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Swedish Dad Takes Gamer Kids To Warzone
Z00L00K sends this excerpt from The Local:
A Swedish father has come under fire for taking his two sons on a trip to Israel, the West Bank and occupied Syria in order to teach them the reality of war. [Carl-Magnus Helgegren is] a journalist, university teacher, and proactive dad. And like so many other dads, Helgegren had to have the violent video-game conversation with his two sons, Frank and Leo, aged ten and 11 respectively. "We were sitting at the dinner table last autumn, and my kids started telling me about this game they wanted to play, the latest Call of Duty game, and told me about the guns and missions," Helgegren told The Local on Friday. So Helgegren struck a deal. The family would take a trip to a city impacted by real war. The boys would meet people affected, do interviews, and visit a refugee camp. And when they came back home, they would be free to play whatever games they chose.
I love how people insist on commenting on what fathers or mothers do to teach their children about reality. If you did not hand them weapons or put them in the line of fire (keep in mind in some countries even that is perfectly acceptable for a 12 year old), then mind your own freekin beeswax. Why is this even a /. story?
Side note? I would do the same with my kids if I actually got up off my ass and stopped typing on computers for 10 minutes. Sad.
When the foot seeks the place of the head, the line is crossed. Know your place. Keep your place. Be a shoe.
I wish my dad was that cool. Thats awesome. I hope his kids enjoyed their trips.
Uhhm, OK, uhhh...I'm sorry, why is this on Slashdot?
Slashdot: providing anti-social weirdos a soapbox, since 1997.
Back in my day, parents would say, "you want that? Save up your money! I'll pay you 50 cents every time you mow the lawn, now get to work." And I was grateful!
"First they came for the slanderers and i said nothing."
Man doesn't realize that games are fictitious.. News at 11.
If they see themselves on the winning side, they'll want even more war. They get to leave the war zone, the refuges are stuck. A week will teach nothing. They need to know years of war and what it does.
“He’s not deformed, he’s just drunk!”
They all came back whole and unharmed, right? So what's the problem, other than his kids now have a much better sense of perspective?
No, seriously. This guy was thinking of his children.
I think it's great that he wants to give them a dose of reality. I think a lot of us in the US (and not just kids) could use that kind of experience.
Does it pose some risk to the kids? Yeah, sure. Growing up has all sorts of risks.
Which is why some of us never do.
Dad: let's risk our son's lives to make a point.
Mom: cool.
"And when they came back home, they would be free to play whatever games they chose."
That opens up so many possibilities...
Troll is not a replacement for I disagree.
"Kids get in the car. We're goin' to the box factory!"
crazy dynamite monkey
"A Swedish father has come under fire for interacting with the real world."
Perhaps a self-referential one: "My dad took me to a war zone and all I got was this stolen T-Shirt?"
excitingthingstodo.blogspot.com
We discussed all kinds of issues:
Bombings, genocide, gas chambers, blockades, dictators.
They get it. They know war is horrible and they know what a game is.
It's called parenting. I applaud this guy's efforts.
I'm not anti-social, I'm anti-idiot.
As in, "how dare he expose those impressionable children to the dreaded reality of what war really is! Why, it was UNSAFE! Those children's safety is NUMBER ONE! Civics and a proper perspective of reality have no place in this conversation! ONLY SAFETY FOR CHILDREN! He TRAUMATIZED those poor, innocent dears with the harsh light of real world violence! The illusion of perfect happiness and contentment that is EVERY CHILD'S RIGHT was denied! How dare he!"
Never mind that he was wanting his children to MEET OTHER CHILDREN IMPACTED BY WAR, to better understand them, and in so doing to KNOW what war was; War places far more children at risk because of people who have no concept of proper civics, than his taking exactly 2 more children to a warzone does; If those two children then work to stop future wars, with their now greatly expanded understanding of the civics involved, which is the least morally objectionable? One directly contributes to a problem where war is considered a good thing--- and the other exposes exactly 2 additional children to a situation where they can learn about war in all its infamy, then safely return home. So which is the proper answer again?
Oh, fantasy candyland, where war never happens, even though people dont comprehend what it really is... I see.. Yes, I suppose if you think that outcome is possible, then yes, his actions were objectionable. What's that? He might have simply told them about war? How many here have war vet relatives, and how many of you have actually paid more than just passing interest to what they had to say? What's that? I see a few hands back there in the back--- For you folks back there, do you think you are enough to sway popular opinion away from thinking that war is "cool"?
