my mom HATES violent video games

[DemonicVixen]

Tell her that allowing you to play MW2 isn't going to turn you into an axe murderer; in fact, NUMEROUS empirical psychological studies have shown that kids who play violent video games are less likely to commit violent acts in real life. It helps defuse potentially dangerous impulses in pretty much everybody. In fact, the Dalai Lama's right hand man actually RECOMMENDS playing video games (even violent ones) as a way to relieve day-to-day stress. Look it up. Educate her.

Thats fuuny, we just had to do a study and look that sort of thing up and everything you just said came up opposite several times. They say that studies have shown that yes it can be shown that children get more violent having played violent games, and that NO the games do not help you vent out stress, if anything, depending on the game, it is more likely to increase your heart rate, and get you irriated when things go wrong.

 

[TelHybrid]

Maybe you should play less video games and do your grammar homework more.

I also am sceptical of how mature you seem to think you are for your age. The fact is there are some things that are more important than being included with the latest trend (in this case, playing Modern Warfare 2), and maybe your mother would like to be a sensible parent and not let her child play games intended for gamers over 18.

Take this as an opportunity to not just follow your friends like a sheep (especially with your gaming habits) and maybe try some games that aren't typical generic shooters.

 

[comadorcrack]

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. Theres a reason its rated mate.

 

[GoldenRaz]

She's your parent, it's her 'job' to raise you and to keep stuff that's bad for you away from you. The only thing that you might fault her for is that she doesn't seem to motivate her actions, which seems to be what your main concern is (well, except for not having the game).

Just say that you'll be pleased with a proper explanation for her actions, and take it from there. If she's concerned with "No Russian", simply tell her that you can skip that mission in it's entirety and that you'll do so if she so pleases. If she simply doesn't want you to play violent games;
Tough luck, move on.

 

[Calopolis]

I was playing resident evil with my grandad from the age of about 5. Scared the bejesus out of me at the time but it never really did me any harm... *twitch* I just learned never to walk past an unmoving corpse.... shoot it in the head first dammit!!! head is always a safe bet.

 

[wordsmith]

happend ... 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.

Info on me:
13 years old, iq:134 extremely mature for my age...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.)

I call bullshit. If you were that clever, capital letters and basic spell-check would be standard to a piece of writing.

The whole "but all my friends do it" thing will have worked against you. It doesn't work, thousands (if not millions) of kids have tried it in the past, and all come up against a variation of "If all your friends jumped under a bus, would you do it?". Aside from the impending depression caused by the mass suicide of your friends making you want to commit suicide, no, you wouldn't.

Also, for fucks sake, you're 13. MW2 is not for 13 year-old kids. When I was your age it was GTAIII and Vice City. It's a game rated above your age group, so YOU CAN'T PLAY IT.

Props to your mum, it's good to know that amongst the pre-pubescent idiots who shriek down the mic whenever they get killed, there's a parent who's making sure we don't have to listen to that. Raising a male kid as a single mum is never going to be easy, but she seems to be able to set boundaries and rewards.

Oh, speaking of rewards actually, let me tell you a couple of things. My first console was a Gameboy. My first proper console was a Dreamcast, which I bought for £30 with a bunch of games 6 months ago. When I was 7, my mum got me a PS1 for Christmas. My dad decided it would glue me to the TV for too long, so he made her take it back. I only ended up with the Gameboy because I managed to break my arm and cause massive nerve/muscle damage, my physiotherapist recommended that I got one to help the muscles and nerves re-knit quickly.

I had no internet in my room until Christmas 07, and that was when I ignored my dad's decision that I wasn't to have it in my room, bought an adapter and hooked it up myself. The only two TV's in the house are in my parents room and the main one in the lounge. If I'm watching something in the lounge and one of my parents wants to watch something different, I'd better find something else to do.

TL;DR- Stop being a butthurt. Your mum has bought you an expensive console and is letting you play it on her TV. Find a game that isn't rated for people above your age, kick it like that for a few years. You might want to take a look at how you treat your mum too, if you think losing your dad was hard, imagine losing someone you love enough to raise a child with.

 

[Arachon]

Tell her that allowing you to play MW2 isn't going to turn you into an axe murderer; in fact, NUMEROUS empirical psychological studies have shown that kids who play violent video games are less likely to commit violent acts in real life. It helps defuse potentially dangerous impulses in pretty much everybody. In fact, the Dalai Lama's right hand man actually RECOMMENDS playing video games (even violent ones) as a way to relieve day-to-day stress. Look it up. Educate her.

Care to name some of these studies? I could use some reading for my study on violent videogames.

 

[Premonition]

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, basically. If you're parent is denying you access to these kind of games, then they're in their right. There are parents out there that are more lenient with these things, as they allow their children to play or watch games and movies of adult ages at a young age. I'm quite certain you'd be able to understand that you shouldn't go around shooting people, but still. You've got nothing to complain about.

 

[leady129]

My mum hates video games period. All of my gaming has to be done at a mates or behind closed doors when she's out of the house and if she does happen to walk in on me gaming... well... lets just say things get ugly. (I'm 20 btw.)

On your dilemma. I hate to say it, but at 13 yrs old, what mum says, goes, regardless of how much you hate it. Don't worry mate, in two years time you can go nuts and buy every MA15+ game you could ever think of. Three years after that, feel free to go wild with the R18+ games... ... ... unless, like me you live in Australia. (Damn you Atkinson)

 

[fenrizz]

your mom is like ***** get a xbox

First off, that kind of abusive language is really uncalled for. Especially considering that the OP is 13 years old.

And why the Xbox comment? Are you trying to start a flame war?

Reported.

