Bell pepper is a wonderful tasty and healthy vegetable that you can ...
Working as a child psychologist for 20 years now, I observe how hobbies replace each other with any games or characters in films. So, the era of superheroes in the form of Spider-Man or Ninja Turtles spilled over into a fascination with Bakugan, and after them came the "zombie apocalypse" epidemic for boys and a series of monster dolls for girls. And now for two years on the ridge new wave- the game "Minecraft".
This is a craze and adults should be aware of it. Firstly, this epidemic affected both children and adolescents - from 6 to 16 years old. Secondly, this game is available on a computer, and on a tablet, and on a smartphone, that is, you can not part with it for days. In the game, you yourself seem to walk, turn or raise your head, as in many adventure games and shooters. But the main difference is in the graphics: everything is pixelated, as if from small cubes. What is it about this game? How does she attract children different ages? Is it important for adults to understand what offspring are looking for and found in Minecraft?
How to go out for a walk?
There is a lot to collect in this game. Something from the collected is used to build a house (village, palace), something - for the manufacture of weapons or something else useful. For fans of battles, there are many different characters walking around the world with whom you can fight. You can have a pet. That is, the game is universal - for every taste. Create, destroy, take care, feel significant, let off steam! And also, thanks to this most unusual graphics, the atmosphere in the game is somewhat reminiscent of a child's perception of the world: as if you live here and now. Some characters appear from an unknown source and leave it is not clear where. It is scary in the night mode, and calm in the daytime. The world is incomprehensible: as soon as you turn away from the object, it ceases to exist, and if you go far from your favorite glade, then you may not find your home. And if you do, then you never know who you can find there.
Create, invent, try
In the game, you can visit each other, share supplies, and defend against enemies. There are many related areas where the scope for creativity and popularity begins. You can make your own clip using the characters of the game, and post it right there on the site in anticipation of likes. Or write a story based on a game or characters.
There are very popular people in this space who regularly post something new that is invariably successful. There are myths and legends: for example, if you collect more than a thousand subscribers to your work, then you will allegedly be paid some amount for each. You can also learn programming in the style of "Minecraft" and create your own games, clips, universes.
Of course, many start to play, so to speak, "for the company." Everyone in the class gets carried away - and I also keep up with the team. But if they started, they stay for a long time.
So let's see what the children feel when they enter this space. First of all, success and self-importance: you create something, protect, you can demonstrate your achievements. There is something to talk about with other children. Again, you can become in demand and popular. And this is success again. There is room for creative self-realization. After all, creating a clip and writing a story is an expression that will not be awarded 4 and 5, but which someone will definitely like. And now our children leave for a world where they are significant, and there are no adults, but there are guidelines for the older inhabitants of this world. True, after all, in some way it resembles childhood of the past with its courtyard life, in which there were communication, and trials, and enemies, and intrigues? The difference is only in the virtuality of what is happening.
Reality versus virtuality ... or instead?
I don't know if this is good or bad. The world associated with life in a computer has been our reality for fifteen years now. There are many new professions associated with this activity. And from this point of view, our children are in the trend of global changes. And at the same time, there were already experiments, when a child's tablet was taken away for a day - and they saw a sad picture: without a gadget there is no one to talk to, and there is nothing to talk about, since the skill of face-to-face communication without an assistant has not been developed. The feeling of success disappears immediately, because in real life our children often acquire the experience of independence and significance in few places. Only if we organize it on purpose. But how?
- We give them to sections and circles. Sports achievements, mastering the instrument, creating creative crafts, etc. give a feeling of success and self-realization, which depend only on you.
- Letting go in themed camps, hiking. Children gain life experience when they need to take care of themselves on their own, communicate with peers, negotiate the creation of a project, play not only computer games, but also board and outdoor games. Also, in the camps, there is always some kind of creative self-expression: performance on stage, role-playing games, coming up with scenarios ...
- We assign something important to help with the housework. And if the child does not immediately cope, we celebrate his even minor successes and emphasize what an important contribution he makes to the family.
- We organize studies so that children really decide for themselves when and how to do it. homework, and controlled their learning process on their own.
- Let's go chat with friends. If communication takes place on your territory, we introduce restrictions on communication using a computer and other gadgets. The free time can be taken board games... Them now great amount, bright and interesting. Sometimes it is enough to help you figure out the rules once.
Then there is a chance that the joy and success of virtual life will become just one of the sources of positive emotions for children.
