my mom HATES violent video games

[Gxas]

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.

Go talk to the government if you're insulted. I'm just giving you the reasoning behind their motives.

 

[Glademaster_v1legacy]

hi guys I have a problem, my mom completely hates violent video games especially if they are rated M. I'll explain when my mom got me a ps3 for christmas i got mw2 two days later (buying it with my own money i might add) and she was fine with that next day she shows up while im playing and requests to see the game so i proceed to show her, not even after watching for 5 seconds she says no, and tells me to take the game out and give it to her then she goes and returns the game. the next day I ask her why she did that and she says she doesn't want to talk about it and threatens to take the ps3 away entirely if i ask again. about two weeks later i spend some time thinking of a few things i could try to use to justify me being allowed to get the game (by this time she has allowed me to get uncharted 2 which has amazing single player and very good mp but it's just not mw2) so i go to her and we have a good 2 hour long conversation on why the game is violent. At the end of it she says she will look into it and research the game. I ask her about it 4 days later and shes shut tight about it again threatning to take away the ps3 and by this point i had already disproven her claims that the game would make me violent or desensitized so when i ask her why she just says you know why. so that night i compiled some videos off youtube one showing some clips one from a t rated fps, battlefield: bad company and then one from a mp match in mw2 and i didn't tell her which was which and she said she would buy me the one that was mw2 but not bad company after i told her what the next two clips where and picked two very similar clips to the first two the only difference now she knows which is which, not even 20 seconds into the mw2 clips (which at this point the only thing that has happend is the person walked around a bit shot a bit and missed then got killed) she says it's too horryfying to watch. I've also tried getting her with the bandwagon "it's ruining my social life because everyone has it and I don't" thing but it didn't work either. any suggestions guys?

Info on me:
13 years old, iq:134 extremely mature for my age, father has died, report card usually consists of all A's and possibly one to two B's maximum, not violent at all, very compassionate and understanding, follows rules, has never had more then one detention in a school year (usually from my cellphone being on in class or a teacher that just plain trying to find ways to get me in trouble.)

Well for starters your 13 so you shouldn't be playing them and she is doing what she sees as right as a parent so there is nothing you can do. At Least she is making a slightly informed decision about the game and not doing anything like that Frumpy Mum person.

Also as a side note iq isn't important.

 

[drisky]

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.

well thats my issue, I live in a dorm now and I'm 21 but I'm not allowed to have M games, also I was'nt allowed to have T games until I was 15, despite the fact that I am an honors student and never got in to trouble. Just take Uncharted 2 and be happy with it, its better than MW2 anyways.

 

[Gxas]

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 their 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.

Read my later posts. The reasoning you're looking for is that she doesn't want her son exposed to that kind of violence in her home. Seriously, if you just think about it with the tiniest bit of common sense, you'll see what I see.

 

[Gxas]

well thats my issue, I live in a dorm now and I'm 21 but I'm not allowed to have M games, also I was'nt allowed to have T games until I was 15, despite the fact that I am an honors student and never got in to trouble. Just take Uncharted 2 and be happy with it, its better than MW2 anyways.

You live in a dorm and aren't allowed to play M games? Something is missing in your story that makes it seriously flawed.

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.

I agree that some, if not most, teen games are a bit difficult to get into. My parents did the same. I learned to accept that I was unable to play M games (thank god for Timesplitters) and got on with my gaming. You know what? at 16 my mom gave me permission to play M games. I still prefer many E games to most M games anyway. Gore/swearing/violence are extremely overrated a lot of the time.

 

[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.

Go talk to the government if you're insulted. I'm just giving you the reasoning behind their motives.

ESRB isn't government funded I think, it's run by a bunch of (idiots if you ask me) guys who just think that every kid in America is stupid and immature until the minute they hit 17, failing to recognize that kids are either mature several years before OR after 17 years of age.

 

[Drakulla]

Its safe to say that your mother isn't going to change her mind so it's best to just move on. Parents and adults in general are easily influenced by what goes on around them and become more jaded by the things they see. You also have to look at it from her point of view. She's from a time when graphics consisted of little square pixels and she doesn't have the eyes to determine if something is computer generated or not. So it all looks the same to her.

 

[Baby Tea]

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.

This I totally agree with.

I wouldn't allow my son to play any M rated game at 13, just like my parents didn't allow me to.
I'm impressed that she did the research and sat down and heard your arguments. I would have done that as well, and allowed my kid to state their case. But, in the end, if I don't want them playing that in my house, then they won't.

