Poll:What are your thoughts on children playing M rated games?

[TehCookie]

All depends on the child and the game. Blood and language are fine by me. Kids bleed all the time and I'd talk to them to make sure they know those are bad words. If they're too immature to know not swear after hearing it then they won't get to play it. If it's rated M for something other than that I'd have to look it over and talk to my kids about it.

 

[Ashadowpie]

im a mix of all of them but i'd rather they just play games rated for there age. it disturbs me so much to watch an 8 year old play GTA IV and walk into a strip club and know what it is!

online play so be completely removed for children because of the idiots that are racists, sexist and amongst other things.

it makes the child grow up wrong. its like giving weapons to monkeys. they dont know what it is, but they're going to accidentally use it, kill something and still wont understand what happened.

 

[aba1]

I was playing M games from a young age so I am ok with kids playing them as young as say 8 or 9 but I mean it would have to be a mature kid who understands how things work.

 

[Billy D Williams]

It really depends on the game. While I love GTA to death, you should be a teenager before you play that game in pretty much every scenario. Call of Duty? Fine, just don't let them use voice chat (and not just cause little kids are annoying as fuck). Halo 4? Sure, the online community doesn't even talk to each other so its not like you need to shield them (and Halo never should have gotten am M rating, its a T for Teen through and through) from the douchebags on the internet.

All in all, the ESRB is pretty shitty at their jobs anyways so lots of times everything they say is bullshit. I mean The Walking Dead by Telltale got an M rating, but for what? Sure, its a game with zombies, but how violent is this game? How much profanity is really in there? How much sexual content? I mean its pretty fucking stupid how it works, but that's just my two cents.

 

[Sectan]

Know your child. My parents bought me mature games when I was around 14. They knew I wasn't a psychopath. Plus they understood what I was interested in and knew I wouldn't want anything too scary or horrible to play.

When my mother was buying GTA3 the cashier started explaning how hookers worked and how to get a high wanted level. Was almost worried I wouldn't be able to get it.

 

[Gone Rampant]

If the ESRB, BBFC or PEGI gave a game a high rating, they gave if for a good reason. I'm of the mindset where if I see a parent asking their kid what they want, if the kid brings, say, Spec Ops or Modern Warfare, I'll pull the parent aside and explain what's in the game that gave it that damn rating.

However, if I *must* let the kids get the games, I'd rather the parents play through or watch an LP first to see the fuss.

 

[white_wolf]

It all depends on the content, how mature your kids are emotionally and mentally , and playing the games yourself is always the best way to not be surprised. Some games rated M don't need to be some games rated T should be M all depends. If you aren't a gamer parent findout what games your kids want to play then sit down on you tube type up (game name) walkthrough, grab the popcorn and watch the material without them see if you're ok with bringing this content into your home or giving permission for your tweenish child to play that content at a friend's house.

 

[Charli]

When I worked in Game I tried to discourage parents who were clearly buying Call of Duty for younger kids in the age range of 9-12. It just was obvious to me that most of them were 'shut up and stop whining kid' gifts, and no context or maturity test was going to be issued and this little ball of ADD was going to be another of those spoiled shits who goes on a live rampage.

There were rare occurrences where a parent would be genuinely interested in the content of the game and I would do my best to mediate between the rating and why the game was GOOD but needed adult supervision if a child wanted to enjoy it without picking up bad habits. And the difference between the online and offline aspects of the game.

Sadly this HAS to be left up to parents, I don't want harsher regulations on video games than there already are. But some parents are not fit... And leave their little hellspawn to moan and complain and generally just take out their frustrations and neglect on the denizens of the online communities.

Parental involvement is everything.

 

[MEEBO17]

It really depends on the child and parent, just make sure your kid's in the mental state and doesnt rely solely on video game for entertainment

 

[Bios06]

I grew up without any censorship (and I mean any) but I had responsible parents, who were willing to answer all my questions (including the ones people shy away from answering for children) and I turned out ok, no crazy delusions about anything, not crazy violent, etc.

If people are responsible and teach their children instead of sheltering them from literally everything, the kind of content you intake (violent, sexual, etc) is not damaging, it's simply exposure.