Didn't think so.
Clearly, this dad is ahead of the curve; More parents should do this. It would make it substantially harder for world governments to spuriously get wars started.
If I had that kind of money I would not spend it scarring my kids. I would take them to Disneyland!
I would just teach my children the difference between reality and fiction. This might be a useful lesson for the dad as well.
If he did then he wouldn't have been able to come up with the idea of teaching his kids the difference between fantasy and reality.
...that I wanted to play Leisure Suit Larry...
So, I say this sounds like a perfect education. You kids like playing war? Lets go see what war really is because games & stories don't do it justice. Look it in the eyes and you won't treat it like a game anymore.
When they're adults, these kids will be able to look back and use this experience to make an informed decision on whether or not to fight in whatever conflict their country gets into. Sweden's next generation of decision makers will be better equipped because of the presence of these kid's experience.
What are the kids supposed to learn ?
If you want to play Call Of Warfare 15 dad will try to get you killed ?
Criticism? Sounds more like this guys should be nominated for good parent of the year. Sounds like his kids got a healthy dose of reality, were not put in harms ways, and learned a lot of valuable life lessons. These kids are probably more adapt at handling the real world than the people complaining about the actions of the father..
I'm a big fan of video games (more than I would like to admit) but there are a lot of games out there that make you trade your sensitivity to people's problems in exchange of hours of fun.
I'm all in for games, be it a war zone simulator, RTS, or FPS, but only as long as my kids, nephews, and cousins don't lose that sensitivity.
Taking the kids to a war zone to know first-hand what war is about was a good move, albeit a risky one.
For some reason, what goes through my head, is that on return they'd want to write a war simulator from the civilian perspective.
But I took an arrow to the knee.
Bye!
What would the dad have done if this were around eight years ago and his kids wanted to play Persona 3? Live demonstration of how shooting yourself in the head with a handgun doesn't cause physical manifestations of Jungian psychology to come out and fight demons and/or date unrealistic Japanese girls for you?
Intent matters. Did he intend to harm his kids ? He didn't. He was putting them in harm's way to some degree, but he did that in order to teach them valuable lessons and to make them more experienced, wiser kids. I can't say that I think parents can expose their kids to *any* level of risk for any reason, but I'm also not at all a fan of the idea that kids need to grow up in some kind of silky coccoon, always protected from any and every slight or danger. There's merit in overcoming fear and danger, imho. It's a view of course not shared by those with a more utilitarian view of what life is about.
And *IF* they came back home, they would be free to play whatever games they chose.
Ask someone, anyone, who has been to a region in which people fight to survive, and has to the smallest extent, even by simply talking to those people, shared their experiences. Unfailingly, the person will tell you that the experience changed his or her perspective, and that since then he is better, larger, more generous.
If you starve for a few days for the lack of food, a spoonful of plain, white, unsalted rice will taste better than the richest gourmet meal. My memory of the bowl of rice I had after 4 days of hunger is a calming, delicious memory. It was not the relief of having got food - but my whole body rejoicing from the taste of the soft, wholesome, starchy taste filling up in my mouth - a taste that I had not recognized until then.
We in the west are shielded from the harsh realities of life, little do we know that we are not exempt of them, we only ignore them, until one day it becomes impossible to do so. But if you have to face such realities then the perverse suffering caused by banalities - Internet connection going down, personal relationship problems simply dither away into insignificance.
I think it would be beneficial to society as a whole if every education included such encounters which teach people that life cannot be compared to the boom and splat of video games.
Fixed title for you.
Call of Duty is nothing like actual war. instead, you should make the kids go camping for 3 days with nothing but ritz crackers, peanut butter and beef jerky. at the end, when they want to come home, phone them and let them know they did a great job so they get to camp for 3 more days. Occasionally drop off toilet paper and a roll of smartys, tell them its good for their morale. At the end of this 3 days, insist they stay 3 more days but this time leave a gas generator running next to the tent. If this is done in July, remember to stop by and stand near the generator telling bad jokes. Insist that they should appreciate it because its part of your effort to boost their morale as well. replace the beef jerky with baby food randomly. At the end of the week, take them a package of socks, gatorade and deodorant, then remove it and apologise as its for another kid with the same name also camping.
