The personal case FOR computer games
I was putting together a blog on a serious topic that I might post later on this month that touches briefly on education, and I happened upon a survey about the decline of literacy in Western English-speaking countries. Whenever a survey comes out about the decline of literacy in a country, you can bet that the newspapers will be full of the usual suspects. In this particular round of finger-pointing, computer games were singled out as particularly heinous.
What absolute poppycock! I am a firm believer in computer games. I’m also rather partial to comic books … ah, graphic novels. It was a computer game that gave The Wast the motivation to read, that tones his fine motor skills and hand-eye coordination, that gave him ideas for artwork, that builds his expertise in problem-solving, and contributes to his decided preference for electronic (techno) music. No downsides here.
When we were talking to his teacher recently about him (at the parent-teacher meeting), she mentioned that TW tends to get perturbed when he gets something wrong, and she worries that he’s taking things too seriously. We told her he used to be a lot lot worse, and we mitigated the problem with computer games. She looked at us, confused, until we explained. In the past, every time he did something wrong, TW would burst into tears and be inconsolable for up to an hour. He regarded every mistake as some kind of personal slight and would obsess (hmmm, wonder where he gets that from?) for an entire day over every little error. J and I knew we had to do something about it. So, as one strategy, we started playing computer games.
Our deep affection for Hamumu software originated from this era. We downloaded Spooky Castle, a terrific FREE game that we recommend to anybody btw, and began playing it ourselves. It wasn’t the first game we’d ever played, but it was the first that caught TW’s eye. From watching us, he moved to co-controlling (”You control the firing button and I’ll move Bouapha around, okay?”), then he took over with us sitting by his side, then we moved away completely and let him play by himself. To our utter amazement, we discovered that he would attempt a difficult level time and time again, until he defeated all the monsters, usually without asking for help. Where was the young boy who collapsed into fits of tears whenever something went wrong? Here he was, quite serenely restarting levels and explaining his strategies for defeating the Super Zombies. Over the course of months, he finished Spooky Castle and we bought him Dr. Lunatic Supreme with Cheese and Kid Mystic, and the latest is that he’s bought Loonyland and the Legend of Sleepless Hollow with his own money and happily plays them all hours of the day. He writes stories around the games he plays (another firm favourite is the Czech game, Jets ‘n’ Guns Gold … good stuff!), creates his own comic books, and draws his own posters. It has helped his problem-solving and built up his persistence. In all, he plays computer games for around 4 hours a day, I think, although I haven’t taken that much notice.
By now, I’m sure I have many parents up in arms, but hear me out. Has his schoolwork suffered? He gets up at seven o’clock in the morning on weekends (on his own initiative) to complete his homework, sits down with me to discuss his worries over his Malay language classes, and gets straight As in class. So we see absolutely no need to restrict his game-playing in any way.
I’m not saying that this solution will suit everyone — every child is different. But that’s exactly my point. Just as I wouldn’t try to force every parent to sit their kids in front of computers for 4 or 5 hours a day, I also resent being told that game-playing is bad for every single child on Earth. These sweeping generalisations, and knee-jerk attempts at curtailing certain activities, cause more harm than they’re worth.
If I was in a particularly verbose mood, I could also launch into a discussion on the narrow-minded tactic of solving the symptom of a problem, rather than its root cause, and the beauty and creative energy from diversity, but I’m not up to it at the moment.
And lastly, speaking of games, rest in peace, Gary Gygax, from an old-time occasional D&D player. (And thanks xkcd. Great strip.)
Well, your perspective is certainly different! lol
I’m not a great fan of the games, and my son would have been deprived of these had it not been for his father’s indulgence. The ones he played were harmless enough, but I don’t believe that the murderous, gory, sadistic ones I’ve seen around have any right being put into children’s hands.
My son read, was very active and athletic, did well in school and had exceptional social skills so I did not worry. If he had wanted to spend all his free time holed up in his room playing games that would have been another matter altogether.
This is not an endorsement of the gaming phenomenon. I’m simply conceding that yes, each child is different, and the parent must take responsibility for the ‘what’ and the ‘how much’.
I have to admit, personally, the jury is out on violent computer games for me. The Wast plays Jets’N'Guns, as I mentioned, and you can even tick the Gore option so you see (and hear) the blood and screams from the space pirates as you blow them into pieces. Yet, even he tells me that it’s only a game. And, at one time in my life, I used to play Doom with the lights off and the sound up for hours on end, and it didn’t make me want to kill people.
If you really want violence, I think you can’t get much worse than the singer, John Denver. I recently read in The Register about a Thai rubber-tapper shooting dead 8 neighbours because he was sick of them constantly playing (and singing along with) the karaoke version of “Country Roads”.
Who’s to say what the root cause of violence is? I’m afraid that, in my case, I’m like the rubber-tapper. John Denver is more likely to cause me to flip into rage than a computer game.
I’ll endorse games. Like most things in life, you have extremes, but if you judge just on the extremes then you may as well ban sports as well. To me, group sports have always been the epitome of a group mind at work — slavishly competitive, mindlessly aggressive, ruthless, personally insulting and demeaning. In sports, people take pleasure in ripping you to shreds, even if you’re supposed to be on the same team. And God help you if you make a mistake, especially with those hysterically, emotionally immature parents screaming from the sidelines. In computer games, it’s nothing personal, and you actually get the chance to learn from your mistakes without people calling you names. I prefer computer games.
John Denver indeed! I was the only one in my family who liked his music, and I know they must have fantasized about strangling me every Saturday evening when I tuned in to the country music program which always began with ‘Country Roads’.
The triggers for violence are complex, I agree. Because of the complexity and the fact that we’re still very much in the dark about this aspect of human psychology, I don’t think I’ll ever be convinced that exposure to extremely graphic violence is good for children. Apart from that, I’m just plain squeamish.