Uneducated Gaming Parent Syndrome

[SimuLord]

I'm reminded of an exchange my ex-wife and I had in a Best Buy last year.

Her: "Why do they stuff the shelves with all this casual crap?"
Me: "Because it sells. It's surprisingly popular with 9-12 year old girls, believe it or not."
Her: "Fuck that. I got Starcraft when I was 12. If my mom bought me this shit I'd probably grow up thinking games are stupid like those girls do."

 

[PolarBearClub]

My mum bought me my first Final Fantasy, forever cementing her status as a knowledgable gamer of the highest order. I had the SNES and a Sega Megadrive when I was younger. mortal Kombat was probably the most violent game we had, and while I'm sure my mum frowned, I think she appreciated that I was fairly level headed and it wouldn't have any damaging effect on me.

Except now she just disapproves of my gaming in general ever since I started getting more into it.

 

[TheJwalkR]

So can I get Halo: Modern Warfare for the Sony Wii60 or not?

As long as you have a playstaion box live account to play online yes. Also I would recommend Mario: Combat Evolved if you are into the classics.

 

[TelHybrid]

They do need to be educated.

If I hear about one more parent getting pissy with game developers because little Timmy fucked a prostitute on GTA4, I will really lose it.

Infact they don't even need to be educated, just look at the damn age certificate.

Tards...

 

[Redwall]

Thats... not that bad actually. Trust me, I work in games retail, I've seen worse. Much worse.

You'd be amazed at how many parents readily buy their kids violent games. Yes they do need to be educated, and I do my part. I've stopped many-a-kid from getting Halo 3/MW2.

When I say kid I'm talking 7-13.

The kids get pissed, but I don't care. Thats one less violent game in the hands of a kid, one more educated parent, and one less high-voiced kid online. I've done good.

What kind of rating system do you have? In Australia Halo 3 is M, meaning it's available to the general public regardless of age with MW2 being MA, meaning it can only be purchased by those 15 years or older.

I live in the US. We have the ESRB ratings system. It's not government enforced but every retailer follows the ESRB guidelines. And they are followed because is someone sells a young kid an M rated game, they get fired. So yeah.

Also, sorry is there's any spelling/grammar mistakes. I'm typing this on a phone.

I think I understand now, thanks for the clarification.

 

[ServebotFrank]

Still at the age of 14 I still have to have rated M games bought for me by my parents but at least they have an idea what's a "game". My mom used to be a Mortal Kombat fan along with my brother before it got too over the top in gore. ( My mom used to talk about how silly the earlier Mortal Kombat games were before games like Deadly Alliance.) My parents mostly judge the rating systems to maturity rather on actual age (at least my mom does) and no matter the rating I still have to pay for it. Some of my older relatives sometimes frown on games due to the swearing and violence while the younger ones don't really care.

I do however see the thing where parents game shop for their kids while I'm wincing at the game choices. I do see funny situations like when a 10 year old was trying to get his mom to buy him an Action Replay and was failing to explain what it was, "It lets you replay your games?". I was smirking while wondering if I should explain what it is but I decided not too since the kid was starting to whine and I figured I shouldn't help. I also see M games being bought and almost physically stopped a lady from buying Resident Evil 5 for her seven year old.

Also I know this has nothing to do with what we're talking about but has anyone else seen those kids that play the DS at the dinner table in resturaunts almost disconnected from everyone at the table? I want to punch those kids for just being that rude and I see that every where in the eight different cities I've been in.

 

[The Unworthy Gentleman]

My parents never try and recommend games for my brother or me. My brother knows enough from me and his own experience to decide what games to buy. Then he just tells my parents what game he wants and they'll get him it, provided he gives them the money. I'm also the guy that gets most of them too. I'll just order what he wants along with my games.

But, on topic, no. Parents need to spend more time listening to their kids rather than researching the 'good' games. They should listen to how the kid talks about a game then remember that. It's not a case of bad knowledge of the game but more bad listening skills.

 

[vento 231]

First of all, over protective parents piss me off almost as much as parents who breed stupidity, I however do think that they need to know what their kids are playing and if klling fake things is ok with them, that's OK, I would never let my kid play GTA, however I would let them play Halo, because my kids will not grow up to be criminals, but if they go off and kill aliens, there is no possible way I could be prouder.

 

[Giest4life]

A couple of weeks back, I was picking Call of Duty 3 (again--my copies keep breaking down) while an 8-10 year-old boy walked in with this mom, and slightly older sister, requesting to pre-order Call of Duty Black Ops. The store associate enthusiastically did his job and told of the great features in the game. While I just stood with my mouth wide open at all the bull crap. Lady, have you seen the rating on that damn game? Or how about you join your son for a session of Xbox Live one day, huh?

Also, speaking of wasting money. I was forced to buy my 8 year-old niece Cats, because the "kittens look[ed] soo cute."

EDIT: I actually didn't pay for the game, my sister-in-law did.

