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The parent's guide to video gaming for kids
If there's one thing concerned parents of young video gamers need to know, it's how important it is to acknowledge and support kids' love of games. Why an increasingly media-savvy culture continues to vilify gaming -- now a mainstream activity enjoyed on smartphones, tablets, and computers by Americans of all ages -- is somewhat confounding. Video games represent nothing more (or less) than another type of entertainment media, right alongside books, movies, and television. Just as responsible parents keep an eye on the books, TV shows, and movies their kids are into, they should do the same with games. The bottom line: a reasonable, age-appropriate approach to the quantity and quality of the media kids enjoy. As the parent of a young gamer, your strategy is to remain figuratively plugged in to whatever they're doing. Don't all parents want to support their kids' hobbies? We want to know what they're doing, who they're with, whether they're safe, whether they're taking away some sort of life skill as well as enjoying some good, old-fashioned fun ... What you might not have considered is that gaming for many kids represents a full-fledged hobby. What's your role as a parent, then? To be fair, you'll want to give your child's fascination with gaming the same level of scrutiny and support as you would the your little girl's love affair with karate or your teenaged son's involvement in a garage band. Whatever captivates your child's imagination should also attract your parental periscope. We're not suggesting you plunk down to dutifully monitor your child's every mouse click in a game like World of Warcraft. Frankly, your kids don't want or need a hall monitor. But they do need your boundaries, your guidance, your feedback, your enthusiasm, and your support -- all the same things you'd bring to their karate competitions or their band concerts.
Nielsen: more than half of US teens now own smartphones
Yes, we know Android is holding steady at about 52 percent of US smartphone market share. What's interesting is just who's driving growth as a whole. According to Nielsen, 58 percent of American teens between 13 and 17 now have a smartphone -- that's a big jump from 36 percent a year earlier and a sign that the youngest owners have a significant sway over where the market is going. Not that young adults don't have an impact. Although the 25-to-34 crowd isn't making as big a comparative leap, its smartphone ownership has climbed from 59 percent to a dominating 74 percent in the same space of time. No matter how much youth set the pace, it's clear Android is still having an effect. Among the US smartphone buyers Nielsen tracked in the three months leading up to July, 58.6 percent went Google's direction. Most of that gain came from BlackBerry owners switching allegiances, which doesn't bode well when RIM is counting on existing owners to fuel BlackBerry 10 demand. We'd be careful about citing a one-point shrink in iPhone sales as a shift in the balance of power, however -- while it could be part of a trend, it could also represent the habitual lull in Apple's sales during the weeks before a major iPhone introduction.
WWDC, junior edition: WSJ talks to young developers
Paul Dunahoo has only made US$8,000 on his iOS app business, according to the Wall Street Journal, but, not surprisingly, the 13-year-old developer is happy with his profits. In what's becoming a growing trend, Dunahoo and other young developers like him are pursuing their interests by spending their free time working on iOS apps. Dunahoo is one of a few hundred teen and college-aged developers who spent last week networking with other developers and learning new programming tips and tricks at WWDC. Many of them took advantage of Apple's scholarship program that provided 13- to 17-year-old developers with the money to cover the cost of a WWDC admission ticket. Once there, young developers could relax in a dedicated student lounge stocked with skittles and comfy bean bag chairs. It's the first time Apple opened up the developer's conference to those under 18-years of age and, judging by the Wall Street Journal report, it's a policy Apple will likely continue in the future.
