stuff like learning how to read early

That's a bad comparison.

People got along just fine without cars and running water. I wouldn't want to go back to that.
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Yeah, if I had a DS or GBA when I was 5 I would've played the shit out of that too.
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Game Boys existed when I was a kid, but you can't watch porn or popular YouTubers making Hitler jokes on those

DorkLink posted...

Game Boys existed when I was a kid, but you can't watch porn or popular YouTubers making Hitler jokes on those

Anything can be porn if you think hard enough :)
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If you don't want your kids playing" vidya geams" then treat it like alcohol and give them something terrible to start off with while young so it turns them off from it when they get older.
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Also what kind of 5 year olds are you around that watch porn and make Hitler jokes?
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Everything in moderation.
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I'd definitely limit and supervise it.
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darcandkharg31 posted...

Also what kind of 5 year olds are you around that watch porn and make Hitler jokes?

I'm just saying that cell phones give them access to a lot of things that children of yesteryear didn't have easy exposure to. There must be some kind of parental control settings, but I'd rather them just not have a phone with functions like a full browser and YouTube at all. However, I think phones like that are becoming exceedingly rare

DorkLink posted...

at some point, new parents within the past fifteen years collectively decided that kids having cell phones is just going to be the norm

Ya, when they became cheap. Parents want to be able to make sure their kids are safe, a direct line to them at all times does that.
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Kyuubi4269 posted...

Ya, when they became cheap. Parents want to be able to make sure their kids are safe, a direct line to them at all times does that.

That doesn't make sense. If they're cheap and primarily care about contact, why do they buy their kids expensive major carrier smartphones with a bunch of extra features instead of getting them a flip phone on a prepaid carrier

DorkLink posted...

Kyuubi4269 posted...

Ya, when they became cheap. Parents want to be able to make sure their kids are safe, a direct line to them at all times does that.

That doesn't make sense. If they're cheap and primarily care about contact, why do they buy their kids expensive major carrier smartphones with a bunch of extra features instead of getting them a flip phone on a prepaid carrier

Because you can usually just add a line to your existing account for cheap, and that's less to think about.
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OlorinTheOtaku posted...

Because its true. What do you mean by "Why would you say this"?

Because it's obviously not the same. One is clearly better than the other.
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Same. I'll try to get them into sports or music instead despite being a gamer myself
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My kids are going to have to start with NES, like I did.

As their skills improve, they'll unlock newer and newer consoles.
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CoD and other FPS's cause mild brain damage. Other games do not.

This is proven.

http://nouvelles.umontreal.ca/en/article/2017/08/07/playing-action-video-games-can-actually-harm-your-brain/
http://cogconnected.com/2017/08/first-person-shooter-brain-damage/
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I can't say video games ruined my childhood. If anything they enhanced it.
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@Smarkil why would you say sports are better then Video games? That's incredibly narrow minded & offensive to gamers. How would you like it if I said video games are better then sports? There's nothing wrong with either, they're both just pointless games, why would you try & make sports sound like its much better then gaming? Just because sports has being around longer?

You sound like 1 of those "Non-gamers" that have never actually played a game but for some inexplicable reason, think they're the worst things ever.
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You get exercise playing sports, games you just sit around eating cheetos and be a virgin.
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OlorinTheOtaku posted...

@Smarkil why would you say sports are better then Video games? That's incredibly narrow minded & offensive to gamers. How would you like it if I said video games are better then sports?

You could say that, but you could never argue that video games are better for a child than going out and playing sports with friends. That would be an absolutely insane thing to say.

There's nothing wrong with either, they're both just pointless games, why would you try & make sports sound like its much better then gaming? Just because sports has being around longer?

Probably because sports are like, objectively better for a child than video games. If it were adults you might have an argument maybe. But not kids.

You sound like 1 of those "Non-gamers" that have never actually played a game but for some inexplicable reason, think they're the worst things ever.

Yeah, that would be a good guess if it weren't for the 300+ steam games I own, and the nearly ever mainline console I own with accompanying games. I grew up as a soft, video game playing asshole until I got into middle school and started playing sports.

Playing sports was far far better for my development than video games. Video games just made me a fat shut in.
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aHappySacka posted...

