Just wondering what you guys think. Is the fact that kids are playing more video games, and playing less outside a good or a bad ting for the future?
In terms of healthcare costs, it’s definitely bad. In terms of socialization, it depends–if the kids are playing multiplayer games where all players must be present in the same room, maybe it’s not so bad. Otherwise it’s bad that way too.
It is neither good nor bad. It is as bad as cities are, which are also considerd (by some) to be emotionally cold places.
I play video games, and sometimes I play video games with my friends. I go for walks in the park alone. Activity is activity, and what more can be said?
I remember a Far Side cartoon where two parents are watching their kid play Nintendo. They envision the want ads of a newspaper with ads such as “Can you save the Princess? $90,000 + benefits” and “Nintendo specialists needed now!”
The caption: “Hopeful parents.” 
I think that it’s less an issue of active play versus passive play (although I am concerned about that too) but an issue of imagination versus entertainment.
I hadn’t thought much about this for the first four years of our son’s life, letting him watch movies to keep him quiet so that we could get things done. Then, while waiting for a doctor appointment, I read an article about LEGO, and the problems they are having making a profit. The article stated that the dominant mode of play had shifted over thelast twenty years from participatory to entertainment.
That woke me up, and I dragged my LEGOs (which I used to play with for hours) out of my closet and dumped them on Gabe’s play table, where he started to build cars and rockets and other cool things that he imagined. I sincerely doubt we will ever buy a video game for our house, and he still does watch movies, but now we are trying to provide alternatives that will use his immense imagination.
So, while I can understand the issues that drive parents to allow video games, I do think that kids are playing them too much and not using their imaginations and their bodies enough.
And even though when I was a kid my siblings and I sat inside and read a lot, that is an entirely different thing than video games. And we still got out of the house occasionly to run around.
As to why, one reason (among many) is the current style of suburban development (read sprawl) that isolates kids and inhibits their ability to gather together to play.
Since it’s replaced the tv in my household, I think it’s better. Rather than being totally passive, it requires coordination, strategy, and pattern recognition. I do wonder if it impedes socializing, just as I wonder if there’s any drawback to the amount of time that many of us spend on message boards. Sure, we’re socializing, but in a more abstract way.
Whether it’s good or bad, it’s here.
Why we talking about the “upcoming generation”? The majority of games players right now are adults. 60% of Americans play video games; 61% of those players are adults, and the average age of a video player is 28. [From this week’s Economist, p. 57.]
So the question need not be debated as a hypothetical; instead we can look at the empirical evidence - how are our current generation of young adults working out?
Sua
Anyone who feels video games do not utilize a person’s imagination has not played the right video games!
Tetris. Silent Hill. Resident Evil. Final Fantasy series, especially Tactics. Goldeneye. yadda yadda, actually. Most games involve somewhat intricate puzzles to solve, while others are pure puzzles. The rest of the video games require as much imagination as playing football (which, too, requires some imagination), only without the potential for injury.
Of course, they could always gather together to play video games. No? Xbox and Gamecube both come with four controller ports, ready to have your friends over for some electronic fun. I’d like to play jarts, but they don’t stick in asphalt very well. 
How old were these people when they were introduced to video games? I think that makes a difference.
ultrafilter, anecdotally, looking at myself and my friends who play video games, we are the “Atari Generation,” who started playing games in the early 80s and never stopped. So look at my generation. Has video games been a postive, negative, or neutral influence on us?
I’m sure there are sociological studies out there on the issue.
Sua
How can video games be any worse than tv? I think it’s an improvement actually because it does require some active involvement. There are some games I would rather have kids play than others but the same goes for tv shows and movies too.
The important part is how much they are playing. Has it become an addiction? Have they stopped going outside or socializing? Merely playing video games isn’t enought to constitute a problem.
I’m interested also in seeing where things like url=“http://www.neverwinternights.com”]Neverwinter Nights take us.
The game has a huge world-creation component to it. Friday night my 12-year-old cousin came to visit, and we couldn’t get the single-player component of the game to work, so he and I spent a couple of hours creating a world together, building streets, creating monsters, and the like.
It was definitely structured pretend-play. But it was also very active, very participatory. And I wonder if more computer games will become like this.
Daniel
D&D geek par excellence
Well I think video games are a good thing.
Video games are becomeing better and better at spurring creativity. Games like The Sims (and the upcoming Sims Online) strongly encourage players to use their creativity, both in gameplay and in creating objects, etc. that allow for new kinds of gameplay. Even multiplayer shooters allow for modifications and creation of scenerios. More and more video games are becoming something you help to create, as well as play. This has the effect of inspiring creativity, as well as the providing a practical incentive to leaning the skills one needs to use the computer as a tool to create as well as entertain. I know more than one person that has taught themselves to program in part because of video games.
Games are also moving away from being “twitch” oriented. Real time strategy games, as well as puzzle games, are almost pure abstract thinking. Role playing games and shooters are developing more and more open and complex story lines that rely on a lot more than killing- social relations, resource management and exploration are all becoming very important parts of game play.
