Children Must Be Encouraged To Play Video Games - For The Grandmas!
from the kart-blanche dept
You can't walk near someone talking about how horrible video games are without tripping over their "for the children" line these days. The accusations range from games leading children to become violent, even if the verdict on that is still way out, to causing car accidents, encouraging animal cruelty, and generally turning the movers and shakers of tomorrow into zombie-like drooling drones that would rather play a life simulator than live their own life. There's just nothing good that can come from this kind of fun, got it?Except then there's 10-year-old Gryffin Sanders, who saved his passed-out great-grandmother and his baby brother, possibly from death, while hurling down the road at 60 miles per hour. Gryffin kept his cool from the passenger seat, grabbed the wheel, and guided the car away from oncoming traffic and off the road, leading the car to a stop in a ditch. Great-grandma was then airlifted to a hospital, where she is recovering. In other words, Gryffin behaved in a manner more calm and heroic than many of us could have done. Wanna guess where he got his mad life-saving skills?
Yup, that's right: video games. More specifically, Mario Kart. Now, this isn't to say that we should be sitting kids in front of a Nintendo to teach them to drive. Rather, the point is that video games provide to us what we want to get out of them. If it's correct to say that Grand Theft Auto is a primer on mass murder, then we must equally say that Mario Kart is clearly a life-saving tutorial.
And in case any of you aren't real big on subtle nods and winks, both conclusions are equally silly. That news report might suggest that Gryffin's family is safe because of a game he played, but I'd say it had much more to do with him being an amazingly level-headed kid who happened to see a situation that was in a minor way familiar to a game and reacted accordingly. We should no more be pinning medals on plumbers than we should be putting Niko in the electric chair. Instead, just focus on what an amazing kid Gryffin is and leave the games out of it completely.
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Filed Under: video games
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Who is that Senators-Congressman that plays XBox/PS2 video games?
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Some people *need* a simulation before they attempt the real thing.
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Do you really expect anyone to take you seriously?
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Mario Kart vs GTA
I've said it a thousand times over, video game violence can desensitize a kid and make them less prone to real world violence...I highly doubt Mario Kart can do that. I avidly encourage Mario Kart.
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Re: Mario Kart vs GTA
I and many of my friends grew up playing GTA and none of us have gone on a killing spree.
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Re: Mario Kart vs GTA
Really? Where did you take that from? I think it depends on several other factors. The game alone is innocuous.
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Re: Mario Kart vs GTA
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when I said that I was referring to the very beginning of the post where he said "The accusations range from games leading children to become violent". sort of non-relevant to the post I suppose
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incoming dabate
Those who says games are evil...
another is those who will say games are good...
the 3rd... is neutral....
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It's true
On the downside it does encourage reckless driving in normal conditions when you're coming up on a 90 degree turn on a empty road and think, "hmm I could pull my e-brake and drift this".
Now driving simulators and Mario cart are inherently different and thus you have to take anything learned with a grain of salt. Sure this kid was able to save their lives but I've also read stories of children the same age doing the same without playing video game. Then again I learned to drive a manual with a clutch at the arcade and it transferred to real life perfectly without anyone having to explain it to me. When the lady from the dealership asked "have you ever driven a manual before?" my response was simply "Sure, I think I know what I'm doing...", at the end of the drive she told me I was one of the best manual drivers she had ridden with.
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Evil
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Indeed gaming is of the utmost importance in our lives!
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2) Turning a wheel is something that only a retard couldn't do.
3) Why is MSN News advertising Nintendo? Oh... PIRACY!
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