If you don't want your kids playing" vidya geams"
then treat it like alcohol and give them something
terrible to start off with while young so it turns
them off from it when they get older.

That's really cruel & sadistic. Why would you try & trick an innocent child into thinking that all games are bad? That's like teaching a young boy that sex is evil just so he won't have pre martial sex. That's not not how you teach a kid! I hope your post was just meant as a joke.
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Can this guy seriously not tell the difference between something that involves exercise and something that involves sitting on your ass

Sports: Good exercise, builds team work &... I'm sure there are other things?

Video games: Good for your brain & mental skills, lets you experience things you'd probably never get to otherwise, exposes you to different cultures & people (both in game & fellow gamers), teaches you valuable life lessons & a host of other things.

No joke, if I never become a gamer I probably would have killed myself years ago. Gaming didn't just save my life, it gave me a life.
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OlorinTheOtaku posted...

lets you experience things you'd probably never get to otherwise

Newsflash, you're not experiencing them.

OlorinTheOtaku posted...

exposes you to different cultures & people

Sort of, though you could say the same thing about watching tv.

OlorinTheOtaku posted...

teaches you valuable life lessons & a host of other things

Tell me some life lessons you've learned.
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Haha exposes you to other cultures. Hahahaha. Gamers are one of the most culturally stunted groups of people, dude

darcandkharg31 are you serious!? Tell me some life lessons you've learned? There are so many countless experiences I've had in games that it would be impossible to list em here. I've played over 1600 games, each with there own story & lessons to teach. All the books in the world would not be able to contain the vastness of video games. Video games changed my life, they shaped me & made me who I am today. They allowed me to vist other worlds, worlds I would never live to see.

With abilities to be anyone... anyone I want, I saved galaxys, I fought evil, I travelled across worlds, I met 1000's of people & lived millions of lives.

I fought against dragons & against death, I investigated ancient ruins & visited futuristic cites. I defeated a 1 winged angel & gave life to a planet again. I rescued the princess. I wielded the master sword. I become a racing driver. I stopped an alien invasion. I become a master blacksmith. I owned a farm for 20 years. I stopped doctor Wiley. I was a silent ninja master. I used the force. I caught em all! ... And most importantly, I learnt that the cake, was a lie.

I ... am a Gamer.

Video games may sometimes look like a waste of time, but they are not. They taught me some important lessons, lessons I won't forget, about hope, love, the importance of being human, perseverance & to always follow your dreams.

Why would anyone try to deprive all that from they're child?
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Serious question: Are you autistic?

This is kinda sad, I don't wanna participate anymore because I think this guy is serious.
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Yes. I haven't actually being tested, but From personal research I believe I have many symptoms of autism.

Also, yes, darcandkharg31 I am serious, read my sig.
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Yeesh, someone screencap this for future Olorin's sake.

This is the kind of shit that, while you think is cool to post right now, you're gonna look back and be like "oh god, why did I post that? that was cringy af"

I mean, I understand that you're passionate about video games, and good on you for being confident enough to show it in your posts, but I don't think you've really understood that not everyone views and experiences video games the same way.
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OlorinTheOtaku posted...

Tell me some life lessons you've learned? There are so many countless experiences I've had in games that it would be impossible to list em here. I've played over 1600 games, each with there own story & lessons to teach. All the books in the world would not be able to contain the vastness of video games. Video games changed my life, they shaped me & made me who I am today. They allowed me to vist other worlds, worlds I would never live to see.

With abilities to be anyone... anyone I want, I saved galaxys, I fought evil, I travelled across worlds, I met 1000's of people & lived millions of lives.

I fought against dragons & against death, I investigated ancient ruins & visited futuristic cites. I defeated a 1 winged angel & gave life to a planet again. I rescued the princess. I wielded the master sword. I become a racing driver. I stopped an alien invasion. I become a master blacksmith. I owned a farm for 20 years. I stopped doctor Wiley. I was a silent ninja master. I used the force. I caught em all! ... And most importantly, I learnt that the cake, was a lie.

I ... am a Gamer.

this is literally the best post anyone has ever made on here everyone else get the fuck out
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Thank's Kana. (-_^)-b
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COD might not be the best thing...let your kids play Nintendo games instead.

Is anyone else enlightened by their intelligence in this topic?
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