Deactivision
Member
So GAF, here's my situation. A few months ago, my son, who's 9 years old, used his own savings to purchase an iPod touch. He was at the time playing Clash of Clans and a few other mobile games on his mom's tablet, and wanted a device of his own on which to play things. Since then, the number of Clash of Clans clones and Farmville-esque games on his device has exploded, as his friends have urged him to join their various clans/squads/whatnot... Now he's got Clash of Clans, Boom Beach, Total Conquest, Hay Day, Roller Coaster Tycoon... the list goes on.
As a responsible old school GamerDad, I've always had what I consider a healthy distrust of mobile games. Ever since he started expressing an interest in gaming, I've tried to steer him towards what I consider to be higher quality and age-appropriate games -- mostly via the Wii, Wii U and 3DS, and many indie games on PC and XBox 360. For the most part, I've been successful, we've had a lot of fun with co-op Nintendo games especially, though for the past couple of years he's been hooked almost exclusively on Minecraft, like most other kids of his generation. I had no real problem with that; even if it's not really to my tastes, it's a great game that encourages a lot of thinking and creativity, and playing it has led to a genuine interest in modding and programming, and a dream of becoming a game designer himself one day.
Lately though, in his allotted screen time, it's been nothing but maintenance of his f2p mobile games, upgrading this, attacking that... Even Minecraft has fallen more or less off the radar. Last night it came to a bit of a head, when he was particularly whiny when it was time to disconnect for the night. I told him I thought the number of f2p games had become excessive and that he should stop playing a couple of them so that he has more time for other things. He resisted, and I tried my best to articulate what I feel distinguishes these games from other types of games that we both enjoy.
I had a somewhat challenging time making my case, but my main complaints were about the overall sameness of the games, the countdown/timer/pay to win mentality that keeps a player coming back at regular intervals to maximize actions, and the lack of real testing of skill or creativity in the gameplay. I told him one or two of these games would be fine, but more than that is an unacceptable amount of time dedicated to what is essentially a casual time wasting activity. His argument is essentially that games are games, fun is fun, and that if I'm going to allow him an hour of gaming time each day he should be free to use it how he wants (short of playing games that I don't approve of for more obvious reasons like graphic violence or other age-inappropriate themes). I admitted I need to learn more about these games before passing a final judgment on their value -- I'm considering trying my hand at one of them, but I'm pretty hooked on Metroid Prime at the moment.
But enough rambling, I'm not exactly looking for parenting advice -- I'm mostly curious to hear GAF's thoughts about these types of games. Is there any real distinction to be made between the value of spending time playing these kinds of games and other, more elaborately constructed ones? Does the freemium and semi-social nature of mobile games make them inherently more addictive, especially perhaps for kids? Is there something to be said for encouraging diversity in gaming habits, and can too much of a certain samey experience be a bad thing? I do wonder if I'd have a similar problem if he was addicted to playing Mega Man games and other classic platformers, for example... Is there a difference? Or am I just being an old fuddy duddy who can't get with the times, ranting about kids these days and their newfangled iWhatzits?
As a responsible old school GamerDad, I've always had what I consider a healthy distrust of mobile games. Ever since he started expressing an interest in gaming, I've tried to steer him towards what I consider to be higher quality and age-appropriate games -- mostly via the Wii, Wii U and 3DS, and many indie games on PC and XBox 360. For the most part, I've been successful, we've had a lot of fun with co-op Nintendo games especially, though for the past couple of years he's been hooked almost exclusively on Minecraft, like most other kids of his generation. I had no real problem with that; even if it's not really to my tastes, it's a great game that encourages a lot of thinking and creativity, and playing it has led to a genuine interest in modding and programming, and a dream of becoming a game designer himself one day.
Lately though, in his allotted screen time, it's been nothing but maintenance of his f2p mobile games, upgrading this, attacking that... Even Minecraft has fallen more or less off the radar. Last night it came to a bit of a head, when he was particularly whiny when it was time to disconnect for the night. I told him I thought the number of f2p games had become excessive and that he should stop playing a couple of them so that he has more time for other things. He resisted, and I tried my best to articulate what I feel distinguishes these games from other types of games that we both enjoy.
I had a somewhat challenging time making my case, but my main complaints were about the overall sameness of the games, the countdown/timer/pay to win mentality that keeps a player coming back at regular intervals to maximize actions, and the lack of real testing of skill or creativity in the gameplay. I told him one or two of these games would be fine, but more than that is an unacceptable amount of time dedicated to what is essentially a casual time wasting activity. His argument is essentially that games are games, fun is fun, and that if I'm going to allow him an hour of gaming time each day he should be free to use it how he wants (short of playing games that I don't approve of for more obvious reasons like graphic violence or other age-inappropriate themes). I admitted I need to learn more about these games before passing a final judgment on their value -- I'm considering trying my hand at one of them, but I'm pretty hooked on Metroid Prime at the moment.
But enough rambling, I'm not exactly looking for parenting advice -- I'm mostly curious to hear GAF's thoughts about these types of games. Is there any real distinction to be made between the value of spending time playing these kinds of games and other, more elaborately constructed ones? Does the freemium and semi-social nature of mobile games make them inherently more addictive, especially perhaps for kids? Is there something to be said for encouraging diversity in gaming habits, and can too much of a certain samey experience be a bad thing? I do wonder if I'd have a similar problem if he was addicted to playing Mega Man games and other classic platformers, for example... Is there a difference? Or am I just being an old fuddy duddy who can't get with the times, ranting about kids these days and their newfangled iWhatzits?
