Black Ops is ok, but RDR isn't?!

[Harrowdown]

If I were to be generous, I might theorise that the woman sees a high octane war game as no worse than a generic action movie, whereas RDR is more visceral in it's approach. If I were to be realistic, i'd say that she has only a loose understanding of games, and considers a rockstar game as more violent than a heavily advertised, popular FPS.

 

[Danish rage]

Don´t make it a parent thing. It´s ONE parents lack of whatever she´s lacking.

I still se no wrongs in playing adult games with you´re kid as long as you sit right next to them and explain stuff as logic and mecanics as it unfolds. Im a alone dad after the mom left when he was 1. My now 7 year old have played everything i have played since he could hold a joypad or use or mouse, including all COD games, Rockstar sandboxes and terryfing metro2033.

He´s at the absolute top of class. Captain and 1´st goalkeeper on the soccer team and has more friends than he know the names of. Most of them 2-3 years older than him.
He´s way better with PC´s than he´s peers. He´s reasonable, thinks logically and i never have rage issues with him whatsoever. Teachers, coach and all of the adult persons he comes into contact with have nothing but high praises for him.

Im on the other hand is a anti relegious, on occasion pot smoking hippie with long hair and no future plan other than CEO of my little one person hydroponic company. No i don´t GROW pot on any scale where i could earn money but for a fee a can make sure you do, and where i live THAT aspect is legal. My ONLY goal in this life is to pass on social skills, human values and compassion to him and a shitload of other important stuff.

POINT IS...If you teach you´re kid compassion and take the time to explain what makes things turn, that beeing sexuallity, the motor of a car or in this particular case how a game works and what differs it from reality, you´re waaay better of than the parents that don´t care or overly care. Sorry for banging my own drum as a super parent, but i actully am whatever you might think. BUT PLEASE stop making it a (parent thing) when it´s a (parents that don´t care thing)It´s actually not that hard to differ those two, im sure my kid could do it.

Sry for the gramma and spelling fuckups, I am a retardet dane you know. But im sure you get the drift of my 2 cents whoever you might are.

 

[Flac00]

I overheard a very odd thing today in GAME store today, while browsing through the pre-owned games i heard a youngish lad ask his mum if he could buy Red Dead Redemption. Obviously he was under-age and i was kinda shocked to hear the mum say "No, its too old for you, your 11". I started to cheer as i thought that maybe, just maybe some parents actually use age ratings and that things like California and Jack Thompson can shut up and jump in some form of toxic death pit.

However what came next was quite odd, the 11 year old replied "I know, but you still bought me Black Ops" to which she replied with "Yeah, but that's different". That sentence has kinda stuck with me now, how on earth is it different?! Both are rated as 18 games due to graphic violence, swears and other stuff, how can one be "different". I thought it could be done due to popularity and advertisement but both are the same. RDR has won loads of GOTYs, had loads of adverts here in UK and was top of the charts at one point i believe. Its the same for Black Ops (minus the GOTYs THANK GOD)So i ask you, the smart otters of The Escapist to help me make sense of this quite weird statement, is there some profound answer or is this women just an idiot.

Black ops is actually much worse than RDR. I mean, can you blow off someone's limbs in RDR? NO, but you can in Black Ops, much more violent. Plus, and eleven year old should not be able to play an M rated game, I mean, I'm 15 and I still have to convince my parents that the game I want to buy isn't evil.

 

[ISawAFish]

I thought it would be interesting to put in that a lot of parents (at least every parent I know) have little to no knowledge about most video games. So I'm guessing this woman didn't know much about either game apart from what the child or other people have said. And if she knows little about the games I'm sure she knows nothing about the companies that make the games, so she isn't going to say no because it's made by rockstar, she may not even know what the hell rockstar is. So as stated before, parents are just idiots, when it comes to gaming.

 

[mr_pants66]

it is because RDR has the Rockstar logo on it and that is a big turn off to parents

 

[ImprovizoR]

Wait? You didn't interfere? I would have to interfere and educate that poor woman. It's not her fault that she's been brainwashed by endless CoD marketing and Rockstar controversy. It's her fault that she believes what the media says. You should have intervened and make her buy that kid the damn game.

 

[L3m0n_L1m3]

Why doesn't she let him play RDR?

Because she's afraid he might be HORSING AROUND

AHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA

[sub] i'll take my perma-ban now [/sub]

 

[PedroSteckecilo]

My bet?

RDR has Nudity and Sexual Content, sounds like someone actually read the ratings for once. I disagree with that idea of course, I mean all things considered in Red Dead Redemption you play a mannerly fellow who loves his wife and family and is trying to do right by the world the best way he can... who the hell do you play in Black Ops? I haven't played it but I bet the character isn't as upstanding as John Marston.

 

[The Typical American]

RDR has boobies

And drugs. Don't forget the drugs.

On topic: Yeah, this lady sounds a little misinformed perhaps.

Wait, during Black OPs, isn't the protagonist tripping most of the time? Not questioning you, I'm just unsure myself, since I was under that impression.

