A question about parents and gaming...

[WillSimplyBe]

My mother actually plays games. It started in like fourth grade, where I rented Legend of Zelda: Ocarina of Time and she kept playing long after I stopped caring. She came downstairs 6 hours later when she realized she hadnt eaten all day and her hands were killing her.

Now she plays Mitsurugi in Soul Calibur 4, and button mashes _>. lol.


I mean, there are some limits, she wouldnt sit down and play something like MadWorld, but I actually wouldnt either.... Yet we sat through Watchmen.... yeah, we're weird.

 

[Aqualung]

My parents know I'm mature enough to not go yammering on like some pre-pubescent little boy over XBox Live, and they trust what I play. I've been playing T-rated games since I was 6, and M-rated games since I was 11, and I think it's safe to say it hasn't made me any worse of a person. I talk to my dad about curb-stomping peoples faces in Gears of War and he laughs. They're pretty cool people.

Plus, my oldest brother (he's mid-thirties; I'm 17) has been a gamer since he was a kid, so they know what I'm getting into.

 

[fuckwit]

My parents don't really care. Although, one time my dad walked in the computer room while I was playing Half Life 2 during the Ravenholm level. He said something along the lines of: "Isn't that a little too violent?"
I said: "It's certainly violent, but why does that matter?"
"Well, I don't want you to... well..."
"What? Do you think these games are messing with my head? That they negatively influence children?"
"Well... yeah."
"Dad, if media had that kind of power, we would have been dead ever since the Blues got invented."

He didn't really say anything after that.

Pwnt.

My parents don't REALLY monitor what I play but they certainly know that I do play violent games, but all they really care about is the bandwidth that the online ones take. Still, my mother certainly doesn't condone violent games.

 

[Numb1lp]

They don't want me to play "bad" games (i.e. Godfather 2, GTA IV, ect.) W/ my younger brothers watching, but they don't care what I play.

 

[leprecron]

My mom is pretty cool with violent games, she rents most of them or will go with me wen i buy them(im 16 atm), pretty much the same with movies or music.
My dad on the other hand is a whiny ***** about games and if they are suitable. He never takes them away just asks if they are suitable most of the time i respond with a no and he wanders off to go do something else. Gets quite annoying when im playing prototype

 

[Marble Dragon]

My mother and stepfather prefer that I don't play extremely violent games, but they let me play Half Life 2 and anything less violent, so I think that should be good. My mother has stated that she wishes I'd started playing Half Life a few years later, though.

My biological father is a very different story. I have fond memories of standing his chair and watching him play video games with plenty of blood. I don't think it ever influenced me, except for the fact that years of watching him play Half Life made a few of the levels easy for me.

 

[michael_ab]

im 19, my parents used to care, they wouldnt let be play diablo 2 when it came out for example (i was about 8-11, their release date is hazy), but they have always been lenient, for this i am greatful

 

[WolfLordAndy]

When I was around 13/14 (I think) I got Perfect Dark, but my dad played half way through it before letting me play on it, as it was 18 rated, but all it had was a few dark red splodes on characters when they got shot (and the obvious guns, explosions, etc).

But I guess as a kid none of the games were as realistic as now. I know that if I were to suddenly have a young child, I'd keep my game collection and theres very seperate until I though they were mature enough to handle it, same as movies.

 

[kayonaku]

The rule was... no M games till I hit 16. Then they decided I was mature enough to decide for myself. (My poor dad had to wait till I was sleeping to play any M games. He was always a hardcore gamer.)

Since my dad was into video games, all he had to do was ask what I was playing to know the content and if it was appropriate.

XD Haha actually I remember this one time I was playing SSX tricky, and one of the chicks would say "What the ___" They bleeped out the last word to keep the rating down, but my lil sister who was only five started saying that and BAM! we couldn't play that character anymore. I think it was the character Zoe. But yeah my dad intervened pretty quick so we could keep playing the game, just not the character.

But with age, my parents have cared less and less what my younger siblings play. Maybe it was cause they were so strict on me that they lost all the energy it takes to set restrictions. ~shrug~ Or maybe its the change in society.

All I know is my sisters have little to no restrictions, when mine were pretty strict as a kid. So who knows what's up with that. I try and kick them out of my room when I play M games though.

 

[JenXXXJen]

My parents don't check what I play, but I'm 16 and I didn't start playing till a couple of years ago. However, my mum always asks me to check what games to buy for my 6 year old brother. Though she's pretty lenient, hell, he watched Sweeney Todd with us.

 

[AWC Viper]

my dad introduced me to violent video games and horror movies to desensitize me to violence at a very young age. he wanted me to be a Soldier (instead i became a lazy gamer. FAIL!)

 

[Beartrucci]

When I was like 5-11, they didn't want me to play things like GTA and such, but from like 12-onwards they let me play whatever I want.

 

[Doom_bringer58]

My parents don't really care, unless it's all blood and gore, like what the SAW game is gonna be

Incorrect! That's only if you fail to escape a trap, most likely. Other than that, it seems like it'll play out similarly to a Silent Hill game.

On topic: My parents don't care. Sometimes they'll jokingly act surprised when I ask for an M rated game, like BioShock or Oblivion, but they aren't concerned about what I play. Hell, they let my 12 year old sister play Oblivion. (Granted, it's essentially T rated, but they don't know the specifics.)

Yes, but it's still based on the SAW movies which they know about

 

[The_Echo]

My parents don't really care, unless it's all blood and gore, like what the SAW game is gonna be

Incorrect! That's only if you fail to escape a trap, most likely. Other than that, it seems like it'll play out similarly to a Silent Hill game.

Yes, but it's still based on the SAW movies which they know about

Have they seen it? I haven't, but I've heard the gore is exaggerated when being spoken of. But my claim still stands that chances are it isn't going to be a major bloodbath with precious little else.

 

[DracoSuave]

Stuff

The most well thought out post written, other users should learn from you!

I agree with you 100%. I think we just got off on the wrong foot!

Indeed.

Mind you, my gramma raised me, and she was a woman whose favorite movies were those involving terrorist attacks, animals going crazy and killing people, and airline related disaster movies.

Don't ask me why she liked these things. But she found it entertainment, and I knew that's all they were so I never let it bother me.

My only regret is that she never lived long enough to see Snakes on a Plane. I am convinced that movie would have been her favorite movie in the world.

 

[bodyklok]

No, my mum never cared about me playing violent games, she did care about violent movies though. I never got that myself.

 

[wordsmith]

My dad thought that *WoW* was too violent. As it is, he just looks at gaming as something I do because I'm lazy and going to be fat.

The irony is, I run every evening with my dog, and he's about four stone overweight and target shoots as a hobby. Now tell me who's less active >.>

As for monitoring it... Nope. Neither of my parents seem to think games are interesting enough to watch me play, and my PC is in my bedroom.


EDIT: Wait, I tell a lie. I did let my mum play a round of TF2 as an engineer, she got confused as to why the man with the balaclava kept attacking her. She said if he was sneaking around killing people, he should be called the Assassin, not the Spy. But she's as picky with language as I am >.>