This is a great question and one every parent would have thought about before. I must admit I was a gamer when i was younger and mainly played the sporting themed games. As much as I wanted to play the shooting one player games I couldn't as I suffered from vertigo and felt a type of sea sickness after about 30 minutes of playing. trust me if I could I would have played the violent stuff as it is interesting and kind of real in some sense.
Most of the games have some type of story we levels that need to be accomplished so a child can like in a movie get lost in another world. This type of escapism encompasses everything the child is doing at that time and I wouldn't say it is harmful unless you are that type of person.
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I have seen kids throw things around when they don't get their own way and that is down to poor parenting than just blaming a computer game. In our day we would never dare to do that as we would be beaten with a belt. Is that more violent than the game or part of growing up?
I know people who say if you watch porn you could be a rapist or something and the same applies to computer games. Just because something is graphic and violent it doesn't mean you are going to be some type of monster and turn into a serial killer. Parents should know their kids and if raised correctly should have no issues as there is no difference between a foot ball game and a shooting game. They are both games at the end of the day.
When I grew up we never had the computer games like they have available today and the home entertainment was totally different. We played outside and why sport was such a big thing. That all changed though and it was never quite the same as their were too many weirdos running around the streets pinching kids and doing Gods know what to them. We have somewhat failed our kids by not protecting their outside space as what is not healthy is the not playing outside.
If I wasn't around my kids played in the back yard or played computer games and the big game then was Grand Theft Auto. I must admit I was taken aback by the language when I first heard it, but it hasn't turned them into compulsive swearers.
If you offer a young kid Sonic the Hedgehog or a shooting game they will always pick an action based game. That is how things are and it will never change. If you are a decent parent you can monitor if the games change your kids in anyway and can control their behavior accordingly.I have never seen kids become more violent because they have played a certain game.
The internet opened up a hole new can of worms as censorship is difficult to control knowing that most kids own smart phones. Just because there are violent and gruesome clips on the internet it doesn't mean to say every kid is watching them constantly. There is a big difference between a game and real life stuff.
Saying that the games are become more and more realistic as the graphics and technology are improving every year. Eventually it will be so hard to tell the difference and maybe then it will see age restrictions coming into place. Telling kids they can't do something normally back fires as kids will find a why to find out why they can't view or have something.
I would say parents are to blame for kids going off the rails and it cannot be blamed on violent computer games. I just don't see a computer game being more healthy or unhealthy because of the topic or content. If the graphics are good and it has some story line then it is perfectly normal.