Xbox

[seahorse38]

Can't fault my hubby as he helps loads with kids and house stuff etc but came into the lounge today to see my 4 and 5 yr old playing call of duty (muted) with him....they didn't have a clue what they were doing and were just laughing at getting the bad guys....opinions please, yes or no?

I'm pretty sure I've never shot an 8 foot tall man in the face with a double barrelled shotgun. I'd never take a gun and shoot someone, or slit someone's throat, or in any way hurt someone.
It's not affected me.

People are very naive if they think violent video games have no affect on children. No one is saying playing one game will turn you into a homicidal maniac. But there is a drip feed of behaviour that children will think is acceptable if they are exposed to these games on a regular basis - as a pp said it's not uncommon to see children re-enacting these moves in the playground.

It also contrbutes towards normalising violence and teaches children that violence is sometimes fun. How can people think this is OK?

Thats you why tell them their behaviour is not for little girls and boys to do themselves.
Not hard, my mum & dad did it.

As an adult I know these game are virtual, I know not to do it and when out I don't pretend to shoot or slit people throats.

The fact children play out these games is worrying.

When I was a child we did play with guns, but today's kids seems to have taken it to another level.

Crayola not all children will listen and not all parents will reinforce this message. Surely this just confuses children as well - on the one hand we're teaching them it's OK to copy certain characters they see on the TV, or they can copy the footballers on FIFA, but not on games like COD.

What is wrong with saying "No, you're too young to play that game" and then it won't have to lead to a conversation about how they shouldn't mimick what they see. Is that not a better solution all round? There's plenty of age appropriate games for every child age on the market.

Depends on the child. Me and my cousin would play the WWE fighting game and get riled up and try it on each other at that age. We also got riled up and violent towards each other while playing the Ninja Turtle Time Travelers game. My aunt took away violent games from us for her own sanity and sake of the house until we were mature enough to handle them. We grew up to be chill and laid back, not violent and hot tempered.

My little cousin watched violent movies growing up, and it didn't affect her at all. Still grew up very polite and chill.

So I guess it really depends on what happens with the parenting when they're not playing those games, or any games that encourage violence or slapstick like that.

I should clarify by violent I mean play fighting and bouncing off the walls. Not deliberately trying to hurt each other with malicious intent. Though, it did inevitably happen as tends to do when you're jumping on each other from the couches or slamming into each other. We were also rough and tumble kids outside the games, so video games just gave us new ideas that we otherwise would have done.

I say the same thing on all this type of thread but it's not just the content of these games that is unsuitable for young kids it's the style and difficulty of the game that is inappropriate. The games are too intense and too 'addictive' for young kids to play. The games are targeted at adults and most adults find them frustrating and compelling (in a good way). It's hard enough as an adult to have the discipline to stop playing.
I suspect that a lot of the aggression that kids display after playing these type of games is to do with the style of play rather than the content IYSWIM

THIS GUARDIAN ARTICLE is interesting (although I suspect it's hard to find too many teen boys who don't play COD)

Quote from article...

Call of Duty concerns raised at inquest into William Menzies' death
Recording verdict of suicide, coroner says adult video game has 'figured in three to four' deaths of teenagers he has investigated

Well me and my mates as kids played through He-Man thundercats teenage mutant ninja turtles and probably more without all turning into psychotic killers. We also played doom, medal of honour and agisn more games. The idea that cod has been involved in so many deaths according to a coroner probably says more about the popularity of the game than any thing else. I'd also like to point out that Marilyn Manson was blamed for the actions of Harris and Klebold (think that is their names) some people are just unhinged.

ArmyDad. I agree that it's a bit of a strange thing for the coroner to have mentioned. You would think it would be more notable if they didn't play computer games. .

I think they should be investigating the mental state of these kids. I've played Call of Duty hundreds of times throughout the years. I was quite depressed and suicidal but only because I was quite severely bullied in my teens. Games & films don't bother me, even though I am hot tempered, but always have been. DP is very calm and collected and plays a lot more than me. He doesn't want to kill himself, but again, he tried when he was younger because of something that happened when he was younger. Nothing to do with video games which have been in our lives since literally day one as mine and his parents are gamers.
Agree with armydad some people are just unhinged. They need help!

Perhaps youngsters should never have played Cowboys and Indians in my day. It probably had a negative effect on their upbringing. I wonder if any of them is now a murderer?