 

[Dhell]

my suggestion is .. yea listen to ur mum but if you like gaming carry on.. wont ruin ya as long as you can tell the diffirence between pixels and real life thats what i think anyhow . if gaming makes ya feel good keep at it
blowing someones brains out in a virtual world is more satisfying than blowing someones head off in real life .. virtual world they respawn real life ur in jail .

 

[Gauntes]

some other countries, it says 18+ instead of M
so yeah... I honestly don't think you should be complaining about how your mother wants to keep your mentality safe.

 

[Communist partisan]

Buy MW2 and play it than shes not home.

 

[SonicSoulstrike96]

Man, I hate it when parents get like that. I can play MW2 all day and still slow down and get that wierd feeling you get in your stomache when you think you're about to run over those stupid lazy pidgeons in the road and they fly out of the way at the last second. Seriously, doesn't that alone prove how different violent games are compared to real life experiences? You KNOW the difference. In games, you know you're not actually killing people, and then it becomes a matter of winning, of using your reflexes and skills to defeat people. Their characters dying really is just the indication of your victory over that person, and the joy is in the victory, not the killing. Shooting and killing in games has never made me want to go out and kill anything in real life. That thought doesn't even cross my mind. Violent people are always people with mental/emotional problems. Video games do not cause those problems.

But once someone has those problems and wants to do something violent, they can look at movies and tv shows just as much as video games for inspiration/ideas for the execution of violent acts. Hell, books have violence in them too. Really, video games are a relatively new type of media that parents generally don't understand because they didn't grow up with it and generally don't have the coordination/experience to actually play video games successfuly. Since they don't play games, they can only guess and project how video games might affect you without firsthand knowledge.

Nevermind that the church is of no help either, since they're in the same boat as your parents (absolutely no firsthand experience), but they have a measure of authority over believers and thus what they say will only seemingly vindicate the answers they've come up with in their heads. Seriously, the one true root of violence is a person's interactions with the people in their lives (or the lack thereof). Their entertainment may be indicative of their disposition and attitude, but they are NEVER the CAUSE of their actions.

 

[AlphaOmega]

Try adding paragraphs and more white space.

13 years old: Ok
IQ:134: I doubt this, IQ tests depend on when they are taken; I scored 154 when I was 11 and nowadays I doubt I would come above 140; also depending what your "specialism" is and if you are a good receiver to input or just have more mathematical approach to things this does not say much.
Mature/Troubled: If your Father died you have my condolences, but it might have been traumatic; I had a similar emotional shock and it did not manifest into a depression until I was 18, so good luck.
Well behaved: most people say this of themselves, but I am not the one to judge this; you at least seem to understand grades are important.

I think your mother is right, and hear me out The fact that people your age play this games is not inheretaly bad but it is also a trend, even if it ends up with you not being allowed you should be happy to have a PS3. They gave it to you and if you are smart you would not spend that amount of money on a console at your age; games are expansive enough as it is so due to you probably not having a job yet it cuts into savings that are also meant for your future.
Due to this fact she has extra saying over it because she owns the console (or at least has the argument you did not work for it yourself, and that also skips the possibility that you can use the "I worked for it that is mature" argument)

I would not let myself(or my children) play games like MW2 until they are about 16; and this comes from somebody that played GTA3 was he was about 12.

I would try a reasonable discussion with clear "rules" and pointers to how she can see it if affects you, and it it would affect you allow her to take it away no questions asked.
Also the fact that you might be American and she is brainwashed by the media might not help.
There are plenty games outside of MW2 and trading it in will not be that hard, and if you fall out of a social circle due to this, I know this sounds silly, do no worry because you will loose people and friendship a lot before you are done with school.

I'm not trying to act high and mighty here, so if I come across like that I am sorry.

 

[Gunner 51]

I wouldn't be so hard on your mum, dude. She's only trying to look out for you - and that's the best thing a mother can do for her children.

I can remember being in a similar situation when I was your age - my own mother wouldn't let me watch Candyman. On the grounds that it was quite a nasty film and that I wasn't quite ready to deal with it. (It was an 18 Certificate film - the "M" of it's day.)

I took her advice, waited a few years and watched it on television. Let's just say I soon understood her reasons for wanting to keep it away from me. A thirteen year old mind is simply not ready for that kind of thing. (I'm also not going to give you spoilers for Candyman.)

To give you the bottom line, your mum is right. The M for Mature is there for a good reason.

 

[SonicSoulstrike96]

I'm an adult and I have to disagree with everyone saying that your mother is always right because she is your mother and provides for you.

Parents can be wrong. Are wrong. They are human. Hopefully they are the type of humans who can be reasoned with. I mean, you could easily draw parallels between games a movies, such as the feelings you get when you want the good guys to kill/defeat the bad guys.

And in a way, parents making decisions in this case are quasi-selfish. On one hand, it let's their minds rest at ease if they think they are keeping you from going bad. Strictly speaking, that's selfish. On the other hand, they worry because they have your best interest in mind, even if their worry is misplaced. Better safe than sorry? It really comes down to their lack of understanding of the gaming experience. And they're reluctant to try it out because they fear that they will be negatively influenced by it in the way they imagine you will be negatively influenced by the game.

So, they are afraid that you will become desensitized to killing and violence by playing video games. But they're afraid to like playing those games themselves because they're afraid that liking it means that they've come to like killing and violence. But that is just not true at all.

Perhaps your mother can read the two responses I've made so far and perhaps come to a better understanding of why she fears these games, as she obviously does.


If it helps at all, I don't see the fun/sport in a lot of what GTA is known for, nor in hunting for that matter. MW2, on the otherhand is a LOT of fun (like I said earlier, the joy is in the victory, no the killing).