ESRB ratings when you were a kid.

[DeimosMasque]

Grand Theft Auto 1 came out when I was seventeen years old, so yeah, by the time of "Not recommended for kids" games were coming out, I was no longer a kid.

But considering that when I was ten or eleven my dad introduced me to Leisure Suit Larry games so I don't think they were too concerned about the whole thing.

 

[hoboman29]

When I was a kid my Dad would not care what I played in fact he let me play Duke Nukem 3d. My Mom on the other hand was very up tight about this stuff for a long time and stopped around the time I could really understand in her eyes that taking a chainsaw through 50 guys isn't acceptable behavior.

 

[FootloosePhoenix]

Well I didn't really start playing video games until I was 11 and for a few years I wasn't even interested in any M-rated games, so it never came up. I was quite happy with Spyro the Dragon, Sly Cooper, Ratchet and Clank, Final Fantasy, Kingdom Hearts and so forth. The first M-rated game I wanted was The Elder Scrolls IV: Oblivion, which was pretty easy to convince my parents to let me play because I could use the fact that it was originally rated T to my advantage (and Patrick Stewart. We all love Patrick Stewart). After that I found out about BioShock and I ran into problems with that one because my mom had seen my sister playing the part in the PS3 demo where a Splicer hits a Little Sister. She was appalled at the violence towards children and said something about how watching that stuff poisons our brains or...y'know, whatever else those types of parents say. It took quite awhile, but eventually she caved and bought me BioShock 2 for Christmas (by mistake, she'd intended to get the first for me, but I kept it of course and then was allowed to buy the original).

In general, getting my mom to approve of an M-rated game has always been a big hassle, unless it's the sequel to a game I already own and then she doesn't have any problems with it (she didn't even bat an eye at Skyrim and is going to buy me BioShock Infinite, for instance). It was kind of awesome when I asked her if I could get Assassin's Creed II though, because she asked the woman working at EB Games if it was suitable for someone my age and she, along with several customers who were in the store, started going on and on about how amazing ACII is. Since I'm going to be turning seventeen in a matter of weeks though, I really won't have to worry about getting ahold of any games I want in the future.

Also I convinced my older sister to buy me Fallout: New Vegas a little while ago because I knew my mom wouldn't be okay with me blowing people up into sticky little chunks. That turned out to be a huge mistake since, after she found out, she guilt-tripped me for a long time in addition to taking away the game. I really hope she gives it back one of these days; that would be twenty bucks right down the drain.

 

[Rumpsteak]

No, age rating never came in to it when I was a kid. My parents took the approach that they're the same as movies in that, as long as I knew that not everything in games was acceptable in real life, they were harmless.

 

[Lunar Templar]

Back in MY day we didn't have ESRB ratings. We played our Super Mario, and we liked it! By the time the ESRB came out, I was buying my own games.

Also we walked 5 miles to school in canvas shoes, uphill both ways in the snow.
*grumble grumble kids today get off my lawn grumble*

this
so much this.

so no not a fuck was given in my house

also.

canvas shoes? fucken rich kids .... i had to go TEN miles, up hill both ways, in 6 feet of snow, BAREFOOT, to get to school

 

[MetalMagpie]

I notice this with a lot of parents, that a lot could care less about blood and guts, but sexuality is taboo.

It's been observed (mostly by columnists - so read into that what you will) that this is more the case in the USA than in Europe. In the UK, parents (including my own) are generally more bother about violence than about sex.

My house was a "No Gun Games" house. In fact, no modern (or vaguely modern) military equipment of any kind. I blame my mother for how bad I still am at shooters. Too little practice as a teenager.

 

[Quaidis]

Nope. They relied on the stores to keep me away from that garbage, which they did a good job on concerning anime (the obscene tentacle stuff). I didn't really have money back in the day for games.

Once in a while my big brother would buy a violent anime or game (Mortal Kombat! DOOM!) and they still wouldn't care so long as I knew that it was pretend (not hard back then).

Father would occasionally get me games like Return to Zork and Zork: Nemesis (where you had to transport a dismembered head in an old lab/morgue and plug it in to electrodes to get a message. Fancy stuff) and 11th hour/7th guest.


