Last Christmas my fourteen-year old son received an X-box "live" program so he could use his X-box 360 online and chat with other players in realtime audio through a headset that plugs into his console. There are many weekend nights that my son will stay up until three or four in the morning to play his favorite game "Call to Action." My assumption was that it was just a game and that it was okay to indulge him as long as it didn't interfere with school work or other social activities, after all, I know very well how addictive computer games can become.
What I wasn't prepared for was that he forgot to turn off the exterior sound to his headset one day while he was playing online. As I sat in the family room listening to the chat that was being discussed from who knows where, I was appalled at the amount of explicatives and politically incorrect language that I heard. Much of the language came from what sounded to be people who were much older than my fourteen-year old. I really wasn't sure how to react to the situation and admonished him for participating in an activity that allowed the use of such language.
The "Gameplay" article disturbs me on many fronts. The most disturbing of all is that there is already X rated games being promoted to adults as a sort of a "fantasy sex world." While it may be great for Carlos and consenting adults to explore their sexual identities in an online environment, is it really necessary for my son to be exposed to such propositions at his age? He is just at the age where he is exploring sex and sexual boundaries (he has a girlfriend) and I would prefer that his judgement and values concerning sexual matters be guided by me and his mother and not by an online gaming environment. What a spooky thought that is!
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Excessive swearing has become the norm on XBox Live voice chat; I guess it's something about the adrenaline pumping (since the most popular games on there are first-person shooters like Halo 3 and the game you mentioned) and the anonymity that removes internal filters that would otherwise be in place. If I ever get an XBox, I'll probably play it without voicechat as much as possible.
ReplyDeleteAs far as the concerns regarding sexuality, I do know that in most online role-playing games, there are measures to keep anyone from just walking in on sex. Anyone who had to engage in something like that online could do it through private chatter or a private space in-game, and GMs (game-masters, effectively the on-call moderators of the game) would remove anyone from the game who engaged in anything inappropriate publicly. So there is some control to the chaos, fortunately.
I am sympathetic to your quandary, Tim, not because I have children but because I have two video-game loving children.
ReplyDeleteI think some of the decisions parents must make about technology make me nervous to have kids. Will I make the right choices? If so, will my kids hate me for making them? :o)
But it sounds like you are involved in your son's growing adolescence and the conversation lines are open. That's good.
Interesting questions, Tim. The digitalization of our world has led to many changes in how people explore their identity, morality, and sexuality. The article on homosexual gaming communities and Carlos quoted James Gee as saying that video games allow users to explore morality in an environment with diminished consequences. The same might hold true for identity and sexuality. Whether this is a positive or a negative, I'm not certain. But my initial instinct says it's a negative, especially if exposure it premature.
ReplyDeleteUnfortunately, I think it's next to impossible to shield children from unwanted media/games/etc. Rather, I think we have to teach them critical literacy so that they can recognize "bad stuff" and understand why it should be avoided, at least until older and more mature.