I think what most parents fear is that when their children play video games A LOT that these children will lose the desire to do healthy things such as do physical activity and exercise, or that by playing games, a child will lose their desire to develop more important things like their intellect or inter-personal skills. A parent's biggest fear is that excessive video games will turn a child into an introverted and lazy loser.
But the key in everyone's life is
BALANCE. It's fine to play video games as long as game playing is balanced with other activities.
In all honesty, when I am a parent I will limit the amount of TV watching and video game playing that I let my children do because I want them to spend time doing mentally stimulating activities, rather than letting them play games that emphasize repetition or button mashing. I see little wrong with a little Tetris or Katamari Damacy or Shadow of the Colossus. But I want my kids to experience learning to play a real musical instrument and to play a real sport, not play Wii Music or use Wii Fit as a substitute.
Am I a hypocrite? No. I can argue that I have learned from my own experiences as a gamer and want something different for my children
I think that points 1 & 2 in the article are correct. However, I feel that 3, 4, and 5 are not the way for youngsters to go. Having been both a longtime gamer (25 years of gaming and counting) and athelete (runner, basketball, jiu jitsu) I feel like it's a huge stretch to argue that video games alone will help develop balance, coordination, or good levels of fitness.