You have COD3 haha what do you even do in it? i just like to play split screen with my friends on it on uhm shoot whats its called oh yeah eder dam its the best map on there we all fight for control of the house

I played CoD: MW2, I thought it had a decent single-player campaign but I just couldn't bring myself to play it online. CoD 3 is the only game I enjoying playing online--I like TF2, too, but I suck at it too much.

Mine is giestforlife. I added you, so be on the lookout.

There are quiet a few people that play Call of Duty 3 online, still! If you have Xbox Live, I can prove it to you.

ah dude totally hit me up some time my GT is Bourngamer42

 

[LightOfDarkness]

http://forums.steampowered.com/forums/showthread.php?t=1386016

educated parent right there.

read the entire thread, it gets pretty funny

 

[LightOfDarkness]

I went into a Game Stop a few months ago and there was man trying to Playstation 2 for his daughter. He was sooo unfamiliar with gaming but he wanted to get it right. He really really just wanted to be able to give something to his daughter that might make her happy. He kept on asking what kind of computer he needed to make the PS2 work, to which the employee helping him responded (several times) that the system runs straight through the TV and doesn't need a computer. This blew the man's mind. He had to backtrack and have the employee tell him how the system works, but still thought he needed a computer for it.

Yea, parents don't always know what they're buying for their kids. They didn't grow up with this stuff, but we did. It's easy for us to look down on them for perceived ignorance, but how often do kids try to understand their parents? It was really easy to laugh at that guy in the Game Stop, but the fact that he had a sincere desire to do something nice for his kid was so obvious I couldn't look down on him.

Hey, at least he's trying. That's more than you or I can say about FOX >.>

 

[Eggsnham]

You spelled gaming and syndrome wrong.

They are not coneseurs, but rather lost in the catalogues of shovelware.

Ironically, you spelled 'connoisseur' wrong.

Anyways, I couldn't care less about what parents think about videogames as long as they realize that playing a game of Gears of War, or maybe Red Faction guerrilla won't turn your kids into psychopathic murderers.

 

[The Amazing Tea Alligator]

Ironically, you spelled 'connoisseur' wrong.

Huh, wierd. I google-checked it, so at least the word does exist. Luckily I am not a connoisseur of the English language, and so at least there's that.

 

[Kaez]

In Canada, if you don't follow the ERSB in a retail setting, not only could you lose your job, but if someone reports that you sold an M rated game to a minor, the store themselves gets hit with a heavy fine.

I noticed that EB will ID anyone when they buy an M rated game, at least thats what they do at my local EB, and I think that's a way to do it.

Coincidentally I went and bought Mass Effect 2 for my PC, and they even ID'd me. I'll take that as a complement... even if I am 22 XD

 

[IamQ]

Today i was in my local brick and mortar game store buying the game Eternal Sonata when i came upon some little kids with their mother. they were trying to buy some new Wii games. Now these were some i dont know 8 to 10 year old kids and the mother was trying to recommend games for them. She had no idea what she was talking about either! she would say oh do you want back yard football? or how about this tennis game! now i know that this isnt my place to tell parents that they are idiots and that even though the wii lacks tons of amazing games (to all fanboys i still want one for the soon to be amazing line up) but i knew right away that these kids were victims of uneducated gaming parent syndrome. The parents will never go for the good game because they wont research what the good games are. if i walk into a game store i hear something like this all the time like my very favorite, Does mario galaxy come on the xbox 360 you should have seen this employees face (i digress) my question to you all is, "do parents need to be more educated on what they are buying for their kids so that they dont waste their money?" And also if you want throw down a funny story im all ears
[Edit] This could also be about the whole parents shouldnt even buy their kids violent video games

Yes, parents need to do more research about games instead of taking the game with the box art that is the more appealing to them.

Also, you might want to improve your grammar. A lot.

 

[Mr. Google]

Today i was in my local brick and mortar game store buying the game Eternal Sonata when i came upon some little kids with their mother. they were trying to buy some new Wii games. Now these were some i dont know 8 to 10 year old kids and the mother was trying to recommend games for them. She had no idea what she was talking about either! she would say oh do you want back yard football? or how about this tennis game! now i know that this isnt my place to tell parents that they are idiots and that even though the wii lacks tons of amazing games (to all fanboys i still want one for the soon to be amazing line up) but i knew right away that these kids were victims of uneducated gaming parent syndrome. The parents will never go for the good game because they wont research what the good games are. if i walk into a game store i hear something like this all the time like my very favorite, Does mario galaxy come on the xbox 360 you should have seen this employees face (i digress) my question to you all is, "do parents need to be more educated on what they are buying for their kids so that they dont waste their money?" And also if you want throw down a funny story im all ears
[Edit] This could also be about the whole parents shouldnt even buy their kids violent video games

Yes, parents need to do more research about games instead of taking the game with the box art that is the more appealing to them.

Also, you might want to improve your grammar. Alot.

hahahaha you spelled a lot wrong but yes i dont have the best grammar and i dont care much