Do you think younger gamers who arent alowed to play Rated M games are missing out?

[wordsmith]

I'm actually allowed to play mature rated games, just not aorund my underaged sibling. Also, I'm wondering what gives you the right to tell me when and how I should use my swear words?

I'm not telling you what you can and can't do, I merely drew my assumption of your underage status from the pointless injection of a swearword, "Fucking hell" is generally an exclamation.

I also didn't say that you couldn't. You shouldn't, in my opinion (I'm guessing that, like most people on here, your parents show no interest in games, as you said that having one of those "smart as hell" parents would be hell), but so long as you're not on the same VOIP as me, we're cool.

 

[cheywoodward]

The truth is that anyone who owns a PS3 or XBOX 360 and is not allowed to play M-rated games is missing out because most of the blockbuster titles are M-rated for instance from February to March there are (according to Gamestop's American website) 31 retail releases on XBOX 360 and PS3, 14 are rated M, 8 are rated T, 6 are rated E or E 10+ and 3 are RP.
I Know that this list is not nearly complete and that for the Wii it would be the exact opposite but the numbers show that those Who own a PS3 or XBOX 360 are definitely missing out on not just the best games but close to half of all games.

 

[snow]

There are so many things that I have differed opinions on based on the OP

Although I do agree that parents should be more considerate of others when it comes to their spoiled brats... I'm talking about the spoiled brats that could get away with murder and their parents would still give them a cookie. Not the children that are lucky enough to have parents that, through some degree of understanding between the 2, the child is allowed to play M rated games.

I feel I fall into the gray area of it all..Parents that disregard it all and let their children play or do whatever they please need to be smacked across the face. Parents that are observant in their child's gameplay while they play games that may or may not be to mature for them are ok in my book. They are doing their jobs as parents, but parents that fall victim to the slander against gaming are just bat-shit crazy!

I guess I'm a rare breed when I say I feel that anyone that still takes immediate offense to swear words are insecure. I know this is a bold way to express my opinion, but whenever a person stops me in the middle of a sentence to scold me for my use of words were probably victims to very strict parents themselves that used the belt-on-bum method whenever they got out of line! Therefore due to this, they feel the need to interrupt me as a result, and thus I feel the need to use the belt-on-bum method myself.

What I'm trying to say is, Swear words are just words... They were never bad... Some one just decided to make them that way. They are part of the human language and are used in everday situations...

Parents that don't realize this and ban a game the instant a curse hits the audio or screen are most likely victims of overly strict parents themselves.

Although when it comes to the sexual part of it all... Excuse me for going into rant mode here...

Sex is the meaning of life! Let me answer that for anyone who has pondered that question before... We're put on this Earth to continue making sure we're put on Earth. Strip away any means of government, religion or waffle houses... We are born to breed and carry forth the species. That's it! Anything more that was to be expected of us, is just the stuff we do in between life and death... Though there are many of us who either can't have children, or choose not too. I'm not saying those people have lost their meaning, because in this day in age... There are millions of others continuing the species for them.

In other words, the meaning of life, is the meaning of life as a species... The meaning of life for each individual, is up to whatever that individual decides to do in their path while they are still alive.

That being said, I don't expect parents to feel comfortable if they were told they have to give the birds and the bees talk to their 2 week old baby. They should atleast accept the fact that when their child gets older, he or she will most likely encounter a sexual situation.

Parents are uncomfortable with the idea that their children will one day be grown up, but they should atleast acknowledge the fact that they will one day be having sex and possibly having children of their own, and choose a plan of action accordingly, because all they are doing right now is fully censoring the child and warping their ideas of what sex really is.

Hmmm.. Now that I typed all that out, I may feel I have gotten lost some where, seeing as how I had to leave the laptop half way through and grab some food, so if I ended up babbling some where... I apologize...

Also... I don't see anything wrong with the parents watching the child play the game.. I guess this is due to the fact that I'm a bit like the fine people who make Unskippable. I love it when people watch me play games because there for I know I am entertaining them and making them laugh. When I was 13, I had often asked my parents to watch me play because of this, I saw it as a bonding time with my parents, but that's just me...

I fell under the crowd where I was able to play M rated games, but my parents understood what I was getting into and acknowledged the fact that I was a growing man.

I know not all parents are like this, so yes I do feel that some children are missing out, but it's the ones who's parents don't realize that they are mature enough to handle the content that I feel are the ones who are truly missing out... Not all children are like that though, some aren't as mature as others...

It's a shame when a child hasn't matured enough gets away with playing M rated games, while on the other hand a child of the same age who is very mature for his age gets stuck with parents who are too afraid to acknowledge it.

Edit:

Holy crap what a wall of text, I truly apologize, I know not all people like reading a post from a single person this long..

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

snip

Well, your original post was hardly typical of a parent. You probably described one of the most extreme cases possible. So the resulting answer is skewed.

