Parents Angry over Educational Video Game.

[Wolfy]

(Note: Not sure if this goes here..O-o...I think it does, but I could always be wrong.)

http://www.escapistmagazine.com/news/view/101185-Parents-Angry-Over-Educational-Videogame
http://www.koat.com/news/23811160/detail.html


Hmm..thoughts?

[Oniya]

Like at least one commenter said, I'd like to see the game itself.  I've seen math video games that involve blasting enemies that have the correct answer on them, and they're no more 'violent' than Space Invaders.  You'd also be surprised how much retention there really is subconsciously.  Sure, if you ask the kids 'What do you remember about the game?' they'll be talking about blasting the final boss.  But if you ask them on a test "Which of these is a prime number?' how many of them got the right answer?

[Trieste]

I think that first of all, both of the articles seem to use the same quotes from the same person. Who is Marlene Perrotte? Who does she represent? Did the media seek her out? Does she represent the PTA? She seems to only be identified as a random parent. We don't know her education level, her interest, whether her kid already excels at math (and she's less likely to 'try everything'), or if her kid is currently in foster care.

I think that quoting one parent while saying "parents", plural, is irresponsible journalism. It leads me to believe the reporter/station/whatever has an agenda.

I also think that people said the same damn things about TV, radio, and the internet. I think that this person is tossing around the word 'addiction' without knowing what she's talking about. I think that these articles should not have even made it past the editor.

As far as the video game itself, I agree with Oniya.

[Wolfy]

I think that first of all, both of the articles seem to use the same quotes from the same person. Who is Marlene Perrotte? Who does she represent? Did the media seek her out? Does she represent the PTA? She seems to only be identified as a random parent. We don't know her education level, her interest, whether her kid already excels at math (and she's less likely to 'try everything'), or if her kid is currently in foster care.

I think that quoting one parent while saying "parents", plural, is irresponsible journalism. It leads me to believe the reporter/station/whatever has an agenda.

I also think that people said the same damn things about TV, radio, and the internet. I think that this person is tossing around the word 'addiction' without knowing what she's talking about. I think that these articles should not have even made it past the editor.

As far as the video game itself, I agree with Oniya.

Well, the reason why they both quote the same person is because the bottom article is the source for the top.

[Oniya]

Even so, the bottom article talks about 'parents', and only quotes one.  I mean, seriously - even Wikipedia would call that 'weasel wording'.

[Paladin]

ok I can understand the hate against videogames, but ANY parent that would get mad over a video game that teaches kids good stuff is a frackin moron.

[Brandon]

The quote that jumped out at me is "We are feeding the addiction of these children to video games"

If your child is addicted to video games (and there are cases of such addiction) then you need to get them help. There are institutions set up already for exactly that

[BlisteredBlood]

Bookmarked for great justice and I plan on doing a video rant with this source material.

But just to give you the same idea of what I'm gonna get into after reading it, the only thing I see in that article is the same venomous hatred towards violent video games of the mid-90's to about 2009 when GTA4 was released and Jack Thompson - recently barred from his practice nowadays as per the executive order of the State of Florida's Bar Association - tried to get it pulled off the shelves.

Furthermore, it was also proven TIME AND TIME AGAIN that violent video games do not - I repeat: DO NOT - encourage violence, that it's the fault of the individual who buys too much into it then goes on a killing spree.

But that's another topic.

The only thing I'm gonna say about it now is that if an educational video game is considered to be too violent for the kids in a learning atmosphere such as a middle school, then maybe games like Mavis Teaches Typing or Reader Rabbit are now in the same league as other extremely graphic video games like Mortal Kombat, Gears Of War, Call Of Duty and other such games? Really? REALLY? You honestly have got to be freakin' kidding me!

[Wolfy]

Ya know..this article made me think of something...someone could totally re-make/revamp Typing of the Dead and make a FORTUNE.


Ya know,that game where you spell out words to kill Zombies before they can eat you.


**** Yes.

[BlisteredBlood]

You know what aggravated me the most about this?

WHERE IS THIS WOMAN'S PROOF? I demand to know where is she getting this delusional idea that this so-called "violent" learning game is even considered to "excite the children because of the violence".

If she can't come forward with this, I'm writing this off as total cockamamie BS.

[Brandon]

As a general rule I tend to think that anyone who speaks out against video games is a wacko (although I can think of a few exceptions). Video game controversies today are not about video games, theyre about the latest witch hunt

[Wolfy]

I still love the story of that Cooper woman who's Amazon.com posting of her book was BOMBED with one star reviews of "Didn't read it" after she idiotically called Mass Effect a "Rape Simulator" with "Choose-able Positions", after also saying that she had never played the game.