Once in a blue moon in my later childhood television or my brother would expose me to some gory b-rated movie (Lawnmower Man! The Stuff! Nooooooooo...) And I'd be scared out of my wits for days. It's called growing up. Mind you, anything I had done to me medically at the hospital during the years of medical malpractice and lack of knowledge over child-hood trauma more than made up for anything fantasy would give me.


Mind you, I don't remember the first nine years, but I'd imagine it was much the same.

 

[zelda2fanboy]

My parents didn't pay attention to ESRB ratings at all. I mostly self censored and played kid friendly stuff anyways (most M rated shit scared me), but I had my share of M rated titles, too. I was just another well informed consumer and knew what to ask for at bdays and xmas. By the way, I'm 25 now and I have never shot anyone, contrary to what the media has us believe when it becomes fashionable.

 

[Gatx]

It didn't really matter much back then on the SNES but it wasn't my parents who did the monitoring. I just wasn't interested in games with blood and gore and etc. like Mortal Kombat and what not.

Even later on I typically regulated myself so to speak. While God of War looked fun, I wanted to avoid the awkward situation that might've resulted from them walking in on the sex mini-game or beating up bare breasted snake ladies.

 

[L0dest0ne]

My parents were very strict about violent games until I was about 12, then they just kind of gave up. Besides, most games nowadays are downloaded (or pirated) so who cares?

 

[Callate]

*sigh* I'm older than the ESRB ratings system. I remember when Sega had its own ratings system, largely to address parental fears about Mortal Kombat... but even then, I was in my teens.

I think my father was a little disturbed when he saw me playing Double Dragon ("Yes, I'm hitting a woman with a baseball bat. Is something wrong?") but I don't think they ever out-and-out said "no, you shouldn't play this." Fortunately, I was a reasonably sensible kid and didn't go out of my way looking for things that were somehow going to warp me. (That didn't really start until college.)

 

[CannibalCorpses]

Nah, my parents knew that if i was going to go out and kill people it wouldn't be because of something as silly as having played a computer game

 

[l3o2828]

My parent's never cared about the ESRB.
It helped that me and my brother were never interested in the stupidly offensive games.
I remember our mother asking us about the plot of Metal Gear Solid.
And we weren't too far in it, we just explained that One bloke mind controlled a chick and for some reason she was all over you...well we were quite open with her.
She raised some concerns about the content but her concern was over before we could even try to defend the game: We just went 'Nah, It's not shocking'
And that was it.
Nowadays i'm old enough to buy porn games (If i was remotely interested, which i'm not), so That's that.

 

[Saladfork]

My parents never objected to anything I ever played, I assume because they figured I was mentally healthy enough to be able to distinguish between fiction and reality.

You know, that thing most people are able to do after the age of like 6 at the latest.

If I ever have kids I'll probably be more concerend with the quality than the content. Cue judgemental looks if they ever come up to me with a copy of COD 53 or something.

 

[l3o2828]

If I ever have kids I'll probably be more concerend with the quality than the content. Cue judgemental looks if they ever come up to me with a copy of COD 53 or something.

I had to reply because THIS.
THIS FOR THE TRUTH.
I think we don't give kids enough credit, some of them are smart enough to know they shouldn't go around murdering people and using drugs. They KNOW both of those are wrong.
And Yeah, quality control is something i WILL enforce with my possible future kids.
Then again, i'll probably let them play CoD 86 if they promise to try something else aswell.

 

[RJ 17]

I notice this with a lot of parents, that a lot could care less about blood and guts, but sexuality is taboo.

Welcome to America. There's nothing wrong with letting kids watch someone get their eyeballs pulled out of their ass, but don't you DARE show a nipple! DON'T YOU FUCKING DARE!!!!

 

[SlamDunc]

Outlaws (1997) is the first game I remember playing. I was probably around 5-6 at the time. I am sure there are others before that but I dont recall them. There was a fun helicopter war game too.

Halo came out in 2001 and I played it pretty early in the Xbox cycle so I was probably under 10. More around actually.