Good people go to bed earlier.
He sure caught a lot of flack...ZING!
as per title .. this is a superb move. i totally approve the father .
After seeing what a real e-sweatshop is like full of misery and suicide, the kids won't scoff at their education anymore.
...back in the early Unreal and Quake days, we used to death match constantly. Of course rocket launchers were a favorite. I vaguely recall some mods that increased the number of bots and the number of gibs - the bits of body pieces that would be flung around from a kill - to ridiculous amounts. Add in some gravity tweaks so we could jump, bounce, float and it was pretty ridiculous. But we kept playing, kept getting better, twitch shooting faster and more accurately, and the whole thing got an almost comical sense to it.
Then I saw Saving Private Ryan. While I was already very familiar with WWII, having seen many documentaries, I'd never seen something that so graphically depicted what the D-Day landing was "really like". SPR showed it in a way I just hadn't seen before; Gruesome. Brutal. People getting chewed up by machine guns, really blown to bits, the infamous scene of the guy picking up his own arm and stumbling off with it, etc.
Sometime later that eve I picked my gaming back up but on the first rocket launch it was no longer fun. I literally had the movie scenes haunting me in my mind.
Over time I lost my sensitivity again and, to some extent, got back into ridiculous first-person-shooting (boom! pow! gibs!) but never to the extent that I had. Almost always at some point that moment of clarity comes back and bugs me. I've also gotten older and just don't have the time to waste gaming any longer, but that eye opening experience sticks with me.
Not really, video games AREN'T REAL!
Comment removed based on user account deletion
just adhere to the PEGI stickers you bad parent.
So we get to go on a vacation AND get to play all the video games when we get home?
"Here Junior, stop watchin' that porn and step over here to watch your mum and i having sex... that's what it's really like..."
I sat down with my 12 yo gamer son and watched the movie 'Hamburger Hill'. That took a lot of the glamour out of FPS games.
Next time, I'll try with 'Platoon'.
TCAP-Abort
My oldest has just gotten into Mario Kart 8. Should I strap him into the car, drive it down the highway at insane speeds, and have him toss objects out of the windows at other cars? Maybe I'm doing parenting wrong.
My sci-fi novel, Ghost Thief, is now available from Amazon.com.
Typical American - "You're not raising your children the way I think children should be raised, so you're wrong!"
At least, it sure as hell seems that way. It's understandable to want to call obviously bad parents on obviously egregious acts, like beating a child, but we 'Muricans take it to the next level, demanding government action any time someone wants to rear their own offspring in a way that certain segments of society have deemed unfit.
Let your kid walk a 1/2 mile to the park and play by himself? We used to call that normal, now it's a criminal offense.
An enigma, wrapped in a riddle, shrouded in bacon and cheese
Great stuff! Way to not let them live in a fantasy world...
The world needs a lot more dads like him I would gladly vote for him to be the Dad of the year.
Jack of all trades,master of none
When the earth's crust was still cooling....
Schools had field trips which were meant to give kids a visceral appreciation (excite them) about astronomy, etc.
My parents (children of alcoholics) drove me through skid row in downtown Los Angeles and when I asked about the street people (the terms of the day, bums, vagrants, or tramps), It was explained that these men were alcoholics, people who drank to much and had gotten to the place they couldn't stop themselves from getting drunk all the time. Understanding hatred and lack of sympathy for all other people can bring war and the related horrors.
I find these things personally helpful. Thankfully my parents were wise.
Something similar happened to me again as a very young man when I was on my own on a ship going through the Panama Canal. I saw families living in grass huts along the lakes, children running around nude. I could see that it wasn't possible that the houses I was looking at had in doors bathrooms, running fresh water, heating or cooling in the more extreme temperatures, let alone electricity. I had known, seen pictures of such living situations, but seeing with my own eyes, my perspectives on poverty were dramatically re-formed a matter of hours, seeing similar situations in Thailand a year or two later made the changes in my persepective inarguable.
Appreciating what you have is good, understanding where you could fall is just as important. Sadly there are children in war zones who stand to loose just as much as those who hold the guns around them, and don't always have a rational perspective being expressed to them.