It so happened that my attitude to raising children (and who else to raise, not adults) has always been based on humanism, bordering on connivance. Even in his youth, teaching English to teenagers in private school and their peers in medical college, I perceived each ward as a whole universe with its own unique laws, life circumstances, capabilities and talents. The students quickly got wind of this peculiarity of the worldview of a young teacher and, of course, sometimes shamelessly used it - telling amazing stories about unfulfilled homework and forcing me to crawl with laughter under the teacher's table.
Of course, over time, my humanistic fever, not fully comprehended in my youth, slightly faded - I began to understand that people, in addition to free will and choice, need rules, boundaries, rituals, stability and a foundation. Children - even more.
Nevertheless, I considered and to this day consider myself not entitled to create greenhouse conditions around the child, trying not to adapt the life of loved ones to a growing person, but to help a growing person get used to the world around him. This is not a question of discipline and not an attempt to raise a child “comfortable” for the society - quiet and always obedient (which, of course, is nothing wrong, but I have only seen such people on Soviet postcards). Borders and rules are needed not so that the child is not noticeable, but to make it easier for him to get used to the world of people.
For example, the rule “listen to what they say to you, and then speak out yourself, it will be more convenient for everyone”, I think it is justified, and “I’m an adult, I know better, but you keep quiet” - obscurant. Borders need to be drawn in order to protect and prevent, and not to prohibit.
Still from the movie "The Wall", 1982
The same rules have always applied to the information available. The question "Where do children come from?" - an honest answer in an accessible form, where, how and why. The question "Mom, will I die too?" - an honest affirmative answer and a conversation about the fact that the memory of our relatives, friends and descendants remains alive.
In general, my position in raising new people was reduced to two main factors: the desire to organically fit the child into daily life family and the desire not to restrict his access to something that does not pose a danger to his life and the comfort of others.
These two factors influenced my attitude towards a growing person's access to digital entertainment. Me, my family and my friends - modern people who have been actively using and interested in digital technologies, gadgets and the Internet since their youth. The internet soon became my place of work; naturally, the son constantly saw his mother behind the screen of a laptop, smartphone and tablet; I'm used to the fact that I search for answers to some of his questions in Google; to the fact that cartoons can be watched on YouTube; to the fact that you can play Cut The Rope on your smartphone. I am pleased with how my son gradually immersed in the digital information environment and I am sure that for his age he has developed an adequate idea of the network - as a place where knowledge is obtained, and where you can find, if you wish, everything that interests you.
Something went wrong
His son got his smartphone at the age of 5 - he got his father's old phone. He played on it in all parts of Angry Birds (a great game for children who are not destined to walk with a slingshot in the yard) and Bad Piggies (cool engineering puzzle - I could not cope with the levels, and the five-year-old was easy). In the summer before entering school, he appeared in his arsenal Minecraft pocket Edition. I was even glad - how many times I wrote about this toy right here, on Newtonew, and I was going to offer it to my son, but then somehow it happened by itself.
Minecraft is a cool game without exaggeration, almost instantly overgrown with a fan subculture after its release. I am still not able to understand what attracts children of senior kindergarten and junior in it so much school age... If adult players may well be nostalgic for eight-bit graphics and enjoy the square minecraft world, then children are not aware of such nostalgia. Nevertheless, schoolchildren in the elementary and middle grades are crazy about her - just look at how many years of the plays were filmed and posted on YouTube by young unspoiled souls. I came to the conclusion that everything that, in principle, distinguishes computer games from all other types of entertainment, is connected in Minecraft:
- the ability to build your own world;
- non-linear way of interacting with the game world (not like with a book);
- interactivity (not like when watching programs and films);
- instant feedback;
- extensive opportunities for communication and self-expression (thanks to the gaming community).
These are excellent properties that develop systems and strategic thinking, digital literacy, planning skills, and even communication skills. Under several conditions: you yourself know how it all works, you are ready to spend a large number of time to learn game world together with your child and ... do not use the mobile version of the game.
It is Minecraft Pocket Edition, the official mobile app Minecraft has led to dire consequences.
The dark side of Minecraft
Minecraft was installed on our free home laptop, which did not really belong to anyone, and therefore passed into the possession of his son - on an old MacBook (in this case, it is Mac OS that is important) Anton launched his favorite toy, looked for tutorials himself, watched letsplay on YouTube. Everything he watched I closely monitored as he surfed through my active Google account. The version of Minecraft that Anton played on a MacBook, and his style of play only aroused my approval - he learned simple commands in the terminal, found new blocks, independently learned to handle them, studied the possibilities of the world.
