Do you let your kids play mobile games?

[Beowulff83]

I have always been on the fence about allowing my kids to play mobile games.  I have an 11, 7 and 5 year old.  I have been considering banning mobile gaming in my house for some time.  They are currently pretty restricted on what they can do with their tablets and have limits imposed.  I don't wan't mobile devices to be completely banned as I feel that this will hamper them in the future.  But there are some real dangers about letting kids roam free on their mobile devices.  

 

I would love to hear what you guys think.

thanks

[livinginfantasy]

Most mobile games offer micro-transactions and parents need to keep their credit card access safe from the kids reach. There are many cases such as https://www.bbc.com/news/technology-48925623 but you are concerned on their future. I say its not only just mobile games but a whole gaming platform has to be limited. Me myself was full-time gamer for a years; didn't slept, studied, ate enough. But i heard wake-up call within me and now I limit my urges to play games more. 

[TualatinMan]

Tencent games have a system to prevent addiction。

 

During the game process, the accumulated online time of underage users will be counted:

3 hours or less of play time is "healthy" play time;

More than 3 hours, to 5 hours less than 2 hours of game time is "tired" game time.

More than 5 hours of play time is considered "unhealthy" play time.

 

If the accumulated online time of minors exceeds the range of healthy time, the benefits of games will decrease:

Game revenue refers to all data (including but not limited to experience value, honor value, reputation value, title, etc.) related to the growth and upgrading of game characters in the game and the virtual property acquired including props, equipment, virtual currency, etc.

Game revenue revenue is 50%, which means that all the data related to the growth and upgrading of game characters and the acquired virtual property including props, equipment and virtual currency are halved.

Game revenue revenue is 0, which means that all data related to the growth and upgrading of game characters and virtual property including props, equipment and virtual currency cannot be obtained in the game.

[Bacon soup]

On 10/3/2019 at 12:57 PM, Beowulff83 said:

I don't wan't mobile devices to be completely banned as I feel that this will hamper them in the future.

no it wont. Mobile games are made with the same psychology as gambling machines. They are designed to be addictive and to take your money. I assume you are concerned your kids will miss out on technology. It concerns me where people think a consumer device will somehow help their kid be technologically literate. Parents in NZ are being made to buy expensive ipads for this reason and its a total scam. When I went to school we learnt MSDOS. I remember when I was 7 I had to demonstate to my teacher I could mount a floppy disk drive and save a file to it. Fast forward to today, learning the latest consumer device now will have no difference to the kid in a few years time when new devices will be on the market; these new devices will be more consumer friendly with a new interface. If you want your kids to be computer literate, go through a gentoo install with them.

[kokakolia]

Nah! Mobile games are awful. They become a part time job where you have to grind for 2 hours a day to gain measly rewards so that you can buy better items but you’ll only remain mediocre because you can’t spend actually money because you’re just a kid without income. 
 

I mean what message does that send to your kid!? No matter how hard you’ll work you’ll always suck in a mobile game (unless you spend truck loads of cash like a whale). 
 

The only games kids should be allowed to play are strictly offline without micro transactions. Avoid this P2W micro transaction loot crate slot machine cycle of addiction nightmare like the bubonic plague. 

[Kawaii Koneko]

I have no concerns over letting my kids (if I ever have any) play mobile, other than possibly a reduction in standards. Not that there aren't some great mobile games but I hope my kids take an interest in unique indie and amazing triple AAA games over games like Candy Crush and I feel like those games exist more on PC, console, and handheld. But this is coming from someone who got kind of addicted to School Idol Festival and went with about two or three hours of sleep a night for like a week because I wanted to place top ten in an event lol. I did btw.

 

But I'm sure you mean in regards to micro transactions or "gambling". Again, not worried. Just don't link any payment details on the device they are using or setup a password so they need your permission to buy anything. Then they will need permission and I can examine whatever it is they want before I get a $1k credit card bill like all those idiot parents who then cry about it and demand a refund. Problem solved.

 

Giving them a re-loadable debit card as an allowance would also be an option. I actually think it would be a good lesson if they blew their whole allowance rolling for some cosmetic item and then couldn't buy anything else they wanted.

