The Plymouth branch of children's news agency Children's Express has been looking into whether young people think books or games are better value, and better for them.
| If I die I go and beat up my brother because I get so mad about it. |
The debate over whether books or computer games are better for children, in terms of moral values, education and stimulating imagination, is heating up among young people in the city.
In a panel of young people brought in to debate the issue, the room was split. Haley Ford and Alex Wyatt, both 11, represent the two camps.
Haley believes books are more entertaining than video games, while Alex prefers the interaction and stimulation of a game.
Haley said: "Books can help you with your reading and spelling. With games you're not really learning about anything, you're just sitting there fiddling with the controls."
Alex said: "With video games you get to use the controller. You can actually see the video game."
Game players are used to hearing that their hobby is stupid, and insist that many games are highly educational. 'Sim' games, in which players manage complex environments for weeks at a time, are popular, and even football manager games can teach them how to make difficult decisions and handle money.
But most game fans don't play for their educational value. Adam Barnard, 13, says: "I play them because I find it takes the pressure off me after school and anything else I do," he says. Several boys told us reading was too much like doing homework
In game-playing, the excitement - even anxiety - is critical. Ashley Hudson, 11, whose favourite game is Resident Evil3 (Cert: 15) says: "If you get to a really high level, like I have on one of my games, and you die, you get stressed out." Alex lets such frustrations out on others: "If I die I go and beat up my brother because I get so mad about it," he says.
Books can trigger different feelings. Romances make young readers feel 'soppy', and if somebody dies that can make them sad - books can set off a far wider range of emotions than games.
Robert Parnell, who's 10, prefers books to video games, for a classic reason: "I like books better because they just let your imagination go all over the place."
But for children like Ashley, that's off-putting: "When you imagine it, like I imagined Harry Potter, it didn't turn out right when you saw the film," he said. "I thought Hagrid was really skinny but in the film he's really fat. When you're reading a book you might imagine it right, but there's more of a chance you wouldn't. When you play the video game, you can see the actual characters."
Does that mean, then, that books are harder than video games? Our panellists couldn't agree. For some, games were preferable because their own choices made a difference to the outcome. But others didn't find shooting people all that exciting, and preferred books, even if the ending was already fixed. They also disagreed about re-reading books: some loved the chance to read books over and over, while others thought that was boring.
At the end of the day the biggest advantage books have over games is the price, with some games costing up to £50.
Charlie Nuttall-Leigh, 11, says she has no patience for them: "Games cost a lot of money and kids really want to buy them and they only last a short time because you get bored when you get stuck on a level."
Are boys' and girls' attitudes to these things different? In discussion our panel of eleven children didn't think so. But when put to the vote, all but one of the girls preferred books, while all but one of the boys preferred games.
About the team
This story was produced by Ben Wildman and James Watkins, 12, Terri-Anne Dyson, 13, Jake Powell, Steven Guy and Jodie Pearce, 11, Jonny Williams, 9, and Vienna Williams, 8. It was published in the Plymouth Evening Herald.
