Poll: Buying games for teenagers

[ryanxm]

you did a horrible thing and you deserve to burn for ever more for it!


erm no i dont think it was bad at all you did someone a favore and its not going to harm them (unless they tie people to the back of a horse and make it drag them in that case you need to feel bad)

 

['Aredor]

Except video games don't kill people. There isn't even a comparison between a game and a gun or drugs. As far as pornography, I'm sure he gets that for free(if hes even interested in it). Internet and all.

As I said multiple times, I wouldn't buy alcohol or tobacco for children because it causes bodily harm. The same accordingly goes for guns. I was looking for a wide range of views but WOW - you're on a game site, equating the purchase a game with the purchase of a firearm? That's pretty radical!

That is exactly my point, of course this would be a lot worse than buying video games for them, but if your line of thinking is "it doesn't matter what I buy them, it's the parents' responsibility to make sure that they don't use it", you can justify buying them anything, including guns. If you acknowledge that you wouldn't buy them a gun, you admit that you only bought them the video game because it wouldn't be all that terrible if they do play it, and therefore admit that their parents won't be able to stop them from doing so, once you've bought it for them.

Also, it's not a matter of the parent being at the child's side every waking minute. All they have to do is check in every so often (as is also recommended with television viewing) and when they see a game on screen that they don't recognize, they ask what the kid's playing and ask to see the package.

But that only works if you are indeed able to check in every few minutes. And that only works if you're at home all the time your kid is at home; with that technique, it's not possible to leave your kid home alone, ever.

Besides, that whole argument of "if their parents are good parents, they'll...", even if it did work: what about parents who aren't good parents, who don't give a shit what their children play, but wouldn't go so far as actually buying them games that aren't appropriate for them? You can't just say "it's not my fault, it's the parents' fault" if you're the one who's given them the game. Sure, they should be more careful, but they wouldn't have to be careful if they were the only ones buying games for the child.

 

[Nemu]

Eh, I'm one of those kids who got Mortal Kombat when it was released, and I was borderline underage, so I don't think buying it for them would do them any harm. Grounded? Perhaps, if they were explicitly told they couldn't get the game, but that's not on you.

Games hurt people just as much as anything else. The only reason we ever hear about people getting hurt/killed over a video game is because people like to make them and "issue" in an attempt to police everyone in the country/world.

I would have bought the game for them, too, and felt no guilt.

 

[DigitalSushi]

The issue is that you don't know what these kids were actually like, they could be young impressionable psychotic types, probably not but you never know in this day and age.

People buy games to underage kids all the time but normally its if we know what the child is like.

Also why is it that its always underage kids that just love RockStar games?, must adults I know hate them.

Just for curiosity, to the two people who wondered why so many answers on the poll... I always do that so I can gather as many qualities of response as possible. People often give the same answer for different reasons, so I try to cover a many bases as possible. Yup.

Only problem with that is people with short attention spans that don't have a vested interested in the thread will just click anything to get it over and done with.

As you can tell by my above answer i've vote
"Yes, you shouldn't buy games for minors unless you are their guardian."

 

[Dungus]

Anyways, buying these kids a game does not make you a bad person. Keep in mind that all around the world kids can buy these games without having to prove they're 18, hell, where I live I could pick up a pack of smoke and a six pack at 14 if I wanted to. Though that's something that people should be worried about.

Well, if I went by that logic I would be buying alcohol and smokes for teenagers and that's something I sure wouldn't be comfortable with. There are states where it is legal to marry at the age of 14, I'm not gonna pick up a middle-school girl and make her my wife just because it's legal somewhere. I still have to act with respect to local standards. Around here, the general attitude is "store policy says I can't knowingly distribute to minors. If an adult comes in to get the game, then we're in business."

That's not what I meant to say. I think people should be worried about harmful things, like smokes and such. Also, it's not just legal somewhere, it's legal all over the world. This is not about one state where there's some weird law that lets you marry a 14y old. It's just the general perspective, that some countries try to change by making ignorant laws with more ignorant motivation.

I understand the moral dilemma, people don't think you should act as their guardians. Still, if kids really want something, they'll get it in the end.

 

[Hobonicus]

I can't read all of this.

If you step up and buy something for someone who has no right to get it them-self... you are wrong.

Simple math.

Peer pressure and all that is just a lame excuse.

There are reasons why kids shouldn't buy things. If you want a list of these things, PM me and I will explain them to you.

You think the kids had no right to own it? Or did the arbitrary letter M on a box tell you that? And since when is he obligated to be responsible for the (questionable) rights of a stranger?

 

[Marmal4de]

I see absolutely no problem with what you did, especially considering their age (15-16).
Kids at that age have most likely seen things way "Worse" than anything RDR can throw their way. Then again, I come from a country where any six year old can buy Manhunt if he wanted to so maybe i'm just not aware of the severity of the situation.

 

[Red Right Hand]

A kid once asked me to do thise but I ran off with his money. his friends almost got me but I had $40 in the end.

OP you now know what to do next time.

That's the worst thing anybody could have done...........I like you!

