So yes, I've decided to include in this blog periodic posts where I update you guys on my oldest daughter's adventures in video game land. Some of my readers might not know it...but my daughter is not even four years old yet. But she's been asking me to play daddy's new game. I've been giving her excuse after excuse about why she can't...because she's not even really old enough to hand-eye coordinate moving around the landscape of the world. However, a friend of mine made the suggestion to help her out...but let her make all the choices in the game...and to let her press buttons/move around as much as possible. And then blog about it...so here I am.
So I'll start out with a few pictures of the character that she created:
.jpg)
.jpg)
.jpg)
There is some similarity to the elf that I created...but you'll notice that her character is a LITTLE bit more colorful...and the nose ring I think was just a bonus. I asked her which of the jewelry options she wanted...and even double-checked before we clicked the final button. At first, she was commenting about the character I created and that she didn't like the big ears. But in the end, she insisted on being the elf. She wanted me to change the ears, but she was okay with the fact that that was something the game wouldn't allow her to change. We went through several hair changes before settling on this one...which she called "very pretty". The name Bella was her choice...and is the name of one of her good friends at school.
We didn't get very far into the game, but she did get to kill a few things before we had to stop...she was still working her way through the tutorial. I've added her Kill Count below. I've summarized it thus far based on types of kills. I also included any boxes/crates that she "killed"...but I don't think I'm going to keep tracking those as we go further into the game. There's just WAY too many boxes/crates that need smashing.
Bella's Kill Count:
Boxes and Barrels: ~30
Rats = 2
Tuatha Soldiers (humanoid) = 11
Total Kill Count = 13 (live kills)
In the future, would you all prefer to have the kill count be just a total count...or a break down based on type, like I did above? Let me know in the comments. I also added a Kill Count tracker on the right-hand side of the blog page.
Happy gaming everyone.
I’m voting for no kill counts for 3-year olds. Is that an option? Seriously? 3-year olds? Killing things?
ReplyDeleteUnderstood...but she is almost four.
ReplyDeleteOkay, but seriously...I'm not forcing her to do it...it's what she wanted to do and she enjoys it. I'll make a blog post soon to elaborate on this a little more.
“I’m not forcing her to do it” is not the way to look at it. You’re the source of learning for her, and you’re teaching her how to kill. Yes, in a video game. But kill nonetheless. Not teaching her to kill is “the right thing to do” because you don’t teach 3-year olds to kill. Period.
ReplyDeleteI disagree. You're not teaching the child to kill. That would be taking her outside and giving her a knife and some captured squirrels.
ReplyDeleteYou're showing her how to play a video game where there is animated and stylized violence. You're doing this in a safe and warm environment where she feels no threat and is free to ask questions.
Terrible things exist in the world, and in my view, the earlier we introduce the knowledge of those things to our children, the better equipped they will be to deal with those things later in life. As long as the child chooses out of her own free will to explore that particular subject, I see no reason to lie to her.
She's 3. Why does she need to know about evil and horror and murder? If she wanted to kill that squirrel in real life would you let her? It's her "free will"...
Delete@royalbacon...as Deva already said, I'm showing her how to make a guy/girl on the screen battle/kill monsters as a hero-type figure. She also collects plants and smashes boxes...because those things are fun to her.
ReplyDeleteIn real life, I try to teach her not to kill any living creatures...including game animals and even bugs (even though my wife sometimes struggles with the latter of those two).
@Deva...thanks again for the comments. Sounds like we have similar ways of thinking towards parenting.