SSX On Tour: Crack Cocaine to my 6-year-old

I work in the gaming industry - and I'm a big fan of non-violent videogames, especially those involving music and rhythm. Until recently, I allowed my 6-year-old son to use his daily "screentime" (i.e. watching TV or playing games) at his discretion. This worked great for awhile - he often chose to play Donkey Konga, Karaoke Revolution, or I SPY Fantasy over watching TV shows, and on many days he didn't use any screentime at all.

Then Uncle Leo (who works for Electronic Arts) brought Gabe a present: SSX On Tour. After playing for 15 minutes, my sweet young son was hooked - big time. He wanted to play ALL THE TIME. All other games were boring in comparison. For a few days, I let him play after school -- after all, we're teaching him to manage his OWN screentime -- but I noticed that he seemed aggressive and twitchy after playing. So I set limits -- he could only play for 15 minutes, and he had to go outside and run off his energy afterwards.

Then he started having dreams about the game, and wanted to play first thing in the morning, before school. I know the signs of addiction when I see 'em. So I cut him off, cold turkey.  SSX On Tour is now on a high shelf in our kitchen, and we're taking a break from videogames for awhile. Gabe protested for a few days, but now he's  back to his sweet self -- and he's no longer asking me for SSX when he wakes up in the morning.

This episode was a wake-up call for me. SSX is a great game - it's got exciting action, sensitive controls, raucous music,  gorgeous graphics, and powerful advancement incentives for your character.  But the experience of playing is actually TOO compelling and adrenaline-producing for my young son to handle. Even though it's not a shooter (a genre that we don't induge in, around our house) it's not really appropriate for Gabe.  He's  a highly imaginative and impressionable kid - so we  don't take Gabe to see movies like Harry Potter or Star Wars, which many of his classmates have seen.

Every parent needs to decide for themselves what's appropriate for their kids, at what age. I know that some parents think we're the devil incarnate for allowing videogames into our home. Personally, I think that SOME games are absolutely wonderful for our kid - and as Gabe grows and changes, I'm continuing to learn what works and what doesn't. That's life in the gaming biz :-)

Comments

[Thomas]

Hi Amy Jo
Couldn't resist commenting on this text because we had exactly the same going on with my family here in DK, although my son is 13. His playing habbits was constantly evolving from half an hour to an hour to a few hours with the friends and suddenly my wife and I found that he played for hours without end. I work in the games industry myself and enjoy games a lot and we have a lot of games at home and consoles and so. So there is always a "fix" available. Then I found out that several of my colleagues had the same problem - their kids was playing hours without end.

Some of the symptoms was quite disturbing: my son have for some time had a difficult time going to bed. He was lying in there until midnight and often even later. His schoolwork got more and more sloppy and he began to isolate himself from his friends. The worst was the small lies - he sneaked himself to play during the night or when he came home from school.

We are quite tolerant and we trust our son and want him to know that we trust him, so it was quite a step to take, when my wife suggested we removed all computers and games the next six months. After a long and brilliant discussion involving both my son and his to year younger sister, we decided to put games away until summer. We have bought a lot of board games, lego and books on activities. And we are daily trying to involve especially him in cooking dinner and seeing movies together and so on.

He had the behaviour of a drug addict. No doubt, but we were part of it. We used the "free time" to do our stuff - you know, we work hard, have a lot of interests and friends etc - so it was actually "easy" when he was occupied. We - and quite a lot of people - had to do something about ourselves. Not the games. The games are great - just like good food, wine , love, music and so on - but too much is not healthy, and most important, I think, instead of blaming him or the games, we are trying to do the hardest thing, changing our selves and thus develop quality and true belonging. Or in other words: reshaping and reinvigorate the family.

[Vaz]

Hey Amy Jo!

Very interesting! I had a similar experience just last week. My 4-year-old daughter has been using the computer for 2 years now (Reader Rabbit, mylittlepony.com, etc.) and she has a V-Smile video game console (more learning games). Interestingly, she's never shown any addictive traits toward computer gaming, but it was a different story when, recently, we bought several board games.

I was concerned that she was playing video games too much, and I wanted to introduce more social gaming. So, my wife bought "Candyland," "Thomas the Tank Engine," and "Chutes and Ladders." She loved them, and while playing these, she seemed to cross some threshold and became completely caught up in them.

Then, one night after a day long marathon of playing board games, she dreamed about the games. Upon waking, the first words out of her mouth were "Play game!" Yikes!

A short break seemed to cure her, and we reigned in the amount of time she's allowed to game.