Officers' Quarters: How to earn respect as a teen officer
Every Monday, Scott Andrews contributes Officers' Quarters, a column about the ins and outs of guild leadership. He is the author of The Guild Leader's Handbook, available from No Starch Press. Teenagers as a whole have a terrible reputation in online games. In WoW, they are blamed for everything that's wrong with the community. People say they have no patience, they don't know how to play the game, they ruin chat channels with mindless chatter, and they're selfish, whiny, lazy, disrespectful, and entitled. Certainly some of the people who fit these accusations are teenagers. However, not every teenager acts this way, and a good portion of the people who do are actually adults. On the internet, unfortunately, perceptions tend to win out over reality. This week, a teenaged officer asks how she can earn the respect of her peers. Hello there Scott- Our guild currently is going through some major issues at the moment when it comes to who shall be running what when it comes to what is occuring in the guild. ... About a month or two ago, our guild leader ... decided to call it quits for the time being, our guild was going downhill at that time, and people starting to abandon us. We reasonably thought that sooner or later this guild was gonna expire sometime in the future, and that nothing could stop it. However, it came to the point where some of our officers and such managed to pull back the guild together through emails and messages spread across multiple medias. Our guild, in my mind, finally has settled back into what it was before, however without the guild leader to guide us. All of us (the officers) decided to take the role of leader. ... Things were going pretty smoothly.
Small survey finds school IT managers expecting iPads
The iPad may make further inroads into education, thanks to the popularity of the device among teens. According to a report in AllThingsD, investment firm Piper Jaffray surveyed 18 public school IT managers about their future tablet plans and discovered that 78 percent are testing iPads. Schools that adopt a "bring your own device" policy may also see a jump in the number of iPads being used as the tablet is popular among teens. "Ultimately we expect school 'bring your own device' policies paired with the popularity of iPads among teens will lead to the iPad owning the educational tablet market, " says Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster.
With new privacy controls onboard, Google+ opens up to teens
The world's teenage population can pontificate from a new digital platform, now that Google+ has decided to open its doors to high schoolers. Google+ VP Bradley Horowitz made the announcement yesterday, confirming that anyone old enough to own a Google account can now join the social network. In most countries, that applies to anyone older than 13 (previously, Google+ had been restricted to the 18-and-over crowd). This expansion also introduces a new set of privacy controls for younger users, who will be warned every time they try to publish a public post, and can only be contacted by those in their immediate circles. If a teen joins a Hangout, moreover, he or she will only be able to receive audio and video from those in his or her circles. Find more at the link below.
High school senior kills cancer with nanotech, still can't legally drink
Ever ask yourself, "What am I doing with my life?" No? Well, a little existential crisis is in order then. Because while you and the rest of Team teen America were busy dressing like Gaga, dancing to the Bieber and playing Angry Birds, high school senior Angela Zhang was killing cancer. Yes, this 17-year old medical prodigy from Cupertino was just awarded the Siemens Foundation grand prize -- a $100,000 payday -- for her work "Design of Image-guided, Photo-thermal Controlled Drug Releasing Multifunctional Nanosystem for the Treatment of Cancer Stem Cells." It's certainly a mouthful, but this nanotech is what one fellow researcher's calling the "Swiss Army knife of cancer treatment," as her gold and iron-oxide nanoparticle does double duty delivering the drug salinomycin to a tumor site, in addition to aiding MRI and photoacoustic imaging. If that's not impressive enough, this real-life lady Doogie Howser's also won Intel's ISEF grand award in both 2010 and 2011 for other health science-related work. Sure, Angela might inadvertently fall into the overachiever category, but girlfriend definitely deserves to win that Prom Queen crown.
Sprint launches Drive First Android app to curb texting and driving, keep chatty teens at bay
Are you concerned that your talky teenager is trying to keep up on the high school gossip whilst behind the wheel? Or are you a more experienced driver looking to get rid of the temptation to update your status at 65 MPH? Sprint's got you covered with Drive First. The app, announced by CEO Dan Hesse at CTIA in March, will lock up your phone when it detects you're in a moving vehicle; calls will be automatically redirected to voicemail and incoming texts can get automatically replied to with a customized message. The service costs $2 / month per phone after a 15-day trial, and unfortunately only is available for Android devices, though BlackBerry and Windows Phone support has been promised in the near future as well. We'd say the more the merrier -- for parents, that is. Head below for the full press release.
