| The internet touches every aspect of your | | | | FPS stands for First Person Shooter. They are |
| children's lives. Where you might look up an | | | | First Person in the same since that a story might |
| unknown word in a dictionary, your kids are more | | | | be. That is, the player sees the world through the |
| likely to use Where you use the telephone, they | | | | eyes of a single character and interacts with the |
| use instant messenger. An even greater | | | | game environment as though he were that |
| difference can be found in how they play games. | | | | character. Shooter comes from the primary goal |
| Where the games of their parent's generation | | | | of most such games, the shooting of whatever |
| may have involved a board, cards, or at their | | | | happens to be the bad guy. FPS games are |
| most sophisticated a console system, the games | | | | among some of the most popular online. Common |
| your children play on the net can be far more | | | | examples include Doom, Battlefield:1942, and the |
| complex. They mine gold, spread empires, fight | | | | X-Box game Halo. From a parental perspective, |
| dragons and aliens alone or with tens, hundreds, | | | | these games can be cause for concern. They |
| even thousands of their fellow gamers. All of this | | | | vary widely in the amount of realism, degree of |
| makes for a confusing mish mash of names, | | | | violence, language, and general attitude. The only |
| places, jargon and lingo that can leave you with | | | | way to get a good idea of the content issues is |
| no idea what your kids are actually doing and a | | | | to watch the particular game. If your kids don't |
| vague feeling of uneasiness that some part of it | | | | want you watching while they play, then fire up |
| might not be good for them. | | | | the game yourself sometime when they aren't |
| What's appropriate for your kids is a decision only | | | | around. There is a sizeable variation in how violent |
| you can make. How much violence they are | | | | and how personal FPS content can be from game |
| exposed to, how much time they spend in front | | | | to game. The single player portion of Halo, for |
| of a screen and how much contact they have | | | | example, has players fighting against alien invaders |
| with the faceless strangers so common to the | | | | with largely energy weapons and a minimum of |
| net are all questions you must grapple with and, in | | | | realistic human suffering. In contrast, WWII |
| the end, decide for your family. While we can't | | | | themed games tend to go out of their way to |
| help you make these rough decisions, we can | | | | show realistic violence. Given the subject matter, |
| certainly help you get the information you need to | | | | this is appropriate for the game, but may not be |
| understand your children's hobbies better, both to | | | | for your kids. Online play presents a potentially |
| make informed judgments about what they | | | | greater concern. The goal of online FPS games is |
| should and should not be doing, and to help you | | | | almost always killing other players. While some |
| reach into another part of their lives that may | | | | games do have various modes where this is a |
| have previously seemed like something of a | | | | secondary goal, all of them give the player a gun |
| puzzle box. | | | | and encourage him to use it on characters |
| The Easy Stuff | | | | representing other people. |
| The simplest type of online game is the sort of | | | | Simulated gore and the use of violence against |
| Flash or Java driven game that you generally see | | | | others to achieve goals may be things you don't |
| running inside your web browser. This type of | | | | want your kids exposed to. Again, these are your |
| game tends to be relatively simple compared to | | | | decisions to make, but we encourage you to |
| the stand alone games discussed later. Common | | | | make them with as much information as possible. |
| examples include Bejeweled, Zuma, and Diner | | | | Talk to your kids. Find out what they think, in |
| Dash. These games are almost universally single | | | | their words, is going on in the game. Make sure |
| player and have none of the sort of violent or | | | | they see the line between what happens in the |
| mature content that keeps parents up at night. | | | | game and what happens in the real world, |
| Were they movies, they would be G Rated, with | | | | between what it's okay to simulate and what it's |
| perhaps the occasional game stretching to PG. If | | | | okay to do. The answers may surprise you. If |
| this is the type of game your kids are into then | | | | your children understand the differences, see real |
| first, be relieved. Then, try the game out. Many | | | | violence as deplorable and simulated violence as |
| of these games can be very enjoyable for even | | | | part of the game then FPS games, even online |
| the most casual of players. Some, such as | | | | ones, can be a perfectly healthy way to have fun |
| Bookworm, even have genuine educational | | | | and let off steam. In the end, it falls on you to |
| content. These games can be as much an | | | | make sure that what your child gets out of the |
| opportunity for bonding and learning as throwing | | | | game is good for him or her. |
| around a baseball in the backyard, and have the | | | | Next time, we'll talk about RTS and MMORPG, the |
| added bonus of being much easier to get your | | | | two other common types of commercial online |
| kids to sit down with you and play. | | | | game and touch on the twin demons of addiction |
| FPSs: Finding Something to Shoot | | | | and predation. |