When the Harry Potter craze hit back in 1997, children (of all ages) devoured the book. At the same time, the ardently faithful also described the book as “the sin of witchcraft…” (1st Samuel 15:23). Several websites have sprung up proclaiming that children be kept away from what the Bible spells out clearly.
Not just Harry Potter, RPG’s (role play game) have been under attack almost since they were invented. I’m talking of course about the numerous D & D spin-offs (Dungeons and Dragons) that have emerged in the last 20 or so years.
My favorite game RPG of all time is Baldur’s Gate II, Shadows of Amn. It tells the story of a kingdom invaded by an evil lord. Your mission (should you choose to accept it) is to find out as much information about these menacing individuals, mobilize the forces of good, and ultimately emerge victorious! But first you have to put your crew together, gain power by leveling up, and acquiring the right weapons for the job.
I was so addicted to the game after I created my character that I would wake up in the middle of the night 
to finish a level, or set my character on another quest toward victory!
I always play as either a wizard or an elf; occasionally, I’ll be a human–but they aren’t all that great. I don’t know why, but I love the idea of being able to cast spells, wear cloaks of invisibility and increase my skills.
It’s also nice to get out of my skin: I’m not a mother, a teacher, or a wife when I play Baldur’s Gate. I’m on a quest, and adventure wrought with peril, and the best part is–I never really get hurt!
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But RPG’s, specifically, have a darker side. There have been several reported cases of women divorcing their husbands for excessive RPG use; one man spent 10 hours a day on his computer, off in never-never land.
Another story reported a woman hauled in for child abuse; she played so much that she neglected to feed and parent her children. Harry Potter has been accused of inciting kids to entertain “black magic.” Children create potions that others ingest, consequently becoming ill.
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It isn’t for me to say if these things are detrimental and should be avoided–I’m obviously bias. An excess of anything has the potential to be dangerous. Excedrin is definitely good when you have a headache, but if you take more than two migraine-strength pills at a time, you risk permanently damaging your liver.
The same really is true in terms of these (rather addicting) games. I jumped up to play in the middle of the night–but it was summer. I didn’t have work the next day, and my husband would be up with the kids so that I could sleep in. He was so happy to see me enjoying something for a change, that he had no problem making breakfast.
If we monitor a child’s use of RPG’s and TV in general, discuss our rationale with kids and try to come up with a plan together, I think kids can enjoy being themselves, and the warlocks, elves, or magicians they choose to be.
If you are particularly religious, this presents a problem. How to reconcile it? Easy: children don’t belong to a single faith. They don’t have the mental capability to dissect and form their own opinion of faith. Letting children know what your faith tells you on the subject, and what your preferences are, I think, is important. It’s also important for them to know varying viewpoints.
Yea? Nay?
Its interesting that you claim that children don’t claim to have the mental ability to form their own opinion on faith.
Assuming you think that middle school kids, aged 13, are still children, would you then agree that Cole Morgan, local atheist activist who rejected religion before age 13, did not have the mental ability to form his own opinion on faith?
Or take example from literature, famous authors who formed their opinions at an early age, Ayn Rand also at 13 for example.
And sure, kids should know varying viewpoints…that there are, for example, people out there who would like to convince them that mindless processes can account for all existence, and to make them susceptible to their own agenda.
Yeah.
Kids should know about that.
OURS DO!
Hmmm, Just Wondering sounds a bit angry. I’m not sure why – I didn’t see anything worth anger in the blog above. Very interesting.
I think it’s true that a child of 13 probably doesn’t have all the abilities necessary to completely form his or her own opinion. It’s true that kids develop at their own pace, but many aren’t capable of abstract thought until mid-teens or so. And even then, once they are, I imagine coming to an answer about faith that they find to be true will take lots of inner hashing out. Unless of course they just opt for blind, mindless acceptance – which is BAD, no matter how good the intention of the person asking the child.
True faith in god, or faith that there is no god can only come from deep personal thought. And whatever conclusion once comes to, it’s not our job to judge or make assumptions. There are plenty of wonderful Christians & there are plenty of awful Christians out there. Believing in God doesn’t automatically make anyone a good person. Ditto for atheists – lots of good ones & some crummy ones.
Let’s judge people at the individual level & not make assumptions based on our own bigoted opinions on the groups that they belong to.
Dislike for the unlike is dangerous. Hatred of people of a different faith than you is the same as racism.
I’m pretty sure Jesus preached tolerance. The Gospels are very accepting of everyone – intolerance is not very Christian. As someone who was raised in a loving, religious home, I cannot understand why other Christians can be so abusive & intolerant. It gains them nothing.
I don’t have a problem with kids playing RPGs because of the magic/witchcraft content, though parents should restrict how much they play them. I have known a lot of people who started playing world or warcraft with the intent of doing it on weekends or a couple hours a few nights a week and the guild ended up requiring a minimum of 5+ hours a night. I have a character on WoW, though I have stopped playing for months at a time if I had more important stuff to do. A child should not be allowed to have RPGs playing a bigger part in their life than schoolwork, exercise, and other activities.
I disagree that children (even young children) are not capable of forming their own opinions on anything…they do it everyday. One of our responsibilities as adults is to help them find and learn to interpret information and thought so they can form opinions and learn to change them