Is it okay for parents to blatantly disregard ratings?

[Crusader1089]

What an an americentric question. In the UK it isn't an issue, it's the law. If it says 18 on the movie poster you have to be 18 to get in. You could try and bluff your way in of course, but they're used to that.

And I'd say that's a good thing. In the home parents have more responsibility, with TV and DVDs and I think parents can make sensible judgements as when it is right to let children see 12s or 15s. But even then you still can't sell those DVDs to children, parents have got to buy them for children or already have them on their shelf. Mostly the system works, kids see age appropriate movies with a couple of years of leeway depending on what the parents think or whether the kids have an older brother willing to buy it for them.

 

[darth.pixie]

Isolation makes you vulnerable.
Exposure breeds immunity.

This basically. My parents didn't care about ratings, ever. But then we didn't have Saw or something of that caliber. I've known adults not ready to see that.

Most of the time, kids don't get it and they just watch, confused, or do something else. I'm a horror movie fan and have been since I was 10. And most old movies are scarier than the ones today.

It really just depends on the parent. I'd let my kid watch if I knew he wouldn't freak out but to those that say 'no', you can't really stop a child to view things like this completely. And I think that a small amount of exposure will help a child cope.

 

[Gigano]

Yes, it's okay for a parent to discard a rating, providing it's done after they've individually assessed what the child can handle. Parents generally know their kids better than a rating board does, so if they know a 9 year kid is up for the content and gameplay of a strategy game that says 12+, then go right ahead.

If they don't know shit about gaming, they should probably stick to the ratings. Or better yet, take an interest in what their child is actually doing, so they can form an individual opinion on it, and act accordingly. Seriously, what parent can't find the time to sit down with its kid for an hour to watch it play a game? And should they have become parents in the first place then?

 

[rutger5000]

Yeah it's alright. Those ratings should not be considered to be more then mere guidelines. Wetter you follow them or not is your choice. You know your children the best. Also those ratings make no sense what so ever. So that makes it even more okay.

 

[Mad1Cow]

Personally I feel we're in an age where kids are subject to adult material wherever they look. What with magazines and adult reading material within easy access of kids (i.e. their local newsagents, third row down, right next to spider-man...don't ask how I know...) I think that parents are allowed to let them see adult material IF THEY EXPLAIN IT. Otherwise when little Timmy goes on a killing spree by stealing daddy's shotgun, they're not allowed to blame violent video games or media as an influence when the parents should have been doing their jobs. GTA 4 is and always will be an 18 game for good reason. If the media turn around and say "THIS TRAGEDY WOULD NEVER HAVE HAPPENED IF THIS GAME DIDN'T EXIST" I claim bullshit because this "tragedy" would never have happened if their parents were being parents! A little common sense never hurt anyone...

 

[Lucifron]

Nope, it isn't. Those ratings are for the protection of children. But hey, what can you do about it.

Personally, I'm still an advocate of people having to earn the right to be a parent.

Protection of children? Yeah, right.

I won't give a vanishing fuck about the ratings of any media I will supply my children with, as I will instead watch it myself and then judge its suitability all on my lonesome, adult self.

That said, my kids will probably be kept away from most R-rated flicks until their teens, longer if they can't handle it.

 

[Bobbity]

Yes. The ratings are only really in place so that the parents who do take issue don't have an excuse to sue the publishers for making their product available to innocent little children. If the parents are fine with their child playing some sort of evil alien killing prostitution cake making game, then that's their prerogative.

 

[Something Amyss]

That news article on The Kings Speech got me thinking.

Whenever I go to a movie that's rated R (17+) inevitably some mom is there with her kids. Usually a 5 year old and and 11 year old. While it might be a parents choice, is it really alright? The same can be said of games. Inevitably some mom or dad will buy their 10 year old Call of Duty. This isn't a case of "oh he's almost of age so it doesn't matter".

Is it really okay for kids to be subjected to adult material based on the uncaring or uninformed whim of the parent?

Ideally, I'd say "hey, it's their kids, they know what's happening."

However, I've been in the real world too long for that to work.

 

[Jack Macaque]

Until the child is old enough to understand the difference between reality and the digital world (Lol@Digimon) parents MUST restrict what their children play and watch, so kids don't think it's ok to steal a dozen V6 rockets and fortify themselves in Alcatraz with hostages so Sean Connery has to come in and beat them all down.

Wait...that was a movie...

Well, I'm sure Ed Harris played M games while he was still too young, and that's why he became a terrorist.

 

[Yureina]

Depends on the circumstances, I think. My parents were ok with letting me watch some R movies and, eventually, M-rated games as I was growing up. The difference with me however is I was the one with tougher standards rather than my parents. I avoided some R movies and M-rated games (as I still do) for my own personal reasons, rather than having someone else tell me what to do. In that sense, I was an exception to the rule. In other cases however, parents should know that there are some things that kids should not see until they are in a position to understand what is going on.

