Poll: What age did you start playing M rated games

[Et3rnalLegend64]

I was actually super young when I played my first M. My uncle got me Ultimate Mortal Kombat 3 when I was 6 or 10? It was PS1 era. If it wasn't rated then, we all know what it would have been anyway. I never knew how to do the Fatalities (or half of the specials for that matter) and the Bottom of the Pit level creeped me out. I actually played Unreal Tournament back then too.

I forget the age where I actually looked for M rated games myself. I think it was when I picked up Ninja Gaiden for Xbox. My little brother (3 years under) wanted to pick it up so we walked in and I just kinda stood at the door. They got into a pretty fun discussion about the game and I'm amazed that we didn't get ID'ed (the concept was pretty new back then). I'm half thinking that it's because I came off as older than I was (14-16 at the time I think). Nowadays, I realize how crazy young I look for my age and I get carded everywhere. 22 and I sometimes get confused for a high-school kid.

I see that most of us, like me, started well before 18. Funny, then, that whenever threads on games and parenting come up, everyone leaps to explain that of course parents shouldn't let their kids play M games before arbitrary-age-of-your-choice. Otherwise they're irresponsible screwups, as we know. But we all turned out fine, didn't we? Right? Right?

Funny thing, that. It's absolutely true that my uncles (who spoiled me real good back then) had no business buying me the things they did. I realized that a while ago. I actually did turn out pretty good. Maybe too much so, actually. I talk back to my parents too much nowadays because their morals are way too loose (my dad mostly). I can't help myself and they're getting really sick of it. My brother is still mostly okay, but fits into the rebellious child mold more than I ever can. Some smoking and apparently some drinking and all that stuff. The most I do is go bowling/the arcade/snowboarding/Monopoly/video games/movies.

We let our youngest brother start at age 10 or 11. We actually discussed when we wanted to let him too. We deem him mature enough and have reinforced the fact that we'll kick his ass if he turns into a problem. I absolutely refuse to let him curse for now. It's gone fine so far. The most he played was Devil May Cry 4, Oblivion (which doesn't deserve its rating), Fallout 3 (which might but I haven't played it), and CoD multiplayer. He can't use the mic. He has currently deemed BF3 infinitely superior to MW3 and has abandoned both in favor of Minecraft and Terraria.

 

[Jet_02]

As soon as I could I guess? I was born in 1992, so my first system being a mega drive, the first 'slightly' more mature game I played was total annihilation on the PC at the age of 5. I can't really remember when I first played a technical '18' rated game. I will say however that my two favorite films as a child (5-6 years or so) were Alien and Starship troopers. My parents never really brought into the whole rating thing and I was treated as my own person at a very young age. Letting me have a drink when I was 7 or 8. Eat what ever etc. I turned out fine, have a degree a good job and have been in a few relationship's here and there. Not obese although i'm not skinny, don't care though and don't even drink that much at all (though I do still like to party here and there).

 

[DannyJBeckett]

Let's see, the first 18-rated game I got was Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas, so I'll have been about 13 or 14. Thing is, by parents bought me it completely out of the blue because they thought I'd be put under peer-pressure. I hadn't asked for it, I wasn't even particularly interested in it before then. It was weird, but I liked it.

EDIT: Actually, I remember playing Duke Nukem: Time to Kill at a friend's house not long after it came out, so I'll have been about 7 or 8. Jesus.

 

[Korak the Mad]

I started playing M rated games when I turned 18. My parents wouldn't buy me any of those games because they actually payed attention to what the ratings were for games.

I didn't get my first M rated game until I recieved my driver's license, which I already had turned 18.

First M rated game: Resident Evil 4 for the Wii.

 

[Scrustle]

7-12. Closer to 12 than 7 though. M rated games have been a large part of my library since I was about 15 or 16. Most of them aren't really that bad. Having an M rating doesn't mean much. Like are Halo, CoD or Elder Scrolls really as bad as something like Dante's Inferno, Dead Island or The Witcher 2? I think not.

 

[blaqknoise]

i played my first M game when I was 15

When I bought my xbox it came with Turok

 

[Piorn]

I think I was 16 when I got HL2.

 

[Terminally Chill]

I had wrongly voted for 7-12, thinking that it was the mid-late 90s when I would have first been aware of M games, before forgetting about Mortal Kombat. And maybe there are a few other things lost to time that I was already exposed to - I've literally been playing games for longer than I can remember.

 

[Domehammer]

I accidentally voted in 13-16 but when checking game releases of mature games I played it is more like 7-12. Earliest game with M label I can remember is GTA III.

 

[That_Sneaky_Camper]

At age 13. Metal Gear Solid 3 was my first M-rated game. It was the beginning of a beautiful friendship between me and the Metal Gear series.

Anyway my opinion on the matter is that even if you are under the age limit if you are mature enough that you understand this is a work of fiction and not something to seriously apply to reality (at least as far as violence/other bad things are concerned, if you can take away a meaningful philosophical message than please try applying it) then I don't see why they can't play M-rated games. Having game ratings for games is pretty arbitrary, just like movie ratings and TV program ratings, those "think of the children!" moral guardians are just silly.

 

[Arqus_Zed]

I vaguely remember going to my cousins to play stuff like Duke Nukem, Mortal Kombat and Carmageddon. So, yeah, I've played M-rated games for as long as I can('t) remember.

And guess what, it didn't turn me into a psychopath. (Only a cynical bastard.)

 

[TheFinalFantasyWolf]

I've played games since I was 3, I was never phased by the "rating system", and neither were my parents.

 

[kommando367]

I played GTA3 and State of Emergency at around age 9-10.

 

[riverblue]

What was Conkers Bad Fur Day? was playing that when i was 10 or 11ish. also Quake on the N64. Loved Conkers with a passion.

 

[Zeema]

I was an adult before the rating system started.

i played Conker's bad fur day when i was bout 8 or something like that.

 

[karcentric]

Hmmm, when did Wolfenstein 3d come out?

 

[poundingmetal74]

Doom on a DOS computer FTW.

 

[Panorama]

I played doom 2 is the first one i remember playing, so what year was doom 2 checks wiki, ah 1995 so i was 6.

 

[RBBelkar]

Diablo II when I was four. My childhood is awesome.

 

[Maveroid]

Well, in Germany there was the 0,3,6,12,16, and 18 age restrictions for video games, and my parents were very strict when it came to those.
They were gamers, too, but they only played games like Mario, Sonic and such and never tried out one of the M rated classics like Half Life or Resident Evil.

I still remember how happy I was when I turned 12 because my parents allowed me to play Metroid Prime for the first time (a 12 rated game).
Really cool, but I still enjoy light-hearted games more than M rated games.