In the real world, if a parent decides that M rated games are not allowed, than good on them. It shows they are paying attention (or at least trying to) and the kid's just going to have to learn to deal with it.

And no, the kid's not missing out. Plenty of M rated games rely on the rating (and the usual trappings - blood, guns, violence) to make it seem more appealing but are in fact, steaming piles. Some of this gen's best games are T rated affairs.

All I am trying to ask you all is Key words : IF THEY ARE MISSING OUT.

Which was answered in my post, if you would kindly like to have a second look. If you only want people to address the "key words" then why the hypothetical beforehand?

*Looks at first post*

Good Point...NO! You have defeated me in our little quarrel!

"s69-5 has gained 1299 experience point. items he/she have obtained are teh sords of teh newb slaying and 30 gold

 

[Grey_Focks]

I think it's a bit of a shame, considering there are quite a few great games that are M-rated, that don't use blood or sex just to sell the game, but there are others that do. So yes, it sucks they won't get to play Mass Effect, Dragon Age, Assassin's Creed, Bioschock or Fallout, but I can understand them not playing MadWorld, God of War or Gears of War. There are quite a few good non-M rated games, but that doesn't really make up for quite a few gems they're missing out on.

 

[T3h Merc]

I'm 13 and most of my games are rated 18 (Fallout 3, Saint's Row 2, stuff like that) and I can't get into the Lego Games or most stuff rated under 15+. I woudn't say their missing out its just that most higher rated games are better gaming experiences.

Although I'm not allowed games with sex or nudity

OK now that I've fixed all those grammatical and spelling mistakes I can adress your post. I too am 13 but the only game I own under M rating is Oblivion. Please take into consideration that if you can't "get into Lego Games" then they are probably of much lower quality. I am currently on a Mass Effect 2 streak and there is sex, but it doesn't play a primary part. It is however there. Are your parents object to that?

Say for instance that you are a 13-16 year old gamer. Your parents are strict as motherfucking hell and will never allow you to play rated M games and "Just barely" T games. Also, they have to watch you play for at least an hour (Should I also mention there smart as hell? They could probably figure out every joke in Banjo and Kazooie) and if they hear one curse word,one sexual innuendo, the game gets taken away.

I know, that life would be fucking hell, but have you guys noticed that at the rate some of these parents are going, this is probably not too far of? So I ask you Escapist, do you think a kid would really miss out if he could not play rated M games? ( Lets just say he's mentally prepared for it)

Could you make it more obvious that this is your situation? Try explaining why violence and swearing make the game a better expierience for you. If that fails then fucking wait until you are 17 to purchase the games for yourself. It is your parents money (most likely) and they should have some say in what you play. Luckily for me my Mom is a pot-smoking hippy and she's fine wirth anything and My step-dad doesn't give two shits about me sooooo yeah.

 

[GundamSentinel]

No, they're not missing out. Adults are missing out on the fun kiddie games and kids get to play much more awesome games when they get older. It's the way of the world.

 

[Punisher A.J.]

95% of all good games are rated M? (sarcastic) Noooooooooooooooooooooooooooooo.
Imagine a world without bioware.

 

[The Unskilled78]

I didn't play a single M-rated game until I turned 17. It never really bothered me. ('course, the only system I owned at the time was the 'cube.) I turned out just fine.

My opinion is simple - if parents are reasonably strict, i don't think kids miss out on much. Only what you described is not "reasonably strict".

It's less like "reasonably strict" and more like a cross between Waffen SS and Spanish Inquisiton. If my parents were like that, i'd probably run away or murder them. Not because of games, but because i despise puritans and Nazis, which they seem to be.

You have to understand that most parents don't have the time to research each and every game. They trust the ESRB. That's the problem.

 

[teisjm]

Theres so many good games out there, that unless you play 16 hours a day, and doesn't keep hanging on multiplayer games for half eternities, you're gonna miss out on some games, even if you're old enough / have non-insane parents to play play all games.
So not really, they may miss out on some good M rated games, but if they had played those, they would've just missed out on some otehr good games anyways.

 

[SUPA FRANKY]

I'm 13 and most of my games are rated 18 (Fallout 3, Saint's Row 2, stuff like that) and I can't get into the Lego Games or most stuff rated under 15+. I woudn't say their missing out its just that most higher rated games are better gaming experiences.

Although I'm not allowed games with sex or nudity

OK now that I've fixed all those grammatical and spelling mistakes I can adress your post. I too am 13 but the only game I own under M rating is Oblivion. Please take into consideration that if you can't "get into Lego Games" then they are probably of much lower quality. I am currently on a Mass Effect 2 streak and there is sex, but it doesn't play a primary part. It is however there. Are your parents object to that?

