RipTen Videogame Blog » parenting

Violent Games: Curt Schilling’s Kids Know Which End of the Sword Does the Stabbing

Michael Futter — Fri, 03 Feb 2012 17:30:33 +0000

There has been a lot of back and forth about the impact of violence, particularly that found in videogames, on young minds.

Regardless of whether you believe that violence in gaming has a significant, negative impact, there is another, related issue that is equally important: should parents have the right to determine what entertainment their children experience? 38 Studios Founder and Chairman, Curt Schilling, took a stand for parental rights during an on-air conversation with Boston radio station, 98.5 The Sports Hub, personalities Felger and Mazz.

During the talk, Schilling revealed that he lets his children play violent video games when answering whether he would let his kids play his studio’s imminent release, Kingdoms of Amalur: Reckoning.

“I live with a family who understands the differences between a videogame and real life,” Schilling responded.

As a parent, I find this refreshing. While my wife might not like to hear it, there are times when my kids (7 and 3) happen to see me playing something violent. My opinion, and you are free to disagree, is that with everything put in the proper context, there is no problem with most content. I wouldn’t let my kids see graphic mutilation or sexual content, but things that live in the realm of PG-13 are typically acceptable, just not alone.

What do you think? Is #38 making a mistake or is he simply exercising his parental privilege?

Source: /gamer

Awesome Father Writes Teacher Saying His Daughter Will Be Out Playing Skyrim on 11.11.11

Dave Oshry — Thu, 20 Oct 2011 21:10:34 +0000

Remember when you thought the world’s coolest father was that guy who woke up his son with a water pistol while humming the DooM music from E1M1? Well, that guy has just been replaced.

A high school teacher was brought a letter by a young girl just the other day from her father. Within said letter (that was sealed with wax) was an explaination as to why his daughter would not be in school on November 11th, and possibly the weeks after…

She’d be playing SKYRIM!

Not only is her father awesome, but he is clearly an Elder Scrolls fan (at least of Oblivion) I wish this man, his daughter and his family safe travels on their journeys in Skyrim. The road ahead is filled with peril… and dragons.

For more on Skyrim check out the latest batch of screens and our last hands on preview.

via [reddit]

How To Wake Up Your Four Year Old – DooM Style

Dave Oshry — Wed, 24 Aug 2011 13:30:12 +0000

I saw this video a few days ago, but it wasn’t really newsworthy until today… when I was rudely awakened at 6am.

However, if my father were as cool as this dude, I’m not sure I would really mind.

Humming the music from E1M1? Nailed it.

Megaman in Training

Dylan Duarte — Thu, 02 Jul 2009 21:09:07 +0000

This is all pretty adorable and awesome now, but boy oh boy is this going to go downhill fast and he gets older.

What They Play Survey Results Skewed?

Justin Arnold — Wed, 20 Aug 2008 17:06:55 +0000

Controversy is brewing over poll results featured in a What They Play article featured earlier this month.

The poll, published in a story titled “Parent’s More Concerned About Video Games than Alcohol or Pornography” generated significant attention from the video game media as well as mainstream news outlets.

Representatives from What They Play told Ripten.com that the polls had been taken from visitors and members of their own community. The veracity of the poll results and the article has been called into question by readers as well as Ben Kuchera of Ars Technica.

“We need to look at this data a little more critically than the way it is presented by What They Play; it doesn’t tell us what “parents” think, it tells us what readers of this particular blog think,” Kuchera wrote in an article published Aug. 12. “This was simply a survey on the site, so not only is it impossible to tell if respondents even have children, but whether these numbers are in fact a truly representative population other than What They Play readers.”

According to Tom Byron, vice-president of marketing at WhatTheyPlay.com, those results were taken from their own community of readers and visitors, a poll created to foster discussion and debate in their community.

“The results were interesting,” Byron said. “We weren’t trying to make a push-poll or seem like we were setting anything up.”

Byron, along with director of corporate communication Tom Sarris, regularly run polls for their website. Both admitted that while the have experience polling within the advertising and public relations fields, they have no professional polling training or experience.

“What we had hoped we do was start a discussion,” Sarris said. “The overriding intent was a snapshot what our community was thinking on these subjects.”

Unfortunately, the experiment escaped the laboratory. The poll was picked up by videogame bloggers and websites, including IGN, Joystiq, Kotaku, The Escapist Magazine, and Games Industry.biz.. Even the mainstream media got a hold of the poll. CBS games news carried IGN’s coverage on the story to the CBS website. The LA Times also ran the story on their website.