An 8-year old wants Gears of War 2

[Battle Medic]

my parents bought me 18 games back in the day. they just sat down and talked to me about how it wasnt real and was impossible. i turned out good

That's my story. No problems with this whatsoever, and now you can even tone down a few things (no blood, only sparks) and that's cool in my book.

Shooting games provide a harmless outlet to release anger. Lets say a kid comes home really angry from being bullied at school, he can either shoot up a bunch of people in a video game to get rid of the anger, or wait till the next day and shoot everyone at the school. I think killing virtual people is better then killing real people, wouldn't you agree.

What I used to tell my parents until they were convinced I was mature enough.

 

[JoshasorousRex]

if I were that kids parents I would continue to then pick up a copy of Gears 2, when he then says thanks i'll the proceed to say "Huh? I thought it looked quite good so I thought I'd buy it for myself. You won't be able to play it though cause its rated 18+" Then I would play it alot and not let them play

Wow that is epic. I should do that when I get older just to see the look on the kids face LOL

 

[Th3 Sh00ter]

As MANY of you have stated I think the main problem is that parents (and adults in general) are just plain ignorant. They have absloutly no ideal what kind of content is in these games and dont belive that it could be that bad. Once when I was about 6 I was in a store with my mom and aunt and said I wanted a game. My aunt walks over to a shelf and picks up a copy of GTA (not sure which one) and asks me if I would play that one!

I played my first M game around age 8 at a friend's house who lived across the street and I turned out okay...........so far

Stop blameing(sp?) games! Games are so wide spread that it's would be like blaming your criminal action on a cell phone or car. They are inatimate(sp?) objects!

 

[neoman10]

im think the cut-off point for mature games should be 13; any younger equals "WTF!!" ,but being 15 I am bias

the only M game I can't get is GTA, I think my parent think im mentally unstable from ADHD, Meh I'm fine with Fallout 3

P.S. did I use that semicolon right?

 

[HotPotatoXD]

it all depends really, if its a nice kid that likes fps's and has played them before then i wouldn't know but i have heard that the game is pretty gory.

im not surprised hes not scaredbut i wouldnt let an 8 yearold play GW2

 

[CeeJay]

This reminds me Gordon Brown, current prime minister of Britain had the bright idea of introducting and I quote :"a cinema-like system with which to rate games based on the maturity of their content"
A+ plus there genius it's almost like there already IS an age on EVERY game box's front

I pretty sure that BBFC clasification for videogames is voluntary, not compulsory, which is prolly what he's getting at.

 

[Fingolfin High-King of the Noldor]

No wonder all kids these days are a bunch of douches. Young kids think they can get anything by whining cause their parents don't give two shits about the. I admit I had some games that were too old for me but not a ten year difference.

 

[BlueOnBlue]

You know what solves pester power? Hit to the head.

Because nothing says "I love you" like the constant understanding that you could be physically accosted should you violate the rules.

Wait isn't the whole point of accosting that it's through words and not actions... anyway I think the reason kids want or even know of these games at such a young age is that well A. they are fun games no doubt about it. and B. It makes them feel older then they really are because I remember when I was like 7 or 8 I would always try to do things like my older siblings did including that one time I went and played Turok on my older brothers n64 when I was like 8 though it never got too bad because I sucked to much to get farther then killing maybe two people . Anyway I don't neccesarily think that very violent games = very violent people but I know that young childern (like -10) a very susceptible to copy catting what they see people doing. But a good parent can counter this copy catting effect well if they just actually make an effort to be concerned with what their children play and do and tell them that this is not real and that this is not what you would do in real life. Though I think freaking out about nudity in games is just stupid seriously so what if some 13 year old sees a pair of breasts in a video game? At that point he's probably already looked at naked photos of girls online seen movies with real boobs in them and so on, so really whats seeing a set of them in a video game going to do to him at this point?