Keeping people from experiencing something and simply telling them its bad is not going to keep them from consuming it one way or another. If it's not a violent video game, it will probably be some sort of media, tv, internet, etc.

Should some people not play violent video games? Absolutely, some people are ape shit and will be ape shit whether or not they lay hands on a video game. Should some parents keep their obsessive little shit children away from the adult world? Certainly. Blanketing rules need to be avoided. Making something forbidden only makes it more alluring, especially to those crafty little bastards.

 

[Fox12]

Depends on the game. I have no problem with little billy playing Halo if his parents are fine with it. He's not my kid. He probably shouldn't be playing Silent Hill 2, but again, it's not my place to tell someone how to parent. I'm not a fan of the nanny state/censorship belief that kids need to be regulated and protected all the time. Let the parent decide, it's their responsibility.

 

[Guitarmasterx7]

As long as they don't use mics, I'm fine with it.

100 times yes this. It's better for everyone. Don't let your kid be an annoying little assholes to everyone else, and they won't have to deal with getting shittalked and made fun of. As for the actual game, it depends on the age of the kid and the degree to which it's "M." A 12 year old playing Halo would be pretty harmless. A 5 year old playing manhunt would not.

 

[MHR]

Children should play whatever they want as long as they do it away from me.

... if they don't have a mic that's acceptable.

If I played Blood Alien Gore Sex-Drugs Party 3 as a kid I probably still would have been fine if my parents said "you can play as long as you remember the drug parts are bad."

 

[frizzlebyte]

Although I said it depends on the game, I really think that, as a general rule, children under 15 should not be playing M rated games. The exception to that rule is Halo 1.

I'm still not sure why that game is rated M. A hard Teen, maybe, but not M. That actually goes for a lot, if not all, of the Halo games, too.

 

[Quiet Stranger]

Well I watched movies like Robocop, James Bond, Starship Troopers and who knows what else as a kid and played violent games so I'd be a hypocrite not to let my own kids do the same, as long as they don't have mics when they are online.

 

[Bravo 21]

Well, I first played GTA San Andreas when I was 10 years old and I only have killed three prostitutes in the last 2 weeks!!!
...

That was a joke.

Eh, I played that with my cousins at about the same age. And just yesterday I handed my PS2 over to my thirteen year old brother so that he and his friends can play San Andreas and Star Wars Battlefront.

OT: it's pretty much the parents responsibility, but as they rarely keep a very eye on what their children are doing (or an older brother helps out a younger brother, mea culpa) it gets tricky. I guess as long as the kid displays some common sense, and the parents don't let them get started and an excessively young age (not that I can define what that is) it should be fine.

 

[vashthblackseed]

1) Depends on the game itself.
2a) Parent has completed the game before (at least core content). Before, during and after the child plays, the parent should be discussing the game with the child.
2b) If parent has not completed/played the game before. Do research on the game BEFORE purchase. Be present during most of game play (especially the first hour) until the parent is comfortable with the content presented. Like 2a, discussing the game with the child during and after completing the game.
3) Age of the child. Legally, 17 is still considered a child in most states.

www.youtube.com/watch?v=ddZfCMRx47Q

 

[ace_of_something]

My wife is a teacher, after hearing what some of these kids do... no, no child should be playing most M rated games until they're at least middle school age.

 

[zarker]

I think it really depends on a mixture of the kid's parents, the game itself, and the kid's maturity. I grew up with awesome parents who would explain why something was seen as bad, like vulgarity, and I was smart enough to not say or do anything that would be considered offensive. Not very hard. But there's some kids that can't handle that and they should not be allowed to play M rated games.

I grew up playing Unreal Tournament, Doom, and Everquest with my dad and I was only 4 or 5 at the time, it didn't really affect me. If I ever had a question about something the characters or people said, he would explain it to me, I would go "ok" and move on. Don't think it affected me negatively at all, all throughout school I never got in more trouble than a lecture from the principle or a teacher.

But my parents and I also had limits. Horror games and movies scared the shit out of me so I never watched em. Only problem is some kids don't have good parents, which is a damn shame.