Recently, we brought our kid to the Apple Store, and I let him play the Fruit Ninja game preinstalled on the ipads display units. He absolutely loves that game.
My wife told him that we can install the game on our own ipad, when she saw how happy he is at the moment. "No, we don’t,"I denied."I don’t mind he play game during his childhood, but we should have some guiding principles."
My guiding principles for childhood gaming:
- Play only on game console like PlayStation or Xbox
- Play only high quality AAA games
- On the flip side, mobile and free games are forbidden
I took this chance to share my point of view about games: Game is an excellent medium to learn, to express, and to relax. This is only achievable through those high quality games. If they are used to play the AAA game, they will develop a natural aversion to normal games.
The real danger is those free and mobile games. As with other free items, YOU are the biggest cost to pay. They are designed to be addictive and they earn your attention, whereas the real game productions, they only earn you once at the point of sale.
The mobile nature also means high accessibility, which allows you to play anytime and anywhere. Obviously you don’t want that - you want the game to be as inaccessible as possible.
According to the theory of habits, it is also a good practice to have designated place for gaming, where the kid subconsciously tells himself that he can only play within the proximity of game console. It is similar to the advice for insomnia "you don’t do anything else on the bed except sleep."
"I’m totally sold," said my wife,"Where did you learn this from?"