Life as a Christian Woman

Jaime from Fiction Scribe offered to write this post on choosing appropriate video games. As a Christian mother, I know it can be hard to find games that are appropriate both for the age of the child and religious beliefs. I know next to nothing about games, except the ones my son plays, so I asked someone more knowledgeable to give some advice. Jaime makes some good points, and hopefully her tips will make your game-choosing a little easier.

The Christian Gamer

The Christian Gamer. In this day and age, can there really be such a thing? Sure there are a few Christian games out there, but will they keep your child entertained like mainstream games will?

Let’s not worry about that for now.

Knowing what games are appropriate for your children can be a hard subject for any parent, but the Christian parent has it even a bit harder. Here are some quick tips about video games that will help you in deciding what’s appropriate for your child.

• Pay attention to the ratings on the game. They will usually be in black and white and in one corner of the game box. If you are unfamiliar with what the ratings mean, check with a sales person.

• Remember that the ratings are not the be all and end all. Use them as a first factor in your research, but not the determining factor.

• Try to go to smaller games stores. Sales people in those types of stores (instead of stores like Wal-Mart) are more likely to have played the game you’re looking at or at least have played something similar. It’s not bad to do your research, and most salespeople should be more than happy to show off their game knowledge.

• Read the book. Each and every game should come with a book introducing how to set up the gaming system and about the game. Some (mostly RPGs – Role Playing Games) will even give a prologue-like introduction. This book will give you clues to what the game is about, the themes involved, and just what your child will be doing in the game.

• If you’re looking for some safe starter games and games you can play with your child, there are still board games (in video game form) like chess and monopoly out there. However, be careful because there are also a lot of gambling games out there and you need to pay attention.

• Some of the most popular games out there are RPGs – Role Playing Games. Your child gets the opportunity to control one or many characters in an often complex story line involving love, hate, and your other basic soap opera components.

• Know where you draw the line. Where do you stand? Do you not mind shooting as long as it’s not shooting other people, or do you not want shooting at all? Do you not mind fighting as long as cartoon characters are doing it? You need to determine what your lines are before you get started because a lot of games sit on the fence in those regards.

• Finally, remember to check in on your child’s game playing. Just because it started innocently doesn’t mean your child can’t find cheat codes and easter eggs (special codes to make funny things happen in the game) online to make their game play more…interesting.

I recommend The Sims games (not the expansion packs for younger gamers) like The Sims Family, Sim City, Sim Hotel, etc because they can encourage you to learn time management (work, play, etc), money management, and other skills.

As for games that involve violence but not on a human-to-human scale, I recommend games like Spyro, Sonic, Zelda, Mario (like Mario cart would appeal a lot to young boys who will get out the play-fight urges without a shoot-’em-up game), and Rayman. Spyro and Zelda especially can encourage your child’s problem solving skills, as many of them involve puzzles of different kinds. I know a lot of puzzle-type games in my youth put me on to logic puzzles, number and word crossword puzzles.

In the end, know where you stand and try to find someone who knows what they are talking about to quiz about the games. Like I said, most gamers like to show off their knowledge and will be happy to help.

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