... and amusement.

So my daughter, who is 10 and likes My Little Pony, Pokemon, and Littlest Pet Shop (along with some serious gaming) saw me playing Deadliest Warrior.

She thought the decapitations were great... yeah I know, lol.

She's been playing it a bit the last week or so (and quite a bit today). She cheers when she gets a dismemberment or decapitation. She's only slightly less giddy when she spears someone right in the face with a projectile.

Yes, I know this is frowned on by many (I don't try and hide stuff from my kid, I try to have conversations about it and only expose her to things in which she's interested... except school work and chores, those are mandatory).

I know I'm not the only one, dads across the world were probably dismayed to learn that RDR (a game where you can rope, break, and ride a horse around) had a universal appeal to little girls (which is kind of "no duh" when you think about it).

It's just funny, she hates zombie games and games with "scary sounds", it seems rather arbitrary when she ends up digging a game like this. When she does it's hilarious though (to me at least).

Your daughter is a tough man.

This amuses me so much.

I wouldn't do that, but that's just me and my conscience. Somehow, it's probably for the best. Get it out of her system before the curiosity gets to her. The more you hide and forbade, the more appealing it is.

It's nice that you're open with your daughter. I don't have kids yet, but I hope that I'll be able to have the same level of communication with them. Except for sex talk. I have NO idea how I'll pull that of. [sweats]

I don't think that you're doing anything wrong.
Recently, in fact a few weeks ago, the Californian Supreme Court held that there was no such thing as a constitutional protection for children from displaying of violence. Something along the line of that.

Children are exposed to violence on a daily basis anyway, whether it be when they turn on the TV, read the papers, play a game or surf the internet. The one in games is probably of the least innocent kind, because at least it's not real. Their Pokemon and all that bullshit is really a bubble away from real life. So keep it up!

It's common knowledge (I know! I put too much faith in the human race as a whole! pity me!) that if you're not already fucked up, no amount of animated violence will fuck you up for realz. So a sane, normal person / kid won't just out of the blue become a homicidal maniac. Now technically some people are predestined to get the required impulse from a violent game and then go on a rampage, but that specific impulse is just dumb luck. It could be a dead cat, job loss, bully's threats, whatever.

Sex talk is as complicated to children as it is to parents. My mother was always fairly open to talk about it, but I always felt it very awkward to talk about with her.

And I'm not one to shy about this subject in day to day chit chat with friends.

I think that over-protecting kids just leads to them not having a thick enough skin as adults. Just so long as you talk to her about it and know she's clear on the difference between that and real violence I don't see the harm.

Another thing that I've long maintained is that games actually act as pacifiers in the way that they sate certain instincts in ways that non-interactive media can't.

Neither am I. In fact, I can talk just about anything without breaking a sweat. And I can't picture myself talking to my children about this and that. It creeps me the hell out.

Eh, I'll probably outgrow this. Or let the wife handle it. :)

Just do it, sex talk isn't as scary as it sounds (though this is just now coming up around here). What is scary is HPV, which causes cervical cancer, unplanned pregnancy, etc. If you're uncomfortable fine, helping you kid choose a decent partner and be safe is worth it. Plus, even if they go the route of not becoming sexually active before adulthood at least they are never uncomfortable about anything their friends say because they can either talk to you about it or already have a good basic understanding of sex (and all the posturing and exaggeration that goes along with it).

Being able to explain to your kid that they don't have to feel guilty about the whole thing is cathartic, wish people around me would have said the same (instead it was evil to think about it, etc., what an uncomfortable set of teenage years believing that crap).

Yeah, like I said, no rush in the matter, I'm not even married, much less have kids of my own. But still your post was an insightful read. I will eventually man up and get the thing done with when the time comes, but whether I'll be walking out of the room on jelly legs or not, that's another issue.

I guess the worst par will probably be their reaction, like:

Son, I need to talk to you about sex...
I know all about it dad. Four time sin fact.
Yes, I see. Look, it goes like this. When a man and.... WAIT WHAT?!?!

This statement only half accurate.

If you continually expose a young child to things such as violent movies or violent video games, without explaining to them the different between fantasy and reality (that's the kicker), it has a decent chance of teaching them that violence is the answer, and perhaps not turning them in to a homicidal maniac, but making them think about violent, illegal options as viable solutions to their problems.
"It's how (action hero) did it!"

That being said, if you teach your kid that video games (or movies, or books) are fantasy, and explain to them how the world really works, then so long as they actually understand what you're telling them, exposing them to violent video games or movies isn't really going to be an issue.

Eros and Thanathos, the two most primal and infantile urges: to love and to destroy... Good ol' Freud ^^'. The Onion to the rescue ;P !

Nah. It'll be like:
- Son, I need to talk to you about sex...
- Ugh... Fine, dad. What do you want to know -_- ?

Sidenote #1: That little girl might grow up to be a much coveted gamer-girl of the next generation. Somewhere there's a little boy who doesn't even know yet what Fate has in store for him ;P.
Sidenote #2: I've managed to change my female ex-flatmate's stance from "I hate violence, scary things and pressure, FPSes are the last thing I should play" to "Dude - look ! That guy fell from the balcony all the way down there... and the whole room is covered in blood since I'm done with these guys xD !". So... The more timid the girl, the more likely she'll be a bloodthirsty psycho if given the chance to maim and kill... in the virtual realm ;P.

hahahahahahahahahahahah !!!! Well, of course. Too bad the media is really giving games a shitty reputation. Damn, there is more violence in a classic Tom and Jerry cartoon, compared to WoW and some similar games (you can't cut a guy in two in WoW). :p

EDIT: Never mind, you actually can. Some skeletons fall apart, and some ghouls can be cut in half.

Both of my daughters bloody love zombies. I think Plant's Vs Zombies is to blame for that. They watched my play that on the PC then begged for me to put the iPhone version on my old iPhone so they could play it.

The only downside to that is that every now and then they'll try to eat my brains...

I also won't hide violent games from them (they already watch violent cartoons that are aimed at children and the news so why hide it in a game?) my eldest would often watch me play the Assassin's Creed games and any number of FPSes. I'm hoping one day she'll finally put down the DS and want to play on either the PS3 or the PC...

But so far neither of them feel comfortable using mouse and keyboard, despite my best efforts to get them interested in PC gaming =(