Game reccomendations for young gamer

[irishScott]

I was reading a bit on Spacechem as I have a 7 yr. old girl that likes puzzle games, but it seems that even the adults who played this said it was very challenging/difficult.
I'm all for educational games/puzzle games and this might be a winner (just hoping it won't be too much for my little girl.....or even worse....for me )

Uh, I'm a 26 year old Computer Engineering major who's played puzzle games literally all his life. I am about halfway through SpaceChem, and I'm often spending multiple hours on each puzzle. I would in no way recommend it for a 7 year old unless your kid is a savant. It's not an educational game or an educational/puzzle game. It's a puzzle game, designed for adults.

You might enjoy it though. Honestly it's one of the best puzzle games I've ever played, and the soundtrack is awesome (I use it for study music).

 

[KidNiki1]

Until the kid figures out how to turn it on when mommy and daddy aren't looking, and that won't stop text chat.

sorry, as a mother of an 8 year old and a 10 year old who play online games, i was assuming op was not relying on computer games to babysit his kids.

my kids dont change anything on their computers unless i say they can, and i moderate them while they play and i make sure they understand why things are the way they are.

also, i dont know how many games that are geared towards kids you play, but there are many of them where curse words are edited out on the game level. it's not even something you can turn on or off , they just show up as *****.

seriously, kids can play online games because their parents should be watching what they do and supervising them and utilizing the many parent control tools that a ton of games have these days. and if their parents don't care, then they probably also dont care whether they play online games in the first place.

 

[irishScott]

sorry, as a mother of an 8 year old and a 10 year old who play online games, i was assuming op was not relying on computer games to babysit his kids.

my kids dont change anything on their computers unless i say they can, and i moderate them while they play and i make sure they understand why things are the way they are.

also, i dont know how many games that are geared towards kids you play, but there are many of them where curse words are edited out on the game level. it's not even something you can turn on or off , they just show up as *****.

seriously, kids can play online games because their parents should be watching what they do and supervising them and utilizing the many parent control tools that a ton of games have these days. and if their parents don't care, then they probably also dont care whether they play online games in the first place.

So you're sitting with your kids watching everything they play for every second that they play it, and think anyone who doesn't is a bad parent? Well aren't we a defensive little helicopter of judgement? You must be that weird parent who's always in the room at birthdays, whom all the kids look over at from time to time while awkwardly being on the their best behavior. Then the next day during lunch the other kids ask your kid what's up with their mom and your kid bitches and moans about you. Then your kid becomes "that kid with the weird mom". At least that's how it went down when I was a kid, poor Jason.

Video games are play time. Moderating everything your kid plays while they play it would be like insisting that they don't play with action figures or dolls unless you're present. Kids need some time away from mommy and daddy every now and then to develop properly.

As for your kids not changing things "because you said so", lol. Either you have them locked down tighter than North Korea or they have no motivation to change things. If it's the latter good for you, but don't delude yourself. If it's the former you're just delaying and exacerbating a very serious backfire.


Getting back to the multiplayer issue, if you can set it up so that you're comfortable via parental controls or whatever, fine. But there are ways around those, kids who are motivated do figure them out, and text filters are typically easily bypassed with appropriate substitution of numbers and symbols, or substitution of other words. n&gg@r. f@G. Frack. Sh8t. The list goes on. I'd just rather restrict them to no public multiplayer until a certain age, so that way they could enjoy video games on their own or with friends and they could play said games alone if they wished.

 

[MediaManXL]

Does the OP looking for strictly PC games, or does his kid have access to any consoles as well?

I'm looking primarily for PC games. We do have a Wii, but really haven't used it much. For the folks who mentioned Myst... I loved Myst in college in the early 90s, and I wish he would play it, but I don't think it would hold his attention. I think he'd get bored and frustrated with it pretty quickly. That's probably as much a function of his personality as his age though.

