The good thing about this type of parenting is that if you notice the game causing some adverse reaction in behaviour or mentality you can simply cut them off. Although I don't foresee this in a TES game... but it does depend more so on the player's perception.

its funny, when you put it that way it make one look at it in a whole new perspective!

I don't think you should restrict her all that much. If she hasn't been exposed to these things already, she'll walk away if you give her the "would you do this in real life" speech. And if she has been exposed to something similar and feels comfortable going through with the quest/story then it shouldn't bother her too much.

I got that speech when I got Golden Eye 64 after the cashier lectured my mom for an hour about how video games like this create criminals etc... It was bought for me anyway as my parents felt I was adjusted enough for the content. They never questioned a game after that even Diablo, and other games which were probably by far age inappropriate for me. I only see it as a benefit to my life, these games got me interested in lore and thus reading heavily... I don't think they regret it either.

I think one reason I am letting her play Skyrim is her reading. The book series she is reading is most likely for early teens but she has just been killing book after book I have never seen her read like this before. She explains to me whats going on it the books and at first I was thinking to myself wow little young for this stuff but I let her keep going as it didnt seem to be bothering her (she used to be very nightmare prone but it seems she is past that). She is also reading all the books she finds in Skyrim I told her until she has enough money to buy a house she needs to slow down on her collecting as they do weigh her down.

Agree and disagree on my part. I'm...well, I'm a really messed up and violent individual. Whether you want to attribute that to my extensive video gaming as a child, or whether you want to view that as an outcome of my childhood abuse, is up to you, but I believe both have some level of influence upon a person's mind.

I do think that video games tend to make people more amoral than any other media out there. If you want me to explain why, I'll be happy to, my thesis was on that subject (I'm not explaining right now because, well...I don't want to, and if nobody asks, I don't see the need to), but the amorality can be avoided with a few questions along the lines of "Would you do this in real life" and yaddayaddayadda.

The reading aspect, however, I do agree with. I hate "tooting my own horn" but I am abnormally read for someone with my generation, having gone from Vonnegut to Nabokov to Plato and beyond, and I cite all of my reading abilities back to Final Fantasy, among other video game series that I played. Video games have an amazing way of teaching children, and I will praise them as a great source of education for the english language until the day I die.

I was allowed to play Mortal Kombat at age 5, so I don't think I'd have the best of opinions here.(i miss the arcades) ALthough I'd tell her to stay far away from a priest in Markarth.

I started playing Oblivion at a rather young age. I hadn't been affected by any of it, even Lucien Lachance's corpse hanging from the ceiling. If anything, Oblivion/Skyrim really helped with English; getting your imagination going and developing story telling skills.

In all honesty, I think a child playing Skyrim would give them a head start in English. However, I would wait a couple of years to start the more grim missions.

True that, when I was a youngin' I was always learning new words from games.

If more and more children below the age of ten goes playing this game, the next Elder Scrolls game will be dumbed down even more so it's more child friendly... Look at what's already happened to Skyrim. The main quest and faction quests all have simplistic storylines so people without a brain can understand it.

I played Oblivion when I was about twelve or so, I loved the game immensely. My parents knew that I knew what was in the game, and they believed it was age appropriate for me. Like I said, I loved the game and enjoyed it tremendously, despite some of the more disturbing stuff (gloom wraiths anyone?).

but she tricks you into attacking the priest i would remind your daughter that daedric princes cant be trusted

I'd be more wary about Fallout 3/New Vegas than the Elder Scrolls. The gore is more over the top and cussing can be heard frequently. I've also found that it can be scary without traveling companions, particularly because the music is rather soft and enemies tend to sneak up on you at times, leading to unexpected loud noises that tend to make me jump out of my seat. Of course, playing the in-game radio helps. The only time I've managed to be scared in Skyrim is when I accidentally clipped through the floor suddenly. That only happened once.

I guess it depends on a number of factors whether you should let an underage person play this game.
For me I don't ever feel I am playing an M rated game.
My guess it was probably rated the same after Oblivion was re-rated.
But I am getting side-tracked:
1. If you object to violence and mild gore do not let your kid play it.
2. There are some disturbing fantasy concepts at play in Skyrim. If you feel your kid can handle this.. than fine let them play.. if not.. don't.
3. Kids under the age of twelve - fourteen. don't yet fully grasp morality, violence etc. and thus can react very unpredictably to what's happening on screen. Let me illustrate: I had a 9 year old nephew ( he is 22 now ) who was terified by "The Gummi-bears" but who could easily handle "Die Hard" (not my choice, blame his parrents). It didn't harm him in any way but a pre-teen may have different concepts about scares etc.

basically it's all about how a kid can handle these things normally. If you want to be really safe monitor during play, or do not allow to let them play at all. Like advlts every kid is different and thus will react differently.
One thing that must be emphasized kids are more aware about morality and violence than we give them credit for.. but might react differently depending on their personal character.

Or :
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e55P2XF38O0&feature=g-vrec&context=G237a88eRVAAAAAAAABA (turn down volume on the first seconds)
People don't want to be sword

Well, you know, some children can actually handle the games.

You're the type of dad of whom I COMPLETELY approve. Bless you, and may your girl ALWAYS have your umbrella to keep her safe!

