The headlines read “Shock!” “Alarm!” We certainly need to read on. This last week a news report came out of Missouri alarming parents about the dangers of Nintendo Wii. Game systems have become the new portal for pedophiles to gain access to our children. In my opinion it is always a good thing for parents to be more involved with their kids. But before anyone goes and throws their Wii into the garage sale pile or suspects the neighbors of being pedophiles (because they play Animal Crossing) lets get some more facts.
This report was announced on the Missouri ABC affiliate KMIZ. In the article the Missouri Internet Task Force says that 3 children were approached by strangers through their Nintendo Wii. And while I am sure the Task Force and the local reporters were very well intentioned there were a few facts that needed checking. Parents should know that their Wii does have the ability to go online. But this is the point in the article where I become a little skeptical. I am trying to find out how these kids were contacted. In our first hand experience with the Nintendo Wii, setting up the Internet connection takes a team. It is not super easy or intuitive and the help desk is only slightly more helpful. Once you have the Internet set up you have to exchange a 12 digit number with your friends to be able to connect with them. This doesn’t happen by accident and it takes a little effort. Then you have to plan the exact time you are both going to meet online to play a specific game. According to the Nintendo site you must have your friend registered in your friends address book to send or receive messages – although we have never made it that far because our kids only have a handful of friends with the Wii and none of us use it to go online ( or none of us has fully figured it out yet. )
The Nintendo Wii does have some excellent parental controls and easy to follow directions ( with pictures – I love pictures ). It is important for all of us with Video Game systems to know their power and potential.
But the most concerning statement in the article was that the task force unequivocally stated “Any adult who owns Animal Crossing City Folk is a pedophile – there is no reason a grown up should own this game”. This is pretty alarmist to me and pretty extreme. My kids remind me daily that I am a bit of an extremist because every time I see a young man with his pants hanging down below his waist with his boxers showing I say “What is that THUG up to?” They tell me not every kid with low riding pants is a thug. OK but just because every thug I’ve ever known DOES wear low riding pants doesn’t necessarily mean that every low rider is a thug. It is the same with owners of the game Animal Crossing City Folk. Perhaps many pedophiles own a copy but that does not mean that every owner is a pedophile.
Animal Crossing was first released in 2001 for the game cube and was at the time the 4th most popular game. Like many other parents we loved the game cube because Nintendo was designing games for kids that were age appropriate. They were fun, they were cute, and they were essentially harmless. Animal Crossing then moved on to the DS system and has finally graduated to the Wii.
The only thing is, those teens who were playing Animal Crossing at the turn of the millennium are now in their early 20′s and still playing those games. I grew up watching Scooby Doo and still watch it when I get a chance ( and still love it ) but that doesn’t make me weird. I talked with 20 year olds who still have Animal Crossing on their DS and they may or may not play Animal Crossing City Folk. Many young people – who are now young adults – grew up playing the Sims. It is a strange phenomenon that many of us adults don’t understand but that doesn’t mean that these kids have to stop playing these games just because they have technically become adults. The price of the games has come down and todays kids play games, buy games and switch games the same way kids in my generation used to buy records ( on vinyl ).
If you watch the cartoon network late at night you will see more and more cartoons that are geared toward grownups. The Simpson’s basically changed the rules that cartoons were just for kids. So, now kids who grew up watching the Simpson’s don’t think anything of watching The Family Guy or other cartoons geared toward grownups. And parents should be aware. Just because it’s animated doesn’t make it OK for kids.
We need to have a balance approach and make sure we stay current with what is going on with the media our kids have access to. But clearly not every grown up watching cartoons or playing Animal Crossing City Folk should be considered pedophiles. The good news is that at the time of this update on this story the article and video of this report have been removed from the KMIZ website. There has been a huge outpouring of Internet support for all of the kid friendly features that the Nintendo Wii provides and also in support of the game Animal Crossing City Folk. The original report from the well intentioned Internet task force was filled with misinformation and the Internet has spoken. We do not agree.
Thanks to Crispy Gamer News for taking action on this in defense of truth and gaming.
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