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my kid keeps torturing animals in minecraft - help!

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sandorski said:
If you are serious, Minecraft isn't teaching him anything. He seems to have a personality issue. Consider Professional help or opinions on it.
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This is good advice. His behavior in minecraft by itself means nothing and is not likely to be fueling the problem. His behavior in school and around others in the real world however is abnormal. He may just be immature for his age but if he doesn't "grow up", you should have him screened for a personality disorder
 
Ha, now we have ATOT physicians recommending professional help for a five year-old. OP, I don't think you said, but is there a chance that the 5 year-old is the boy, and the other two are girls? Little kids, and especially boys, like to bash stuff and blow it up and basically push boundaries and be as disruptive as they can get away with. You'll have plenty of time to catch him pulling the wings off flies in his early teens, and you can have him committed then.
 
Markbnj said:
Ha, now we have ATOT physicians recommending professional help for a five year-old. OP, I don't think you said, but is there a chance that the 5 year-old is the boy, and the other two are girls? Little kids, and especially boys, like to bash stuff and blow it up and basically push boundaries and be as disruptive as they can get away with. You'll have plenty of time to catch him pulling the wings off flies in his early teens, and you can have him committed then.
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OP said he has had behavioral problems in the past, I wouldn't ignore something like this.
 
Maybe your kid just realizes they are not real and doesn't see a problem with "killing" animals since he isn't really killing anything.
 
Do you have real pets?

If not I would suggest getting a real pet and see how he interacts with it.

Maybe a rabbit / guinea pig or something simple to take care of for this first try.
 
artemicion said:
Kudos for being concerned, though hopefully it's just a phase.

IMO, I wouldn't hesitate to uninstall the game temporarily even if it affects the two older kids. Tell them all that they're a family, everyone is affected by one family member's mistake, and you'll re-install in a week or so if they promise not to engage in bad behaviors in-game. Tell the older siblings it's their responsibility to teach their younger right from wrong, so anytime the youngest screws up, it's on them too. So that's why they're affected as well.
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I agree with this as I have 4 children (7, 5, 3, & newborn) and do teach the older one to be a good example to the younger ones by helping/guiding them in doing the right thing. Video games are generally a weekend activity, if they do well during the school week.......they still prefer to play outside, running around.

Possibly, the 5yr. old is just looking for a bit more attention as he's also acting out at school??
I personally would'nt let him play this game/video games, and spend a bit more time with him while playing with constructive toys......Lego's are fantastic and it'll inspire him to be more creative (floor puzzles are also very good). You may just have to redirect this behavior into showing him how to do more positive things.
 
GunsMadeAmericaFree said:
Older 2 are not teaching him this, though he did learn some of the basics of the game from watching them. The older 2 seem content to build intricate buildings of various sorts, with levers, secret rooms and such.

Our youngest likes to go around in the game *whacking* animals, and also has a problem doing the same sort of thing to other kids in preschool. He has bit an instructor on the hand at church, kicks kids at preschool, and seems to want to do his own thing at preschool instead of working together with other kids, or sitting down in a circle with the other kids at story time there.

He has improved quite a bit over the past month. We were actually thinking about holding him back and having him do preschool over again until about a month or two ago. Since he has really improved lately, though, we are registering him for Kindergarten.

Anyway, he's had behavioral problems in the past, and so we take this very seriously. I'm worried that him doing this over and over in the game will encourage his bad behavior.
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He might be too young to play the way the older ones are playing. SO he's just doing what he can. five is kind of young to be planning out buildings, so he might have just got bored with what he can do. I wouldn't be too worried if this is the only place you see trouble.
 
You have a psychopath on your hands and psychopaths cannot be cured. You should take him to the hills on a hunting trip and, you know, kids sometimes look and move like deer, especially in the darkness, hunting accidents happen.

Or, you could have your family's name on the news a few years from now, after Eddy Gein Jr. splits the neighbor's head open with an axe.
 
I'm in my 30s and I would feel bad doing that to animals in a game. This comes from someone who actively hunted when I was younger. I knew the differences between animal torture and "hunting", though I don't choose to hunt anymore.

Honestly, it would bother me to see a young kid do this in a game.
 
GunsMadeAmericaFree said:
Our 3 kids, including my 5 year old, have gotten pretty decent at creating constructs in the game. The trouble is that my 5 year old is now bashing animals. He has been burning and killing them. I saw him this morning set a bunch of them on fire, then cover them over with rocks so they would suffocate.

