The Family that Games Together
The Columbian (Vancouver, Washington)
July 2, 2006 Sunday
The Family that Games Together
BYLINE: BRETT OPPEGAARD Columbian staff writer
SECTION: Life; Pg. d1
LENGTH: 2032 words
Consider video-game play as a giant cultural experiment in progress and Stephanie and Matt Dukart among the surprising results so far.
Dinner at the Dukarts' means a meal made from scratch. Homework has been done. The dining room table has been set, and the Hazel Dell family is sitting together, under a large picture window, lit only by the sun, talking about the day.
When that evening ritual is done, the two girls -- 12-year-old Katja and 9-year-old Briayne -- politely pick up the dishes and put away leftovers.
"I'm going for a smoke," Stephanie says to her husband, Matt. "What are you going to do?" He responds with a dramatic pause, strictly for comedic purposes, "I don't know. Let's play some games!"
Katja begins clapping. This part of the nightly routine is as ingrained in the Dukarts' schedule as eating together around the dinner table. While Stephanie finishes her cigarette on the front porch, Matt and the children file into the family room for a scene that only could be happening in the most modern of times.
The curtain is drawn. Computers in three side-by-side cabinets and a 27-inch TV flash and flicker with different video games. The Dukarts will be in this spot, physically together, most of the night. But they'll surge apart into marvelous new worlds, exploring the mysteries of ever-expanding cyberspace. On weekends, unless something really pressing arises, this becomes an all-day affair.
Matt, 30, and Stephanie, 40, heavily played video games as children, and their passion remains steadfast as adults. The Dukarts turned out OK, they argue. They are happy with their lives. Their children are happy. So who's to judge how people should best spend their time?
If their hobby were baseball-card collecting or antique shopping, would anyone be concerned about what they are doing? Besides, as video games are spreading nationally among a second generation of heavy users -- 30 years post "Pong" -- the Dukarts have first-hand experience to guide them through the parental choices for their children.
The Dukarts are among the third of American parents who now play video games, with 80 percent of those players involving their children, according to a recent study by the Entertainment Software Association. Gamers, regardless of age, typically play an hour a day, while parents and children are doing this activity together for an average of nine hours per month.
The Dukarts blew up "Space Invaders" as children, fought characters to the death in "Mortal Kombat" as teenagers and now, as adults, play "Diablo II." They haven't committed any violent crimes, nor have their children. Instead of anti-social behavior, the Dukarts enjoy parties. And when they are gaming, just stay at home and keep to themselves.
Dimitri Christakis, co-director of the Child Health Institute at the University of Washington as well as a pediatrician, says he considers the rise of video games in this country a curious outcropping of human behavior that deserves closer examination. The first wave of game players has grown up and had children. Technology, in turn, is being spread to the second wave even faster. No one is sure how this is going to turn out for society.
"There are video games now for kids as young as 2," he says. "Parents are being sold a lot of misinformation, a lot of outlandish educational claims that are totally unsubstantiated. We need to have a public discussion (about the issue). In the meantime, we should be exercising caution."
New technologies historically have raised suspicions. Socrates argued around 400 B.C. that writing was inferior to speech and that it would destroy the capabilities of individual minds. Similar condemnations have been made about radio, movies, popular music and television.
Academics, doctors and scientists today are struggling to understand and keep up with the frenetic innovations of the video- gaming industry, meaning mixed opinions and an array of potential impacts tend to muddle projections.
One of the country's prominent video-game scholars, Joshua Fouts at the University of Southern California, regularly plays "World of Warcraft" online with his father, a professor at Central Washington University, and a sister, a professor at the University of Tennessee. His other sister, Rachel Carrico, a former middle school teacher who lives in Vancouver, chooses not to play video games much while she stays at home to raise her children.
Fouts says he considers this era of human development rich with unprecedented opportunities perpetually being generated by new technologies. As a father of two toddlers, though, he limits television and video games in his household to an hour a week as a special treat.
"I think it's really important that our kids are fluent in technology, and part of that ability is being able to immerse yourself in it," he says. "Yet every parent has the responsibility to do that in a managed way."
Electronics everywhere
Children between the ages of 8 and 18 are spending about six hours per day with electronic media, according to a recent Kaiser Family Foundation study, with two-thirds having television in their rooms and about a third with computers. More than 60 percent of parents surveyed by the Entertainment Software Association, in a different study, say that video games are a positive part of their children's lives.
The American Academy of Pediatrics, though, recommends that children spend no more than two hours a day engaged with electronic media, including watching television and playing video games. Christakis of the Child Health Institute says that the exposure children are getting to electronic media today should be considered a public health issue, akin to smoking. Overwhelming evidence also suggests that violent imagery in games -- even cartoon violence, he says -- promotes increased aggression. He claims that's a link just as strong from a scientific standpoint as the relationship between tobacco and lung cancer.