 

[Caligulove]

The single mom I work with thought that Call of Duty was just a multiplayer game (and it is for a lot of people) and I told her to have some discretion in buying Black Ops for her 10-year old son. Having played the campaign, I warned her that there are many instances in the singleplayer of VERY graphic violence and war imagery.

That was a week ago, don't have any follow up on it yet.

Personally, if I were a parent, I wouldn't let my kids play Red Dead Redemption (even though I LOVE it) if they were only 10-11. Only half because of the violence and other more mature scenarios. The other half because I know they wouldn't be able to appreciate it as much until they were older and understood more adult things, especially giving them some exposure to westerns, which is initially why I was psyched to hear about RDR from the get-go, wanting to play out scenes from Fistful of Dollars, etc.

 

[Blindswordmaster]

To quote my Game collection: Red dead Redemption is rated M for: Blood, intense violence, nudity, strong language, strong sexual content, and use of drugs.
Black Ops. is rated M for Blood and gore, intense violence, and strong language.
You should also keep in mind that the kid's probably only going to play multiplayer and zombies in Black Ops., which would completely avoid the mature content of the campaign, except for the occasional "fuck" in zombies, while the main attraction of Red Dead is the mature single player. My little brother has Black Ops. and he has no interest in the campaign. Just something to think about.

 

[Ih8pkmn]

Well... Black Ops doesn't actually deal with any moral dilemmas like RDR does, It's more linear than RDR, it has a worse storyline than RDR, and It's a Rockstar game. I think the only part parents care about is that last one, having heard their name in the News quite a few times over the past few years , and they're probably familiar with the logo(thank you, Parent Awareness Sites for doing this! Think of the children my ass).

Or maybe she heard about the Castro mission and just really, really hates Fidel and wants to see her son shoot the head off of "Castro".

 

[OneOfTheMichael's]

Probably because red dead has sexual content that would make the kid ask, "Hey mommy whats this" witch makes her go "Timmy what the!..."
Black ops is nothing more than mindless violence, guns and murder with not much of a story line.
Red dead has a great story campaign and dlc, undead nightmare.... i just realized that i got off topic...
Its complicated...

 

[Lem0nade Inlay]

The kid probably used the argument "But mum EVERYONE has Black Ops and if I don't get it I'll be left out!"

He probably can't use that line on two games in close proximity.

 

[ChaoticLegion]

my mum bought me loads of 18 games when i was younger, i remember being very young and playing GTA 3.

Exactly the same here. I wish people would quit bunching everyone under one general category.

Age ratings are a GUIDELINE. My parents allowed me to play games that were rated for older individuals as I was mature as a child and they trusted me with such games. Additionaly to this I can safely say that the violence nor lack of morals in these games have affected me in a negative way.

It is, at the end of the day, completely up to the parents as to what games they allow their children to play. Just because some parents are idiots who can't handle making such decisions, it does not mean that everyone else is incapable of making such a decision, or that if they do reach that conclusion they are wrong for doing so. Each circumstance must be looked at individualy.

 

[Motiv_]

Fact of the matter is, she probably just looked at the cover, and why it was rated M.

Let's compare.

Read Dead Redemption.

That word jumps out at inexperienced parents more than you realize. I've seen, met, and know many a parent who bawk at Grand Theft Auto for obvious reasons, but have no problem with Call of Duty World at War.

Let's also take a look at the rating system. You see, if she had any idea of what

Spoiler: You actually do in Black Ops

Several scenes where you graphically torture murder and torture enemies, watching a man get a screwdriver shoved through his eyeball, seeing a man get his head caved in with a pipe, etc etc

She'd never have bought it for him. "Violence, Blood and Gore, and Swearing" doesn't really paint a mental picture for parents, while "Sexual themes, Brief Nudity, Alcohol and Drug Use" does.

OR

It could've just been that she either didn't have the money, or didn't want to spend money that day, so instead of saying along the lines of "Go fuck yourself", she said that it was "Inappropriate" for him. I dunno, parents confuse me sometimes.

 

[moose_man]

maybe she is an animal rights protestor, she wouldnt be happy with the killing of animals in RDR

And yet, PETA is A-Okay with PEOPLE getting the shit shot out of them.

 

[Captain Epic]

RDR has boobies

True dat

 

[Brian Hendershot]

It could be a matter of perception. My dear old mum for example, for the only time would only allow violence in video games under the following conditions:

1.) They had to be nonhuman (Zombies and Aliens were okay)
2.) I could kill humans with swords, bows, magic, ect. (She loved the Lord of the Rings...)

It didn't make any sense to me at all. But my mother is like 65 so...

Of course those rules didn't last very long. I managed to dodge around them, and through a combination of her getting tired of it and my amazing debating skills, she finally let up.(It's probably worth pointing out I was adopted at ten, so this rule was put in place from about ten to fourteenish). The first game she bought me for the Xbox360 was Gears of War.

Still haven't killed anyone and have a good social life. My first game was Ninja Gaiden and I just now beat Dead Rising 2. Go suck on that Jack Thompson.