nadako

June 09, 2010 at 4:50pm

hate to burst her bubble when a new school opens up that will use video games as a learning tool. She also forgets that kids learn best when they are having fun. Agree?

stradric

June 09, 2010 at 6:40am

@JE_Delta: 

First of all, if you're 15, you're not a fully functioning member of society.  You're a child.  You're still living off of your parents.  You don't pay taxes.  You can't drive.  You don't have a job.  You're not an adult.

Second of all, nothing you said provides anything other than anecdotal evidence, which is worthless in any real debate.

Of course that's not to say that I think you're wrong.  Video games have proven time and time again to be an exceptional learning tool.  And "video game addiction" is a lie. 

COMMANDER_COOK

June 08, 2010 at 11:42pm

I really couldn't tell what they were doing in the game. But I will say that grey haired retard is wrong. 

----------------------------------

Donate blood!     http://www.redcrossblood.org/

bingojubes

June 08, 2010 at 8:22pm

Number Munchers wins in my book. State a simple onjective at the top, math number grid down below, and it was pac-man + math.

dankers

June 08, 2010 at 8:20pm

"durr im an immigrant and im going to do everything in my power to not learn a damn thing so i can be an unproductive member of society and collect welfare for the rest of my life." yes i realize im being incredible racist. sue me.

JE_Delta

June 08, 2010 at 8:06pm

I started Playing Computer Games By the time I was five.

I started Watching CSI and other violent crime shows when I was ten.

I was playing Mature Rated video Games on my PC when I was eleven.

I currently Am 15 years old and in Grade 10 and I can pull off high 90s in school without any effort at all.

I am in the 96th percentile (SAT score) of all grade 10s in america.

and I am a fully functioning member of society.

Bottom line is:

Violent video games, violent TV show, and video games in general have not harmed my developement at all, and in fact I believe that they have done the opposite and furthered my cognative abillitys and problem soving skills.

HeartBurnKid

June 08, 2010 at 6:40pm

Ah, my youthful school days, playing Math Blaster, Number Cruncher, Oregon Trail, and a bevy of other educational games on an Apple IIe...

Seriously, I don't really see the big deal.  I grew up playing games in school, and I know they helped me learn and retain knowledge; of course they'll do the same for the kids.  And judging by the footage in that news story, it's not a violent game at all; certainly no more violent than, say, Legend of Zelda or any number of kid-friendly games.  Personally, I think the "concerned parent" just has a thing against video games (maybe she went to the Jack Thompson school of paranoia?).   And, big surprised, she's a gray-haired old biddy who looks way too old to have kids that age.

Morichalion

June 08, 2010 at 5:54pm

"The school system said they'd be more than happy to let concerned parents play the video game to get a better understanding of its usefulness."

 

I have no idea why this horribly concerned parent won't sit for five minutes to personally evaluate the violent nature of this game. I can't make any judgement on it, because I haven't played it. You can be damn sure that every potentially 'violent' educational tool at my daughter's school would have been personally evaluated by me before she experienced it.

 

That being said, for most after-school programs, isn't there supposed to be some parental consent? Do the parents that are freaking out about this even have kids that are participating in the program?

The world was ruled by religion, and they call it "The Dark Ages"

Zachary K.

June 08, 2010 at 4:49pm

"We are feeding the addiction of these children to videogames," she said while her kids were at home yelling curse words over the microphone in halo 3.

Sparx10

June 08, 2010 at 4:24pm

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA :D I LOL'D

hunterada

June 08, 2010 at 4:08pm

Back when I was a kid, I played ridiculous amounts of Warcraft 2 / Starcraft. I became one of those really annoying 12 year olds that clearly have no life, because they just whooped your ass so bad. I wish I had that kind of free time still.

Fast-forward to today. I'm in the military. I have a near-instinctual ability to visualize multiple, simultaneous engagements in my head while staring at a map and listening to grid coordinates and engagement reports, and coordinate actions between combat units throughout the area. I don't have to think about it- it just makes sense.

