Uneducated Gaming Parent Syndrome

[Mr. Google]

Does mario galaxy come on the xbox 360 you should have seen this employees face

Did he facepalm? I probably would have.

Nah he had to do his job and just close that jaw and tell her that its only for the wii haha

 

[TyroSe7en]

I've seen a few situations like that... and always feel sorry for the kids!

 

[JUMBO PALACE]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

Bravo sir. Bravo.

OT: Obviously parents need to learn more about games. The trouble is, most parents don't care for video games so they don't take an interest in their kid/s' hobby. It's amazing how many parents don't even know about the ESRB rating right on the box.
We'll just have to wait until all of the gamers have children and then everyone will be educated in gaming.

 

[Woodsey]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

And? I played GTA games when I was ten to twelve. I watched R rated movies. Hell, I grew up on raunchy shows like Roseanne and the like. Nothing bad came of it. Nothing bad happened to my sister either.

Sure, you could place this on the fact that I was an exceptionally intelligent child, who at times would put down the PS2 controller and read a book such as Moby Dick and the like of his own volition, but eh. Still. Just because someone is a kid, it doesn't mean they are incapable of handling the subject matter and the like. Of course, the majority of the time you'd be right, but what about the times you're wrong? Then again it doesn't really matter, since in the end the parent would likely know what their child is capable of and tell you to stfu and buy the game anyways.

And honestly, people. Get off this whole I don't want kids playing online games with me because of their voices thing. Trust me. A great deal of people in their late teens and into their twenties still have annoying voices. Hell, probably a few of the people who bring up this argument against kids playing with them have those annoying voices which make me laugh.

Are we a little full of ourselves perhaps?

You would be too if you were in my shoes, friend.

Dare I ask, why is that?

OT: A while back I saw a 5-year-old beg both of his parents to let him play World at War, and whilst they suggested two other games to him they both relented in about 5 minutes. I then saw them give each other a, "there's not much more we can do but buy it" look in the queue.

He's five, grow a pair of balls.

Alright if he's 12 maybe, WaW's only a 15, but seriously? A 5-year-old?

 

[Meggiepants]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

Is it possible to Knight you? I mean it.

I'd much rather have a 12 year old annoyed that he can't sneakily buy GTA than another parent go to some news source and say, "Video games are the tools of the devil! My child bought this game and it has boobs in it! Boobs I say!"

OT: You know, I honestly think this is one of the reasons Gamestop does so well. Aside from the obvious re-selling of games, I see so many parents choose Gamestop over Best Buy or Target because they know they can ask the clerks questions and the clerks are generally pretty well educated about these things. (Yes, yes I know. Every now and then you get the cute female clerk who the manager obviously wants to bang and who has only ever played Animal Crossing. But you can't count them)

I think more parents should ask questions. That's one of the reasons those guys are there.

 

[Irridium]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

What kind of rating system do you have? In Australia Halo 3 is M, meaning it's available to the general public regardless of age with MW2 being MA, meaning it can only be purchased by those 15 years or older.

I live in the US. We have the ESRB ratings system. It's not government enforced but every retailer follows the ESRB guidelines. And they are followed because is someone sells a young kid an M rated game, they get fired. So yeah.

Also, sorry is there's any spelling/grammar mistakes. I'm typing this on a phone.

 

[Aardvark Soup]

What's the big deal? Most people, parents and otherwise, will know less about games than the average visitor of the Escapist. But there are plenty of other fields in which those people have far more knowledge than you.

 

[J4D3N]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

You sir, are a god!

 

[DustyDrB]

I went into a Game Stop a few months ago and there was man trying to Playstation 2 for his daughter. He was sooo unfamiliar with gaming but he wanted to get it right. He really really just wanted to be able to give something to his daughter that might make her happy. He kept on asking what kind of computer he needed to make the PS2 work, to which the employee helping him responded (several times) that the system runs straight through the TV and doesn't need a computer. This blew the man's mind. He had to backtrack and have the employee tell him how the system works, but still thought he needed a computer for it.

Yea, parents don't always know what they're buying for their kids. They didn't grow up with this stuff, but we did. It's easy for us to look down on them for perceived ignorance, but how often do kids try to understand their parents? It was really easy to laugh at that guy in the Game Stop, but the fact that he had a sincere desire to do something nice for his kid was so obvious I couldn't look down on him.

 

[omega 616]

What you are talking about is like you going to a restaurant and ordering red wine on nothing other than the name sounds good and neck it.