 

[Rakkana]

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

Experience + Wisdom + Intelligence = Logic

And now we are trying to answer a question that has been keeping those philosophers up at night. Its so debatable, maybe you should open a thread about it...

 

[Eggsnham]

well thats my issue, I live in a dorm now and I'm 21 but I'm not allowed to have M games, also I was'nt allowed to have T games until I was 15, despite the fact that I am an honors student and never got in to trouble. Just take Uncharted 2 and be happy with it, its better than MW2 anyways.

You live in a dorm and aren't allowed to play M games? Something is missing in your story that makes it seriously flawed.

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.

I agree that some, if not most, teen games are a bit difficult to get into. My parents did the same. I learned to accept that I was unable to play M games (thank god for Timesplitters) and got on with my gaming. You know what? at 16 my mom gave me permission to play M games. I still prefer many E games to most M games anyway. Gore/swearing/violence are extremely overrated a lot of the time.

My parents are for the most part over the whole "No "M" games til' you're seventeen!" Thing, but I still think that most parents should give more thought to what games they let their kids play other than "ESRB told me not to get this game, so I won't until he's seventeen." It gets very annoying.

 

[WorldCritic]

Ok so I'm not really sure what the "best" advice would be here. I suppose that you shouldn't start playing M rated games until you're a couple years older, but you have a point about a lot of M rated and T rated shooters looking the same. I guess I just say Modern Warfare 2, ok. Quite a few M rated games you definitely should wait until you're older but there aren't too many reasons I can point out about this one. Wait I can think of one, while everyone here is pretty much over it, I'm not sure your mom would be too happy if she found out about the No Russian mission.

 

[Gxas]

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.

Go talk to the government if you're insulted. I'm just giving you the reasoning behind their motives.

ESRB isn't government funded I think, it's run by a bunch of (idiots if you ask me) guys who just think that every kid in America is stupid and immature until the minute they hit 17, failing to recognize that kids are either mature several years before OR after 17 years of age.

They took 17 as the average age that a person matures. They also left it up to the parent to decide whether their kid was mature enough for the game or whether they want to allow that type of game in their house. It still all comes down to the parent. OP's mom did not want that type of game in her house. End of story.

 

[Georgie_Leech]

God I know what you mean. I'm almost 21 and my mother thinks I don't need to play games like L4D2 (because zombies are "ewwwie") and that she thinks I have issues because most of the games on my xmas list were games like that. Anyway to the point sadly there isn't much you can do. I'm not saying you don't have any right to be mad but it also shows how much she pays attention and cares. Granted it's almost too much but M are M for a reason, me saying this not knowing you I'm just going by you're age. If you're mom won't see you're point you're kinda dead locked and stuck. What I do is use Steam because I have my own laptop and money so she'll never know but I'm still missing out on allot of games until she sees I'm 20 not 10. Anyway back to the point. you're still 13 not 17. Ratings, as dumb as some may see them, have a point. If you were my age with the same issue then I'd see you're point better but all I can say is wait. The games will still be on game stop as used games by then and much cheaper.

...You're 20 and your Mom is telling you what games to play. Why does she still have that control over you?

 

[nomzy]

IQ doesn't mean anything, really.
And quite frankly I agree with your mum. The ratings are there for a reason, and it's her decision to allow/disallow you to play games with content that she deems inappropriate for you, considering you're only 13. This being said, I wouldn't go so far as to say she's a badparent if she does allow you to play, it is her decision and if she thinks it's okay for you to play games like MW2 then I guess that's good for you. All in all though, just let her have her way, and be grateful you were even born. I mean it's only what 5-6 years? before you get out into the real world and as an adult you can decide what you want to do/play/watch etc etc.

I wonder what her reaction would be if she saw you playing the "No Russian" mission.
Although you don't actually have to kill any civillians, she doesnt know that.

 

[Gxas]

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.

This I totally agree with.

I wouldn't allow my son to play any M rated game at 13, just like my parents didn't allow me to.
I'm impressed that she did the research and sat down and heard your arguments. I would have done that as well, and allowed my kid to state their case. But, in the end, if I don't want them playing that in my house, then they won't.

Thank you! Someone finally understands me! It doesn't matter if the kid is mature enough or not! If the parent doesn't want their kid playing that type of game, then the kid will not play that game. Plain and simple. I honestly don't know why this is still being argued.

 

[CrysisMcGee]

Honestly, I'd play games on the computer when she's not around. Older titles Like Diablo stil work great. Or just pick up some ps1 or ps2 games.

Point is, play games in whatever room she's not in.