....What an idiot....

and the funny part was, about half of those one/two star reviews were from people that HAD read her book..it was just that bad!

[Brandon]

Hmmm hentai game with Mass effect like sci-fi/world shattering story and choosable positions. I would love a game like that!

[BlisteredBlood]

Allow me to submit this evidence, if I may.

This is the full episode of Penn & Teller: BS concerning this topic, segmented into three parts. Copy and paste it into your browser then draw your own conclusion once you watched all three segments.

youtube.com/watch?v=LWr4htYp9dM <--- Part one.
youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7comwLPFY <--- Part two.
youtube.com/watch?v=GLBx9XOhsm8 <--- Part three.

[Tharic]

Ya know..this article made me think of something...someone could totally re-make/revamp Typing of the Dead and make a FORTUNE.


Ya know,that game where you spell out words to kill Zombies before they can eat you.


**** Yes.

http://www.addictinggames.com/zombietypocalypse.html

[pimpdan]

Some parents are so retarded, i swear all my good grades were down to the fact that i was addicted as a kid to a game called 'Zoombinis' which I only realised on looking back was educational. (curse my crafty parents for tricking me into learning)

Its all about common sense: GTA4 for a ten year old, not so good. Educational games so they will be learning in their own free time, good.

[Caela]

As a parent I'd have to see the game before I could form an opinion on it's level of "violence" but I'd much rather give my kid a video game that will teach her something than one in which she's just racing a car or blowing up targets to no real end.

My only issue with video games is that I think many parents let their kids play them far too much. This isn't the kids fault. They are flashy and fun and designed to hold a person's attention...which keeps them in one spot and lets parents do what they want while the kid is "occupied". These same parents then bitch and whine when their child is morbidly obese at 11. My daughter is young enough I don't have to worry about her asking for video games yet but once she does start I'd much rather she have fun, and educational, games to play on the rainy days she's stuck inside then just some random shoot 'em up.

Just about anything that helps a child learn is worth looking at more than once and shouldn't be discarded out of hand, IMO.

[DrFier]

The only problem I would see would seem to be that the kids don't seem to take anything away from the game. This may be because the learning element seems to dissociated from the game. As far as it being violent, it was made by the frickin DOD, probably in the hopes that violent video games cause violent behavior.  Sadly for them, it doesn't, but there was a study that showed increases in accuracy and speed counting of individuals, but that could just be total BS.

[Oniya]

Again, we only have the words of that one source that it wasn't the prime number they were talking about, but getting through to the enemy.  That's the exciting part that you remember consciously.  What happened regarding the test scores?  How many of the kids showed a grasp of prime numbers?

[BlisteredBlood]

This goes right back to what I said originally, Oniya. WHERE IS HER PROOF? I demand that she reveals her proof from whatever source it was then we'll judge it for ourselves. If not, then her theory is based off of the negative bias that a majority of people have towards video games as a whole.

[NotoriusBEN]

Allow me to submit this evidence, if I may.

This is the full episode of Penn & Teller: BS concerning this topic, segmented into three parts. Copy and paste it into your browser then draw your own conclusion once you watched all three segments.

youtube.com/watch?v=LWr4htYp9dM <--- Part one.
youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7comwLPFY <--- Part two.
youtube.com/watch?v=GLBx9XOhsm8 <--- Part three.

QFT So Hard I Jammed My Finger through the desk. Like 'Shining Finger' hard.

Penn & Teller: BS was Perfect in the argument of Video Games and Violence

[consortium11]

Some parents are so retarded, i swear all my good grades were down to the fact that i was addicted as a kid to a game called 'Zoombinis' which I only realised on looking back was educational. (curse my crafty parents for tricking me into learning)

Its all about common sense: GTA4 for a ten year old, not so good. Educational games so they will be learning in their own free time, good.

I loved that game as a kid. "Logical Journey of the Zoombinis" (I think that was the full title of the game I played)... it was actually pretty damn hard and took a lot of thinking through. Taking multiple groups of different types through... ah, hours of fun.

[RoxasZhou]

The addiction to gaming is not so much an addiction, but a past-time as a result of boredem. The games are violent yes, but that does not mean this addiction will cause us to play more and more video games intoxicating our minds for the future to cause us to kill someone. These games are an excellent source to keep children quiet, or in fact a good way to reward them for doing something good, such as getting grades the parents want. Overall...these parents are douchebags.

[Wolfy]

The addiction to gaming is not so much an addiction, but a past-time as a result of boredem. The games are violent yes, but that does not mean this addiction will cause us to play more and more video games intoxicating our minds for the future to cause us to kill someone. These games are an excellent source to keep children quiet, or in fact a good way to reward them for doing something good, such as getting grades the parents want. Overall...these parents are douchebags.