 

On 10/26/2019 at 2:41 PM, kokakolia said:

Nah! Mobile games are awful. They become a part time job where you have to grind for 2 hours a day to gain measly rewards so that you can buy better items but you’ll only remain mediocre because you can’t spend actually money because you’re just a kid without income. 
 

I mean what message does that send to your kid!? No matter how hard you’ll work you’ll always suck in a mobile game (unless you spend truck loads of cash like a whale). 
 

The only games kids should be allowed to play are strictly offline without micro transactions. Avoid this P2W micro transaction loot crate slot machine cycle of addiction nightmare like the bubonic plague. 

That could be a good lesson for them to learn early though...

 

Stick to F2P games where you don't have to sacrifice your entire life to make any progress without spending money.  Only spend money if you really want to support the dev or you don't feel like you have to spend money to get anywhere. Or stick to games on PC, console, and handheld where you are less likely to deal with crap P2W. Not that it doesn't exist there and it is even creeping into full priced retail games but still...

 

Basically, just raise them to be informed consumers. Some growing pains along the way will probably help with that.

[Kawaii Koneko]

Sorry, accidental double post.

[kokakolia]

6 hours ago, Kawaii Koneko said:

I have no concerns over letting my kids (if I ever have any) play mobile, other than possibly a reduction in standards. Not that there aren't some great mobile games but I hope my kids take an interest in unique indie and amazing triple AAA games over games like Candy Crush and I feel like those games exist more on PC, console, and handheld. But this is coming from someone who got kind of addicted to School Idol Festival and went with about two or three hours of sleep a night for like a week because I wanted to place top ten in an event lol. I did btw.

 

But I'm sure you mean in regards to micro transactions or "gambling". Again, not worried. Just don't link any payment details on the device they are using or setup a password so they need your permission to buy anything. Then they will need permission and I can examine whatever it is they want before I get a $1k credit card bill like all those idiot parents who then cry about it and demand a refund. Problem solved.

 

Giving them a re-loadable debit card as an allowance would also be an option. I actually think it would be a good lesson if they blew their whole allowance rolling for some cosmetic item and then couldn't buy anything else they wanted.

 

That could be a good lesson for them to learn early though...

 

Stick to F2P games where you don't have to sacrifice your entire life to make any progress without spending money.  Only spend money if you really want to support the dev or you don't feel like you have to spend money to get anywhere. Or stick to games on PC, console, and handheld where you are less likely to deal with crap P2W. Not that it doesn't exist there and it is even creeping into full priced retail games but still...

 

Basically, just raise them to be informed consumers. Some growing pains along the way will probably help with that.

I would treat addictive F2P games like gambling. They feed on peoples psychological weaknesses. Lesson or not, it's dirty.

 

And it's not like there's a point of being good at these games. I mean, when you're good at sports you're in shape. That kinda thing. 

[Kawaii Koneko]

1 hour ago, kokakolia said:

I would treat addictive F2P games like gambling. They feed on peoples psychological weaknesses. Lesson or not, it's dirty.

 

And it's not like there's a point of being good at these games. I mean, when you're good at sports you're in shape. That kinda thing. 

Well, without winning anything of actual value, you can't really call it gambling. And even when it does fall under that category, so what? Gambling should be legal for consenting adults anyway. 

 

Of course, you can get that gambling rush from these types of games and they do take advantage of human psychology but so does pretty every form of marketing, product design, or potentially addictive and dangerous products such as alcohol. Human psychology always comes into play and is catered to. That isn't really a bad thing, just how it is. The last thing we need is more government regulation that remove the right of consenting adults to make their own choices. Personal responsibility, education, and self control are key here.

 

I would argue that most people probably don't go that far down the rabbit hole when it comes to paid loot boxes. I think most people exercise some restraint. It's really the people with addictive personality issues that end up blowing thousands and then an OMG news article is written about it. Next thing you know experts starting making warnings and people start advocating regulation. It would be foolish of us to start regulating this industry beyond restricting usage to the age of eighteen or with a parent's consent. You can't go after an entire industry because of the minority who can't control their impulses and punish the rest of us.

 

And what's the point of being good at these games? Fun? A sense of accomplishment? Idk. Why do any of us play video games? I think enjoying them is a good enough reason.