My dad did that, but for fairly different reasons. His friends convinced him that their area of Yugoslavia was pretty unimpacted by fighting, so we visited. It was honestly one of the more interesting vacations I've taken; the entire country was completely economically devistated. Fortunately I don't think any of the involved governments (we're American) ever found out about that somewhat irresponsible vacation.
Can we stop by Jerusalem on the way?
My kid is playing Rocksmith an hour a night, and using *my* guitar to do it.
I'm going to threaten to take her to a rock concert. That'll teach her the difference between playing the guitar and people playing a guitar on stage.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
I think this guy is a media whore looking for attention at the expense of his children. I can only say anecdotally, that having known a reporter that covered the situation in Palestine this was a bad thing to do. Even as a grown adult he was severely traumatized by the experience to the point that he would burst in to tears recounting his experience of the violence, cruelty and misery he had witnessed and was forced to get himself posted to a more sedate part of the world covering less 'glamourous' issues. This stuff is not a fucking package holiday Helgregren. Asshole.
http://www.acetonestudio.com
Top tip if you have a rental car in Israel. You can pick up a hitch hiking soldier and get your personal armed escort, who in addition to having a mean looking gun, knows the way and can give directions.
I should use this sig to advertise my book ISBN-13 : 978-1501515132.
By that reasoning ithe subject of the game doesn't have to be war. If the kids play Fruit Ninja the dad should take them to a poverty-striken third world country that is having a food shortage, so they no longer want to trivialize the act of destroying food. As you said, starvation is something that Westerners are normally shielded from. "You're teaching people that life cannot be compared to the boom and splat of video games".
Yet it would be obviously ludicrous to do that.
The reason for this to be a Slashdot article is twofold. 1) We get to rant about bad parents (always a good time) and 2) This may harm video game companies bottom lines (and if it's not EA or Zynga we hit a sore spot!).
I'm with you, I think he's a great dad. It's not like he drove his car into a shelling in progress or stuck them in windows with AK47s while troops were hunting down snipers. He went to an area after the fact and let his kids talk to real victims of a real war. In my opinion that's awesome, and I wish my dad was like that.
My dad was the typical "American" dad, like they put on pedestals in TV shows. You know the kind. He drank a lot and watched lots of sports (usually at a bar neglecting his family), collected unemployment as often as possible, and tried to be as much like Archie Bunker as possible. That kind of guy. (For you youngsters, Archie Bunker was a more racist version of Al Bundy. If you don't know Al Bundy, I can't help you. I hate TV shows.
-The wise argue that there are few absolutes, the fool argues that there are no probabilities.
Are they realistic to war? Of course not. But then, I haven't seen any games that are realistic to anything. Their point is to be fun, not realistic.
You seem to be fairly typical for the military types I know (which is more than a couple) in that they quite enjoy the make believe of FPS games, despite having experienced the reality of combat.
While not quite as extreme, I can point to myself and enjoying computer/hacker games like Introversion's Uplink. I'm a network and systems administrator professionally. I know quite a bit about network security and how this stuff really works, and I don't at all believe black hat hackers that bust in to systems are glamours, they are criminal dickheads. However, I enjoy Uplink. It is not at ALL realistic. It is a fictional version of hacking on fictional computers ins a fictional Internet. And it's fun.
I'm not sure why people get so worked up about FPS games, like they are changing attitudes on war or anything. No, they are just games, and it turns out humans really can tell the difference between fiction and reality.
he is giving his children a dose of reality.
My karma is not a Chameleon.
Soon after returning from Syria, one of the boys didn't want to go to school because he had a sniffle and a mild fever. So next month the family is packing up again for another trip - this time to West Africa to visit with families affected by the Ebola outbreak. While they're there, with any luck, they will be able to stumble upon a village completely wiped out by the virus. While some have labeled the plan ill timed and the motivations just plain sick, the father hopes that the children will come to appreciate their health if they can interview a dying infectee with blood spewing from every orifice.
Meanwhile, the boys have withdrawn their requests to go see the new Hunger Games movie, and no longer complain about being hot, cold, bored, or anything else.
Aren't there tech stories that you are able to find that aren't political flamebait? It seems like there's a real boner for that crap here lately.
So, it may be a bit too much for the kids, actually (as someone already suggested).