 

[JIMMYXD]

Im in Australia and the fucking retards in WA are all going apeshit about games being too violent, so they're not going to make an R18+ rating.
This i find is fucking bullshit because the only reason they are fucking doing this is because retarded parents go out and buy a game for their 8yr old kid and then see the shit going on and then they blame the fucking game company for making the game too violent and go and make a petition saying that all violent games should be banned.
I recon there should be a law against people that do this kind of stuff.

 

[Nouw]

Hey I did that! It might be me!

OT: Parents these days.

THE BIG FAT FUCKING 18 ON IT OBVIOUSLY MEANS THAT THE DIFFICULTY IS REALLY HIGH!

 

[SuperWeeGee]

I think its all up to if they're ready for it mentally. As long as they're not easily influenced or scared, I think its fine for them to play violent games.
But up to a point, I don't want a parent to be getting their 8 year-old something like Leisure Suit Larry.

 

[Nerdygamer89]

Ahh this old thread again. A normal M-rated shooter (nothing overly horrific/scary, mind you) should be perfectly fine for kids over the age of 8 to play as long as there is proper guidance from the parents about what is, and what isn't socially acceptable behavior, and the line between fantasy and reality. A kid is in no way going to be "emotionally damaged" by playing a video game unless they're incredibly sensitive, in which case it's the parent's responsibility to take that into account.

People just don't give kids enough credit anymore. Hell, if anything, not giving kids an outlet for aggression is probably far more harmful than letting them play a video game. It's not like they can play any other games anymore, like tag or dodgeball for the very same reasons. Wouldn't want the little tykes to get all emotionally scarred by the "exclusionary nature" of dodgeball, after all =P but I digress.

I feel bad for kids these days.

 

[bluemistake2]

why was this thread revived i remember reading this 2 years ago quite odd...

 

[Phoenixlight]

I think that the parents should be charged for letting their children play innappropriate games.

 

[wordsmith]

I was taking a look through Gamestation today and yes, and 8-year old kid is telling his mum to buy Gears of War 2 for him. It's got a fricking 18 rating on it! I didn't hang about for the conclusion of whether the mother would give a yes or no (there certainly wasn't an immediate no), but given the influence of pester power there must exist a fair number of parents who would buy it for their children.

I would have casually wondered over and gone "Wow, nice choice kid, I really love it when you get to chainsaw people in half, the graphics on it are really gorey, you can make out the intestines as they split open and everything!"

 

[Koganesaga]

Truly saddening and utterly pathetic, not even worth good criticism, so I leave this, if a parent can't handle a kid asking for a video game, go leave the child at a orphanage NOW, as in this moment, seriously get your ass out of the chair and leave your kid someplace where they'll learn to not a spoiled ingrate that become so full of themselves that they only person they feel is goof enough for them is themselves. Or a better option for everyone, do your job as the person who gave this thing life and groom it to be a productive and pleasant member of society.

 

[BlumiereBleck]

Idiot parents who buy games their children aren't old enough for give Fox news ammo, which gives us gamers a bad name.

It needs to end.

Don't forget cnn. They hate video games the most.

 

[SimuLord]

I can't stand parents who do this. Attention idiots with children: Every time you buy an M-rated/PEGI 16 or 18+ rated game for your little hellspawn, Jack Thompson and Michael Atkinson are given another clip of ammo for the assault rifles they have pointed at the gaming industry.

STOP IT. If I could pass one law related to gaming it would be this: Parents who buy their kids M-rated or equivalent games for their kids should be questioned immediately as to why and whether they understand the ramifications. If it's a good parent who wants to teach their kids something about the difference between right and wrong or understands that Grand Theft Auto isn't for kids but their kids are closely watched to make sure they don't get any ideas (or really any reasonably plausible excuse!), they're ok.

But parents who are just like "Well, Junior wanted it really bad, and he begged, and I bought it to shut him up"? Hello, Child Protective Services. On behalf of the rest of us, thanks for taking these morons' kids away from them. And of course, a quick look at the kid and how he dealt with his parents would do wonders in cutting down on false negatives to test #1.