But I couldn't call his style of playing on a smartphone constructive. One thing must be said here: there is a huge shadow industry serving Minecraft - mods, or simply "mods." A mod is a code file that changes the original content of the game. They can add new features, such as allowing them to play their music in the background, or adding electricity, elevators or new dimensions to the game; can change appearance, for example, change textures; but they can seriously affect the entire course of the game, giving a loophole for cheats - for example, giving an unlimited amount of resources. Mods are not officially supported by the manufacturer, but there are a huge number of launchers that allow you to install and run mods. It is very easy to do this in Minecraft for Windows and in the mobile version of Minecraft.
The whole industry is built on these mods, millions of views.
Mods, if handled skillfully, can greatly enrich the gaming experience, complicate and diversify the game; but, unfortunately, the possibility of easy money turns out to be much more attractive. Anton had no idea how to install mods on Mac OS, but he also had a mobile version!
In general, all that Anton's game has become on a smartphone is searching, viewing and testing dozens of different mods. It turned out to be forgotten the main goal of the game - the development of your own world. Out of work were fantasy, spatial thinking, patience required to gather resources.
All this was replaced by a thoughtless race for new mods, their updates, a short joy from visual buns and a huge amount of resources and a quick disappointment from each purchase - something that you did not earn yourself soon becomes boring.
And it will be difficult for an adult to stop himself if he finds himself in a giant hypermarket, where there is a lot of everything and everything is free - just reach out and take it. Candy? As much as you want. Delicate pâté? Well, take it straight from here. Lemonade? Croissants? Caesar salad? Imagine yourself in a place like this. There is a great temptation to overeat, then suffer from indigestion, then reproach yourself for the weakness of the spirit and promise yourself that you will never again, but ... But here again the neon sign of this hypermarket, and again you cannot restrain yourself, and again then you are angry with yourself.
It is even more difficult for children to control their desires. And in the same way irritation grows in them from the undeservedly received, only they do not give themselves an account of the reason for their negative emotions.
After a couple of months of such a "game" in Minecraft, I got a capricious, apathetic, nervous child. A little more, and it would look like this canon example:
I had to act abruptly. During the winter holidays, after a week alpine skiing and reading books from his mother's childhood in his grandmother's house, Anton did not find his smartphone in the usual place.
Mom, where is the phone?
- He is temporarily not with us until both of you and I understand what you are interested in, except for mods for Minecraft.
And you know what? This explanation, short and honest, was enough. Sometimes we check the official website together to see if a game update (not mods!) Has been released. I did not restrict access to the laptop, in the desktop version of Minecraft, which I like, it plays on weekends. The entire home library of children's books has been read. Anton no longer depends on charger, and the morning does not start with the words “I’ll just install this mod, and I will dress”.
Yet I have not lost my faith in video games and believe that they belong in school. After all, games at school are licensed versions by default without the simple possibility of circumvention and supervision of an adult. Moreover, there is good examples and experiments -, a Norwegian teacher, or even in Russian schools.
I don't know about everyone else, but when I was growing up (in the 80s) there were people who talked about video games loudly and often:
Video games are bad for you
Because of them, your brains are rotting!
Modern kids will never learn how to be normal. (adults - ed.) if they sit in front of the monitor and play all day!
At the time, I thought it was just crazy raving. It's just a game after all. As a child growing up listening to these words, I changed my point of view. Not much and not for the worse.
Brains don't rot because of games!
The main argument in the statement “ Gaming makes your brains rot!" is that " playing you don't do real things". This is a separate topic for discussion, but there are studies that prove that games do not only rot brains, but, on the contrary, make them work more actively. It's the same for adults. Since minecraft is a well-known game, I will use it as an example.
Almost everything you can do in Minecraft requires some ability. For example, building even the most ordinary house you use creative thinking... What if we build a large fortress on the mountain? Here you will be to plan construction from the very beginning, so as not to get into a mess. The player will have to research territory, in order to understand whether it will be possible to build a castle in the chosen place. Next, you need calculate how many resources will be required to build. If the player is going to build a fortress in survival mode, then he will have to to think about safety, because at night it will be attacked by hostile mobs,
And after the construction of the castle, you will need to do design indoor spaces and ennobling territory.
Games don't make people antisocial!
The media is very popular with the image of a lonely, self-contained, sitting in dark room and a gamer who never utters a word. Anyone who has played Minecraft online at least once knows this is a complete lie. Here I can say for sure that the example may not only be Minecraft. Now the developers strive to make the game as much as possible social... For example, in Counter Strike: Global Offensive, playing without a voice connection is not possible at all. Ingress and Pokemon Go can be played alone only at the initial levels.
