Tumblr 101: Tips And Tricks To Get Started
Sebastian Thrun: Google's Driverless Car
Study Finds Virtual Worlds Offer Good Real-World Lessons for Kids
Online role-playing games are often seen to be detrimental for children -- at best a waste of time, and, at worst, an addictive scourge -- but a new study is showing that this may not necessarily be the case. The study calls one such world "powerful and engaging" for children aged six to 12.The online world, hosted by BBC and called 'Adventure Rock,' is a place designed for kids to go and explore. Unlike most online games, it's a mostly solo affair. Players can communicate with others, but only on a message board, where they can share locations of special items or enemies.
The researchers, David Gauntlett and Lizzie Jackson from the University of Westminster, indicated that the game could be empowering for kids, and a good bit more engaging for them than watching television. They indicated that children used the virtual world as a sort of practice place for real life, which let them experience situations and figure out the right way to react in an environment where they could try again if they didn't like the outcome.
Mind you, the study was just for BBC's online world, so your kid isn't exactly guaranteed to receive the same benefits from 'World of Warcraft' or the like. [Source: BBC News]
Jennifer Aniston's Effortlessly Sexy Style
Whitney Houston Dead: Singer Dies at 48, Body Found in Beverly Hilton Hotel
PHOTOS: Best And Worst Of Grammy Dresses
Whitney Houston, Bobbi Kristina: Late Singer's Daughter Hospitalized
Whitney Houston Dead: Stars React to Legend's Sudden Death
Sheryl Crow Loves To Flaunt Toned Physique
Whitney Houston Autopsy: Cause of Death Determined?
Grammy Red Carpet 2012 (PHOTOS)
TV Shows That Last Too Long
Tips for flying cheaper in 2012
There's only one thing to do when the Nürburgring is covered in snow...
Comforter Soaked In Blood Found In Josh Powell's Storage Unit
Tax Reform in This Election Year: It's Not Likely
Grammy 2012 Winners' List: Adele Sweeps Music's Biggest Night
LINSANITY CONTINUES
Whitney Houston, Bobby Brown: Ex-Husband Honors Singer Onstage
15 Obnoxious Notes From Roommates
Ice Ice Baby: Amsterdam Canals Freeze Solid (PICTURES, VIDEO)
Nic Cage Addresses Vampire Rumors On 'Late Show'
Beyonce & Jay-Z Aim To Trademark Blue Ivy Carter
The Happiest People In The World...
Chloë Moretz Is All Grown Up
White House Bending On Birth Control Rule
Comments
3
Subscribe to commentsJerry on a JourneyMay 26th 2008 7:14PM
I'd love to see my son experience a game like this rather than the shooting games that I have been allowing him to play. I guess I haven't been the best role model.
DruMay 27th 2008 3:28AM
Don't beat yourself up about it. Any game is going to allow your kid to see the consequence of different choices, .. and if you raise him correctly, then he'll be able to judge these consequences of their own accord. Even in shooting games, the choices you make, good or bad, reflect on the game-play. If your kid is playing Call of Duty online, the best plan is to work as a team, develop a strategy, and problem solve, .. even if the conclusion is the enemy getting shot. Just because a game is violent, it doesn't necessarily show a "bad" image. This is just where parenting steps in, letting him know virtual violence is different than real violence. But just by playing those games, they'll increase their capacity to solve real life problems, intelligently.
kpilkerJul 2nd 2008 10:14PM
I had been a video game salesman for three months before I quit. I was going to school at the time and studying computer programming and become a video game programmer. My result from working there was this:
1. I was more for nintendo games for younger people because they do not have the violence that the other game platforms have.
2. I heard children as young as 6 saying they liked the games where they got to kill and see body parts fly around the screen.
As a result, I changed my major from programming to networking because I would be forced to make games that encouraged all of that stuff. I do not like blood and guts in a video game. Yes I do own several games that some may deem as violent: doom, resident evil, etc. But the games I like the most are about problem solving. I agree that violent games are ok when a parent is there to explain to the child right from wronge. But when I hear little kids saying they like to kill (even in a video game) I question what the parents are doing to say that killing is wronge.