the "role playing" is causing the kids to have some serious problems.
Yes, just like 2,500,000 other things in the last 5 years according to extremist fearmongerers.
These kids are under eighteen and shouldn't even be allowed on some of the sites they are participating in but they are there. They've also set up their own "clans", "covens", "packs", etc. and in real life, their friends only call them by their "fantasy name". They continue the "fantasy" for hours through IM, e-mail, texting, etc.
Though the idea is foreign to you, my friends and I had our own Counter-Strike and Team-Fortress clan back in highschool. It was really fun and it brings back some good nostalgic memories of us being up till 3 AM on random weekends playing at LAN parties. That's actually the first time I think I used the name "Falconer" online. We never called each other by our online names though-- that was pretty corny. We'd have clan matches with other clans all around the US. I'm still friends with the majority of the guys who I played with. Obviously people can get addicted and take the games too seriously, but it's easy to break (usually due to just getting bored with the game) unless the person has some random mental issues. This goes with real sports too though- some people can take them too seriously to the point of being irrational and it gets scary. I've seen this plenty of times during PE in highschool-- one kid even smashed a hockey stick over someone's head causing him to bleed terribly. But, from an aerial POV, having these crazies who take games too seriously is nothing out of the ordinary.
They role-play murders (as horrible as they can imagine them) and pretend to be killing family members, enemies, etc. This is causing the children to be filled with anger, hatred and it's carrying over into their "real life" when one 7 year old just last week told his dad that he hated him and was going to kill him...simply because his dad refused to take him to a store to get some candy. (And while kids saying hateful things to their parents isn't anything new, this kid had been telling his "pact" that he could use his "mind" to control his dad. It was when that failed, he got MAD.)
Little kids with overactive imaginations saying mean and absurd things to their parents and friends. Seen this plenty of times myself. And no, I don't think it's odd at all. I don't like it (obviously), but like you thought I'd say- it's nothing new. Remember, he's
SEVEN and lives in a media-enriched country. I probably did something similar after watching Star Wars when I was 5.
but they have no idea that their kids are spending so much time on-line "role-playing" with pedophiles and dirty "old men". I know three of them in our area that spend as much time as possible on the role-playing sites. They know how to "spot" a child and they pretend that they too are about the child's age. Are you telling me that you wouldn't mind if you had a seven year old daughter or son involved in sex "role-playing" games with an "older pervert"?
Oh yeah! I agree with you with kids being on the internet too much and there are always dangers of the crazy online pedophiles that Chris Hansen targets. But you must understand that the majority of the online games are protected decently. There are whole FAQ's that are usually presented (and sometime mandatory before you begin) explaining the dangers online. Heck, you can't even swear in the majority of them without the game doing the "****!!!!" censoring. To your question though- I'm fairly certain my 7 yr old son/daughter wouldn't even know what the heck the pervert is talking about, and I probably wouldn't let them be playing anything online if it involved major gore or sexual themes.
Because they're 7. The mistake is on the parents side for not taking an interest in the child's interests, not the game itself.
An example is this- I say that because a rottweiler bit a kid on the arm once, nobody should be able to own dogs and should just avoid them entirely because they can be dangerous. Wouldn't you think I'm overreacting and fearmongering? It's the exact same thing here that you're doing with these types of games.
I know one family whose children have been involved in an on-line game where they have been making their own chants and curses. The seven year old boy has had to have his parents come pick him up from school a few days a week because he's so hysterical...the teacher's can't calm him down. The parent said the boy's face was "pale white", there's no way he has been doing this for attention. The parents can't calm him down at home. He's been seeing "people" that no one else sees, he's been talking to "voices" that no one else hears. He's undergone several medical tests, nothing found. He's undergone several "counseling sessions", and the verdict was "he's doing it for attention". The parents are upset because they know he's not, but relieved because they thought they were going to have to have him "committed". Now, his nine year-old sister is currently having the same problems. I know this family and know for a fact, these kids didn't have these issues until they started spending so much time with their "role-playing" on-line. They're obsessed, they can't think of anything else. They don't care about their schoolwork, they don't care about anything...except their "fantasy gaming".
1.) If he's not doing it for attention, he could be suffering from the same thing Marieelisa (thread originator) was suffering from. I remember she was saying the same thing (voices), and she a major mental disorder that grew as she grew.
2.) So the kids are playing too many online games and their grades are slipping?
GROUND THEM FROM THE GAMES. They obviously have growing addiction issues. Or maybe it's easier for them to pay all those needless doctor and med bills and think it's magical curses at play (false attributions). It sounds like bad parenting. Though they're not my kids, so who am I to judge? These are just my educated assumptions.
None of those mentioned above are "christian" families. If they hold any "religious" beliefs at all, they've never shared them with me. They are all well-to-do families and the parents both work alot of hours at very well-paying jobs. They are tired when they come home and so as long as the kids are "quiet", they're happy. Perhaps this is the "norm" for kids these days, I don't know. I find it disturbing.
Now you're on the right track. I don't find it disturbing, but more of just annoying and uncaring at the avoidance of problems. They're parents, so they should be paying attention. If they're not, they're just bad parents. That's really all there is to it.
I've gotta get to work, it's going to be a LONG, "grueling" weekend...dread it. Hope yours is great!!
Likewise. Take is easy and make the best of it!
Community Forum
Topic: God is a Fake (Read 135808 times)
March 08, 2010, 10:37:58 am