But still, it's a good idea. In these war-zones, "Game Over" really is more than two words.
Windows 2000 - from the guys who brought us edlin
Isn't it odd that kids are very obviously far better able to tell fiction from reality? Who was it that had the bright idea of "hey, let's go take a vacation in a war zone!"
The kids?
Or their dad?
We used to have a Bill of Rights. Now, with the rights gone, all we have left is the bill.
We got plenty of people suffering that exact same starvation right here at home. Suffering a lack of medical care. Suffering homelessness.
But they're in America. So they could change that if they REALLY wanted to, right?
Cause 'Muricans are so stupid they choose to live in poverty. Hey, you made your money, and you give to charity to help 3rd world countries. You did your part to help the world. So a little extra tax, voting against the massive corporations you invested in, helping the people actually around you who need help, and working to make your own country number one in the world again...
Nah, let someone else do it. You did your part to help the world already.
Right?
Take the blinders off and look at your own society, look at the problems in it, and try to fix them. I ain't saying helping other countries is wrong, but not helping your own when you are helping them is incredibly hypocritical.
I've done a bit of work at AMES and it didn't make me play Kerbal Space Program any less!
Liberty - Security - Laziness - Pick any two.
Many FPS games are far from the "realistic" war shooters found on consoles today. If you kids want to play FPS games, maybe you should get them to play a more fantasy one that will help develop hand eye coordination, teamwork and strategy skills, instead of letting them play games that have regular racist and homophobic slurs being thrown around during average gameplay.
Hello there, you look like you are pretty destitute because of these recent military actions...lost some loved ones did you? And a few body parts? And all your worldly possessions? Well, as you sit here wallowing in abject misery, think you could spare a few minutes to talk my kids out of playing a video game?
Thanks.
A kid has every right to say "50 cents for 4 minutes. It's the law."
Your defending a parent who was concerned about VIDEO GAMES, so took his kids to a WAR ZONE to learn about what real war is like?
Stupid and irresponsible comes to mind.
That's like teaching gun safety to your kids by shooting them in the leg, "See now you know how it feels, so be careful".
Anyway I usually try not to be judgey but to react to an imaginary issue, with such an over the top answer is pretty crazy.
Like the Dungeon and Dragons scare of the 1980 and 90's and forcing your kids to live in a cult commune for a week to understand reality...
It is an overreaction.
How nice of him to take his children to the most peaceful country in the Middle East. To show them war he could take them to actual Syria, rather then "Occupied Syria", which is actually called Golan Heights. Though I readily admit that it's occupied somewhat illegally, it has been peaceful since 1967.
Of course, he is a responsible father, and he wouldn't take his children to a place that is actually dangerous. It's a shame that he'll probably tell them uninformed propaganda about Israel. Oh well.
Reality is even more interesting if you care to check facts on the ground.
The DoD has developed one video game, America's Army. It is not particularly popular, in part because they seem to be overly concerned with keeping things somewhat true to the army. You have to do a basic training set before it'll let you play, like you have to go and qualify using the rifle in game. Can't play unless you do. Wanna be a medic? You have to take an in game class that lasts like a half an hour, and then take a test. In the game itself it works similar to actual military wargames in that you always are the US Army, and you play again "OPFOR" the Army's professional opposing force (basically you see your team as army, the enemy as OPFOR).
It isn't "realistic" because really nothing can accurately simulate the horrors of combat, but it is really not something that glorifies combat. It could be called an elaborate army training simulator. Want a taste of what training in the army might be like? This is a reasonable starting point.
As you say, CoD is NOT developed, or endorsed, by the government. Call of Duty is owned by Activision Blizzard, a public company in California. It is developed by 3 teams (alternating years) Infinity Ward, Treyarch, and Sledgehammer Games, all California companies that are subsidiaries of Activision Blizzard.
Think of the fact that something like this might give them PTSD. Dealing with a war zone can be traumatic for adults with training, experience, and perspective. It can be far worse for children.
Also it does rather seem to be an unnecessary risk. While childhood has risks to be sure, part of your duty as a guardian is to minimize those risks as feasible. You weigh risks vs rewards, and try to find safe options when possible.
So maybe taking kids to a war zone is not the best idea. Maybe a better idea is to talk to them, watch some movies, read books, perhaps have a friend who's a war vet have a conversation.