 

[badgersprite]

Only if they lose the right to complain about kids playing/watching said items.

My answer exactly.

Parents are totally entitled to decide what their kids are able to watch or play, but they shouldn't act like there was no way for them to know what was in the material. I mean, let's face it, if my parents were obeying ratings, I wouldn't have been able to play FFVII until I was fifteen. For serious. It's an M15+ game in this country (not MA15+, mind you, but that point still stands).

Still, I seriously side-eye people who take little kids to R rated movies. That kind of shit just makes me think they don't care.

 

[Woodsey]

Only if they lose the right to complain about kids playing/watching said items.

This all the way.

 

[Ninjat_126]

I won't give a vanishing fuck about the ratings of any media I will supply my children with, as I will instead watch it myself and then judge its suitability all on my lonesome, adult self.

That said, my kids will probably be kept away from most R-rated flicks until their teens, longer if they can't handle it.

Agreed. Completely and utterly agreed.

SNIP

For once in my life, I'm saying this with literally no interest in offending but... I honestly don't give a stack of fucks how things are run down in australia. In NA, the only region I really care about, the ESRB isn't legally enforced. This is the way it SHOULD be. Back to minecraft...

Why should parents be disallowed from choosing to let their kid play a game if they want to? It makes no sense to do so.

I'm so sorry for offending you by making a statement about a country that you don't live in. I will try my hardest not to do something so irredeemably cruel and heartless ever again, and I say this in the most truthful and wholehearted manner I have ever said anything in my life. I am taking your opinion more seriously than I take the stupidity of our OFLC, or the MASSIVE FREAKING CYCLONE headed straight at my house, or global warming, or terrorism, or AIDS, or school shootings, or the fact that I may actually have Cystic Fibrosis after all, or that my best friends may die in the next two days and there is nothing I can do to stop it. So, please, if there is anything else that will offend you, please, feel free to let us know, and we will comply with your every demand. I say this from the bottom of my heart.

 

[Chibz]

I'm so sorry for offending you by making a statement about a country that you don't live in. I will try my hardest not to do something so irredeemably cruel and heartless ever again, and I say this in the most truthful and wholehearted manner I have ever said anything in my life. I am taking your opinion more seriously than I take the stupidity of our OFLC, or the MASSIVE FREAKING CYCLONE headed straight at my house, or global warming, or terrorism, or AIDS, or school shootings, or the fact that I may actually have Cystic Fibrosis after all, or that my best friends may die in the next two days and there is nothing I can do to stop it. So, please, if there is anything else that will offend you, please, feel free to let us know, and we will comply with your every demand. I say this from the bottom of my heart.

I don't know why you take so offense to this, and you certainly didn't cause offense. You're just outside my monkeyzone.

OT: I'm just so against things like ratings being forced on parents because it gives parents less authority in regards to how they raise their children. For example, I was allowed (at 12/13) to watch R-rate movies. Because my parents thought I could handle it. (In retrospect, I could). The ESRB is just an example of this done exceptionally right: Most video game stores follow the ESRB's ratings willingly. I've bought an M-rated game under 18, but that's because the store didn't follow the ESRB too carefully.

 

[VaudevillianVeteran]

If the kid is mature enough to deal with the themes involved and the parent believes this too, then I don't really see a problem. It's more when they misgauge or just disregard what they believe their kid can handle and normally ends with a child in tears that it's a problem.

 

[Ninjat_126]

OT: I'm just so against things like ratings being forced on parents because it gives parents less authority in regards to how they raise their children. For example, I was allowed (at 12/13) to watch R-rate movies. Because my parents thought I could handle it. (In retrospect, I could). The ESRB is just an example of this done exceptionally right: Most video game stores follow the ESRB's ratings willingly. I've bought an M-rated game under 18, but that's because the store didn't follow the ESRB too carefully.

I agree with that idea. In Australia, all films/games must be rated, but people under 15 can't watch MA15+ movies without an adult present, and only adults can watch R18+ movies.

 

[Chibz]

I agree with that idea. In Australia, all films/games must be rated, but people under 15 can't watch MA15+ movies without an adult present, and only adults can watch R18+ movies.

It's all compounded on by the fact that every country (seemingly) has its own rating system with different priorities. Example: Is Brokeback Mountain a suitable film for your average fourteen-year-old to view? The US' board says no (Rated R) but Canada's says yes (rated 14A IIRC). This is why I feel it should be entirely up to parents. Nobody knows about their kid better than them.

 

[headshotcatcher]

Nope, it isn't. Those ratings are for the protection of children. But hey, what can you do about it.

Personally, I'm still an advocate of people having to earn the right to be a parent.

So you never played any games that were rated for an older audience than you were at the time?