Poll: What age did you start playing M rated games

[Bealzibob]

Me and brother played Halo CE when we were 7 and 5 respectively. One of my earliest memories though is of watching Tomb Raider through a slightly ajar door when I was suppose to be asleep and that would of been like when I was 4-5 or some shit.

We were never "kids" like you would say with distaste or concern so it's not really a problem. We could understand and enjoy the narrative point of death and violence etc. so the flood and the rather blood splattered scenes in their respective lvl wasn't really so much of problem and more a incentive for us to try and protect the marines. Though I think my brother only played because I was coop with him because he was always more easily frightened.

 

[bullman422]

To be honest there were some games that might have been rated mature long before the ratings system went in place (Exile for the Turbo Grafx comes to mind) but I think the first M rated game for me was the Sega Genesis release of "Robocop Vs. The Terminator".

 

[Rodrigo Girao]

I was in my early teens when I played The Immortal. It was VERY violent back then, and unlike comically over-the-top games like Mortal Kombat, it felt dead serious.

 

[KefkaCultist]

I was playing Diablo and Resident Evil at 6. Having a brother 12 years older than you is awesome.

 

[Alcamonic]

Around the age of 9-10 when I started with Quake, Triads and Duke 3D. But I never really thought of them as violent games, just fun.

First game that I thought "Wow, this is actually pretty violent/gory" was Soldiers of fortune: Platinum at the age of ~10-11. You know, the one were limbs go flying and peoples head exploding was one of the major selling points.

 

[MetalDooley]

Games in Ireland didn't have age ratings when I started gaming which was lucky for me as my parents were pretty strict about age ratings for movies.As far as I can remember age ratings only started appearing on games when I was old enough that they didn't matter

 

[Gazzoid]

15 or 16, I think... I think the first 18 rated game I played was Solider of Fortune on PC. After that it was GTA III (though that could have been the first), Vice City and San Andreas, then DOOM in college, followed by DOOM 3.

 

[slackbheep]

I was born to young parents in the eighties, so it may have actually been the case that the first depiction of a naked breast I ever saw was in Duke3D. I'm not sure what to think about this.

Edit: I was about seven, maybe eight.

 

[EvilMaggot]

i played my first m-rated game was when i was 9 Soldier of Fortune <3

 

[Spitfire]

If I remember correctly, I was playing Quake when I was about 7 or 8.

 

[AWOL]

I only thing I can distinctly remember is playing Goldeneye 007 when it came out on N64. I must've been like 7? But even before that I had a Sega Genesis and was playing games like Mortal Kombat so maybe even younger.

I'm not sure my parents even really understood the ratings back then, but it was never a problem for me. I always knew what was real and what wasnt.

EDIT: Diablo was also a big part of my childhood, but I couldn't tell you when I got it specifically.

 

[Wakey87]

about 10, altho we don't have the M rating system so I'm going off an 18 rating, it was GTA and I suppose having a older sister helped.

 

[DrunkPickle]

I started at 6 with GTA III; but I lived in Europe back then, which uses Pegi, so the rating was "18+" I believe.

 

[Jamieson 90]

I started watching films like Terminator, Robocop, Nightmare on Elm street and Alien/Aliens when I was about 4-5, I started playing games like GTA and resident evil when I was like 7-8. Seriously back in the early 90's no one really cared about the rating system, not at least the people I knew anyway.

 

[Marcus Kehoe]

Yeah I don't remrber my first 64 games but Turok was definitely one of them. Syphonfilter and Dino crisis where my favorite PSone games. This was ages 4-9.

Mgs2 was my fist ps2 game at 10 and it took me 2 years to beat/understand it but when I did MG became one of my favorite series of all time.
at age 13 my mom realized what M meant and tried to fix the problem by making me get rid of all my M games, mostly Metal gear's but I got games in return. By 13 I knew how to cheat the parent system so I was back to M games, but I began to hate stupid violence in them.

Now while I don't dissupot teens playing some M games, Games have gotten a lot worse and parents need to watch their kids a little more. I mean I actually had to stop a parent from getting thei 7 the new Mortal Combat. I mean that stuff is not ok for pre-teens. But it's the parent's responsibility and choice I suppose.

 

[judgementbringer]

Hmmm... I'm not really sure how to answer this question. I think I was like 9 or 10 when the ESRB got introduced. I played Mortal Kombat in the arcades and Doom on the computer before then, but we didn't have a rating system at that point.
Now that I think about it, the actual M rated game I played would've been Metal Gear Solid.

 

[MrGseff]

Edged into it at the age of 12 with Metroid Prime on the GC, this slowly progressed to things like Medal of Honour. Started playing the heavier stuff at 14-15. Before this I played mostly platformers and adventures.