Say for instance that you are a 13-16 year old gamer. Your parents are strict as motherfucking hell and will never allow you to play rated M games and "Just barely" T games. Also, they have to watch you play for at least an hour (Should I also mention there smart as hell? They could probably figure out every joke in Banjo and Kazooie) and if they hear one curse word,one sexual innuendo, the game gets taken away.

I know, that life would be fucking hell, but have you guys noticed that at the rate some of these parents are going, this is probably not too far of? So I ask you Escapist, do you think a kid would really miss out if he could not play rated M games? ( Lets just say he's mentally prepared for it)

Could you make it more obvious that this is your situation? Try explaining why violence and swearing make the game a better expierience for you. If that fails then fucking wait until you are 17 to purchase the games for yourself. It is your parents money (most likely) and they should have some say in what you play. Luckily for me my Mom is a pot-smoking hippy and she's fine wirth anything and My step-dad doesn't give two shits about me sooooo yeah.

1.) I dint say this was my situation, no matter how "painfully" obvious it seemed. Don't talk about shit you don't know the answer to.

2.)As stated before, not everyone game is rated mature due to the violence and/or sex. There are several games that would be detracted greatly if their mature content was removed.

 

[b4k4]

I don't have an issue with it, so long as they are mature enough to handle it.
[sub](As absolutely overdone of a response as that is.)[/sub]

I agree with you there, but the thing is I have only rarely encountered any kids playing m-rated games that really are mature enough to handle it.

But regarding the actual topic, I don't feel kids are missing much if they can't play M-rated games. There's plenty of stuff out there that just gets overlooked because the general attitude for consumers has become M=good, everything else=crap.

 

[Chunklin]

Some games yes, but with games like Manhunt or GTA, I think that they can live like a normal person without killing people with blunt objects.

 

[Kollega]

My opinion is simple - if parents are reasonably strict, i don't think kids miss out on much. Only what you described is not "reasonably strict".

You have to understand that most parents don't have the time to research each and every game. They trust the ESRB. That's the problem.

Uhmmm...

Did you miss my point? What i meant to say is that scenario described in the OP (15-year old teenager barely able to get something T-rated and not being allowed to play games if there's one double entendre to be found in them) is so grossly over-the-top it's basically hell on Earth. Those are not "reasonably strict" parents, those are more like Orwellian thought police.

Reasonably strict parents don't let 10-year olds play GTA, Gears of War, or Modern Warfare 2 - yet when he turns 15, they won't forbid him to play a game because there's one utterance of "shit" or a single dick joke in it.

 

[Azraellod]

Not really.

I wont deny that parents being strict and limiting what their children play is likely to be a source of frustration to that child. I personally know someone who wasn't allowed to play Goldeneye 007 [http://www.thegamecritique.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/09/Goldeneye-007.jpg] until they were 15, and this was immensely frustrating to them.

But "missing out" seems to imply that the games will just vanish from existence if they aren't played immediately, and that's just not true. Admittedly the multi-player aspect of the game may fade from existence as the game grows older and is replaced with the M rated games of the new generation, but the single player aspect will remain.

If you are that desperate to play a game that is too old for you, just buy the game now and ask your parents to keep it back until you are old enough.

 

[Eliam_Dar]

for M games, I agree with the parents, for T and E games, I think the kids are safe. Sexual innuendo jokes are only understood by those who already know about sexuality, so if a "kid" gets the joke, is more than probable that he already knows about it.

EDIT: Just to add a personal experience, I have an 11 year old cousin, he loves gaming, though unlike me he does not focus on storytelling, just on gameplay. I don't let him play games like L4D2, Condemmned, Killzone 2, Gears 2 (I have a PC, PS3 and XBOX 360), but I let him play, Ratchet and Clank games, Forza 3, Torchligth and several others.

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

Say for instance that you are a 13-16 year old gamer. Your parents are strict as motherfucking hell and will never allow you to play rated M games and "Just barely" T games. Also, they have to watch you play for at least an hour (Should I also mention there smart as hell? They could probably figure out every joke in Banjo and Kazooie) and if they hear one curse word,one sexual innuendo, the game gets taken away.

I know, that life would be fucking hell, but have you guys noticed that at the rate some of these parents are going, this is probably not too far of? So I ask you Escapist, do you think a kid would really miss out if he could not play rated M games? ( Lets just say he's mentally prepared for it)

i don't think a kid would really miss out if he could not play rated M games, because when he'd get older he could play those games, but then he wouldn't be interested in that at that age if you know what i mean... Bazing!

 

[Charlie the Grenadier]

I actually prefer the UK system, where the video games go thru the cinema system, and for any game with an age limit (12/15/18), it has exactly the same symbols as movies and dvds, giving parents zero excuse.

Agreed.

I feel fortunate that when faced with this issue in the future with my own kids I'll actually know what I'm talking about.