Last night, Disney Philippines gave a two-hour premier of Aaron Stone, one of its new television series that was just released this year. To give a short overview of the pilot and the first episode, Charlie Landers (portrayed by Kelly Blatz) is a 16 year old online gamer. He plays “Hero Rising” using an avatar called “Aaron Stone”, and is known for being the best player of the said game. His life changes quite dramatically when the creator and owner of “Hero Rising” recruits him and in one way or another (plus some awesome gadgets) Charlie becomes Aaron Stone. The series then follows his challenges both while playing the game and somewhat incorporating his moves in the game to real life scenarios when he battles evil-doers in the name of good.
The first thing that came to my mind when I saw the episodes was, “what if children actually thought they could be something like Aaron Stone?”
While it may not exactly be a bad thing to hope to become like Aaron Stone and do some good in this world, it worries me a bit because it is a known fact that children have this tendency of mimicking what they see on TV. Would this series encourage children to play more computer games? God knows parents are trying to get their children to stop playing computer games and try to focus on their studies. So if series like these come out, children might think that they need to play more computer games so that they, too, can be a representative of good. Then again, children may take it the way they take superheroes. However, being a good computer gamer is something that children may actually think that it could become a possibility since computers are pretty much everywhere. Super powers are obviously not a reality, but computers and innovations that technology brings is.
I may sound like a killjoy, but on the contrary I happen to believe that gaming can be good to both children and adults. Crazy as it may seem, but I believe that gaming can help children in developing their analytical skills, and at some point, you know that they are encouraged to read because games have instructions and other guidelines that children and adults are forced to read. Not only that, but they get the interaction with others through chatting and forums, that they are at least reading something.
I want my child to play with kids outside of the house and have a one on one interaction with kids their age. However, if it comes to the part where drinking, drugs, late night outs, and stuff like that come into their lives, I think I would rather see my child become a gamer, than be out in a bad crowd. But then again, who knows how I would feel years from now. At any rate, it is always up to the parent to help guide their children, right?
You know what would be better? IMHO, if my kids would become like me and just read. LOL.
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