Sony's new WiFi-free PSP is targeting teens
Watch out, teenagers of Europe -- Sony's new, less costly PlayStation Portable is coming for you! So says Sony Computer Entertainment of Europe head Jim Ryan in an interview with MCV, pointing to the lower price barrier as aimed at a "younger" crowd. "It's all for the audience. If we are going to take PSP very young -- teens and much younger -- they are happy to just play the game," he explains. "If taking Wi-Fi out is the price to pay, we're happy to." Ryan also believes that the price point will give the console a much-needed sales bump, especially during the upcoming holiday season. "At €99/£89 it will make a great Christmas gift." The latest iteration of Sony's PlayStation Portable handheld console, dubbed the E-1000, was unveiled last month in Germany at Gamescom 2011. It should be arriving exclusively in Europe "this fall."
Drama Mamas: Liar, liar
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. World of Warcraft has been out so long now that many kids have grown up playing it. Their behavior, world views, opinions, and so forth have changed drastically as they grew from ages 13 to 19. This should not be surprising, as we all were vastly different after six years in childhood. I think it's hard to remember this when you're an adult, when six years normally means some change but not necessarily extreme change in everything about ourselves. Decisions we made at 15, both in game and out, are going to be different from decisions we make after graduating from high school and everything that goes along with that event. This is something I tried to keep in mind when answering this week's letter.
Drama Mamas: The combustible combination of minors and romance
Drama Mamas Lisa Poisso and Robin Torres are experienced gamers and real-life mamas -- and just as we don't want our precious babies to be the ones kicking and wailing on the floor of the checkout lane next to the candy, neither do we want you to become known as That Guy on your realm. This week, we tackle a topic that I find rather scary, as a mother of a budding drama queen and gaming geek. Hi, This may be way beyond the kind of thing you can help with but my guild has recently suffered a few bits of drama that have revealed a worrying situation and I'm having a hard time working out what to do next. About a month ago a young girl (mid teens) joined the guild, we don't have a specific age range although as a casual end game guild we expect a certain level of maturity. She didn't interact much with the guild although one guy who helped her out a bit she really latched onto. She wouldn't run heroics unless he was there and they often moved into different vent channels to be alone. After a couple of weeks we had to kick her from the guild as she simply couldn't take criticism. It also turned out that she had recently been pulled out of school due to depression although some of the higher level officers in the guild were speculating on if that was genuine or was an excuse.
MMO Family: A parent's look at World of Warcraft
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. World of Warcraft? Yeah, even folks who don't play video games at all have heard of this behemoth of MMO gaming. With 12 million subscribers worldwide, the WoW phenomenon has practically come to define an entire generation's worth of MMO gaming. While it's designed for teens and up, the game is so ubiquitous that you wouldn't have to dig far to find players of all ages, including many teens but also younger children as well. With a new expansion, World of Warcraft: Cataclysm, due for release on December 7th, plenty of kids (and grownups) will be angling for WoW in their holiday stockings. The question is: Is WoW a good fit for your kids? With good preparation and consistent parent moderation, it can be -- but if you don't play the game yourself or you take a more hands-off approach to gaming, you may want to wait until your little goblin- or worgen-to-be is well into the teen years. Join us after the break for an insider's look at WoW for younger children and teens.
MMO Family: Mind your massively multiplayer manners
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Kids are like sponges, sure -- old saying is old. But are online manners something you really want to leave to chance? Are the interactions your kids so intently follow online the manners you want them soaking up and using themselves? As parents, we know that the habits and attitudes that kids pick up today are what we'll find coming right back at us tomorrow. Teens who are used to trolling in games and forums will have a hard time modulating to a less strident tone in a business meeting. Kids who excuse a lack of scruples with "whatever -- it's only the internet" are due for a big surprise when a thoughtless instant message or careless lack of response to an email slams doors in their faces later in life. As parents who game, we all have hot buttons that set us off: the guy who always shows up late to raids, beggars, you name it. The point is: Have you talked to your kids yet about these behaviors? Are you explicitly (by both word and example) helping them not to grow up to be That Guy? I'm pretty sure we don't need a primer in online etiquette here at Massively, but I don't think it would hurt to share some of the things we wish Those Other Parents had taught their kids before turning them loose in our games. I'll share my dirty dozen after the break -- won't you share your own in the comments?