I'm not convinced this is a coincidence. Those are damn near precisely the skills someone who is attacking two of your expansions and your main base while microing his units will develop. Now we have a videogame that requires you to develop the skills necessary to quickly and accurately solve math problems in order to progress.

Anyone want to place bets on whether or not these kids will grow up with the ability to do basic math just by glancing at a problem?

Ayeohx

June 08, 2010 at 4:06pm

I'm 35 and we had video games in school when I was a kid.  Oregon Trail and Where in the World is Carmen Sandiego just to name a few.  These games gave me an appreciation for computers and history. 

Devo85x

June 08, 2010 at 2:52pm

 At my school we played Counter Strike 1.6!  No joke!

prince_david

June 08, 2010 at 2:21pm

What game are these kids playing? It looks really awesome, way better than Math Blaster or something.

lunchbox73

June 08, 2010 at 2:19pm

I didn't see anything close to violence in that video they showed.

TheKhaos24

June 08, 2010 at 2:01pm

I found this video on that site in the comments. This video was extremely interesting and enlightened me on many aspects of this field.

 http://www.wimp.com/secretpowers/

TheKhaos24

June 08, 2010 at 2:01pm

I found this video on that site in the comments. This video was extremely interesting and enlightened me on many aspects of this field.

 http://www.wimp.com/secretpowers/

jhains

June 08, 2010 at 1:38pm

It seems to me there's only one person complaining...  If there was an outcry, I would expect to see more angry parents.  The woman they kept showing looks more like a grandparent than the parent of a 5th grader; and an out of touch with reality grandparent at that.  Perhaps she's related to Jack...

 Videogames are part of our culture, and no amount of whining and litigation are going to change it.  I think using videogames to transfer useful educational data into the minds of children is a good thing.  These kids aren't playing GTA or Leisure Suit Larry to learn math, they are playing what looks to be a simplified version of Halo, likely with minimal animated violence, and probably no player on player violence.  

 Chances are, most of those kids play GTA, WoW, Unreal or something similar at home already.  Grandma needs to STFU and move into the 21st century.

 

--disclaimer--

I have an 8 year old son, and he spends quite a lot of time on the PC playing games, some semi-violent, some not.  He hasn't demonstrated any preference for violent vs. non-violent.  We also use the PC to do schoolwork, with the help of websites like IXL math.  

Additionally, I've had a PC in front of me since I was 6, and though the graphics on a TRS-80 and Apple ][ are nothing compared to today, and I played what would be considered violent games.  Thus far, I haven't committed any violent crimes...

makius

June 08, 2010 at 1:31pm

Kids are always going to play video games, unless their parents are nazis. So why not let them play a game that at least tries to make them learn something in the process? This sounds like a fantastic idea.

Come to think of it, wasn't that the same idea behind the old Oregon Trail games? And as I recall my entire party would regularly die of small pox or get whiped out by a tribe of indians, and they weren't just circular targets.

Anyway, I'm sure there are some parents that have made the decision to not let their children play video games, or at least not the violent ones, and are very good about enforcing that. So if those parents don't want their child playing this game then fine, more power to em. But  I have a feeling that 90% of the parents that will raise a fit over this already have a dozen M rated games sitting at home for little Johny to play. This still sounds like a great idea, I would rather have my kid playing this game than COD or Halo. 

brucinius

June 08, 2010 at 1:25pm

Actually the parent has a striking resemblance to Ric Flair, which would explain the concern towards violence.

brucinius

June 08, 2010 at 1:09pm

I completely agree with comments about the lone 'parent' they bothered to interview, but for the middle school teacher to call this game the new style of flash cards is a big stretch, judging from the video.

Playing devil's advocate for a second, does anyone honestly believe that these kids are really improving their math skills playing a game like this?  If they lose a mission, are they upset that they missed some math questions, or that they blew their objective?

We all know Oregon's Trail, which I played in school, however I didn't use those great skills when I got older and went hiking or camping. Maybe I should have, however, since I almost died of dysentery.

Shouldn't the real questions be how much grant money went towards this
program, and why the DOD is putting shooter games in schools? 