At its core, online play makes people connect with each other. Let's go back to the fortress example. Let's say we have already planned everything and now must start building. We have a lot of work to do and we want to invite friends to help us. Now 2 points become obvious:
- Communication vital in the game;
- Joint efforts unite people in a friendly team.
Now the team must decide who collects resources, who designs the fortress (if the fortress was not fully thought out), and who builds it (and what parts of it), who will get food and who will defend the rest from hostile creatures. In addition to this, you need to distribute the players so that they work efficiently. Trying to assemble such a team, the leader acquires invaluable experience in communicating with people, which will be useful to him in the future.
Antisocial research has been going on over the years and as a result, it has been found that multiplayer games helped players overcome self-doubt and fear of others. About 70% of users happily chatted with other players. In Minecraft, gaming communities range from a few people playing together local network, to entire servers, where more than a hundred people are online at the same time. For example, on the website, the daily reach is more than 5000 players.
Games are not bad!
I have been playing games for two decades. During this time they have grown and developed and, I think, games improve everyday life, rather than destroy it. Some people make a career out of games. We can see this by looking at the channels of famous letsplayers on YouTube or Twitch. In addition, Minecraft is in the top MMO-RPG games. (according to: http://vsemmorpg.ru/top-mmorpg)
People have always played games. Over time, their shape has changed. It all started with pupae made of grass. and sticks sharpened by a sharp stone, and now our games have been transferred to computers and phones. Games have always been played for fun, but in addition to that, games teach us a few things.
I don't know why video games are worse than their predecessors. And in some cases they are even better!
What do you think about video games? Are they harmful or beneficial?
Write your thoughts on this in the comments!
According to a study carried out by Octoloy and Newzoo, the game received about 4 billion views in just one month of March.
This figure is unlikely to surprise many parents who are hopelessly trying to drag their children away from the screens. Neither football, nor a bicycle, nor a picnic in the forest can distract young gamers from watching videos where people build from small green bricks.
Parents call this passion differently: some call it an obsession, others - an addiction. However, both of them are very concerned about it.
Opinions differ.
In numerous articles and messages online, parents complain that Minecraft has taken over the lives of their children, they neglect household chores and school assignments, are annoyed when they are forbidden to play. As a result, many parents have to prohibit this game altogether or strictly limit the time at the computer. One father explained his decision to limit time: “Minecraft, like other addictive games, is limitless, but children's childhood is not. I would like them to learn not the virtual, but the real world ”.
Other parents do not see a big trouble in this game. As the father of the two boys notes, his children spend hours watching videos with different versions of Minecraft... “They currently watch YouTube a lot more than regular TV. Am I against? Probably a little - yes, however, I am fully aware of the place this game occupies in the lives of my children and their peers. Banning it means separating your children from friends, ”he says.
Interest in the game also has beneficial consequences, as children have mastered the program well, learned how to create their own game modes, manage their own game server, create and edit videos, and run their own YouTube channel.
Minecraft on YouTube is a vast ocean of content, with nearly 42 million videos. There are hundreds of channels dedicated to Minecraft, of which the most popular are SkyDoesMinecraft and Yogscast. Some Minecraft channels have become real sensations. The Moderated Cat YouTube Stampy channel has 5.6 million subscribers and about 3.4 billion views. This channel was the fourth most popular on YouTube last year.
There are parenting channels, such as MineMum, which was created by educator Beck Oakley to help parents navigate the Minecraft minefield. “YouTube is the next generation of television. It allows children to learn, share knowledge. He entertains children. When they watch others play, they get new experience games, and can also share it with others, ”she notes. - Unlimited content. He's extremely interesting, educational and helpful. "
According to Oakley, this infatuation is not a serious problem. She emphasizes that attention needs to be paid to the time children spend playing, as well as the impact on their mood and health. “It is very important that parents teach their children to enjoy the game without causing harm. healthy way life. Parents need to teach their children "healthy" gaming, which involves, first of all, the ability to stop in time. Parents need to establish rules for harmless play, as well as rewards for following these rules, ”she notes.
It's worth noting that Minecraft is the creation of Swedish game designer and programmer Markus Persson, also known as Notch. The game was not originally designed for young players. Persson was inspired by games like Dwarf Fortress and Dungeon Keeper.
After some time, the programmer founded the company Mojang, which had been releasing the game for some time, and last year it was sold to Microsoft.
How games affect the human brain.
