Are Xbox, PS3 and Wii really ‘crack’ for children?
By Dave Parrack
Video games, and games consoles come under fire from all and sundry these days. From being blamed for school shootings, and the ills of society, they take a lot of blame. And now, it has got even worse, with a British columnist describing them as “crack for kids”.
Janice Turner, a writer for Times Online wrote an opinion piece regarding children’s addiction to multimedia, one of which was video games, and consoles such as the Wii, PS3 and Xbox 360. The Xbox seemed to come in for the worst criticism, being cited in the obviously baited title “Xbox is crack for kids”.
It’s an interesting read, with some parts I even agree with. I mean, yes, children should get out of the house more, do more exercise, and generally lead a balance life. But surely video games can be a part of that balanced life?
Taking them out of the equation altogether will just lead to resentment from kids towards their parents, and isolation from their friends, who have all got the latest console, and are wondering why this one kid doesn’t even know what a joypad is.
Reading through the full article, which I urge you all to do, it’s obvious that Turner has fallen in to the trap which all so called media experts fall in to: namely not knowing or researching their subject of choice fully before opining endlessly on the evils of it.
This paragraph says more about Turner’s knowledge base on the subject than anything else:
“I refuse to buy them portable gaming consoles, Xboxes, GameCubes, PS2s. These are Satan’s Sudoku, crack cocaine of the brain. Even the crappiest cartoon or lamest soap teaches a child about character, plot, drama, humour, life.”
“Playing videogames, children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains. And they play them - beepety-beep - on journeys, over family meals, any minute in which they find themselves unamused.”
Dear Ms. Turner, first of all, you’re a generation out of date. Have you never heard of that console which has been making news headlines around the world lately. You know, that Nintendo one which kids and adults alike have been searching fruitlessly for, for the last twelve months? It’s called a Wii, and it’s consigned the Gamecube to the dustbin. No, well, what about the PS3, or the Xbox 360?
As for being “Satan’s Sudoku”, I really think you’ve overstepped the mark there, both in terms of language, and opinion. I’m not denying games are addictive, but to compare them to crack cocaine is as ludicrous as me comparing your writing skills to Shakespeare.
There is a case for parents being more hands on when it comes to regulating playing time for their children, but why go from that point of view, to calling all games, and the consoles they are played on, evil? That’s surely just a sign of a bad writer, with not much to say, or maybe even a bad parent.
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Stumble It!
Tips N4G
January 20th, 2008
Agreed. misinformed woman writes bulls#@t to hide her poor parenting skills and lack of involvement with her kids
January 20th, 2008
Agreed. in the articly it says they play them the instant when they are unamused…. Whats wrong with that if your bored? And she seems to be refering to older games such as GTA and manhunt by saying things like “children are mentally imprisoned, wired into their evil creators’ brains”
What about the best selling games on handheld systems such as Mario bros and ratchet and clank, mario Kart DS and more (i cant be bothered to think of any more… o yea and kirby dream land)
I think this just comes down to, once again idiotic parents not reading the age rating on games and then going of b!tchin@ when little timmy has just ran over an old women and shes gone flying over the bonnit, (a meassage to parents) “READ THE F’IN AGE RATINGS, ITS YOUR BAD PARETING AND STUPIDITY TO THE FACT THAT YOU CAN’T WORK OUT WHAT THE HUGE RED “18″ SUMBOL MEANS ON THE FREAKING FRONT OF THE CASE”!
January 20th, 2008
Plz sir, may I have some more?
Parents buy their kids consoles so that they stay at home and don’t go out and run the streets with your thugs……
So parents, do your kids a favour and head over to here to buy cheap games
http://www.play-asia.com/SOap-23-83-6vmj-49-en.html
January 21st, 2008
Boyee! The readers really sound fired up this morning!……..Uh, I would just like to say that I have a really big penis, I can suck my own cock….
January 21st, 2008
Perhaps she should go back to lookign after the kids full time, leave the real work to the men…