So now I'm using board games to teach her about sportsmanship and rule boundaries. She always wants to win and she wants to put the spinner on the wildcard slot so she can choose where to go on the board. I've mostly succeeded on the latter, but have failed to crack sportsmanship. She's still pretty set on being the winner.

In any case, I don't think you're the devil incarnate - I think our kids will excel in computer literacy. It's completely fascinating (and sometimes scary) how this generation will grow up computer skilled.

Hope things are going great for you!

- Vaz

[AJ]

Great stories, guys -- thanks for posting! It's so gratifying to know that other parents are going through similar challenges. We "swore off" games for a couple of weeks; now we're back to "you can play for 1/2 hour at a time during the weekend." Thomas, the point you make about it being TOO easy for the parents to let a child get immersed in games is right on. Same goes for TV - it's a tempting baby-sitter, but not really a healthy one.

We're playing more board games now - as you are, Vaz - but I'm finding that Gabe gets pretty intense about those games as well. Yatzee is the newest obsession around our house (we got it from Grandma for a holiday gift) and although it's a GREAT game for building math & strategy skills, it's also got a lot of potential for cheating. So it's a challenge sometimes to play, and keep things fair - but a worthwhile one I think.

Keep those stories coming!

[Edward Vielmetti]

I remember getting hooked on "hack103" while I was in college, staying up late late playing it. No graphics beyond character graphics, but a compelling storyline and an infinite source of the next challenge.

My kindergartener and I have negotiated pretty strict limits on time spent online - we're at 30 minutes a day, and it's almost always spent together and not with him sitting by himself. Getting to that point involved some long series of back and forth, and now I write him a "ticket" for computer time that he can cash in.

Amy Jo, you'd like talking to Eli Neiburger - http://ulo.tricho.us/ - who runs the games program at the Ann Arbor District Library. They organize multiplayer game tournaments at the library & so there's a whole social world surrounding the in-library gaming they are tapped into.

[Will]

Just to comment on your story : Personally, I think your idea of not letting him play the game is a good one, since like you said he could be getting some sort of addiction. I really can't see why you wouldn't take him to a movie like harry potter, though, if he was so inclined to see it. The point of a movie is to excersize your imagination. (It is in all fact, fiction.) May I ask what other activities your child CAN do at home, at his age - with such interest as playing a game like that.

[peter]

hi
where cd i find a crack for RULE THE RAIL as the extension packs of this game needs password
tks

[Yashwanth Subbannayya]

Seeing this story,I feel nostalgic about my own childhood. I am 24 now. And as a child, I preferred to being alone with my books than socializing with kids of my age or playing soccer in the playground. Im from India and there is a craze for video games here.And the videogame business and internet boom time in India fell exactly during my childhood. At age 12, I was presented with brand new console tv game system which I immediately started playing. But my playing hours were strictly monitored and my games were monitored for violence by mom, who is a psychiatric social worker. At age 14, I was presented with a computer for getting good grades in high school and I was immediately addicted to games. There was no monitoring this time, and I played freely when I willed. The result was that my migraine headaches got worse. I used to dream and get nightmares of games. After playing "Quake" and "Doom", I used to roam the streets thinking I was the man with the gun and the whole world was there for me to kill. Once when my parents had gone out for a week, I played non-stop for 24 hours and then plopped onto bed and slept for two days continuously. That was the most terrible headache I had. And I felt terribly ill and had uncontrollable seizures. But i still didnt inform my parents and tried to control my computer usage but in vain. At age 15, my studies went awry and all I could think was my failing grades and slowly I went into depression. It took my mom 4 months to find out that I was skipping school often and my attendance at school was very poor. I was subjected to counselling and had to take antidepressants at age 16. And finally as years passed, I came out of my depression. I did my graduation and post-graduation and now am a biochemist. I still play games sometimes but at a controlled rate and stick to only strategy games and puzzles so that my brain is stimulated. And I have finally come to the conclusion that "A computer can only supplement the brain and can provide entertainment but it cannot substitute a man's brain, his individuality". When I have kids of my own, Im sure that they will have their tv viewing and computer use monitore and controlled.

[Kindo]

where i can to find a crack password for the game "RULE THE RAIL"?
THKS

[Guru]

Finaly i have bougt rule the rail an here is the password
6G7DA5AHJ9A6A2
Say thanks!

[Dustin]

Sad.. Im a program and a game designer/maker/tester and i play games every
day im 16 and i have A's and B's in school XD!!!! I love game's and my computer
b/c with out my cp IM WILL DIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!