 

[Eternalsun]

if they were 15 16 why the hell not?
if it was and 10 year old asking for it id say no.
25 an 16 year olds arent easily swayed by games

 

[Susan Arendt]

T

Still not your place to make that decision. Kids ask for things they shouldn't have all the time - candy, to stay up late, M-rated games, whatever. It's not your place to decide that it's ok for a child that isn't your responsibility to have any of those things, it's that child's parent or guardian. Yes, the parents ultimately should be checking what the kids are doing, but that doesn't mean you should be making their job harder. The store clerk did the right thing by not selling directly to the children in the first place. You should've done the right thing and told them you couldn't help them out. Whether or not you actually did any harm isn't the point. Just because the game is awesome, which it is, that doesn't make what you did right.

I think you're misinterpreting his position. He did something nice for someone else. He didn't decide to suddenly play parent, he had no responsibility for the kids so he could act however he pleased (within reason of course). And Samoan decided to act by helping them. He probably didn't even think about the kids' parents, he was just helping out a stranger. And on the topic of parents, they only do so much for a child's upbringing. Kids are also heavily affected by everything around them, not just their mom and dad. Claiming that every moral decision should be absolutely made by the parent sounds like a naive preaching of shallow social conformity.

You can compare it to alcohol or cigarettes but realistically, that's a very different issue. If anything, the very real random act of kindness these kids experienced far outweighs the superficial morality at stake.

I'm not misinterpreting his position at all. I don't think he was being malicious or subversive, I think he just wasn't thinking beyond the immediacy of the situation. He absolutely was just trying to do something nice for fellow gamers, but good intentions doesn't change the fact that it's not something he should've done. No, parents don't entirely shape what a child ultimately becomes, but that doesn't give anyone the right to undermine their efforts. We ***** constantly about parents not taking an active role in their children's gaming habits, and then say that ignoring the parents completely to satisfy the kids' whims is ok? I think not.

It's entirely possible that the parents in question would've just shrugged and said "whatever" if they knew someone had bought their kids an M-rated game. It's also just as possible that they would've been annoyed that a stranger took it upon themselves to circumvent their family's communication system.

In the grand scheme of things, is this really that big a deal? No, not really. Buying alcohol or cigarettes - which actually would be illegal - is one thing, but that's not what this is. I certainly don't think for one minute that these kids are going to go out and start shooting up schools or robbing banks. But that's ultimately not the point.

 

[Meatman]

If he was old enough to have a car window to lean out of, hes old enough to play whatever he wants.

Come on. If the guy can legally drive, why the hell can't he play a game? So, the government trusts him to operate a large, mostly metal object at high speeds, with the potential to kill himself and/or others, but he can't be trusted with some virtual violence?

In these circumstances, I'd say you did nothing wrong.

This

In the UK, you can join the army at 16, have sex at 16, drive at 17. Why the heck would a 18 rated game (such as MW2 or bioshock) be any more disturbing to someone then joining the army, having sex or driving, all of which are actually a potential of being harmed or harming others.

What you did was questionable, but nothing really wrong. I agree that if it was drugs or booze then it would have been a problem. I mean, every time I play MW2 there are always 12 year olds screaming down the mic about how they head-shotted someone, kids will always find a way to get hold of the game. Be glad they asked you rather then doing something illegal to get it (stealing, fake ids, w/e)

 

[Deleted]

I'm nuetral towards it.

Sure it's just a game and voilent games and so on don't harm teenagers that bad but on the other hand it's against the law to do it and it should be up to the parents to decide what games their children play, after all if they asked you then obviously their parents would not buy it for them because sometimes, games do give people ideas.....

A kid once asked me to do thise but I ran off with his money. his friends almost got me but I had $40 in the end.

OP you now know what to do next time.

Stealing is against the law for a reason.
What if someone robbed $40 off you?

So is buying a game underage.

I prevented one crime with my own He should know better than to give money to strangers.

You could have just said "no", instead you had to be a douche and steal 40$, you do realise that is a ton of money for an under 16 year old right? What you did was rob the kid of however many hours he worked to get it, your nothing but a thief, and you can't justify your crime.

You're right I can't justify it. But I don't feel bad doing it because that particular kid was everything I hate about teenagers.

 

[AnAngryMoose]

I haven't played RDR yet (unfortunately), but from what I've seen it doesn't seem extremely bad. Now, if it was something like Gears then hell no. However, I would deem some games rated M suitable for people around that age. Personally, though, I wouldn't do it.

 

[obliviondoll]

It's illegal here to buy rated games for underage people.

Same with any rated media.

But I voted No, it won't hurt them. If they're old enough to drive, and their parents let them do that, they're more likely to make a mess of themselves getting wasted when they finally get to start drinking (Seriously, who thinks it's a good idea to let kids handle a ton of metal without alcohol, and wait until they've gotten confident with it before handing them something that'll turn them cocky and uncoordinated?) than they are to get stupid ideas from a Western.

 

[xxcloud417xx]

To be honest, I would have walked on by and ignored them like a dirty bum from Toronto asking for change... (that answer wasn't up there so...) I don't care whether or not they get the game. I just don't feel like getting involved in shit that isn't my problem. And if 15-16 yr olds can't buy a game rated M (17+) then their parents may have a reason... (which idc about either)