A guy who loves wine will look up and down the list, pick the best for him and enjoy all it's subtle flavors.

Those kids aren't looking for a gaming masterpiece, there looking for fun, just like you want a bit of tipple with your meal, your not going to enjoy it like a guy who loves wine will ... just as the kids won't enjoy the game like you will.

 

[Why do I care]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

And? I played GTA games when I was ten to twelve. I watched R rated movies. Hell, I grew up on raunchy shows like Roseanne and the like. Nothing bad came of it. Nothing bad happened to my sister either.

Sure, you could place this on the fact that I was an exceptionally intelligent child, who at times would put down the PS2 controller and read a book such as Moby Dick and the like of his own volition, but eh. Still. Just because someone is a kid, it doesn't mean they are incapable of handling the subject matter and the like. Of course, the majority of the time you'd be right, but what about the times you're wrong? Then again it doesn't really matter, since in the end the parent would likely know what their child is capable of and tell you to stfu and buy the game anyways.

And honestly, people. Get off this whole I don't want kids playing online games with me because of their voices thing. Trust me. A great deal of people in their late teens and into their twenties still have annoying voices. Hell, probably a few of the people who bring up this argument against kids playing with them have those annoying voices which make me laugh.

We sure are lucky because I played all of those kinds of games yet I remained calm and never "controller-smashing" angry. Everyone else i knew had those kind of games but every once in a while, they would rampage on and on.
I agree that parents shouldn't get tooooo involved but M games need to be watched.

 

[Randomvirus]

I'm sure it's cringe-worthy when somebody who's not "in the know" about your hobby asks things like if the new Mario Game is on the Xbox, but that's coming from people who probably don't even care about games or gaming as a hobby.

It's parents being parents.

 

[masher]

What I hate is when a 10-or-so year old son and his father are talking over whether to get "Super Mario Galaxy" and "Modern Warfare 2".

 

[Edorf]

Yes... Parents need to be more aware of what they buy for their kids, and do atleast the slightest research on what on earth they're buying. My cousins (5-10... or something like that, god knows). Got an xbox 360 for xmas a year or two ago. I once had to help them on a Kung Fu Panda: The Game, then I saw their game collection... GOD it was horrible it made me shiver and feel sorry for those poor kids. Needless to say, it's their aunt who decides which games they can play and what not to play (heck, she wont even let them play 12+ games????). Their dad is cool though, he just bursts out laughing when their mother rages on them for wanting 12+ games.
(Luckily, the one who's related to me directly is their dad (my uncle).

My mother however, seem to have atleast the slightest idea of what a game should be. She got me Modern Warfare the year that came out, and Banjo Kazooie: Nuts 'n' Bolts when that came out. Ooooh! And I also got Eternal Darkness (Gamecube) lots of years ago.

Bottom line: Some parents do, other... not so much.

EDIT: To all you people talking about violent games on kids. I've played GTA since I was around 5 or 6, and I've turned out alot more intelligent and calm then 80% of the people I've met around my age. But yes, I've also seen those ugly kids screaming on live....

 

[BenTheWolf]

It annoys me when i see really young kids bullying (for want of a better word) their parents into buying them games way above their age rating.

However i would say that some games are rated too high- and this is gonna get much worse in Britain now with the introduction of PEGI ratings.

Personally i don't tend to buy 18 rated games or ask for them from my parents (i'm 16) but in the future a lot of games with content previously judged to be worthy of a 15 or 16 have been bumped to an 18 due to the ratings board shift.

I think that parents need to judge the game's content for themselves sometimes rather than look at an age rating exclusively. The content in a 15 film= the content in an 18 game now.

So for my sanity i need parents to learn more about games XD

 

[CrazyIchigo777]

So can I get Halo: Modern Warfare for the Sony Wii60 or not?

Oh my, that's awesome

It's true though - some people have no clue what they're talking about when it comes to games/gaming/etc. I understand that not everyone has the time to research the entire history of gaming, but there's a simple solution to this: If you don't know, ask. I hate having to admit I don't know everything just as much as the next guy, but I'd rather take a blow to my pride then a blow to my wallet (in this case at least). Besides, in the end, most people will respect a parent who takes the time to ask about something rather than blindly buying their kid something like MW2 (depending on the age and maturity of the kid, of course), or Wii Lumberjack 2.

 

[stutheninja]

one time i saw some kid attempt to buy the Guy Game before all the legal problems that game had. for a second i thought the guy was actually going to let it happen, his mother thought it would be good for his education because it has trivia in it.