Danthrax66

June 08, 2010 at 1:00pm

What a dumb bitch. I bet she is ok with them watching war movies rated R though (not that I find anything wrong with that) or for that matter any other movie or tv show but as soon as it is a videogame it's evil and addictive and the devil made it.

somethingelse

June 08, 2010 at 12:36pm

I played PC games none stop from when I was 10 till I was about 20.  Learned how to fix and soup up computers in the process.  Now I have a great career in the IT industry, make lots of money and drive a nice car. If it wasn't for computers games I'd probably be stuck in some cubical earning just enough to survive...take a hike granny, this is our generation, you had your time now piss off :)

 

what signature, where do i sign?

ajax344

June 08, 2010 at 12:26pm

uhhh this isn't the problem with "violent games" its stupid ass parents, probably the same ones protesting, that will get their kids GTA 4 or other misc M games and not pay attention. Not a kid playing a game based around math. From what I understand their shooting at like a circular  target, not even a human outlined target, protest at gun ranges / stores because they sell human shaped targets which is infinitly worse then a GAME that has no pretense of "we are attack humans." Play a crysis mod that makes you answer random multiplication questions before you can strangle somebody or switch suit modes or shoot people in the face, then complain about violence. In reality, previous games in schools are worse then the crap they have, I know when I was in school I played Oregon Trail, and at least the later versions, had a shooting gallery sort of thing where you shot rabbits and stuff, far more violent then this only without the education part of it. Or you would name the people on your oregon trail wagons people that you know and get them killed while fording a river! How horrifying!!! To be fair, at the same time I could hook up my n64 and play perfect dark an M rated game but my parents wern't worried because the shit about not being abled to tell the difference between games and reality, they didnt buy it.

frizzly

June 08, 2010 at 12:20pm

BTW  That woman looks a bit to old to have a kid the right age to evan be in that class.

 

Frizzly Mejere "Once you go down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

frizzly

June 08, 2010 at 12:17pm

the video states that there are no living targets, so I dont really see any problem. Also in addition to the math invovled, video games also promote creative strategy and problem solving skills, as well as quick thinking.

 Frizzly Mejere

"Once you start down the dark path, forever will it dominate your destiny."

Nickompoop

June 08, 2010 at 12:15pm

First off, they only interviewed one person, who may or may not be a parent of a child in the program.  If she has a child and this kid is in the after school program, she should just remove her kid from the program, not gripe about it to a news camera.  I think she just likes the attention.  She's a media whore, not much different than Sarah Palin.

What spam filter?

s1r 70nk

June 08, 2010 at 12:15pm

Does anyone know the name of the videogame in question or the producers of the game besides the DOD funding it?

gendoikari1

June 08, 2010 at 12:14pm

Is it just me or does she look suspiciously like Jack Thompson? 

tkid124

June 08, 2010 at 11:32am

The article clearly states it was an after school program, not in the class room. The article doesn’t say that Ms. Perrotte was actually a parent of a child in the program or just a parent, (I didn’t listen to the video, so not sure what she said there). Parents have the option to pick their kids up after school, place them in another after school program or obtain alternative means for age appropriate supervision. Mr. Bodman is from a middle school, I have to wonder if they are really parents who are concerned with the violence of a video game for Middle Schoolers or if they just are griping to gripe.

cc3d

June 08, 2010 at 11:04am

you never hear anybody fussing about America's addiction to television do you?  No!  A  bunch of pussies raising pussies!

azathir

June 08, 2010 at 11:02am

"We are feeding the addiction of these children to videogames," Marlene
Perrotte, a parent of one of the students, told her local news station.
"What the recall is not the prime number they were talking about, but
rather getting through to the enemy."

Sounds to me like she should spend more time in school herself. She doesn't articulate very well. I don't think someone like this should have much of an opinion on the school system.

noctambulist

June 08, 2010 at 10:44am

She looks like the Queen of No Fun to me.

Spartacus

June 08, 2010 at 10:40am

Something tells me that that "parent" isn't very qualified to comment on any kind of electronics. She strikes me as the kind of person who refuses to touch a computer because they're evil...