Yeah, just because I play Halo, doesn't mean I'll take a spiked bat and throw it at people! :D *slowly nudges corpse away with foot*....Again!

[RoxasZhou]

Yeah, just because I play Halo, doesn't mean I'll take a spiked bat and throw it at people! :D *slowly nudges corpse away with foot*....Again!

I agree, just because I shot a dude in the face for wearing a costume for resident evil, does not mean an occurance as specific as this will reoccur.

[mystictiger]

Were I a parent, I'd rather my kid was taught in an interactive, face-to-face manner with a teacher or some other educator that promoted interaction and socialisation.

Given that this is an internet forum, we are all going to have a pro-computer bias.

[Oniya]

Face-to-face is usually best for learning.  Next would be live-chat, or some other situation where questions can be asked and answered.  Video games would be used for studying and review.

[Caela]

Were I a parent, I'd rather my kid was taught in an interactive, face-to-face manner with a teacher or some other educator that promoted interaction and socialisation.

Given that this is an internet forum, we are all going to have a pro-computer bias.

The face-to-face is what they get in school. The video game would be review and to re-enforce what was learned in school, in a fun manner, at home.

[Leo]

Hmmm... I don't understand the problem some people have with video games. I've been playing video games for like 20 years now and I've never been obese or stupid. Games do not make you any worse than books do, if you know what I mean. A neglected kid will turn into a retarded and obese reflection of parental failure whether he/she plays video games or not.

My brother is 10 years younger than me and since my father was always away for work, I had to be his father most of the time. In fact, I still have to be more often than not. I've taught him what my father taught me. I've disciplined him like my father disciplined me. I've also shared my entertainment with him : Video games. He plays them even more than I do and it sometimes makes me want to smack the back of his head and tell him to take a break. The thing is, he's kinda smarter than me now and he's more successful than I was at his age.

If playing video games were really so horrible that we must all avoid it like the plague, shouldn't they have made us (my brother and me) obese and retarded? Shouldn't we have been turned into delusional individuals who can't tell reality from games, as  games are often claimed to cause?

Seriously, being a well advised and good parent is the only issue here. It's not like my brother and I are the only ones I can show you as examples. I have about 7 friends who play video games since as long as they can remember and they are quite normal people. A child turning into anything unpleasant is entirely about the lack of good parentage. Games or TV or whatever can not harm your child if you are being a proper parent.

Parents who do not agree with me, please do not take offense. I wouldn't dare judge anyone's parentage here, I'm just talking about what I know, from personal observation, to be facts.

[Gracie]

These parents are overreacting, imo. "Feeding an addiction"? Ha! If the kids have an addiction to anything it is most likely the parents fault. It also looks like its only a few parents. I bet most parents don't have a problem with this game. I remember in elementary school we would play games on the computer. Math games, spelling games, typing games, etc. They were all educational, and I think the games really helped with learning, especially with learning how to type.

Allow me to submit this evidence, if I may.

This is the full episode of Penn & Teller: BS concerning this topic, segmented into three parts. Copy and paste it into your browser then draw your own conclusion once you watched all three segments.

youtube.com/watch?v=LWr4htYp9dM <--- Part one.
youtube.com/watch?v=MZ7comwLPFY <--- Part two.
youtube.com/watch?v=GLBx9XOhsm8 <--- Part three.

Oh, yes. That is a good episode of BS.

[Oniya]

I confess to an addiction.  I can't get enough of this one activity.  Sure, it introduces me to new concepts and broadens my horizons, but it's gotten to the point that I spend as many waking hours as possible engaged in it.  I can't pass by a store display without at least looking at the new arrivals, and heaven help me if I actually have some spare cash.  I've even stayed up well past when I should have been in bed engaging in this activity - hell, sometimes I even take it to bed with me.  Even the bathroom isn't immune to being used as a place to indulge my addiction.



I was talking about reading.  What did you think I meant?   ;D

[BlisteredBlood]

I confess to an addiction.  I can't get enough of this one activity.  Sure, it introduces me to new concepts and broadens my horizons, but it's gotten to the point that I spend as many waking hours as possible engaged in it.  I can't pass by a store display without at least looking at the new arrivals, and heaven help me if I actually have some spare cash.  I've even stayed up well past when I should have been in bed engaging in this activity - hell, sometimes I even take it to bed with me.  Even the bathroom isn't immune to being used as a place to indulge my addiction.



I was talking about reading.  What did you think I meant?   ;D

O_O


I see what you did there. =_=

[Trieste]

I was talking about reading.  What did you think I meant?   ;D

Math.

[Oniya]

Very few store displays for that, Trie  ;)

[Trieste]

Calculators!

[Leo]

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