The Internet touches every aspect of your children's lives. Your kids are more likely to use Dictionary com, where you can look up an unknown word in the dictionary. Where you use the telephone, they use instant messengers. An even bigger difference can be found in how they play the game. Where games from their parents' generation may include boards, cards, or their most sophisticated console systems, the games your kids play on the net can be far more complex. They mine gold, spread empires, fight dragons and aliens alone or fight with tens, hundreds, even thousands of their fellow gamers. It all creates a confusing mash of names, places, jargon and lingo that may give you no idea of what your kids are really going through and a vague sense of unease that part of it is for them. Can't be good.
Only you can do what is right for your kids. How much violence are they exposed to, how much time they spend in front of a screen, and how much contact they have with strangers so common to the net are all questions you should grapple with and ultimately decide for your family, while we can't help you make these hard decisions, we can certainly help you get the information you need to better understand your children's hobbies, both in order to make an informed decision about it. What they should and shouldn't do, and help you reach them. Another part of his life that at first seemed like a puzzle box.
Easy stuff
The simplest type of online game is the Flash or Java-powered game you usually see running inside your web browser. This type of game is relatively simple as compared to the alone games discussed later. Common examples include Bejeweled, Zumba and Diner Dash. These games are almost universally single player and don't contain any kind of violent or mature content that keeps parents up at night. Were those movies, they'd be G rated, with maybe the occasional game extending to PG. If your kids are interested in this type of game, rest assured at first. Then, try the game. Many of these games can be very entertaining for even the most casual players. Some, such as bookworms, even have actual educational material. These games can be as much an opportunity for bonding and learning as throwing a baseball in the backyard, and have the added bonus of being so easy for your kids to sit and play with you.
FPS: Finding something to shoot.
FPS stands for First-Person Shooter. He is the first person in that because a story can happen. That is, the player sees the world through the eyes of a single character and interacts with the game environment as if he were the same character. Shooter comes from the primary goal of most such games, shooting everything that happens is the bad guy. FPS games are some of the most popular online. Common examples include Doom, Battlefield: 1942 and the Xbox game Halo. From a parent's point of view, these games can because for concern. They vary widely in the amount of realism, the degree of violence, language and general approach. The only way to get a good idea of content issues is to watch particular games. If your kids don't want to see you while they play, start the game on their own when they're not around. There is a great deal of variation in how violent and personal FPS content can be from one game to another. For example, the single player portion of Halo features players fighting against alien invaders with massive energy weapons and minimally realistic human suffering. In contrast, WWII themed games go out of their way to show realistic violence. Given the theme, it is suitable for sports, but may not be for your kids. Online play potentially presents more concern. Online FPS games almost always aim to kill other players. While some games have various modes where this is a secondary target, they all give the player a gun and encourage him to use it on characters representing other people.
Fake gore and the use of violence against others to achieve goals may be things you don't want your children exposed to. Again, these are for you to decide, but we encourage you to make these with as much information as possible. Talk to your kids. Find out what they think, in their words, what's going on in the game. Make sure they see the line between what happens in the game and what happens in the real world, what's okay to emulate and what's okay to do. The answers may surprise you. If your kids understand the differences, see real violence as reprehensible and fake violence as part of the game, then FPS games, even online ones, are a lot to have fun and let off steam. Could be a healthier way. In the end, it is up to you to make sure that what your child gets from sports is good for him.
Next time, we'll talk about RTS and MMORPG, two other common types of commercial online games, and touch on the twin monsters of addiction and hunting.
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