Story Time. Are you serious?(Too Young?)

[Tips_of_Fingers]

She's probably the sort of person who agrees video games make children violent too.
We know games do know harm in the hands of the right person, but that is just so stupid. Places like cash converters don't bother asking for ID either.

She wouldn't be buying her child games like Black Ops and Dead Rising 2 if she agreed that videogames make children violent...atleast give her a little more credit than that!

She's likely under the impression that if she allows her kid to play these kinds of games then it'll stop him wanting to go behind her back and do it somewhere else. It's a similiar thing that my parents did with alcohol: I was allowed to drink in the house from about 15 onwards (in moderation - a few beers with dinner or during the football etc). This technique allows the child to understand these things at an early age and not go beserk when they're eventually old enough to do it legally or (as I've just mentioned) go behind their parents' backs. I've met people at university who were never allowed to drink until they were 18...the moment they get away from their parents they go mental and guess what? they're the ones vomiting on themselves and waking up at 5am in a bush with a dog shitting on their face. They just can't handle it.

Atleast this way, the parent can moderate the child's playing and actually SEE the game for herself rather than worrying at what the media is telling her. Hey, you never know, she may even indulge in some zombie-killing with her son!
All i'm saying is, don't blindingly jump on her decision and label her as a terrible parent because you don't know. C'mon guys, we're better than to have superficial judgements of people based on that kind of thing. If she'd turned around to her son and said "no you may not have that game because I don't want you growing up to become a violent teenager" everyone here would have jumped on that too, but it would have been more justified because she's presenting her ignorance of the videogame/human psychology relationship.EDIT: (so I wasn't as done as i'd thought) As it stands, this woman is being judged by you based on one little comment without knowing her stance on videogames and without knowing her opinion on videogame violence. For shame.

ok...I think I'm ACTUALLY done here *nonchalantly walks away*

 

[TheComedown]

I stood there speechless as this person just offered her 8-9 year old son 2 games both rated MA15+ (Aus, they'd be R 18+ elsewhere yeah?)

Nope, there ARE no R ratings in Aus, if it breaches MA15+ it's unrated and thus illegal to sell. But still...this woman is whipped. I know everyone complains about censoring, but really, some games are just not appropriate for a kid as young as that.

Yes I know this, 'cause you know cause I live here.
What I meant to say/ask is that these games would have gotten the 18+ elsewhere. I hear that its not uncommon for games that get the R18+ sticker elsewhere to slide under the MA15+ banner here.

 

[fletch_talon]

I stood there speechless as this person just offered her 8-9 year old son 2 games both rated MA15+ (Aus, they'd be R 18+ elsewhere yeah?)

Nope, there ARE no R ratings in Aus, if it breaches MA15+ it's unrated and thus illegal to sell. But still...this woman is whipped. I know everyone complains about censoring, but really, some games are just not appropriate for a kid as young as that.

He's saying that it was MA15+ in Australia.
MA15+ in Australia is frequently equivalent to R18+ in America and other places with an R rating. This goes for movies too.

 

[shadyh8er]

She might be taking the same approach my parents took. Discipline the child enough so that they know the difference between right and wrong, then buy them games. Like I remember when I got my first M-rated game, I was already smart enough to know not to imitate what I saw in the game. (The game was Tenchu 2 in case you're wondering.)

 

[Jedamethis]

Hmm. If he'd picked it out himself then I wouldn't be as surprised. I used to do that. Well, still do actually...

 

[junkmanuk]

The fact that your parents wouldn't let you watch the Simpsons when you were 8 explains a lot.

It's perfectly fine to me.
I played GTA 3 when I was 8, I watched rated R movies even before I was 8 and the reason my parents let me do those things is because they knew I could handle it.
Besides, shielding kids from rated R stuff does more harm than good in the long run.

That would make you at most 17, not exactly in a position to make judgements on the upbringing of children in my opinion. Can you quantify how shielding kids from R rated stuff actually does more harm?

Speaking as gamer and parent of two (7 and 9), I will not let them play games which are grossly outside of their age bracket. There's enough stimulation available in games available for younger children and desensitizing them to more mature concepts at a young age just takes away things which they can explore when they're older.

How can I say it best... It's not so much to do with 'protecting our precious youth' as such life will get very dull if you discharge all your emotional responses before you reach high school.

/edit: If I say 'no' then my kids had better understand what that signifies. You get told 'no' a lot as an adult and it seems many kids today don't understand that there are limits to what is appropriate and acceptable behaviour because they never had limits imposed as a child.

 

[chinomareno]

I played Carmageddon and GTA when I was 10, I'd probably be that kid if the same stuff was out back then. Although I had to obtain those games myself, my friends around the same age played Postal 1.

I think those games had worse content than COD and Dead Rising. I would probably do the same for my kids, I'd just feel like a hypocrite otherwise.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Wait, who gives a shit? So she was a nice mother who felt her kids were intelligent enough to handle the games. I'm really shocked at a lot of people's responses and surprised that this is an issue. Are you saying you actually waited until the goverment said it was okay before you played a game or watched a movie you wanted to? No sane and rational human being, kids not excluded, would be any more negatively affected by a violent video game than you. I was watching things rated MA15+ when I was quite young, maybe eightish. I can't believe so many people are in support of censorship.Playing Dead Rising when you're eight or nine (keeping in mind that's just the OP's estimate) doesn't do damage. Having your parents tell you you're a worthless piece of shit does.

Oh, and did the kids seem unruly, or were they acting normally? Some kids are more mature than others.

 

[Kurokami]

The fact that your parents wouldn't let you watch the Simpsons when you were 8 explains a lot.