There is a lot of research on the effects on the human brain. Some of them are quite controversial. Researchers in China used MRI scans of the brains of eighteen students who spent about ten hours online, mostly playing games such as World of Warcraft. Compared to a control group of students who spent no more than two hours a day at the computer, less gray matter was found in the brains of gamers, which is responsible for the ability to reason.
In the early nineties, scientists warned that given that they stimulate only those parts of the human brain that are responsible for movement and vision, other parts responsible for emotion, learning and behavior may be underdeveloped.
With regard to research, dedicated to the game Minecraft, in a Quartz article by Robert Paysonau and psychologist Yoon Lee, notes that it doesn't seem as creative as some parents believe. “In fact, the creativity of the game is embedded in the program itself - this is a huge number of combinations, materials and tools. And the players are left with the only task - to create more complex structures. Despite the fact that at first glance the game seems to be creative, in reality it is a rather monotonous activity. Most of the children we studied experienced irritability after long period games".
Minecraft is incredibly popular computer game that many children like. However, at the same time, some parents cannot share the joy of their sons and daughters regarding this game. There are a huge number of reasons why children love Minecraft, and the same reasons make parents fall into a stupor and thoughtfully scratch their heads. These 5 things kids love very much about Minecraft. But you do not even suspect that most modern parents simply do not understand them.
Minecraft language
How can you explain the language of Minecraft? Friends come to visit your child, they gather in the room and start talking about noobs and endermans, while laughing and giggling while the parents listen and think that it would be better if they talked about sports. Many parents are not even fond of sports, but at least they can participate in such a conversation. 
Parents want to participate in the lives of their children, but as soon as they start talking about "Minecraft", they immediately begin to think that it is Latin. And when parents ask their children to explain one concept, it immediately becomes necessary to explain another concept, and then another one. And by the time you understand why your child needed to kill the dragon Ender, half of your day has already passed. As a result, it all ends with the child talking, and the parents just nod and hope that they just didn’t agree to buy some addon.
Youtubeers
It's not enough that Minecraft itself is strange for parents, there are also a million YouTube stars who talk about this game, demonstrate their achievements, share jokes that are understandable only to those who play Minecraft. And this is not about any specific YouTube. The problem will be understood by parents who had to pull the tablet out of the hands of a child who listened to someone talking about the game for several hours in a row. Yes, many of these YouTubers earn more in a month than their parents in a whole year, and maybe this annoys their parents just a little, but this is not about money. It's about common sense, and hour-long videos of teenagers recording loud, annoying Minecraft films in their rooms make adults say such banal things as "Where is this world heading?" etc. And this is terrible, because it makes the parents feel the way their parents used to feel - old and out of date. And the circle is complete.
Addiction
Many parents do not understand one thing: is nicotine or some other drug added to Minecraft? Every parent whose child plays Minecraft understands how difficult it is to get him to turn off the game. It comes to tears, screams and even fists. Children even begin to swear at their parents. Moreover, both young children and adolescents do this. Sometimes one gets the feeling that if zombies break into the children's real house, they will not care, but if this happens to their house in Minecraft, then the end of the world will come. For many parents, this game looks like some kind of pixelated disgrace, but children cannot agree with this.
Disorientation
If you are trying to bond with your child by playing Minecraft, then you need to remember the vomiting bowl. No, the game is not disgusting or nasty, but it is also disorienting. You start to feel dizzy from everything that is going on around you, you do not understand what to do, and you find yourself in some room with a pickaxe in your hands. And then your child begins to laugh at you as if you are a complete idiot, and not an adult with higher education and prestigious work. And then the child himself sits down at the computer, his blue eyes begin to rush across the screen, while he corrects the situation you have created, and he begins to say: “You see? Do you see? " But you still don't see the difference between what you did and what he does.
Trying to understand everything makes it worse
Like any good parent, when your child starts playing Minecraft, you try to understand the game better by reading about it on the web. Here is an excerpt from one such article called Minecraft Parent's Guide: Minecraft is a sandbox-style game created by Swedish programmer and gamer Markus "Notch" Persson. The world of the game is generated procedurally, and its essence lies in the gathering of resources, the creation of items, construction and (if the player wishes) battles. " Many parents have come across strange texts in their lives, but this is just crazy.
conclusions
The conclusion can be drawn as follows: most children like this game, while some parents simply cannot understand it. And the saddest thing is that many parents initially believed that they would have no problem understanding. Not only "Minecraft", but everything that concerns their children. When people become parents, they don’t think they’ll ever have to say "here in our day" or "why can't you play normal games?" their own parents when they were young. However, this is what parenting is all about. This is a reality in which you get older and try to understand your children, only dreaming that they will just do what you understand.
