Rockstar: Only "Terrible Parents" Buy Our Games for Their Kids

[Andy Chalk]

Rockstar: Only "Terrible Parents" Buy Our Games for Their Kids

Radio personality and Rockstar [http://www.rockstargames.com/] producer Lazlow Jones has a message for people who buy Rockstar games for their kids: "You're a terrible parent."

Rockstar games are awesome. They're also most definitely not for kids. From Red Dead Redemption [http://www.gamestop.com/Catalog/ProductDetails.aspx?product_id=64299], just about everyone agrees that these are games that parents should keep far away from their children. And for those parents who do let their kids play them, because they don't know any better or they just don't care, Rockstar has a message: You suck.

"Our games are not designed for young people," said Grand Theft Auto 3 [http://www.lazlow.com/]. "If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child, you're a terrible parent."

"We design games for adults because we're adults," he continued. "There's a lot of kids' games out there that we're not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence, that's the kind of thing we seek to produce."

He claimed that despite its reputation, Rockstar gets relatively little "pushback" from rating boards, although he noted that the videogame industry in general faces far greater challenges than other media when it comes to producing mature content. "If you tell a gritty crime drama with violence and profanity and call it The Sopranos [http://www.amazon.com/Sopranos-Complete-James-Gandolfini/dp/B002OID4VS/ref=sr_1_1?ie=UTF8&s=dvd&qid=1276706219&sr=8-1] you're handed a load of awards to put up on the shelf," he said. "You do the same and call it a videogame and you'll have certain organizations up in arms."

But times are changing and Lazlow thinks Rockstar deserves a lot of credit for "pushing the boundaries" of what's acceptable in videogames today. "I think ever since GTA IV came out and there were such rave reviews by major publications saying that this is actually art the restrictions about being politically correct have largely fallen away," he said.

Source: BBC [http://news.bbc.co.uk/newsbeat/hi/technology/newsid_10130000/newsid_10136300/10136311.stm]


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[The_root_of_all_evil]

I'm a terrible parent?

Has someone been keeping their tests secret?

Now I've just got to work out if I'm a mummy or daddy.

 

[Arisato-kun]

That's truly a great statement. It's about time they started telling off parents that pull this kind of crap.Now Rockstar's covered if any dumb parents try to sue them again.

 

[thenumberthirteen]

How dare they insult my parents!

 

[Jack and Calumon]

Wait, didn't Rockstar make a Ping Pong game once?

Calumon: I only play Digimon and Jack won't let me play much else, besides LittleBIGPlanet.

 

[Skreeee]

I remember Family Guy doing something like this in an episode after the series was rebooted where they chided bad parents for letting their kids watch the smut the show put on the air. It was the last time I had any shred of respect for the pile of bile the show had become.

Kudos to Rockstar for swinging its brassy pair.

 

[XJ-0461]

They've got the right idea.

Now, if only parents would listen to stuff like this...

 

[Ironic Pirate]

What about Oni and Bully?

Bully could teach kids too, uhh, well it wan't M, so there!

 

[Kenjitsuka]

It's true... you're either informed and a very *cool* parent, or just a lazy miscreant who doesn't know what the term "grand theft auto" means in real life and you don't give a shit about your kid so you don't read the back of the game box... or notice the big *18* logo's on it... or watch the kid play it once... but do complain to Fox Newzzz how evil that game is!

P.S. If you're on this site you obviously fit in category 1

 

[DarkHourPrince]

It really depends on the maturity of the child in question. My little sister is going on 12 and she started playing Bully alongside me at 10. Did this encourage her to go out ant commit school violence? No. Because it's a GAME, and she knows that. She also watched my uncle and I play numerous Grand Theft Auto titles.

The problem here isn't GAMES. It's a lack of parental involvement that makes kids unable to tell the difference between games and reality. Yes, there is a certain boundary with younger kids and games produced by companies like Rockstar, but parents themselves are really to blame, not the developers. If they market for older audiences and parents buy them for the young, who is at fault?

 

[Risingblade]

Hopefully parents will listen to the obvious this time. Though I doubt they will >.>

 

[CoverYourHead]

Well I played Grand Theft Auto III at a very young age and look how I turned out!

... Holy crap, Rockstar is right...

 

[Broady Brio]

It makes sense. Despite my parents doing this to me.

If you buy an 18 game, it will probably be unsuitable for people under that age.

 

[rokkolpo]

under 10 i'd say you're parent is irresponsible to buy you a gta game.

terrible may be a big word.
(although irresponsible is bigger.....)

 

[Rafe]

LAZLOW'S REAL!!??

I hope this doesn't hit their sales at all. Its decent of them to say so anyway.

 

[Phishfood]

Its so true. "Violent games warped my 8 year old's fragile little mind" "what, this game here with an 18 rating?"

The games most objected to do all seem to be the 18 games, or at least 15. Not that I believe computer games can warp a mind on their own, although they could well be a factor with an already damaged mind.

 

[DividedUnity]

"Our games are not designed for young people"

Well that is a load of bullshit. Id like to see how many people under 18 actually make up the sales figures for GTA games and even RDR. Its the sort of game every kids wants.

 

[AngryMongoose]

Fucking burn.

That being said, it should be "Only terrible parents buy our games for their kids and complain about it and/or emotionally abuse them.

 

[DigitalSushi]

"If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child, you're a terrible parent."

Then put that on the box of your next game in big bold lettering you dimwit.

I actually adore Lazlow since I think he's avant garde, I respect him so much I used a French word to describe him, "Le you rock Lazlow!".

Seriously, if a videogame box that the older generation soundly believe its a childrens past time then shit aint gonna change soon, and RockStar knows this.

I had to stop my Maman (thats French for Mum, Mother, Mom dependant on where your from) from buying my nephew GTA Chinatown Wars, not because she's a bad grandmother, but because she saw the cartoon graphics and didn't realise it had drugs in it.

Personally I believe RockStar games should be pulled off the shelves, for its terrible and shoddy combat mechanics.

 

[Baby Tea]

Amen, Rockstar!
Video games still have the 'it's for kids' stigma attached to them, despite most gamers being over 20. It's time the general, non-gamer public woke up to the fact that video games aren't just for kids, and that not all games aren't made for kids.

I used to work in an EB Games (Canadian 'Gamestop'), though, and I can tell you that there are plenty of 'bad parents' out there. They just don't care, even when warned of serious mature content. I don't care how mature you think your 8 year old is, GTA 4 isn't for them.