Regarding the level of parental engagement when he's playing... My wife and I are definitely not hovering over him while he's on the computer. I try to keep an eye on what he's doing on there, and don't let him play behind closed doors, but I'm certainly not 100% aware of what he's doing. There have absolutely been times when I've been in the next room doing the dishes when I heard a string of profanity come from a Minecraft video on Youtube and I've had to run in and turn it off. I like to give him some freedom to explore and figure stuff out on his own. I think "researching" how to do something on Minecraft is actually teaching a fairly valuable life skill.

I'm way more concerned about the language, especially racist or homophobic hate language, than the content of the game. I watched the Lord of the Rings movies with him, so I'm obviously not super strict about fantasy violence. I also worry that people on-line could potentially take advantage of his naivety by getting him to disclose personal information or something like that.

Anyway... thanks again for all the suggestions. I definitely have some stuff to look for.

 

[Ruptga]

Talk of swearing and profanity filters completely misses the point. You don't want your kid on most online matchmakers because most servers are populated by douchebags, overly competitive types, and overly competitive douchebags. You really don't want your kid to think their sort of behavior is normal or acceptable, nor do you want them to get invested in a game only to quit in frustration with its users.

 

[KidNiki1]

...lots of stuff that i didnt say.....

im sure you would be shocked to know that actually no, i dont watch my kids EVERY second of their time on the computer, but i do have the room set up in such a way that i can see what they are doing, should i so choose. what that means is, i can keep an eye on them. does it mean i stand over them, hovering, like a hawk, just waiting for them to screw up? lol, no.

nor am i always in the computer room when they are. i never said anywhere that parents have to watch what their kids are doing 100% of the time, or else they are bad parents. there is a medium between those two black and white extremes.

what i did say is:

- i keep an eye on my kids and what they are doing. please note, this is not equivalent to hovering.

- i do control their computers ( they are EIGHT and TEN, we arent talking teenagers here) but i make sure to explain to them why.

- if a parent doesnt keep an eye on what the kids are doing (please note, i dont mean hovering over them every second, but i do mean at least checking in on them) they they most likely dont care what their kids do online. (also note that i dont personally do this, but i never said the people who do are bad parents)

all i said was, if you are watching your kids (again, please note that this does not mean hovering) and if you take time to explain the rules to kids, and why they are there, and if you exercise your ability to use parental controls, you can allow your kids time in the online gaming world as safely as you possibly can.

isnt a little freedom in gaming time exactly what you say they need? i really dont get why you are pushing so hard to try to make me out to be a terrible shitty weird helicopter parent, when i am doing my best to create for my kids an environment where they have some freedoms, including online gaming, but understand why they dont have them all.

you made a bunch of jumps in logic and personal attacks against me to try to paint me in a pretty shitty light, just to make a point, which im not sure why.


edited to add: i think of lot of you are young men who game who dont have kids and therefore dont realize that there actually are a lot of games that do not have the same gamer douche bags types that i encounter regularly when i game...

 

[kyrax12]

Baldur's gate

I started playing when I was like 8 and I loved it since.

 

[Savatar]

I was making a joke, mostly making fun of the person who recommended several Quake games. But, there's been several other inappropriate suggestions.

For example: Starcraft 2, Half Life (an M rated first person shooter), Star Wars Battlefront II, and Bully.

If you're going to let your kid play Half Life, might as well let them play Bioshock, IMHO. It's not really any worse.

I wasn't trying to de-rail the thread or troll here. Just mocking the folks who think it's OK to suggest Teen and M rated games, for an 8 year old.

BioShock is way, way worse than Half Life in my opinion!!! There's much more langauge, it's much more disturbing, and has much more realistic violence with more mature thematic elements (But I also agree that a person should probably be a little older to play even Half Life).

StarCraft 2 is a T-rated game (13+) with additional settings to reduce the violence. I know of a parent who lets their 8-year old play - they have a blast playing games with each other. As long as parents play together or supervise, I would defend younger gamers being able to play StarCraft 2, though.

I don't know enough about the other ones you mentioned though (Battlefront or Bully), but it's good to get some feedback. Hopefully this helps.

