Visiting my parents place a few times he was always talking about it. I had played video games but never online before. I thought I’d give is a shot to see what all the fuss was about. Well I’m hooked and it’s given my little bro and I something to connect on. Something that I think is extremely important as a parent.

So my recommendation is to pick up the game, spend the time to try it out and see if you like it. You can go watch him play basketball, baseball, or soccer but wouldn’t it be so much more powerful if you could be in the games with him?

I think it being a video game is irrelevant. If your kid is into something that badly why don’t you spend the time to see what it’s about instead of trying to tell him what he can and can’t do. It might actually help develop a relationship between you that will be invaluable to your future parenting. Never in a million years would I think I’d play a game for 7 hours straight. I just finished playing online with friends. It’s 3am in the morning and yes I have work in 6 hours. Was it worth it, absolutely.

It boils down to boys being boys. In this day and age, where can a boy go out and shoot things. Start fires, learn and do the things he is wired to do? To protect and provide. Everything is too unsafe to do now for some reason. If there is an overwhelming desire to play these games isn’t that a symptom? Why is there such a desire to play these games is the bigger more important question. IMO it’s because our society is severely lacking things needed in a boys development.

I’m tired, good night.

Parents apparently don’t have the time to figure out what game their children are attempting to play, and taking the much lazier approach to said parenting.

think about the extent of the “M” rating; it ranges from the honestly quite tame “halo” to the aptly named “Manslaughter” which i personally have tried and honestly have no hopes of picking it up any time in the future. It is practically undeniable that the “M” rating is an inexplicably and unhelpfully general rating merely MADE to inform on what may show up in the game, no matter how few times it appears. this falls back on the idea of if a parent remains ignorant to that which the child wants to do or play, that is the fault of the parent, not the action or game.

Just as well, in the game “Modern warfare 2″, the small portion referred to (and to my own dismay, very short) single player campaign, there is no way of “how points are scored.” but instead its “point” is to tell a story. unfortunately for uniformed parents or psychologists, the level brought up (counting the tutorial, is the fourth, by the way) is a pivotal point of the (granted, far fetched) plot which seems even more unbelievable with such an important set-piece missing (think avatar with out the first 45 minutes).

I just think it is sad that people still can’t take videogames seriously, thinking that just because it is titled video “game” it must be a plaything for a child. I would have thought that the “controversy” with the game “Mass Effect” and the re-iteration of the idea of videogames for more mature audiences with the game “heavy rain” may have shown that there are games made for any age to enjoy as well as games created to appeal to specific older viewers/players.

And once again, sadly, this “apology” doesn’t help me believe that you (dr. rich, not jaambageek) respect videogames.

I can gun down civilians in the scenario you mentioned without losing a wink of sleep, and tomorrow I will look at pictures of the Haiti earthquake and be moved to tears. This is because I am a healthy adult with the ability to differentiate scenarios. I've been able to do this since early childhood. Some children can't. Don't give them games specifically geared towards adults. How hard is that?

This particular game had moments like the No Russian level simply to try to elicit an emotional response. Unfortunately, instead of the countless Spocks out there unmoved, all you hear from is the doctors who don't play it or the media figures who use it to raise their soapbox above that of their competitors.

Please don't see my comments as an affront to you personally, Doctor, it's simply a problem with Doctors and society as a whole. But maybe, just maybe, we as a people can overcome unfounded prejudices and realize that scenarios differ for a reason.

I can gun down civilians in the scenario you mentioned without losing a wink of sleep, and tomorrow I will look at pictures of the Haiti earthquake and be moved to tears. This is because I am a healthy adult with the ability to differentiate scenarios. I’ve been able to do this since early childhood. Some children can’t. Don’t give them games specifically geared towards adults. How hard is that?

This particular game had moments like the No Russian level simply to try to elicit an emotional response. Unfortunately, instead of the countless Spocks out there unmoved, all you hear from is the doctors who don’t play it or the media figures who use it to raise their soapbox above that of their competitors.

Please don’t see my comments as an affront to you personally, Doctor, it’s simply a problem with Doctors and society as a whole. But maybe, just maybe, we as a people can overcome unfounded prejudices and realize that scenarios differ for a reason.

Thank you for taking the time to answer questions and I respect a lot of the work that you do. However, I'm afriad you are only telling the readers here half the story. Indeed while some research has found links between video game violence use and aggression, others, arguably those using better methods and controls find no effect. For instance a recent article in the Journal of Pediatrics (a leading journal in your field) by Ferguson, San Miguel and Hartley found no influence for video games on serious youth violence or aggression, yet you make no mention of this study (or others) to worried parents. Many other studies by Cheryl Olson, Lawrence Kutner, Devin Durkin, Dmitri Williams, etc., have found no effects, yet you mention none of these. Similarly the recent Ybarra et al article in Pediatrics (2008), once controlled for other variables, found no effect for video game playing or most other media violence variables on youth violence (see her Figure 1…I am aware she ignores her own findings to make scarier conclusions, but that merely shows some of the endemic problems with this research field).

Again, I mean no disrespect, and I understand you mean well, but just as you have made errors in describing the Call of Duty Game, so too you present the research from a biased point of view. Unfortunately you turn in your credentials as an objective scientists when you do such a thing, and I am disappointed. I am sorry to say you are repeating, by and large, a moral panic, without stopping to consider the research in this area with caution and, indeed, healthy scientific skepticism.