MMO Family: Parents as gaming gatekeepers
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Does your child have the emotional levels it takes to tackle certain MMOs? The idea of parents as gaming gatekeepers all too often comes down to simplistic, ESRB ratings-based rulings passed down from on high by relatively disengaged parents. Deciding what and how your child should play is far from a black-or-white decision. Last time in MMO Family, for instance, we looked at how to tell if your child is ready for MMO raiding -- yet far too many commenters missed the point, assuming (from the topic alone, we can only presume) that we advocate a laissez-faire attitude that allows kids to abandon their other activities and strands them in front of a keyboard during every free moment. Come on, folks, it's not a choice between letting kids play to the detriment of the rest of their lives vs. not playing at all. It's about gatekeeping -- and this is where you, the parent, come in. The truth is, categorically forbidding kids who're interested in video games to play at all is no more thoughtful or balanced an approach than throwing up your hands and letting them log in during every waking moment. Your role is to help children learn to balance their interests and lives, with as light or heavy a hand as may be necessary for your kids. This week, we've brought you some thoughts from a mother and son who've been there, done that -- together.
MMO Family: Is your child ready for MMO raiding?
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Does your youngster have ambitions to become an MMO raider? As a seasoned gamer yourself, you may find it hard to believe that your kids are already old enough to be chomping at the bit to battle the same bosses, to pore over the same strategies, to put themselves through the same scheduling wringer that you do. That's the thing about kids, though -- they want to tackle the cool stuff just like you do, especially if that's what they've grown up watching you raid. Is MMO raiding appropriate for your older child or teen? That's a matter only a parent can decide. The answer will be different from child to child, age to age and family to family. The best analogy I can offer is to treat this like a virtual team sport. Make sure your youngster has the bandwidth to support adding another focused activity to his schedule; from there, you'll want to help him choose the right team with a solid coach and assistants, supportive teammates and an age-appropriate challenge rating and social environment. A little direction from a tuned-in, gaming-savvy parent can help many young wannabe raiders realize their ambitions in an age-appropriate, balanced and enjoyable way.
New study questions extent of iPod-induced hearing loss
Have you heard? Apparently iPods cause hearing loss. A Journal of the American Medical Association study published in August found that 14.9 percent of teenagers aged 12-19 suffered from hearing loss from 1988-94; 19.5 percent of the same age group had hearing loss from 2005-06. Throw in another statistic, a 100 percent increase in the number of iPods in existence from 2005-06 as compared to 1988-94, and it's clear what's behind this statistically significant rise in teen hearing loss. Or maybe it's not so clear, after regarding a meta-study from the University of Minnesota. Researchers there found that 15 percent of the university's marching band members suffered from hearing loss, but after tracking them for a year and averaging out multiple test results, researchers found that more than half of the noise-induced hearing loss disappeared. Those same researchers said that false positive results can account for around 10 percent of the 14.9 percent hearing loss discovered in the 1988-94 JAMA study. Listening to anything at a high volume for a long enough period of time will induce hearing loss. That goes for your car stereo, speakers blaring at a concert, and yes, iPods. Are more people listening to music via headphones now versus 1988-94? Probably. Is a portion of that increase due to the iPod's popularity? Almost definitely. Does that automatically mean there's an epidemic of iPod-induced teen deafness? It certainly sounds like a plausible theory, but with one study already questioning the JAMA results, the question is far from settled. I will say that I'm occasionally astonished at the volume of music bleeding from people's white earbuds as they pass by. I can't listen to music on my iPhone at more than about 60 percent of maximum before it starts to hurt my ears, so I can't imagine what kind of damage these people are doing to their hearing. There's really no excuse for it, either. If you've got a child with an iPod, setting a volume limit on it is trivial. And if you're just trying to drive away the noise of the outside world, a decent set of canalphones is a whole lot cheaper and more convenient in the long run than a hearing aid. [via Cult of Mac]
The worst app name. Ever.
