ESRB ratings when you were a kid.

[Nekron_X]

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.

this is how it was for me. it went pretty much like this

Parents: you know this isn't real and you can't go out and do these things understand?
me: yep!

and that was that. learned it once and they never cared what i played after and would let me rent whatever i wanted so long as it wasn't overtly sexual in nature....though i DID manage to sneak the xbox Leisure Suit Larry past the radar somehow...that was fun.

captcha; easy as cake.

that it was captcha, that it was.

 

[newfoundsky]

My mother bought me GTA:VC, possibly one of the greatest games but most notoriously filthy things to have ever been made. Her reasoning? "The commercial made it out to be a good guy getting revenge on evil drug dealers."

I have yet to find that commercial.

 

[Extra-Ordinary]

I was able to start playing T games at 7, and M games at 13.
My sister, however, didn't have to wait that long, she started playing M games with me when she was about 10 of 11.

 

[Orks da best]

I played red alert, fable, halo, and other games where blood was common in one form or another since I was a wee laddy. In short they didn't really care. And why sould they, it had no really affect on my osyhicoally. bar the games I liked.

 

[Magic Muffin Man]

When I was a kid, my parents looked at each game, used the ESRB as a signpost, and let me play games that they thought I was emotionally mature enough to play. This continued until I was around 14 and their official policy was "anything that isn't GTA is fine," which is weird considering they let me play Mortal Kombat at the time (I think it had more to do with the perceived "realism" of GTA compared to something cartoonish like MK.)

Also, working at GameStop, I've noticed that a lot of parents are totally cool with violence, blood, gore, etc., but get up in arms if a video game has sex in it. I remember talking to a woman about wether Gears 3 was an OK game for her 8 year old son, which I said it wasn't on account of the massive amounts of blood, gore, language, and general nastiness in the campaign alone. Her response?

"Yeah, whatever, but there isn't any..."
"Yes?"
"You Know...*whispers* sex in it is there!?"
"I..uh...not really..."
"Oh, well all right then, it's fine!"

I guess chainsawing a man's head off is fine, but if there's side-boob? God help us.

God help us all.

 

[Souplex]

My parents subscribed to the same philosophy I did: Do I think I can handle it.

 

[Ironman126]

I loathed my mother for years because of the ESRB ratings! From age 8-15 i wasn't to touch any shooter, ever, without express permission from my mother (my dad couldn't be assed to care). If there was even the potential for semi-realistic violence, sexual themes, or language, it was off limits. I remember once my friends (all of us age 12/13) came over for some get-together and one brought his Xbox with Medal of Honor and some James Bond TPS. I got to watch from afar as my friends enjoyed the games. Christ, she was such a **** about it all. I remember finally turning 17. Bought the retail version of Fallout: New Vegas and fucking flashed that shit all over the house! God, that felt good. Of course, I had access to plenty of M-rated games from age 15ish, good ol' Steam and my sane father...

 

[SlaveNumber23]

My parents trusted me enough not to develop into a serial killer, I was a pretty sensible kid, my dad bought me GTA:SA when I was 12 or 13 and I was watching R rated horror movies from 15 or 16. I do get urges to kill people every now and then but I don't actually do it...usually.

 

[PunkyMcGee]

i may be showing my age but the esrb didn't exist when i started my gaming career.