Pat Dollard

Nice shot, Poot!!

i have been a gamer since Atari. owned pretty much everyone console and have shot/blown up everything there is on those games and im still fine. they are against guns so therefore they are also against animated guns as well. just stupidity in my opinion.

Nothing is a greater stress reliever than playing COD4 Modern Warfare with my little brother, who happens to be a motivated amtracker sgt in the marine corps (how he ended up getting promoted to sgt while i got promoted to lcpl from cpl i will never know) and killing cyber muj in droves.
Unless, of course, you are the one getting killed all the time, then its not so much of a stress reliever….

Eric,

Did you stop to think that it might be your parenting style that was responsible and not the video games? Obese children are typically obese (I am assuming here that was what you meant to type when you typed “abese”, not trying to be critical.) primarily because they are not motivated by their parents to do anything outside the home and their parents don’t instill in them any sense of anything other than “me, me, me” in either action or reaction.

Like others here, I have been a gamer since (fuck you Kurt… ) Pong was a console in and of itself, computers were the size of two small buildings, and a personal computer was an alpha-numeric slide rule . My kids have grown up with consoles of every type, computers, games requiring skill, games requiring no skill, name it. My kids are probably the most well adjusted kids I have seen in a while, and trust me when I say that I am critical as hell of them at times.

If your kid became less social inside and out of your home, it may be because he/she doesn’t know how to deal with other people, or is shy, or has never had any discussion with a logical adult as to how to overcome insecurities. He/she turned to video games and shut everything else out because the games don’t judge, they just go through the motions as they are programmed to do. He/she may feel that the only thing he/she can win at is a video game. Another social issue that must be dealt with through parenting.

Just like real live firearms, if you take the mystique away from them by presenting them and teaching everything there is to know about them, then the kids are less apt to run to daddy’s closet and show their friends “Look what my dad has!” simply because to them, it is no big deal. My kids were raised around my guns, shooting, reloading, hunting, fishing, video games, etc. While my oldest is about to attend his first year in college, after taking a year to earn the money himself to go, he is confident that he can do whatever it is he decides he wants to do. Why? Because I discussed his life with him from day one, and continuously until he was able to grasp the concept that every decision you make, from wiping your ass, what you do with your clothes when you take them off to whether or not you do your homework etc., will affect your future in one direction or the other, and the consequences of one’s actions last anywhere from ten minutes to a lifetime. All three have so far been able to translate that into their daily lives by reacting as they should have when presented with drugs, opportunities to do bad, etc. which only a naive person would be surprised when it happens. Just like lies in politics.

Not to bust your ass too hard, but if your kid went through those changes because of a video game, you might wanna look in the mirror for a minute or two and figure out what mommy and daddy have done or said in the past to make him/her act that way. Kids do, after all, emulate their parents almost entirely with very few exceptions.

To get off of YOU, parents in general want to blame all these issues their own kids have on everything that society does, but they forget so easily and almost willingly what they do and don’t do. God knows, it couldn’t be the parents fault when their kids turn into Columbine type killers, huh? Mommy and daddy couldn’t have been narcissistic enough to have raised their kids under the, “My kid wouldn’t do anything wrong” mentality, could they? Oh, hell no, its society’s fault, so it’s society’s problem.

They have ratings for games, just like they have ratings for movies. Instead of giving little Johnny anything he wants so he’ll shut the fuck up and quit fuckin up mommy or daddy’s quiet time, parents should try enforcing rules set up by society especially for parents like that, no? “Sorry, Johnny, that game is rated Mature. You can’t play it, and I won’t buy it for you.” then busting him up side his head when he starts his tantrum goes a long way toward providing guidance as far as what is and what is not acceptable. Talk to your kid like they have some intelligence, chances are they are equally as intelligent as you are at the age of three. It’s DNA that determines it, and unless your kid isn’t your kid, then their mental makeup is almost exactly what yours is, if not a better version. “You shouldn’t hit kids!” Bullshit. I grew up in an era where parents didn’t hit kids to abuse them, they hit them to correct them. There is a difference between knocking a kids brain out of his/her ears, and busting his ass so he/she get’s the point that they are not in charge and that rules must be obeyed or consequences are pain. I grew up with respect for other kids’ parents because that was expected of me by my parents. “Yes, sir.No, sir.” “Yes, ma’am. No, ma’am.” I grew up that if my neighbor saw me doing wrong, he could break a switch over my ass, then my dad would have his turn.

My punishment methods for my kids were a bit different, but at times they wished they had been the same. I was, after all, a SSgt. in the Army. When my kids fucked up, they got push-ups, flutter kicks, name it. I reserved corporal punishment for lies. That went on until I got tired of telling them to change positions. Why? Because fucking up has consequences and they’re never good. Trust me, they changed their direction quickly. They also gained the confidence that all things end. My 19 year old will now punch out push-ups by the 100s on his own, and if he has done something I may not approve of, he will bust em out and tell me, “Dad, I owe you these because…” My 17 year old will do the same, and my 15 year old just simply does what she has to to not be wrong, including telling people that are supposed friends to fuck themselves if they are trying to lead her down that path. I’d say discipline goes a long way, no?

I still have the respect for my father and mother because they raised us (my siblings and me) to do the best with what you have, don’t complain, and that you are as happy as you allow yourself to be. They also taught me what I have taught my kids. Consequences are either good or bad to one’s actions. It is up to the individual which direction to take it.

Not a gamer here, but I am not clueless since I burnt many hours on some gifted and loaned games once while recovering from hand surgery and a bad reaction to meds. This may be a shallow view, but my view is that games are a better waste of time and better easy fun than many other pastimes. As long as gamers do not have some underlying issue as mentioned,I can not see any harm. If they do, the problem will surface some way. Maybe better at 14 when the parents are watching than 30 when no one is watching.

Jenny – o. I agree. Being an Aussie, I hate what the Japs are doing to the whales etc down here (no I’m no tree hugger).