Fouts is one of those more skeptical about a connection between violence and video games, saying that society is always looking for a scapegoat, instead of taking ownership of its problems.
"(Video games) are not ruining our kids, ruining marriages, any more than any other device done to excess," he says. "If kids are locked away in their rooms, and parents are disengaged, I see that as the real issue. While I'm a big proponent of the fun and opportunities provided by video games, that should in no way be a substitute for parenting."
Fouts acknowledges that video games are "super-engaging," a synthesis of books, puzzles and television that connects the allure of a narrative story to gorgeous movie-like imagery to short-term goals that always seem to be reasonably within reach.
"It would be very easy to go from one hour to 14 hours in a day," he says. "I can see doing it, if I didn't have other obligations. We live in a very busy world. It's a challenge for parents to find quality time with their kids. I suggest everything (should be done) in moderation."
The Dukarts of Hazel Dell say they simply have a lot of free time and that video games are how they choose to entertain themselves. They met online, and their lives predominately revolve around virtual worlds.
Matt, a mortgage banker who works on commission, acknowledges regularly spending more hours in a week playing games than trying to generate business. Stephanie, a homemaker, is president of the Lakeshore Elementary School PTA and often helps with other activities involving her children, such as soccer, a program for gifted students, track, the Science Olympiad and school plays. But even with housework, cooking and other domestic chores, she says she still finds a lot of time to play video games because that is what she chooses as her recreation.
The couple realizes not all parents feel the same way. When kids come over to play games, the Dukarts make sure the other parents approve of the choice just as they would with a movie or television show.
Video games are attractive entertainment options for many reasons. Molly Klug, 39, of Vancouver says she revels in the social aspects. She met her husband online, and when she moved here from Spokane in 2002, she found it difficult to meet people.
Feeling isolated and lonely, she started playing an online video game. That made her feel like she was part of a community again.
She met and interacted with people from throughout the world, for 30 to 60 hours a week, and had a lot of fun in the process. Then, she had children.
"For me, staying at home, is really kind of boring," she says. "It's a dull life. Something I keep in mind, though, is that I need to set an example. I could be reading or doing crafts. A lot of the (virtual) stuff is not very interactive. It's just performing a task that the people who designed the game have set out for you. A lot of it doesn't seem creative or innovative. It's just stimulus, response, stimulus, response."
Restricting game time
Klug volunteers at her children's schools and with the PTA, but she still plays 20 to 30 hours of games a week -- usually when her children are sleeping, at school or playing their own games.
She generally restricts her children to an hour a day. Yet her 7- year-old son occasionally plays longer, as much as four hours at a time. Klug and her husband, Rob, discourage that.
"We don't want our kids playing computers for hours and hours or sitting in front of the (television) for hours and hours," she says. "We want them to do something more constructive."
Christakis of the Child Health Institute believes that media, and video games in particular, are having a profound effect on today's children in a wide array of areas.
"Obesity, aggression, attentional problems, use of alcohol and drugs, early initiation into sex," he says. "These are important health issues. The real challenge is not to get rid of TV or video games, (which) aren't going away, but to define ways that media can figure positively in the lives of children."
Instead of focusing on arbitrary time restraints, he suggests spending more effort on examining content and the context in which the games are being used.
Central questions he asks: "Are children playing an inordinate number of hours on their own? Or are they playing an appropriate amount, with their parents, to foster development or just have plain old clean fun?"
The Dukarts contend that they are focused on the latter.
"We have good kids and know what their limitations are," Stephanie says. For them, that means their children, 9 and 12, can watch "CSI" but not "The Sopranos," go to movies such as "Braveheart" but not "Sideways." They can read Stephen King novels but not any of the works of John Irving. Video games that involve killing creatures or even war games, such as "Medal of Honor," are fine because the action has a positive and sometimes historically based purpose. But the Dukarts stay away from the more racy or criminally minded titles, such as "Grand Theft Auto," and the negative connotations of that kind of content. The Dukarts say their kids are well-behaved, well-liked, talkative, friendly and physically fit and do well in school.
Most of the kids in Katja's program for gifted students are involved in games constantly, Katja says. She adds, "You can play video games a lot and still not be a lazy person or a slack."
Matt says, "People like us are functional. It doesn't ruin our lives. Some people collect stamps. We play games. That's our release. I don't think this is going to damage (kids). There is no way to stop them from being exposed to (video games and the provocative issues they present). If we don't explain it to them properly, then someone else will explain it, maybe not properly."
Stephanie says she also is convinced that video games improve logic and problem-solving skills as well as hand-eye coordination.
She thinks that exposure to technology will be critical to her children's growth and even give them a competitive edge.
"I have never denied them technology, because that's what their lives are going to be," Stephanie says. "This is the future."