Minnesota keeping kids from trouble with an Xbox

Some happy news for the world of gaming for once, whatever type of fanboy you may be. This time, it has nothing to do with helping out the world of doctors and medicine. Rather, it’s simply about a place for kids to go to keep them from trouble.

Game Politics got news from the St. Paul Pioneer Press about a strategy a local Boys and Girls Club in Minnesota is using to keep kids off the mean streets: enticing them into the youth center through video games. The set-up is simple: an Xbox unit, ten games and a television to keep kids occupied and, at the same time, introduce them to the other after-school activities the youth center has to offer. The ten games hit the “Teen” rating to keep things wholesome, and multiplayer action and socialization are assured because most of them are sports or racing games.

Support for the endeavor comes from all sides, including words from the administrator of the nearby Ames Elementary and heads of the local anti-gang units of the St. Paul police force. For Dolores Henderson, the administrator of the nearby school, she sees it “as a good thing – if it’s going to be heavily supervised and structured.” Paul Strong, the leader of St. Paul’s anti-gang unit, also has good things to say of the plan. “Saves (the anti-gang unit) and I a lot of work,” he asserts. “Your idle time leads you to get in trouble.”

It’s a good thing that Best Buy and Microsoft (the folks responsible for this) are thinking of positive things to do with consoles and other pieces of tech. So long as the gaming and interactions between the kids and teens at the Club are healthy and supervised, it shows how gaming isn’t the devil some people make it out to be. Too bad it wasn’t a 360 though.

On a marginally related note, we’d like to let you know that Aaron McGruder’s Boondocks comic on US game legislation is definitely on point. We advise you to check out his comic strip or wait for episodes on Adult Swim.

Some happy news for the world of gaming for once, whatever type of fanboy you may be. This time, it has nothing to do with helping out the world of doctors and medicine. Rather, it’s simply about a place for kids to go to keep them from trouble.

Game Politics got news from the St. Paul Pioneer Press about a strategy a local Boys and Girls Club in Minnesota is using to keep kids off the mean streets: enticing them into the youth center through video games. The set-up is simple: an Xbox unit, ten games and a television to keep kids occupied and, at the same time, introduce them to the other after-school activities the youth center has to offer. The ten games hit the “Teen” rating to keep things wholesome, and multiplayer action and socialization are assured because most of them are sports or racing games.

Support for the endeavor comes from all sides, including words from the administrator of the nearby Ames Elementary and heads of the local anti-gang units of the St. Paul police force. For Dolores Henderson, the administrator of the nearby school, she sees it “as a good thing – if it’s going to be heavily supervised and structured.” Paul Strong, the leader of St. Paul’s anti-gang unit, also has good things to say of the plan. “Saves (the anti-gang unit) and I a lot of work,” he asserts. “Your idle time leads you to get in trouble.”

It’s a good thing that Best Buy and Microsoft (the folks responsible for this) are thinking of positive things to do with consoles and other pieces of tech. So long as the gaming and interactions between the kids and teens at the Club are healthy and supervised, it shows how gaming isn’t the devil some people make it out to be. Too bad it wasn’t a 360 though.

On a marginally related note, we’d like to let you know that Aaron McGruder’s Boondocks comic on US game legislation is definitely on point. We advise you to check out his comic strip or wait for episodes on Adult Swim.