Show f r I and School Horne Home Horneby by a aDr Dr Daryl J McCarty Executive Director Utah Education Association Getting hoo hooked ed on video games What's going to happen to my child if he gets hooked on playing video games at the arcade For one thing he could be perpetually penniless It costs a quarter every time timea a kid plays Space Invaders or Pac Man For another thing its it's going to cost a ayoung ayoung young man a lot of hours too You see part of the allure of video games machines is that they challenge the player They fight back The challenge is for the player to manipulate several controls which evade or destroy or or asteroids alien missiles II It takes superb hand eye tion Developing the skill to play these games takes a lot of hours and quarters so many quarters In fact that the recording industry Is howling that kids dont don't have enough money to buy albums any more Although some girls and women play the games they dont don't seem to care for hanging out in lighted dimly places like arcades according to Nancy R Needham who wrote on the subject in inthe inthe the magazine Today's Education Apparently the jury hasn't handed down a verdict on the extent of video games virtues and vices But parents in some communities are reacting to the reports that kids are spending 10 to 15 a week in the ar and cades large blocks of time pro pro- producing zaps squeals and whines from the electronic machines An ordinance adopted adapted in Marlboro Mass puts operated coin games off limits to those under 18 during school hours and late in the evening on school nightS Writer Needham reported that critics also claim that video games are creating social problems such as diver sion of lunch money theft and panhandling for quarters to play the games The video game arcade has become a lucrativE business Enough young people many of them between the ages of IO 10 and play 20 the games to tomake make this at at least a 7 billion operation Like TV video games can be good or orb b bad d for youngsters If these games C Cinto into a young persons person's study or family time though the time and money definitely could be spent in much better ways |