TV's Gogglebox vicar Kate Bottley has defended parents who allow children to go online and play video games, especially when they are on the autistic spectrum.
Bottley said that for children such as her son Arthur, online communities are about far more than entertainment. "I have a son on the autistic spectrum who is passionate about gaming and really struggles with socialisation," she said in an interview with The Guardian. "Online gaming really helps him, and he's got a little community that he plays with. These are his friends. These are his community. These are the people that he learns how to socialise with."
People on the spectrum can find it difficult to socialise, and it helps them to make friends when engaging in online activity.
"If we put Arthur in a room full of people he'll find it quite difficult to make friends," Bottley says. "But when there's something else to talk about, and there's something that's connecting people right in front of him, then that really really helps."
She was interviewed at the National Video Arcade in Nottingham, where she is a regular visitor and she said people such as her son can meet people just like him. "They will listen to what he's got to say. He's quite used to being the weirdest kid in the class. He's not the weirdest kid here."
At the national event, where she also gave an address to visitors, the Guardian reports that she "thrashed" its games editor Keith Stuart at the 1983 arcade game Track & Field.
Bottley, aged 41, confessed she had been playing video games for 35 years.
She also described how she was cast as the Gogglebox vicar. The BBC saw a YouTube video from 2013 that showed her leading a flashmob dance at a wedding and which got millions of views.
She also had tips for parents who do decide to let their children go online. "I think the danger comes when people just sit their children in their bedroom, close the door and leave them to it.
"Get involved, ask your kids what they're playing. Ask them about where they're going in their game, all that sort of stuff. From a faith perspective, you know, I think some people of faith would like their children to live in some sort of religious bubble their entire lives. I think it's called a convent, isn't it? I want my kids to be in the world and of the world."