Of course this strikes me as a journalist being a press whore. He's doing this because he can make it a story, not because he's being a good father.
Sorry, I can't finish this post. I have to go yell at the &#@* neighborhood kids on my lawn!!!!!1111
A parent making an effort to teach children about the real world; perish the thought. About 10 years ago, I meant one guy who wanted to take his 13 year-old daughter from her elite private-school to a famine-hit country as an education: I don't know if it happened but I applaud the thought.
Society teaches boys to shoot other boys and teaches girls to care for babies. Hollywood movies tell us it is all good fun. How much does one really hear about the hell of war?
In the US civilian war, photographers arrived when the battle was over: People saw the pile of corpses but not much else. Everyone thought WWI would be a quick bit of fun. New technology meant old-fashioned trench warfare was a meat grinder and armies had efficient ways of turning people into bloodied Swiss cheese. This time, the whole world heard from veterans about the carnage on the battlefront.
Or take them to visit some people in a safe place who are refugees from wars.
Young males already romanticize war. Video games/movies/novels frequently encourage that. Just because they're fictional, doesn't mean they don't affect people's opinions.
When you learn some psychology, you quickly realize a game is more than TV. Especially if the game is 1st person and made to immerse the player as possible. It can be done in ways to NOT key into that but since a large demo plays them as a form of imaginary fantasy dreamworld... the same people who'd kill to get a real world holodeck.
Basic therapy techniques:
Analyzing hypothetical situations
Role Playing.
Hypnosis Role Playing; like dreaming - not stage show hypnosis.
Conditioning thru repetitive behaviors; ideally tied to specific situational triggers.
The techniques used to help people with minor to severe mental problems can end up unintentionally mirrored in a video game but it's not an expert controlled situation-- they are not going to push all the wrong emotional buttons of a mental case but a game can do it, or a movie. It's not like TV/movie watchers are not in a semi-hypnotic state of mind that is lower than consciousness... game players are probably more mentally active; however that doesn't make it less of a problem. Therapy not using hypnosis is often more effective; for example.
Democracy Now! - uncensored, anti-establishment news
I have seen first hand a gypsy neighborhood raised by bulldozers.
Apparently, Hillary Clinton was wrong... it doesn't take a village to raise a child, it takes a group of bulldozers.
Isn't the process of entering Gaza hard? I thought only Journalists, humanitarian aid workers and the citizens of Gaza can enter the West Bank.
You're welcome. Now watch the rest of Saving Private Ryan...
In all seriousness, I did that. My kid was all up in America's Army when he was 16 & 17, and we rented Saving Private Ryan, and talked about the realities of what these games represent.
I am a veteran, a combat veteran of the bosnia theatere. These war "simulators" are just games, but kids do start to take aspects of the games to heart and start to glorify war. I guess that's nothing new, kids have done the same with books for centuries, but children should certainly learn the realities of combat. Let them hear the crack of real rounds flying over head and smell burnt powder. Let them smell what a mass grave smells like, even decades later. It's something everyone, including children should experience. Then let them pretend war.
Between a group with high tech advanced weaponry against a group with rocks? Very honorable and realistic I suppose.
Have them play Spec OPs: The Line
Good luck trying to teach kids that playing Cowboys vs Indians is bad (mmkay). You might as well try to stop rivers from flowing. FPS games stimulate that reptilian part of our brain so nicely wired by evolution to make us resilient; like sex, we are more or less built to enjoy this sort of activity. Now the reality that serves as a metaphor in which the game takes place may be something totally different. Should I be ashamed to enjoy Telltale's The Walking Dead game series because I never experienced the horror of what a real zombie apocalypse might be? Do I know what being scalped by an Indian is all about? Kid like to pretend and play and while the reality they live in might be something very different from the games they play, they surely will have to cope with it at multiple point in their lives.
I find of very bad taste to bring kids in the midst of a war zone, amongst the suffering of others like mere tourists, showing them a reality no one really wants to live - how can you compare this to a video game? At one point, you must admit to yourself that there is only a finite set of realities one would ever experience and much less comprehend. You cannot keep in your mind the thought of someone dying of thirst each time you drink a glass of water no more than remembering your last orgasm when you're in a car accident. Preferably, kid should have kids experiences not some unspeakable war traumas.