 

Obviously, there isn't much to be proud of in a lot of P2W games but depending on the game, it can still take skill to play even if you do have an advantage. But I really don't like P2W games so I don't want to exert energy defending them lol.

[kokakolia]

@Kawaii Koneko There are F2P games that can be enjoyed competitively without spending a dime. I’m thinking about MOBAs like League of Legends or shooters like Fortnite. These games are OK in my book. 
 

I have major issues with P2W games which are structured to be more grindy, less rewarding, less skillful and less fun overall to encourage players to spend money to save time and gain advantages. These games are typically card games (MTG Arena, Hearthstone), mobile games (RAID, Idle Heroes). 
 

So overall, some curation is required. But I’m just worried that full featured games without micro-transactions will disappear because they’re less profitable than intentionally grindy games which encourage you to spend $$$ to save time.  So I’m not on board with giving game developers total freedom, because everything is sacrificed in the name of profit. 

[Games_3D]

Too much screen time is not good for kids.

The parents should provide them with more creative activities, play more with other kids, play outside...

[Arika]

as long as you vet which games they play, how long they play and dont have a saved payment method on the device or make sure they cannot get access to one, then i dont see the harm.

 

back in the day, kids of that age would play runscape or games on miniclip. it's only really the platform that has changed

[Ralphred]

Never in the house, they are the equivalent of travel chess IMHO, acceptable in the car, but not on short journeys, never in social situations (out for dinner lunch etc).

Maybe I have it easy with curious kids that it takes very little provocation to get them asking questions/learning about their surroundings/other things, maybe because we have family LAN parties where we all play at the same time it's easier to regulate these things, I dunno.

[Jonny Wolson]

My child only plays educational kids games

[Worstcaster]

Yes.  He is mostly only interested in playing them when at doctor's office so some other area were waiting around is involved (the perfect environment for mobile games).  We don't allow him to get any micro transaction items and use this as an opportunity to explain the value of money and other things.

[The Torrent]

All these guys saying oh games are awful blah blah blah utter crap I say.

 

seriously, as long as it’s not colour the pony crap games, there is legit nothing wrong with them. 
 

Ok 5 year old is too young get them reading books and 7 yea told too, but 11 you gotta have a sad life to not be allowed to play games...

 

but this is coming from a guy who was gaming on a g5 at 4 years old so you know games all I know.

[Booterbotter]

Yup, I even built them their own PC's but of course I monitor what games they play.

[Touch My Hamm]

I remember as a kid my mother taking me off NES/SNES/N64 to go outside and play with other kids... Is this not a thing anymore or do they just go play phone games with each other lol. 

[Sfekke]

7 hours ago, GodSeph said:

I remember as a kid my mother taking me off NES/SNES/N64 to go outside and play with other kids... Is this not a thing anymore or do they just go play phone games with each other lol. 

That mentality is now gone all together it seems or my mom was just old really fashioned lol

We used to like Flash games a lot, but we had a kitchen timer sitting next to us; if it rang .. you're done.

& don't think about making accounts, I had an MSN she created to chat with my few pals; she didn't read what we wrote .. just had the logon & password.

This was back when I was around 8ish, so the alternatives where go outside, get the lego's out, etc; you know that type of kids stuff.

I do remember not seeing anyone else have this applied at home to this exact spec, being the odd one out tho it's hard to say.

 

Overtime tho (especially for me) that limit disappeared as I grew increasingly more interested in computer stuff, not just gaming or chatting.

 

I think sometimes it was good to be brought up that way, especially early on.

But you also can't stop a die-hard computer nerd from doing his thing

Anyways there's my two cents, I personally don't plan/want kids in my life; but if I'd try to adhere to the rules thought to me at a young age and add a little more restrictions on their phones/computers than parents these days seem to do.

 

/Endlifestory

[Velcade]

Not yet.  She can barely hold her head up.  When she's old enough, as with everything, moderation is key.

[upliftsleet1974]

My cats can not seem to hold the phone and quickly lose any interest in mobile gaming. They do however like playing with the google home when you ask it to play cat noises.

[Kappie]

Yes, we allow it in our household. But with a no-no policy on any micro-transactions. It's a part of the culture in this day and time. - Hello fellow kids!