 

[irishScott]

im sure you would be shocked to know that actually no, i dont watch my kids EVERY second of their time on the computer, but i do have the room set up in such a way that i can see what they are doing, should i so choose. what that means is, i can keep an eye on them. does it mean i stand over them, hovering, like a hawk, just waiting for them to screw up? lol, no.

nor am i always in the computer room when they are. i never said anywhere that parents have to watch what their kids are doing 100% of the time, or else they are bad parents. there is a medium between those two black and white extremes.

what i did say is:

- i keep an eye on my kids and what they are doing. please note, this is not equivalent to hovering.

- i do control their computers ( they are EIGHT and TEN, we arent talking teenagers here) but i make sure to explain to them why.

- if a parent doesnt keep an eye on what the kids are doing (please note, i dont mean hovering over them every second, but i do mean at least checking in on them) they they most likely dont care what their kids do online. (also note that i dont personally do this, but i never said the people who do are bad parents)

all i said was, if you are watching your kids (again, please note that this does not mean hovering) and if you take time to explain the rules to kids, and why they are there, and if you exercise your ability to use parental controls, you can allow your kids time in the online gaming world as safely as you possibly can.

isnt a little freedom in gaming time exactly what you say they need? i really dont get why you are pushing so hard to try to make me out to be a terrible shitty weird helicopter parent, when i am doing my best to create for my kids an environment where they have some freedoms, including online gaming, but understand why they dont have them all.

you made a bunch of jumps in logic and personal attacks against me to try to paint me in a pretty shitty light, just to make a point, which im not sure why.


edited to add: i think of lot of you are young men who game who dont have kids and therefore dont realize that there actually are a lot of games that do not have the same gamer douche bags types that i encounter regularly when i game...

I'm not sure how I could have interpreted your previous post differently. You started off defensive and implied that my perspective was that of someone who lets the computer babysit the kids.

Then you said you "moderate them while they play". Which to my mind sounds like the role of a server admin or something. Which implies a constant presence, which sounds overbearing to me (and you apparently, so good). And from there on I'll admit that perception colored the rest of my interpretation.

So in my mind you came off as defensive and restrictive.


In any case, sorry if I overreacted, your clarification is much more reasonable.

 

[jammix]

the Call of Duty series

 

[Madwand1]

Most of the lego series games are available on pc

These are great games for kids. They also support second player drop-in & out and XBox controllers.

 

[Revolution 11]

My strategy would be just not let them on the Internet.

I would buy some old PC, load a old OS on it, make sure it was reasonably up-to-date (for that OS) and just never EVER connect the Internet to it. This way, the kids can mess around freely with their PC and maybe learn something along the way, there is no chance of malware or bad content, and I control all games that go on that PC. Maybe if I am lucky, they will gain an appreciation for the older classics before moving to the new stuff. I don't want my kids to be just CoD fanboys.

If that PC messes up, I will help fix it as long as the kids are involved in that process. If they want a new game, I will make sure it is appropriate for them. If they have a school project or something legitimate that needs the Internet, they get to use my guest account, I would check the history later. Aside from this, the kids get all the free unsupervised glorious access on their offline Windows 98 PC. (All the good kid games came out during this time anyway.)

Once they turn 11, they get Internet access. They can also buy any game not rated M. Once they turn 15, they can get any game they want. There is a reasonable budget of course until they enter college.