The realism of modern video games might very well convey disturbing experiences but in most cases it's still a thousand miles from the reality of it. With the Occulus Rift, the line between virtual and real might be blurred but I seriously wonder why then, if it feels real, kids would be compelled to behave in a radically different way. Would any kid want to play Doom 3 if he/she believed it to be real? No, they'll just shit their pants.
to the biggest and worst refugee camp I can find... so they can see the suffering of tens of thousands of innocents that happens when tyrants wage war (as tyrants always do) and the supposedly civilized rich liberal people of the world all recoil in horror at guns and prove their non-violent superiority by doing NOTHING.
I want MY kids to see some of the suffering that happens when pretentious phonies hate "guns and gun violence and war" more than they hate actual evil, that symbolc gestures do nothing to improve the status of the oppressed, and that non-violence on the part of good men in the face of violent evil men is at best delusoinal and at worst the actual enabler of evil. I want them to have a permenent gut-level understanding of human nature, of evil, and I want them to understand that its NOT "the gun" or "the bomb" or "the war" or "violence" that is the problem, but rather the EVIL INTENTIONS of SOME of the people on this planet. I want them to know that guns and bombs and violence are necessary and in some circumstances good - when used against evil, to free the innocent from oppression and save them from death. They need to know that there will always be evil people, that evil people will always have weapons and will always persecute the innocent - the only variable is whether good men will stand-up in opposition with better bugs, better bombs, etc or will instead shirk their duty to the innocent and cloak their impotent timidity and self-centered survival instincts in some faux-moral claptrap.
Only a few short years ago (well about 1000), your average Swede would have been giving their children nice shiny longswords, placing them on a boat and encouraging them to tour the world and kill people....
Donte Alistair Anderson Roberts - hi son!
Karma: Chameleon
Personally I think this article is a prime example of an adult that doesn't understand video games, rather than children who don't understand war.
This is awesome. I bet he's very thoughful about it - you don't do this sort of thing on a whim. Truth is, his boys will have a lesson for life and are very likely to end up way more useful to themselves and society than the average couch potato that plays CoD and doesn't think once about how much of a war simulator it may be.
If I'd have a son that would be into CoD or other warfare simulators and would have the time and resources, I'd do the same. I'd like to take my daughter and her friends to visit the sweatshops in Bangladesh, where the Primark clothes are made. Sadly, I don't have the time or resources. ... But she was in malasia for half a year. Indian family where girls/women are second-class citizens and slave-servants sleeping on the floor and all. She did learn her share.
My 2 cents.
We suffer more in our imagination than in reality. - Seneca
Show your kids new not strongly censored for death bodies and an few living rooms hit by a bomb, and let them draw their own conclusions.
And give them some war games with an ambivalent story (e.g. DUNE/C&C) and let them play all sides and let them write down how the stated facts differ between the personal advisors of each party.
Should help them more in understanding wars.
"Kids get in the car. We're goin' to the sewers!"
GTA: "Kids get in the car. We're goin' to prison!"
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Good to see some parents still have a good amount of common sense.
How can one just up and write a substantial 3D game? I was under the impression that it took years of experience making games for other studios in the industry in order to get the process knowledge, contacts, and verifiable experience (to qualify for a console devkit) to start one's own project of substantial scope. Or were you thinking a 2D RPG/sim intended for mouse or touch screen control, something that's more within an indie budget?
Violent fantasies are completely harmless by themselves. Also, you wouldn't insist on showing a four year-old child graphic images of bite victims before giving them a toy T-Rex.
I'm not a father. But I do have many friends that grew up on video games. I've known 5 very good friends join the military based on the influence of Call of Duty alone. I also have known many others that have joined for other reasons than "lets kill some rag heads".. When they got to the battle field, they wrote me that the reality wasnt what they wanted. Two of those friends are lost forever as real life has no extra lives to continue playing.
I think this father did an amazing thing. People can lie to themselves... I see many defending CoD and other FPS games but lets face it... Those people play those games. Talk to me at a skateboard event or bar about your video fame achievements and I'll tell you to get a life.
I know doctors who play a bunch of the FPS BS, and you want to tell me they don't understand? Fuck you.
Correction. If they came back home....