Of course I'm now worried that this thing is training him to eventually be a psychopath.
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This sounds like how EVERYONE plays Minecraft. I personally have a trap that collects pigs, burns them alive and collects their cooked bacon bits in a chest. I'm not a psychopath, yet.
 
GunsMadeAmericaFree said:
The trouble is that my 5 year old is now bashing animals. He has been burning and killing them. I saw him this morning set a bunch of them on fire, then cover them over with rocks so they would suffocate.
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Dont worry about it.

You probably did stuff like that when you were 5.


zinfamous said:
My 8 year old nephew does the same thing with sheep. spawns them, collects them, sets them on fire, hooks them and tosses them into the water. I've talked to him about this briefly, though his mother doesn't seem to care.
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I knew there was something wrong with you.

At least now I know it runs in the family.
 
I think the only thing you need to is talk with your kids (all of them) about reality vs fantasy and what is appropriate behavior for both. You 5 year old already has behavior problems you should already be correcting. Perhaps, you should be spending more time worrying about how your kid is acting in preschool and less about how they are playing Minecraft.
 
BoberFett said:
Hitting and biting children and adults goes beyond your basic pain-in-the-ass five-year-old behavior problems and points at a deeper issue.
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At five? I don't think you can draw any conclusions about "deeper issues." If the behavior continues despite firm parenting then yes, there might be something worth calling a professional about, but I don't think anyone here is in position to make that recommendation.
 
Who here didn't throw the baby penguin off the edge in Mario 64?
Who here never hit a chicken in Zelda?
Who here never hit a chicken in Zelda so many times that a swarm of them came seeking revenge?
Who here never targeted a neutral animal in starcraft?
 
Dumac said:
Who here didn't throw the baby penguin off the edge in Mario 64?
Who here never hit a chicken in Zelda?
Who here never hit a chicken in Zelda so many times that a swarm of them came seeking revenge?
Who here never targeted a neutral animal in starcraft?
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*raises hand*
 
Come on guys, this is Minecraft we need a creative solution. Since you control the clients and the server, modify the game so you can play as a 10x the size Sheep God. Then when he tortures the sheep, log in as the sheep god and torture him. Then he'll have a fit about getting owned by a big sheep and you can have a nice talk about how that's probably how all the little sheep feel when he tortures them.
 
Markbnj said:
At five? I don't think you can draw any conclusions about "deeper issues." If the behavior continues despite firm parenting then yes, there might be something worth calling a professional about, but I don't think anyone here is in position to make that recommendation.
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So what you're saying is that a parent who is clearly interested in his child's well being, to the point that he would come to an internet forum to for suggestions from other gamers on how to curb this child's behavior in game, probably hasn't done any firm parenting regarding the problem of repeatedly biting people he comes into contact with?

This kid has issues and clearly his parents aren't equipped to deal with it. That's the very definition of when you seek help from a professional.
 
utahraptor said:
I made an animal shelter that forces players to donate diamonds to keep the clock ticking for each cat in a cage. If diamonds are not added to add hours to the clock the cage incinerates the live cat.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=e4OU9UQsiaI

Straight to the incineration: http://youtu.be/e4OU9UQsiaI?t=7m52s
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Seriously, I try to look at things with a sense of humor, but that is disgusting. I did not even know people did all this stuff in Minecraft. Have to ask my grandson (he is 17 and totally non-violent, so I am not worried) whether he does all this or plays with people who do.
 
BoberFett said:
So what you're saying is that a parent who is clearly interested in his child's well being, to the point that he would come to an internet forum to for suggestions from other gamers on how to curb this child's behavior in game, probably hasn't done any firm parenting regarding the problem of repeatedly biting people he comes into contact with?

This kid has issues and clearly his parents aren't equipped to deal with it. That's the very definition of when you seek help from a professional.
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Christ,is this the pc gaming forum?maybe im lost*laughs*
 
Dumac said:
Who here didn't throw the baby penguin off the edge in Mario 64?
Who here never hit a chicken in Zelda?
Who here never hit a chicken in Zelda so many times that a swarm of them came seeking revenge?
Who here never targeted a neutral animal in starcraft?
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Never did the last 3, probably did the first.

Of course, the real question:

Who here never intentionally killed patrons in Roller Coaster Tycoon? I made the loop roller coaster go so fast it flew off the tracks and killed everyone. My sister and I would put employees in the lake and let them drown. Neither of us has committed a violent crime.
 
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