I can see that as a plausible thesis, I disagree personally however I can see the rational behind it. I'm open to being wrong as well, in my field it happens often. I'm under the assumption that although gaming carries over huge amounts of influence its suggestive nature applies to the amount of exposure. It it wasn't gaming it would be some sort of other social framework applying the influence and there is a long list of those. Typically the way these influences are perceived is dependant on the culture.

In any case, it is in my opinion that the percentage of behavioural influence that gaming carries is minimal in comparison to the other cultural pressures, that said a child who spends their entire life on a game will have a significantly heightened influence. Typically though it is in my opinion that gaming is not overly damaging to an average individuals conceptualization of reality and their ability to interact in a social environment "properly" .. it gets a little more complicated if you account for variables such as troubled persons, personality disorders, those who use games as an emotional crutch.... etc

I can't speak to your suggestion of amorality, although this is an idea I'd like to explore as I've noticed while gaming I am completely amoralistic. I'm a little more rigid in my beliefs in reality, but in comparison to most individuals I know my morality would be questionable. So the idea of this amoralistic influence is perplexing to me.

Namira's quest! You only eat dead corpses, no problem.
And maybe Molag Bal's quest? You just need to kill an old defenceless man 4 times with a rusty mace! Not that brutal.. Right?

I don't approve... Just teach them the basics of the internet and then let her roam free.. It is better and she will have a lot more fun!
I think it's bad to keep such a strain on your kids.. I mean, some stuff they just got to learn themselves! And what exactly could happen? Some 40+ guy asking her if she wants to see his dike? just teach her not to talk with people that does that and she'll be fine if she has common sence..
When i get kids/if i get kids, i'll sit through their first time on the internet and teach what and what not to do and then let them do what they want! And if they do something bad then just cut the internet for a week and don't let them play! It's easy!
And MOST kids can handle playing games... There is no proof that games can ruin children's minds.. No proof AT ALL!
I played gta and stomped on old women when i was young, do i do that now? Nope..
I have seen people get their heads cut off on the internet, does my parents know? No. Do i act weird and feel bad? Sure, i feel bad for watching it but i came over it! I don't care anymore and it isn't really dangerous..

I'm the opposite.... I'm as "moral" in game as I am in real life, and always have been (played my first CRPG in 1985; the ten years prior to that I ran AD&D games for my daughter and her friends, with me being the DM and ALL the NPCs - that was fun! And I mean that sincerely....) There are places in games I simply will not go - and that's the sort of personal decision every person makes at some stage or the other.

My point though is that it really doesn't matter when a person starts role-playing - whether in CRPGs/MMORPGs or on a stage through school drama etc. no matter what age it begins. What matters is how the person in question has been nurtured (NO - this is NOT a "nature vs nurture" argument darn it!) If a person has a quality home life (that doesn't mean "things" or money - it means love, caring, and when needed, punishment) then that person's going to (barring mental/chemical/hormonal or other medical issues of course) be less likely to be harmed by things that are violent and so on.

[All my own personal opinions.... I'm not trying to change any minds here....]

Agreed! If you got parents that care and that isn't too harsh but still punish when needed the chances of being damaged by these things gets lower... I think so atleast

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You can complete all the nasty quests for her while she is asleep so she can't accidental stumble into the wrong quests and still have more toys (artifacts) to play with.

You strike me as a strongly moral person I'm sure that wasn't lost on your daughter. I think you may be pleasantly surprised to find her making decent decisions on her own with a little guidance here and there. But I'd probably let her hit a couple of the encounters on her own and observe her reaction , you might be in for a triumphant fist-pumping session (you never know with kids =P) or at the most a little intervention.

As for kids and online , yeah , if you're not a parent just shut it until you are , yes you have an opinion , but your flesh and blood is more than just precious to you. They are absolutley everything in this world worth living for and give me joy just waking up knowing they're here with me. My sons' first online escapade was on MY wow account so my guildies could watch over him also when I'd have to take the occassional break. The very first HOUR ,"Hey , how old are you??? ARE YOU A GIRL??? A/S/L???" We shut the guy down but it still happened. My son handled himself fairly well at first , but the thing about predators is they spend alot of energy to become geniuses at getting what they want , and they have all the time in the world to harangue children if nobody is there to intercede.

He's now playing skyrim on his own and chats with his buddies over xbox live and I hear many discussions over some of the more questionable decisions in the game constantly , and he does this on his own now (he's 17) and all it took was some nudges here and there. Oh and example.

Yep, he could. But.... depends on how smart a cookie his girl is - if she's like I was at that age (LONG LONG before computers, btw) she'll give him that "look" and ask some sharp questions....

Still, I think Sean is doing well - he knows there could be issues, and he's being proactive, and ACTIVELY parenting. Good job, in my book.



This is so sad.... I've been playing WoW for almost 6 years, and yes I know this sort of crap happens (it even happens to me - and I'm all over it with a GM report INSTANTLY) and my GODDESS I wish it didn't. Kids should be sacrosanct - what happens between consenting advlts is their business but bring kids into it and I want to do some serious IRL harm.

Not nice I guess, but *shrug* - sometimes one doesn't FEEL like being nice....