{"id":1173,"date":"2008-08-05T08:23:21","date_gmt":"2008-08-05T14:23:21","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/www.gamingwithchildren.com\/?p=1173"},"modified":"2008-08-05T08:23:21","modified_gmt":"2008-08-05T14:23:21","slug":"videogames-vs-reading","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/2008\/08\/05\/videogames-vs-reading\/","title":{"rendered":"Videogames v. Reading"},"content":{"rendered":"

“Why do you recommend video games when you could be recommending books and reading?”<\/em>\u00a0\u00a0<\/p>\n

I’ve gotten this question a few times, mostly from the well-meaning type who maybe tries but probably can’t wrap their head around the attraction of games and gaming. This type is an avid reader and cannot understand why kids seem to be giving up books. Here’s what I tell them:<\/p>\n

<\/p>\n

First of all, a bit of background. I was an avid reader. I used books to educate sometimes, but mostly to escape. I have fond memories of all the books I’ve read but those memories are more for the escape and thrills, than for any literary value. I’ve written several picture books and three novels, I’ve got lots of encouraging rejection letters, and I am signed for a non-fiction GamerDad book with Launchbooks Agency (I swear, I’m working on that proposal David!). I love books, I love reading, I’m nuturing it in my kids and I love to watch them read their books (and their video games – there is lots of reading in video games). My point is, I do have a vested interest in promoting reading because I am a writer.<\/em><\/p>\n

So why don’t I do that? Why don’t I promote reading to children? Maybe throw a line into my speeches like “Give a Hoot, Read a Book!”?<\/p>\n

Because I don’t promote anything<\/em> to children. Video games and children are meant to be together, the sense of play and “doing” is too strong a pull.\u00a0 No, I don’t try to convince kids to do anything really. I promote video games to parents.<\/strong> See the difference? There are so many great games out there. Imaginative games, sandbox play games, excercise and music games, wargames, and yes, shooting games, yet only the vilest and most controversial games get all the press. I believe in\u00a0 the catharsis they provide, the accomplishment, persistance and tenacity they nourish, the complexity, the reflex and reaction time, the immersion in a fantasy sense of place\u00a0– all of it – offers at least as much value as it offers danger and harm.<\/p>\n

I counter the mainstream media and most parental advocates because I’m not interested in scaring parents about the things their kids love anyway. I want to bridge the generations and show parents that games have changed, they’re here, kids love them, so you might as well accentuate the positive.<\/p>\n

Encourage your kids to read. But know that the inherant value in reading (which is tremendous) was once suspect.\u00a0 They actually said, in the earlier 1800s (and this is paraphrased):<\/p>\n

The novel was something to fear. It influences young minds with the opinions of the writer, it promotes laziness and sloth, and it destroys the imagingation.<\/em><\/p>\n

Sound familiar?<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

“Why do you recommend video games when you could be recommending books and reading?”\u00a0\u00a0 I’ve gotten this question a few times, mostly from the well-meaning type who maybe tries but probably can’t wrap their head around the attraction of games and gaming. This type is an avid reader and cannot understand why kids seem to […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3,5,7],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-1173","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-askgamerdad","category-gamerdad-101","category-miscellaneous"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=1173"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/1173\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=1173"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=1173"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"http:\/\/www.gamerdad.com\/blog\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=1173"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}