my mom HATES violent video games

[Velvet Kevorkian]

All I can say is quit whining about it and find something else to entertain you. The majority of mainstream shooter games are mediocre crap nowadays, MW2 is no exception, there are plenty of non-violent titles that will give you hours of entertainment and that your mum will approve of.

Anyone remember that Microsoft racing game "Midtown Madness"? Yeah, I wasn't allowed to play that when I was ten because my dad thought the idea of pedestrians diving last minute out of the way of your car was a bad influence on me. And I never even got my first games console until 2 years ago. (I am 19, I wasn't allowed one until I could buy it with my own money)

Be thankful with your PS3 that was bought for you as a gift, seriously - a lot of folk out there would never get that amount of cash spent on them, even at Christmas.

 

[SamFancyPants252]

just make sure she knows you want it, and express to her how you can deal with that sort of stuff without going out and chainsawing the president's head of. Strict parents are strict parents, there's not much you can do, but fighting back won't help one bit.

 

[Rakkana]

If your mom won't let you play, she'll never listen to you. Parents tend to think "I know better than my child just because I do" so good luck

Parents don't think that, they KNOW that.
Parents ALWAYS know better than the child. It's called life experience.

Depends how well that parent has lived their life.

 

[Eggsnham]

If your mom won't let you play, she'll never listen to you. Parents tend to think "I know better than my child just because I do" so good luck

You're 13. You shouldn't be playing M-rated games. What she did was right as a parent.

Wait until you're 17, then you can play.

M is for Mature, not adult. If he can tell its not real and won't try to reinact the game in real life then he should be able to play. I've played M games since I was 6, yet I'm one of the least violent people I know

Ratings are guidelines for parents. His parent is abiding by the guidelines. She is doing the right thing. When he is 17, she will let him play. She is one of the few parents who actually follows the ratings and uses them for what they're there for.

Alright, but most any game worth playing is rated "M". My parents used to do this, and it's a ***** to have fun with some of the games that fall under the "T" category, especially when your friend calls you up and wants to talk about CoD 4. My dad was the one that caught on pretty quick that I wasn't a psychopath and then proceeded to tell that to my mom. The rating guidelines are there because people are paranoid, video-games are the new rock and roll. When we find good reasons to prevent kids age 13-16 from enjoying the games that 17 year olds can enjoy, then I'll agree with your post, until then, this is one of those rare instances that I agree with someone who's obviously trying too hard.

 

[nathan-dts]

If your mom won't let you play, she'll never listen to you. Parents tend to think "I know better than my child just because I do" so good luck

You're 13. You shouldn't be playing M-rated games. What she did was right as a parent.

Wait until you're 17, then you can play.

M is for Mature, not adult. If he can tell its not real and won't try to reinact the game in real life then he should be able to play. I've played M games since I was 6, yet I'm one of the least violent people I know

so true. So many people belive that just becuase your not over 17 your not mature enough.

Wrong, I think that, if your parents say that you cannot play a game that is rated 17+, then their word is law so long as you're living in their house. Period. It has nothing to do with him being under 17 to me. Now, if he were 21 and his mom said no, then there would be a problem.

What? As long as somebody can discern between fiction and non-fiction and as long as the parent has done a good job teaching the child right and wrong, then the parent should trust there child to do more mature things. Banning your child from doing something FOR NO REASON just points to the fact that the parent has a low opinion of there child.

 

[fenrizz]

However, she's still being completely ridiculous. If you can't give a reason for why you do it, I don't think you have any ground to stand on. As a matter of fact, video games don't make me violent at all, I'm usually a very calm and sensible person.

But when somebody says "You know why" as their reasoning for something, I grab the nearest object that can hurt things and go on a bloody rampage. In a sense, the mother could well be making her son more violent by refusing to allow him to play video games.

How is FOLLOWING THE FUCKING LAW "completely ridiculous" and an invalid reason?

What if some 13 year old complains about how his mum won't let him drive the family car, watch porn on the living room TV, or get married?

It's not really the law, is it?
There is no law that states that these guidelines must be followed.
They are guidelines, NOT THE LAW!

 

[SextusMaximus]

What she says goes. Tough for you...

Also, if you're going to act like you have a high IQ, use decent grammar. Specifically capital letters. Also, no one on the internet cares about it.

 

[CJ1145]

If your mom won't let you play, she'll never listen to you. Parents tend to think "I know better than my child just because I do" so good luck

Parents don't think that, they KNOW that.
Parents ALWAYS know better than the child. It's called life experience.