Sometimes app developers will send me PR releases hoping I review their apps (thus increasing their sales). If I think it's a good app, or that my readers would like it, I do. Many times I don't, however. But I couldn't resist sharing this app with the rest of the world. Why? Not because it's a good app (I haven't even tried it), but because it is the worst-named app in the history of apps: Touch Teen Patti. When I first read the name images of an app that featured photos the young and innocent teen Patti popped into my head. I imagined the Pedobears on the Chan sites going crazy over this app as they used their fingers to pinch and squeeze young teen Patti's various body parts. It wasn't just the name that caused me to shamelessly snicker like a thirteen year-old either. The PR release went on to contain a number of inadvertent, though sexually ambiguous, double entendres: "Teen Patti recently featured in a movie of the same name." "Teen Patti can be played with a minimum of 2 players but it's more fun with 4 or more players." "The AI will challenge the players to an extreme and test not only your luck but your skills on the table." If you don't know (or haven't guessed) by now, Teen Patti is actually an innocent Indian card game that's similar to poker. When the devs made it into an iPhone game they decided to (appropriately enough) throw "touch" into the title -- probably much to the alarm of Chris Hanson and to the hopes of Pedobears everywhere. To the dev who wanted me to do a review of this app -- sorry, but I'm not into card games. However, with a name like "Touch Teen Patti," if you want to increase your sales, all you have to do is post a link to your app on 4Chan and your numbers will go through the roof. Commenters note that "Teen Patti" in Hindi translates as "three cards."
Survey says: most teens don't have a data plan, almost all send texts
Microsoft and Verizon might think all the kids want to do with their new Kin phones is pay absurd data rates for a half-baked Twitter experience, but it turns out Generation Upload is still actually just Generation Text Message. That's at least the word according to a Pew Internet Research survey published on April 20th and neatly summed up by a new Flowlogic infographic published today -- only 23 percent of American teenagers with cellphones use social networks with their phones, while 72 percent of all teens use text messaging. You might argue that Kin seeks to flip that balance, but Pew found that 63 percent of teens with cell phones don't have data plans and the vast majority of teen cellphone plans are part of a larger family plan, so the Kin's $30 / month data rate might be a hard sell to Mom and Dad. We also thought voice calling on the Kin seemed like an afterthought to texting and social networking, but it turns out more and more older kids simply turn to the phone: 77 percent of 17 year olds text each other, but 60 percent of them call each other's cell phones -- and only 33 percent of them connect over social networking sites. Perhaps most damningly, Pew says nearly half -- 46% -- of teens play games on their phones, but Kin has no games at all. The report is actually full of other interesting tidbits like this and the infographic is quite nice, so hit the read links to check 'em out -- perhaps Microsoft and Verizon should do the same.
The kids are iAlright, says Gene Munster
Piper Jaffray analyst Gene Munster says more kids want iPhones. The Apple 2.0 blog has Mr. Munster hanging out with high schoolers for one of his semi-annual surveys of teen buying habits in the US. In a research note on the survey, Munster said, "Apple's dominance in the [consumer electronics] and online music markets is going seemingly unchecked." According to his findings: Plans to buy an iPhone in the next six months have risen from 16% a year ago to 22% last fall to 31% today 14% of the kids surveyed already own an iPhone, up from last year's 8%, but down a point from last fall's 15% 87% of the kids surveyed own an MP3 player, 92% of which are iPods. While 82% of teens download music, only 43% do it legally. But, of that 43%, 92% say they buy their music from Apple's iTunes Store. All of that gives Apple the hand that rocks the cradle. Or as Munster puts it, "...the teen demographic is a critical component of long-term growth in the digital music and mobile markets. And Apple is taking its leading position in music and mobile markets." [via Fortune]
MMO Family: Finding time to game during the family years
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. Believe it or not, the childhood years can be a golden era for your gaming. It's all about availability -- and let's face it, staying home to game gives you a big edge. The trick is making sure you actually are available to your children and partner while you're gaming. (After all, isolating yourself in the back room mumbling, "Just six more kills ... Just six more kills ..." isn't exactly helping anyone find a juice box or get a fresh diaper.) Still, once you stop to consider the ways that gaming can fit into your daily schedule, we think you'll find that gaming is a great fit for a young family.
