to think we worry too much about computer games ...

[TalkinPeace2]

Its half term. The weather is pants. DS had a friend round and they spent the time glued to the X-box

then I thought back

at that age we spent the whole of half term slobbed around monopoly or escape from colditz or something equally involving, lying on the living room floor hour after hour barely moving a muscle as the rain drummed down ...

With play station move, kinect and wii I find on wet days the kids can move and excercise while playing games, they don't even realise it :) ( I only have a wii) but relatives have move and kinect.

As long as they are not play age inappropriate games they are fine IMO

YANBU. I have no problem with games - they involve problem solving and an element of role play and they're fun and exciting. People seem to disapprove out of some sort of principle - it's computer gaming so it has to be wrong. But many of them are witty and challenging and multi-player, so it doesn't mean your child is slumped alone in a sad little world. I play lots with the DCs.

and if DS is playing online against friends I do not have to pay attention to his wittering!

I bought my 13 yo DS Assassins Creed (yes shoot me it's an 18).

What bits of it I have seen involve a man running about "looting dead people for money in their pockets" according to DS.

Yes but he looks like he's having a good old feel about while he does it

BF and I were playing some ridiculous game (bad piggies) the other day - we sat for hours trying to work out how to get through the levels. We demonstrated communication skills, team work, problem solving skills, co-operation and compromise - all in all very educational :)

I also think it's fine. My DS who's 14 now gets a game and of course he's going to want to max it out, it's normal. If however they just do that day in day out then it's a problem, other than that it really isn't. DS had Call of Duty from the age of 12 (it's an 18) and he hasn't turned into a mass murder or not that i know of yet

Depends on the computer game. So long as it's age appropriate, I wouldn't have a problem with it.

I shot lots of Nazis at age 11 - in the virtual way then available

how do you define "age appropriate"
as the numbers on teh box are more to do with marketing than child protection

I am not so keen - only because ds will do nothing else if left to his own devices and is something of an addict

Well, I'd start with the numbers on the box, on the basis that games rated 18 are more likely to be extremely violent or have strong sexual references than games rated PG.

I assume you'll be using your personal judgement if a game is a higher classification (i.e. if your child is 10 and the game is rated as a 12), but the numbers on the box are a good place to start.

Personally I never understand why so many people are so het up over the age rating of a game. I let my 11 year old play COD and MW3. He's played it since he was 10 and so far hasn't tried to garrotte me with the controller cable, nor has he tried to take out his step brother with the dinner knife.

I don't mind the age ratings being there but personally I see them as a guide rather than some set in stone limit. Surely I know my child better than the government do?

It's not about computer games per se but the amount of time we let them play on them for. It would be just as bad to allow your child to play football for 8 hours a day outside as it is to let them vegetate in front of the box.