Do you let your young children play video games with mature content?

doofer said:
Would you be happy to let your kids go to Sunday School? Far worse stuff in the Bible than Video Games.
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If the kids are smart enough understand the difference to between between fantasy (games) and reality, they'll soon suss out a bloke in a frock harping on about an imaginary sky friend as well; so there's no need for concern.
 
My boys 9 and I let him on GTA and Far Cry 3/4, he knows its a game and so far for the past 6 months IRL has not stolen any cars, gone to any strip clubs or run down any old ladies, if you think that playing video games turns you into a psycho you have read too much of the Daily Mail.
 
My daughter is 9. I let her play Dayz under my supervision because she watches me play it a lot. We have just allowed her a couple of 16 games for her ps4. Destiny, murdered souls suspect and thief ( I have told her she can't play level 3 on thief as I understand there is some serious sexual content there). I have allowed her to play cod split screen and tomb raider at our friends house with their son but I wouldn't let her have either of those games yet. I think she is also too young for the majority of 18 games and I would need to have played those through first to consider it
 
Not passing judgement on any of you guys who do it because it appears your being responsbile and reviewing what your kids play before you let them get their hands on it :)

However ianyone that doesn't in my view is a bad parent (I don't have kids myself) but we know a single Mum who buys her now 6 year old lad whateer game he wants without even questioning or reviewing the age ratings.

Whilst he does only play games on the Wii or DS its still pretty shocking to hear him up to you nd jus say whilst making the shape of a gun with hands shouting out "I'm gonna kill you"

That said the same woman shoves him away on his console so she can sneak off to her garage with her questionable friends and get stoned on weed.
 
Goberpiles316 said:
My boys 9 and I let him on GTA and Far Cry 3/4, he knows its a game and so far for the past 6 months IRL has not stolen any cars, gone to any strip clubs or run down any old ladies, if you think that playing video games turns you into a psycho you have read too much of the Daily Mail.
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I don't vet my child's games because they may turn into a pyscho, I vet them to make sure there isn't any content in them unsuitable for a nine year old. Sexual content, bad language, mature themes are all things I think can wait for a few more years.
 
Can't comment on what I would do if I had children since I have none, but when I was younger my mum didn't mind buying me the higher age rated games and I turned out fine.

However some of the more mature rated titles she wouldn't buy me at the time and I respect that, they had sexual content in them and themes that earned the game that rating not that it stopped me managing to get hold of it on loan from a friend.

when I hit around 12 she didn't mind as I had already been exposed to all of that via school, the internet and movies/tv and a big shocker here The news.
 
My 3 year old loves sitting on my knee playing xbox or PC games, Batman, Dying Light etc, she likes to point out the bad guys to shoot or just sits there going "I'M BATMAN!" in a deep voice.

She knows it is just a game and if anything was really too much then I'd probably not let her. I am far more concerned with kids getting addicted to games and wasting their life on them, something I've seen far too often and also the reason I want to move to the middle of nowhere and get them outside more :)
 
^ +1 with the above.

My little brother likes to play games with me, and does the same thing. However, it isn't to the point he doesn't know any different and is addicted to games.
 
I became a father last week, I have already made up my mind that I would not let my child play adult games. He will enjoy the innocence of childhood until he at least gets into double digits. He will have the rest of his life to see and hear about violence but only one short chance of childhood.
 
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mine plays whatever he likes, he knows wrong from right and is mentally capable of understanding what is real and what is make believe.


Not much difference than playing toy soldiers as a kid or watching wrestling on TV.

obviously if games are heavily sexual in nature than no way but a bit of violence is harmless people are exposed to it without question in other forms of media.

running around with a ***** in gtav no different to drawing a penis on a piece of paper..
kids don't understand what they are for
 
I'd say that it depends entirely on the maturity of the child. I grew up watching endless gory horror films -- made me the horror fanatic that I am today -- and it never did me any real harm.

Sure, I vomited all over the place on occasion and ran to hide behind the sofa and whatnot, but that was all part of the fun, and I knew that they were just movies.

Same with games these days. If the kid knows what's real life and what isn't, then there's no issue. It's up to you as the parent, knowing your own child, to judge whether exposure to the material may have an adverse affect on their mindset at this time. If you think not, then go ahead. If they show signs that it is, then you simply stop the exposure.
 
You should follow the laws.

- No GTA or other bad games till 18.

- No pr0n till 18.

- No alcohol/smoke till 18.

Result:

An 18 year old who is literally incapable of realities of life, gets all these things thrown at him all of sudden at 18 and expected to cope with it.

Cast as a social out-cast by his peers and falls into depression.

Doesnt understand alcohol limits, drinks too much on his 18th and dies.

Job done.
 
elmarko said:
I'm not disagreeing with your views here, but I do find societies preference to violence over vulgar language & nudity strange.
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As someone said above - most kids with any kind of half decent upbringing and no significant mental health issues can tell the difference between fantasy and real life when it comes to violence... infact many kids cartoons, classic children's stories, etc. even portray what is essentially quite a bit of violence if you really look at them.
 
Tough one really, as I played all the good ones when I was growing up. However, I think nowadays what is considered adult content in a video game is probably a lot worse.
But Mortal Kombat.... ? :p

I play some games with my 6yr old nephew, like Mario and Mario Cart on the Wii U and he LOVES it. Plus the new Disney Infinity game (the most boring game I've ever played). All harmless fun at the moment....
 
Every kid is different. Me personally I was playing them all since I was about 8/9 and it honestly never effected me.

However some kids might be more vulnerable to games like that and might be better off not letting them play until they are older.

This is where I feel the parents have to step in and decide if their kid is able to play it or not.

I was very mature for my age I believe and understood it was all just a game and not to let it influence my life in a bad way.
 
I did.
The rating on on the box never came into consideration when I was buying my son games.
He was playing vice city and San Andreas while still at primary school.

Surprisingly enough he has grown up to be a well adjusted young man with no issues at all.
 
A 15 or 18 game when I was growing up was very different in content to what we see now. Syndicate, Moonstione and Mortal Kombat caused outrage...

I think it was far easier as a child of my generation to know what was real life and what was a game because the graphics were so low res and cartoonish. But as content becomes ever more realistic I think the old arguments (ones which I have defended) need to be reviewed.

Soon we will be asking if children should be playing FPS games while wearing an Oculus style headset, at that point it gets difficult.
 
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For me personally no.

My son wouldn't understand the divide between a game and reality. I am happy enough at 8 for him to play Minecraft and Fifa.

If it becomes a problem when he is a teenager with the COD type games I will look at it again but what he doesn't play, currently he doesn't miss.
 
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