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[bashow]

Is it appropriate for kids to play Grand Theft Auto IV? Considering all the violence and bad language in the game, one would be tempted to say no. However, considering that the character you play puts on a helmet whenever he gets on any kind of motor bike, I would say that makes it an okay influence. Doesn't the lesson of motorcycle safety make up

Comments

[brightflashes]

I don't know if I'd be comfortable with, say, 8 year old Anya playing GTA. However, I think it's most important to evaluate if a child knows the difference between reality and fantasy and then as long as they know that the "rules" in fantasy are different than the rules in reality then it would be okay I guess. I personally haven't ever really gotten into the games myself though I've owned a few of them.

There's the old psychology thing that I learned in developmental psychology where it's uncertain if violent shows produce violent kids or if more violent kids are more inclined to watch violent shows. So the correlation between the media and violence in children hasn't been well established yet since it's in the chicken vs the egg stages still.

But I think your question was really, exposing children to questionable moral content. I think that as long as they show a strong sense of self and have demonstrated an ability to stay somewhat true to their set of morals, then introducing questionable moral media to them wouldn't be a problem. A strong morally bound child probably wouldn't be all that effected by moral ambiguity. However, something I've thought of a lot myself is Eminem to me is an absolute genious who writes authentic music (Lose yourself, Sing for the Moment) with extremely positive messages - if you're not familiar with those songs, I'd enourage you to read the lyrics. However, he is viewed as someone who has questionable morals and displays this in his songs. I'd much rather Anya listen to Eminem than some of the other stuff out there that has never been evaluated by the media as being morally questionable.

[bashow]

Yeah, I really doubt I would let a kid I was in charge of play a game like that, particularly if they were really young. I'd probably get them a Wii which has more kid type games on it. I think that violence in entertainment affects kids differently. I guess each parent just has to know their kid and know what is right for them. Like if they know that it's just a game and most things they do on it are never to be done in real life. I think it probably is a good idea to wear a helmet if you're going to be going 50mph on a motor cycle though.

I wonder if GTA is like a violent version of the Sims. I've never played a Sims game, so I don't really know. On GTA, you can go out with friends and play pool or go bowling. You can go shopping for clothes or go out to eat. For all I know though, you may do none of that stuff on the Sims.

[brightflashes]

In the Sims, you can do all of that stuff. You basically make characters and get them to fall in love and have children and get them jobs. They have meters like hunger, energy, fun, etc... and you have to keep the meters up. So, if they're not having much fun, you let them watch TV or something to that effect. You also get to build up their knowledge of things by getting them to read, or play chess (to build logic). The sims can die naturally or you can kill them yourselves by, say, not feeding them when their hunger meter is down. I like it for several aspects. I like building houses for them and decorating the houses and I also like to play out fantasies in them. For example, I want my brother to marry Greg's sister so he's married to her in my Sims game. I also have at times put characters from movies or TV shows that I like in my game so I could be friends with them. It's ridiculously addictive, especially with all the expansions you can get for them. Right now, I'm totally into gardening and mixing up the different produce to make potions that boost skills or relationship status.

[bashow]

That sounds really interesting. I might like that. I can see how it would be addictive if you're constantly trying to improve on things. I wonder if there's a more humane way to kill them off rather than starving them-hehe. It would be wild if you could physically be a part of the Sims world and make things happen for you the way you wanted them to happen. A lot of people might never leave if they had something like that. They should make a movie about someone who discovers that everything they do in their Sims game ends up actually happening in real life. So once you have people married in the Sims, they all of a sudden get married in reality. I guess they have made variations of that before though. So potions boost skills and relationship status. If you could make potions like that in real life, you could make a lot of money selling them over the internet. I think GTA San Andreas was more like the Sims since there were hunger, stamina, muscle, sex appeal meters that you had to try and fill.