That's the way I was raised, I think it worked great. :sneaky:

 

[haikura]

i suggest Chrono trigger also and Crono Cross , tomb rider is also quite okey for this age i think.
Chrono trigger might be quite difficult although i had to use the help of a walkthrough for some times to finish it, but the game is a lot of fun. Good luck with playing

 

[norseamd]

Sonic All-Stars Racing Transformed - fantastic racing game

thought it was nicer than the last sonic racing game

some rts games

sword of the stars
supreme commander
total annihilation
sins of a solar empire

some racing or flying games

microsoft flight simulator
x wing
x3
need for speed

also try to get him interested in some open source video games and maybe even linux.

there are a lot of open platformers

 

[jimrawr]

How about some of the older adventure games for PC? Go to gog.com and download him kings quest 6... what a great game for a kid that age.. also look at legend of kyrandia and quest for glory 1 VGA

 

[mmntech]

Kerbal Space Program
Tales From Space: Mutant Blobs Attack
Guacamelee
Civilization
Sam & Max (Telltale series)
Tales of Monkey Island
Back to the Future (Telltale series)
Trine
Spelunky
Steamworld Dig
Monkey Island 1 & 2 special editions
SimCity 4
Any of the Lego games
Sonic Generations
Portal 1 & 2

Or just get him a 3DS.

 

[cmdrdredd]

My friend's son, who is 9, recently found out about NES and SNES emulation and has been playing old classics like Super Mario World, Zelda, and Final Fantasy. Could look into something like that.

What is and isn't appropriate isn't for me to judge. When I was 10 I was playing Mortal Kombat and Doom etc. Every child is different and every parent has a different idea on what should and should not be viewed. I'm not going to make that call on a forum.

 

[finglobes]

Defense Grid - easy controls and no gore etc. Is a fun game that easy to just start without a lot of tutorials etc

http://store.steampowered.com/app/18500/

 

[norseamd]

Baldur's gate I started playing when I was like 8 and I loved it since.

that has some more mature content and themes than language so might not be appropiate

 

[DigDog]

1 vote for not letting a 8yo play with computers.
sorry if i sound so last millennium but i think 'puter stuff starts around 12yo. before that you got running in the park/beach and ball games.

 

[cmdrdredd]

You are assuming they don't do that stuff anyway.

 

[Patre]

Logical Journey of the Zoombinis.
http://www.amazon.com/Zoombinis-Logi.../dp/B00005LBVU

Best educational software money can buy IMO. I started playing this when I was 7 (don't be too skeptical, it still holds up and runs on modern Windows-based systems) At the very least he should be able to figure out the first two levels of puzzles, and over the next couple of years he'll "grow into" the third and fourth. The game automatically adjusts to the kid's capabilities. It'll continuously scale up the difficulty level as he solves puzzles, and knock it back if he fails a harder difficulty level twice in a row.

It's edutainment, but I found it surprisingly engaging and addicting as a kid. One of the cornerstones of my childhood really, my older sister and I used to play it together for hours and take turns solving the puzzles.

I'd really like to get this for my children, but there seems to be some issues with installing this on Win 7 and 8 as the game is quite old (16 bit program??)......even with compatibility mode.

Before I purchase this (on a guess that it will work), can you suggest any other tips on installing this game on a newer OS?? It'll be on a Win 8 machine.
Thanks!!!

 

[Pheran]

I'd really like to get this for my children, but there seems to be some issues with installing this on Win 7 and 8 as the game is quite old (16 bit program??)......even with compatibility mode.

Before I purchase this (on a guess that it will work), can you suggest any other tips on installing this game on a newer OS?? It'll be on a Win 8 machine.
Thanks!!!

I've run it for my daughter on Win7 64-bit and it works, but it's not very fluid. One thing that helps a bit is to image the CD and mount it using a virtual CD drive, otherwise the CD access is extremely slow. I wish someone would do a modern Windows port though.

 

[xantub]

Crusader Kings 2, they'll learn history while they play ...
On second thought, not sure it's good to teach him/her the way to succeed is to castrate your opponents, at least not at that age

 

[Patre]

I've run it for my daughter on Win7 64-bit and it works, but it's not very fluid. One thing that helps a bit is to image the CD and mount it using a virtual CD drive, otherwise the CD access is extremely slow. I still wish someone would do a modern Windows port though.

Thanks Pheran! Is your's the 16 bit version or the 32 bit version? (I'm guessing the 32 bit version would be more compatible??)

Amazon has this game for $8.88, but I couldn't figure out which version they're selling.