Lemme see if I can push this “[” into the coding above.
Ungh!
Ungh!
UNNNNGGGH!!!
Damn.
I worry about kids not getting outside for some exercise more then anything else. When I was a 6 we had an Atari and I pretty much only played it when I couldn’t go outside for some reason. Even when I was 12 and got a Nintendo I still spent an awful lot of time outside. I’ve noticed a lot of kids who have video game systems don’t spend as much time outside as I did as a child. My evidence is of course anecdotal and I’m not sure if videogames are the cause but I suspect there may be a connection.
Marc
You want exercise, but you’d rather go to the arcade than go to the gym?
Fret no more, it’s Dance Dance Revolution to the rescue! Not only is it exciting and fun, it burns calories like a blowtorch. A middle school in Los Angeles is even using DDR for gym class. There are even home versions for PlayStation, so you can practice for competitions.
I don’t buy arguments about video games causing a lack of socialization; the same thing could be said about chess, novels, music, and homework. But how many four-player chess games have you seen? How many novels have a “party mode” for eight friends to join in?
If kids are playing video games instead of getting proper exercise, clearly the best plan is to take them to the arcade and get them hooked on games that require physical participation. Besides DDR and other dancing games, there are boxing and police games where you have to swing around a pair of gloves and dodge punches or bullets by moving your body. You can’t play those without breaking a sweat.
One.
Now for a serious answer to the OP. Everyone who’s watched small children playing video games knows that they can get wrapped in this form of entertainment (and I can’t honestly say that I was innocent of this sort of behavior when I was young either.) I’ve seen children cry, yell, get angry, and even on a few rare occasions turns violent when things don’t go their way in a video game. I’ve actually seen children accuse their video game systems of “cheating” when something bad happens, as if they have some sort of right to win automatically. And this isn’t just limited to small children. In college, I’ve seen people behaving in similar ways. Some guys act like their entire day is ruined if Donkey Kong manages to throw Kirby off the edge in “Smash Brothers”. Now before I get attacked, let me say that I know that not all gamers act like this. However, I do feel that it’s a problem for some people.
In contrast, when kids play a sport like soccer or baseball, they’re supposed to learn about teamwork, patience, and sportsmanship. Rituals such as having both the teams line up and shake hands with each others might occasionally seem pointless to some people, but I’m convinced that they do help build kids’ maturity. And I remember from my early sports days that when a player got angry, started crying, or tried to start a fight, the coach would pull them aside and talk to them about the situation, and then make them apologize.
Now, you can make videogames that involve teamwork and encourage fair play, and I think that’s a good idea. But the fact remains that there won’t be an adult there to make the kids behave and ensure that they shake hands afterwards.
I think that video games, in moderation, are good for children especially compared to other sedantary forms of entertainment.
Even the most mindless game will develop a kid’s hand-eye coordination and the best games out there involve much more: strategy, puzzle-solving and even social skills.
Some time back I remember reading a characterstically pompous George Will column which hailed the rise of Harry Potter and attacked the new console machines.
Now teaching kids to read for pleasure is good but I think it’s silly and lazy to celebrate any type of reading over any kind of videogame. Personally I suspect that finishing a Final Fantasy game or mastering Age of Empires stimulates a kid far more than just Harry Potter books.
And mastering a difficult turn-based strategy game takes more brain-power than writing George Will columns for sure;)
Is that the same parent that during the game was cursing out his/her child for making a mistake, cursing out the coach for not playing his/her child enough, and beating the hell out of other parents for daring to tell him/her to let the kids be kids?
You’re right, if the parents are good role models sports can teach them good life lessons. Of course, if the parents are good role models, they don’t need sports to learn those lessons. I play a card based baseball game. Its mostly kids 8-14, with a couple of guys around my age, 26, and my mom’s boyfriend who’s in his 50’s. There’s one kid that is the best kid I’ve ever met. He’s kind, polite to everyone, never brags, and always displays great sportmanship. I met his mom just recently. Absolutely incredible lady, so its no surprise that he turned out the way he did. There was another kid who was the total opposite. He was always up in your face yelling and bragging when things went his way. If things didn’t he started cursing. Yes cursing. He was 7 years old, and if things went against him he would start yelling out “Fuck, shit, fuck fuck”. His dad was an asshole. So it seems obvious to me that the son is taking after and learning from the father. Which leads me back to my point, which is that the method for teaching the child is less important than what the child is being taught. Video games, sports, card games, it doesn’t matter. All that matters is the lessons.
(Obviously, sports have other advantages that video and card games don’t offer, namely the physical aspect. But thats a seperate arguement from the one I was discussing.)
DDR rawks! Played it myself. Incredibly addictive as a two player game.
That’s the only argument I can see against them though, they’re easy to become addicted to. I’ve seen some folks get too wrapped up in them but they were usually adults(!). I think anyone is susceptible.