It's perfectly fine to me.
I played GTA 3 when I was 8, I watched rated R movies even before I was 8 and the reason my parents let me do those things is because they knew I could handle it.
Besides, shielding kids from rated R stuff does more harm than good in the long run.

Yeah, little kids running around swearing isn't annoying at all.

And shielding kids (-13) deals more harm than good in the long run?

 

[robotam]

I don't think that the women is necessarily a bad parent (of course for all I know, she could be planning on breaking the disk in two and stabbing her children in the eyes. Which is a strange way of saying we can't jump to conclusions about who this women is).

Different parents handle these sorts of things differently. There is a teacher in my school that said she wouldn't dare show the Simpsons to her children. But my parents would buy me games that they thought I could handle. As long as the parent takes an intrest in what their child is doing, I'm fine with it.

 

[gmaverick019_v1legacy]

The fact that your parents wouldn't let you watch the Simpsons when you were 8 explains a lot.

It's perfectly fine to me.
I played GTA 3 when I was 8, I watched rated R movies even before I was 8 and the reason my parents let me do those things is because they knew I could handle it.
Besides, shielding kids from rated R stuff does more harm than good in the long run.

somewhat this.

i have played worse at a younger age and i have seen even worse before. and me and that person turned out perfectly fine.

sheltering kids till they are actually of age, it does more damage because they have no idea wtf to do or how to handle it, most sheltered kids i know who are now in college are complete mess ups because they have had a leash on them since day one of their lives and have no clue what to do or what to think.

now setting that aside, if the kid is good, and not a rage filled little brat, and the parent seemed knowledgeable enough, i don't see the problem with your story. even if he is a rage filled little brat its the moms money so up to her i suppose.

 

[LocoRocoPandaCookie]

Wow me and my 3 brothers couldn't even play wrestling games when we were that age. I guess the world is just different nowadays. =/

 

[elvor0]

Oh boo, unless the kid seems like a little shit, as long as the kid isn't batshit insane and the parent knows what they're doing, so long as it isnt something like porn or what have you, it's not going to massively effect them, kids are not THAT easily influenced, heck my favorite movie when I was three was hellraiser, a movie with someone being skinned alive, moving on I use to love American werewolf in london, etc etc.

The point is, ok yes I agree some kids are going to pick up on it, but thats the same with all media and it's the fault of the parent then, because they've brought their kid up to not be able to handle things, heck my mother would've bought dead rising 2 for me had I been that age, with the aim in mind to play it co op or together as a laugh because she loves zombie related stuff, regular mother-son sessions were GTA london and later GTA3 once it came out, it was all in good fun.

The people who buy games for their uncontrollable little shits are the same people who're going to complain regardless of whether the law is passed that they can't, and they are the same people who're going to think that video games are the spawn of satan once they see zombies tearing each others guts out, other parents who realise that the game will have this in it and will not be offended by it, and buy it for their kid as their child is likely to also be more level headed and isnt going to run off attempting to kill people first chance he gets.

Kids that are exposed to it, (obviously most not to excess) are in fact less likely to go out and murder someone, wheras the kids that are on a leash all their lives are going to harbor rebelious tendancies, as they are not allowed to do anything, THEY are the ones that are going to set fire to stuff and what have you (obviously you have the kids in the middle where thier parents just don't care either way, but they could also turn out either way). The point is kids that are made aware of that stuff in a well educated way are probs going to be able to handle it better.

 

[Clarity112]

lol i grew up on violent video games. one of my first games was MDK, murder death kill. it hasnt fucked me up at all, if anything i think its given me good perspective.

 

[junkmanuk]

I think it would be a very informative exercise to discover if there is a correlation between the age of the person and the attitudes towards video game censorship. Skimming over the profiles in this thread it seems most of the 'pro' statements are coming from people under the age of 20.

 

[Clarity112]

I think it would be a very informative exercise to discover if there is a correlation between the age of the person and the attitudes towards video game censorship. Skimming over the profiles in this thread it seems most of the 'pro' statements are coming from people under the age of 20.

I don't think you can really judge something like that, violence in great volumes affects different people in different ways. If your not particularly right in the head your more likely to take grade theft auto as an instruction manual, but most level people, even children can grasp the difference between reality and the virtual world.

 

[Clarity112]

sorry about the double post.

 

[Thyunda]

Well today after work I was down at JB Hi-Fi and browsing the PC games as you do. While I'm standing back seeing whats cheap or tickles my fancy, A mother and her 2 kids, a boy and a girl, no older then 10 (probably 8-9ish), walk by and said mother picks up dead rising 2 and says "Here's a zombie game you might like" to the boy, (the girl wonders around the corner now, not interested). I didn't exactly catch what was said next, something along the lines of "can I get 2 games for my birthday" from the boy, and the mother mentioning that "You'll have to wait for Black ops".

I stood there speechless as this person just offered her 8-9 year old son 2 games both rated MA15+ (Aus, they'd be R 18+ elsewhere yeah?) I couldn't figure out what the fuck just happened. She seemed to know at least a little bit about the games (she got the names right, thats more then most parents) yet offered her 8 year old freaking Dead Rising. Man I wasn't even allowed to watch the Simpsons when I was 8.

TLR Mum suggests 8 year old would enjoy Dead Rising.

Now did that boy have is mum whipped or is she crazy ignorant, or just a bad parent? Or am I crazy in thinking something is wrong here?

I think you're overreacting. Clearly she just doesn't believe that Mature games are harmful to children. My parents didn't, either. Grand Theft Auto was one of my earliest memories of gaming, second only to Sonic 2.