Age does not make you better. It just means you've had more time to potentially suffer brain damage and lose all credibility.

I wonder what future you would say if you rediscover this post in 15-20 years? Would this youthful arrogance remain? Or would it be tempered with cold hard reality.

He'd probably say "I'd probably be really angry at me for being such a douche, but as I look at the other posts I can't help but notice I was the least douchey one there."

Seriously, people seem to assume that with age comes wisdom. It does not; wisdom is acquired through life, and if you live a full and enriched life, you will be very wise, and get more and moreso as you age. However, parents in these situations tend to not be very wise, on the contrary they seem to think that logic has no place in the argument, and they can do whatever they please because they are a parent. They have stopped searching for wisdom; instead, they think that they're becoming exponentially wiser just by sitting on their ass and scolding their children for relatively minor things, and dodging the fact that they did much worse stuff as a teenager.

 

[mickey711]

One's IQ isn't necessarily indicative of their intellectual maturity, of which you've shown a lack of in your posts. And the American education system is in such a state that there's rampant grade inflation, making grades pretty much meaningless. My IQ is 135, yet I don't consider myself to be infallible in my judgement and can accept the opinions of others. You're not even attempting to take the advice of the posters in the thread and instead resort to accusing them of not reading your first post. Your mother is obviously concerned about you and is worried that playing violent games might have a detrimental effect on your behavior, which seems to be perfectly reasonable.

The ESRB ratings are there for a reason: to encourage gamers to play games suited to their age group. Teenagers are an especially impressionable bunch, what with puberty, peer pressure and their self-consciousness. I suggest you play strategy games and the like until you're sure that you're mature enough to play M-rated games. There's more fun to be had in gaming than blowing someone's head off or cutting people in half with a chainsaw. Defcon is an example of such a game that is family friendly and quite fun to play.

And Jesus Christ, work on your grammar. You have a tendency to ramble on and on without using full stops or writing in short paragraphs, as well as confusing the usage of 'then' with 'than', and misspelling 'address'.

Show her this

There are many societal and economic factors that could have contributed to the decline in crime, like the recession during the early 1990s. And who actually played the Postal games?

 

[Orcus The Ultimate]

RESPECT YOUR PARENTS, RESPECT YOUR PARENTS DECISION,

and above all, RESPECT THE LAW!

 

[Eggsnham]

You're 13. You shouldn't be playing M-rated games. What she did was right as a parent.

Wait until you're 17, then you can play.

The little experiment he did was pretty mature IMO. And "M" stands for mature, not 17.

If you actually read the box, M stands for 17+ at least here in America, I know that it is 15 in other countries. That said, maturity must be proven. I'm sure that the ESRB does not have time to interview every single person purchasing every single game. They had to put an age on the box representing what they thought was a "mature" age. 17 (15) was just what it turned out to be.

Sure, the OP may be mature. Hell, he might even be more mature than I am. But that means nothing. If his mother doesn't see him as mature and goes by the guidelines on the box, so be it. Its her house, her rules.

Associating ones maturity with a number representing age is insulting to them and the parents that raised them (especially if said parents follow those guidelines, they're practically insulting themselves). It's like saying "We know that not ALL of you are immature, in fact we know that there's only one in a million that could ever become mentally ill from playing this game, but we still don't trust you, because you're not 17.) They might as well just flick off anyone who's under 17.

 

[esperandote]

If you're so smart how come you're asking less smart people for a solution?

OT. M 17+ Rated, sorry for you. Play at a friend's house.

 

[nathan-dts]

Violent video games also hate your mom.


In all seriousness, you're 13. Even if you're intellectually mature enough to handle the content, you're still a minor, and your parents can do whatever they want to you that doesn't constitute neglect, abuse, or endangerment. Also, whatever store employee sold you the game shouldn't have done so, because the rating is too high.

I'd like to add that this has nothing to do with my hatred of squeakers on MW2...Okay, maybe a little.

Edit: Also, there's no way you have an IQ of 134 if your posts look like that. Not unless the scale has shifted since last I took an IQ test. Or maybe they give out extra-credit on those now. You know, No Child Left Behind and all.

They might be able to do anything but actions like this just show that this persons mother has a low opinion of him.

 

[Eggsnham]

You're 13. You shouldn't be playing M-rated games. What she did was right as a parent.

Wait until you're 17, then you can play.

The little experiment he did was pretty mature IMO. And "M" stands for mature, not 17.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

ESRB says it does stand for 17 years old.

