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#17: Online Games for Children and my 4 Fears – Good Overprotective Parenting


Life seemed a bit simpler when I was a child when it came to playing games.  I grew up playing Chutes and Ladders with my grandma.  I played solitaire with my mother and by myself for hours.  Remember the card game “War”?  I would play that game for hours with my cousin.  And who could forget the ever popular game “Sorry”.  So these were just a few of the games that kept me entertained during my childhood. 

I think I was about 9 years old when video games took off with the Nintendo.  Even though my friend and I would play for several hours straight, there was no fear for our safety as we just sat in my friend’s room playing.  Eventually computer games came into the picture.  If I remember correctly the early games were equivalent to Oregon Trail.  As I reached my teens games became more advanced on the computer but people didn’t appear to have the capability to communicate with each other until the creation of the internet. 

I have played games like Call of Duty on the computer where players chatted with each other.    In the early computer versions of the Call of Duty games the chat function was limited to a chat room if I remember correctly.   I had a hard enough time playing the game so there wasn’t much time to read, let alone write while playing the game. 

My first introduction to live in game audio chatting was when I purchased an XBOX.  The communicating that took place by those playing the game consisted of smack talking, cussing and making other players feel bad for not doing very well during the game.  It is very concerning the age of some of the children playing XBOX games online with other players.  The language the children use or are subject to is horrible.  I use to think I would be able to make up strategies with other players during the game however I gave up on that many years ago.

So the reason this gaming topic even came to mind is because my daughter recently asked to play a Build-A-Bear community game.  Apparently after you create a bear at Build-A-Bear work shop you are given a code on the birth certificate that enables the owner of the bear to enter a code on the on the Build-A-Bear game and play with their created bear (or animal) online.  Players can communicate with other players in the game, and play games with the game.

I was very hesitant in allow my daughter to play this game and here were just a few of my fears:

1.)  Child predators might be on the game

There is no denying that there are some sick people in this world that want to hurt children.  Online communities are a perfect way for child predators to pose as children and gain the trust of our children. 

2.)  Children could say inappropriate things in the game that my child doesn’t t need to read.

3.) My daughter could get addicted to the game and want to spend too much time on it.

4.) I am scared of the variety of things that being online in general brings to the eyes of the user.

With all that being said, the child predator fear is my biggest fear.  I can’t hover over the computer every minute to see every interaction my daughter has. 

EASING SOME OF MY OVERPROTECTIVE PARENT FEARS

So to ease some of my fears I logged into my daughters game and browsed the game.  I was surprised to see some of the protections within the game.

PHRASE CHAT ONLY

The game allows you to chat with others but only by using specific phrases provided.  I tried to entering in words that I wanted to use and it wouldn’t let me.  I was very happy to see this.

EMAIL NOTIFICATION

I have received two emails from the game since my daughter began playing. The first thing was a response to my daughter’s inquiry to something not working right on the game.  The second notification was in response to my daughter reporting someone due to their conduct during the game.

I called my daughter (as I was at work) and asked her why she reported a player for their conduct. She indicated that the person she trying to trade virtual Build-A-Bears with quit before the trade was made.  Essentially the other child changed their mind about trading and my daughter didn’t think it was right.

 I was relieved that my daughter was only reporting someone for changing their mind rather then something else.

I haven’t played the Build-A-Bear community game a great deal but it seems to have many safeguards to protect children as they play the game.  I think Build-A-Bear will be the extent of my daughter’s online experience for some time.  My children will eventually need access to online content but at their age it is not needed.

What was your child’s first real online experience?  What do you think a good age is for children to be browsing the web?

Thanks for reading,

Andrew 

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