FYI the American rating system SUCKS BALLS, especially how a layman must visit a website to figure out what the cryptic ratings actually mean. I think the main reason for their uselessness is down to how the ESRB is not a government run body but effectively a trade body for self-regulation, they have very little to no legal powers and are not controlled by any democratically elected representatives.

Here in the UK we have clearly marked ratings where the laws are clear and universal (though not always agreeable, but I'm an adult now so yah boo sucks ya kids).

(U) = Universally suitable for all
(12) = not for people under 12
(15) = not for people under 15
(18) = not for people under 18

It couldn't be clearer and the even 3 year spacing between each rating bracket can accommodate for how some games/movies are more explicit than just a (12) (T for teen) rating but not explicit enough to earn an (18) (M for Mature) such as Uncharted 2.

ESRB is a load of crap, I think I'd prefer the UK's rating system. Anyways, I think representing one's maturity with a number is insulting personally.

 

[Flames66]

You're 13. You shouldn't be playing M-rated games. What she did was right as a parent.

Wait until you're 17, then you can play.

The little experiment he did was pretty mature IMO. And "M" stands for mature, not 17.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/ratings_guide.jsp

ESRB says it does stand for 17 years old.

FYI the American rating system SUCKS BALLS, especially how a layman must visit a website to figure out what the cryptic ratings actually mean. I think the main reason for their uselessness is down to how the ESRB is not a government run body but effectively a trade body for self-regulation, they have very little to no legal powers and are not controlled by any democratically elected representatives.

Here in the UK we have clearly marked ratings where the laws are clear and universal (though not always agreeable, but I'm an adult now so yah boo sucks ya kids).

(U) = Universally suitable for all
(12) = not for people under 12
(15) = not for people under 15
(18) = not for people under 18

It couldn't be clearer and the even 3 year spacing between each rating bracket can accommodate for how some games/movies are more explicit than just a (12) (T for teen) rating but not explicit enough to earn an (18) (M for Mature) such as Uncharted 2.

ESRB is a load of crap, I think I'd prefer the UK's rating system. Anyways, I think representing one's maturity with a number is insulting personally.

There is no perfect system. We just have to make do with what we have got and try to make it better. You are not old enough yet, so wait like everyone else had to.

 

[Rakkana]

If your mom won't let you play, she'll never listen to you. Parents tend to think "I know better than my child just because I do" so good luck

Parents don't think that, they KNOW that.
Parents ALWAYS know better than the child. It's called life experience.

Depends how well that parent has lived their life.

Youthful arrogance, how distinctly asinine. You are correct if the parent is a drug addled individual with criminal tendencies. However, in such an instance, the individual should not (and will probably not) be anyone's legal guardian. Therefore, your argument is invalid.

And just to clarify things for you, IQ does not equate intelligence. I also have been tested several times over the course of my life and have always been deemed as having a Superior IQ. This of course is meaningless in the context of real world experience. Humans learn the most when they actually fail at something, as it forces them to devise new scenarios and solutions to overcome the problem.

In shorter terms:
intelligence =/= wisdom
wisdom > intelligence
experience + intelligence = wisdom

To start, my argument is invalid? It doesn't mater if they should not be anyone's legal guardian. Because when you use the word 'should' you should be implying what morally or lawfully should happen. I have news for you that the world is corrupt and most of the people will get away with this. What we should do and what we do, do are different and I expect someone who has more 'life experience' to know this.

Just to clarify things for you I don't need any clarifying. On previous forums I have said much the same thing.

I like your equations at the end however though I believe Logic should be in there somewhere.

 

[Ishnuvalok]

13 years old, iq:134 extremely mature for my age

That's what they all say. Enjoy Hello Kitty Island Adventure.

If you're under the ESRB/PEGI/whatever rating system age recommendation , you can't argue against your parents saying "I don't want you playing this/watching this". There's a reason why you have them. If you were 17-18 though, that would be a different story.

 

[Void(null)]

My Hates off to your mother OP. She is being involved in your life and trying to protect your innocence. She is doing the right thing as a parent and I wish more parents would take an interest in their childrens hobbies and self moderate the content their children are exposed to, rather than blaming the media.

 

[Newtilator]

I feel sorry for you. My dad bought GTA 4 when i was 14, and didn't understand why I didn't want to play as much as the other games I bought. Also, he asks me to do Resi 5 co op with me. He asks me. I'm very lucky in all truth.