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

I let my daughter (now 18) play GTA Vice City when it was "current" she used to predominantly just drive the cars about and loved it, however, my current partner has an 8 year old and he's under huge pressure from classmates who are always banging on about GTA V, Call of Duty, Battlefield 4 etc etc

Myself and my partner both feel the detail of the graphics in today's games blur the lines between fantasy and reality far too much and as a concequence, he's stuck with Minecraft!
 
neodude said:
My son is the same age. He Plays Far Cry 3 & GTA IV. He's desperate to play GTA V but I've not caved in yet because the stripper scenes are too much I think. I think he's mature enough to know that games are games and reality is reality. He hears swearing in the games, yes, but know not to repeat anything outside.
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The stripper scenes are too much? So massive amounts of violence are ok but some boobs are bad?

Way back when my lad was nine (some time ago) I didn't let him play almost all mature* rated video games but in the N64 area it was less of an issue. Sure he probably played some mature rated games round at his friends house but in my house he followed my rules.

Once he was in his early to mid-teens I relaxed the rules a lot more. Probably harder for parents nowadays though.

* I clearly made an exception for Doom because Doom is awesome.
 
Tosno said:
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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Congratulations, but as a grandfather I can't tell you it isn't going to be quite as simple as you think. Parenting is bloody hard. Good luck.
 
My son is now 14 and as you can gather, always wanted to play the 16/18 rated games because his friends were and it was the cool thing to do. up until he was 13 he was stuck with Minecraft, Forza, Lego Heroes, TF2. He played COD and Battlefield at 13, but I wouldn't let him play GTA V until he was 14. My logic is that the level of violence in COD and FPS is far different to that of GTA with sex, drugs and violence. He only played GTA for the reckless driving, running from the police and one month later he doesn't play it at all.
 
Each to his own and as parents you are responsible for their actions however no way would I let my son touch games that are rated above 12.

The battle lines have been firmly drawn on this.

I know my son's friends have playd GTA IV and V at 8 years old my son has said so.

My reaction is that the kid is not my son.

I know the boy in question and would not trust him at all even at 9 years old he is a bully.

I'm not saying the games made him violent but wonder if it helps to allow him to play games where killing and treating people like objects to be hurt is a good idea.

I know many parents who don't even let their children near consoles or PC games at all, it's a pandora's box and as a parent TBH I wish we hadn't either.

Off topic but relevant is that some movies which were rated 15 in the 80s I've let him watch, but only when I was with him and could explain things.
 
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I plan to keep my children away from the more mature games for as long as possible - the likes of GTA V, and CoD.

I'd love to play co-op Halo with my 6 year old, but feel he's still too young. We play Minecraft, Skylanders, Forza Horizon, and a group of similar titles together, we predominantly play co-op games, or we take turns on driving games. Maximum of an hour a day.

As an alternative to GTA, I let him play LA Noire. He gets to do all the walking round, driving etc, without fear of him hearing swearing. He doesn't do any of the missions, so doesn't see the more gruesome side of the game.

I've got friends that do not monitor what their children play, or even how long, and I find it disgusting personally.
 
I don't see this as much different from any of the other decisions responsible parents make on behalf of their younger children. You make a call - an informed one, hopefully, and one that makes sense to you and your child - and you hope that it works out the way you expected it to.

Our older daughter is 6 and has no interest in video games (so she can't beat me, ha!) but she's a bright girl and I can imagine future conversations around age appropriate 'stuff' becoming more and more common.

I think I'd rather have the video games chat to be honest :)
 
I vet all films and games rated higher than 12 before I choose whether to let my kids play on them or not. Free form game of choice for my 12yo atm is Just Cause 2 - he is pretty meh in regards to the GTA series, would love to get his paws on any Saints Row game but he is far too young for that atm. I am of the belief that fictional violence should be taught as just that, and playing these games or watching these films is a form of escapism and not an indication of intent.

I don't like the kids watching or playing games with sex in or containing sexual content but at the same time wouldn't stop them from watching something or a playing a game with flashes of nudity because I don't feel that sex is something children should be exposed to but they shouldn't be raised to feel that there is something unnatural in seeing the human body either. Far better than a lot of my sons friends whose parents allow free reign on the internet and I've already been asked whats pornhub by my son, who can't access sites like this over his home net connection.
 
What about when you play the role of the dog in GTA V and have sex with the other dog? Do you think that is suitable for a 9 year old, even more so when the dogs are gay?
 
I have two boys (oldest is 3). Not sure what I'll be doing about the internet (pron) and games, films etc when they're old enough. My parents didn't really know the content of games could be absolute filth when I was younger. I remember playing Carmageddon, Tomb Raider, Quake, GTA etc when I was about 10. I pretty much had free reign with what I played, Vice City came out in 2002 when I was just 14. That was pretty tame compared with IV and V.

I'll definitely be adhering to the ratings minus two years (based on the fact a 16 year old can have sex but pornography is for 18+).
 
I think its all aboput the game, BF4/COD for example you run arund killing mindless characters that you have no emotion or feeling towards etc, they could be a ghost or monster, it would have no effect on the gameplay, emotions etc.

But then games like GTA and Saints Row - makes the characters more personable, with rich story lines etc, and you get at attachment to them and as such killing in this game isnt about army/war where killing has a purpose etc, GTA your a criminal and it shows kids that actually in a normal enivorment where peopple are going about their daily lives there are a select few people like Trevor and Mike who cause haovc (granted this maybe true, but do you want your child to see this?)

I think the game itself and what it portrays is far more important than what a age rating some random person who actually most likely havent played the game gives it.

18 games.... my son can play some, but not others!
 
Depends on the game. Is Call of Duty or whatever going to affect him? No. Will playing the South Park: Stick of Truth video game or a hentai game affect him? Probably.

The best thing to do is look up the game and decide if it is suitable or not.
 
I think as most seem to mention, it'll vary depending on the game. Might be worth you playing through the storyline yourself, and making a decision on the type of content it has.
 
I had a game when I was younger for the PC where you were a porn guy/maker and you used to have to setup scenes and film/photo the porn stat. Was called Lulu or something, was a fun game and I'm aight.
 
I think it depends on the children and how impressionable they are and that's up to parents to decide.

Example

When i was just finishing primary school ( year 6 i think ) my parents let me get GTA Sanandreas for my birthday. I loved the game and to this day still think it was the best one.

To this day i still have not murdered anyone nor do i intend to. Ive never struck someone aggressively for no reason.

However there were some kids in school who actually became obsessed with the gang nature of sanandreas that they started to make gangs and would genuinely assault the other kids if they " went on there turf "

So like i said i really think it depends on how much of a impression the game will make on your kid IMO as i said thats always for the parents to decide not a number on a box.
 
I remember when I was 14 playing games like Soldier of Fortune and Unreal Tournament (and the original GTA and GTA London) when the gore in games was a little more extreme!

Never did me any harm. SoF gore was hilarious though.

It all goes back to the age old question of whether you would consider Tom and Jerry cartoon violence as harmful.
 
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I wouldn't allow it no.
Many of the Reception kids at my wife's school chat about GTA and other games, one was caught telling his mate how he saw some boobs and wants to play with them... HE IS 5 YEARS OLD.

Parents need to buck up their ideas.
 
Diagro said:
I wouldn't allow it no.
Many of the Reception kids at my wife's school chat about GTA and other games, one was caught telling his mate how he saw some boobs and wants to play with them... HE IS 5 YEARS OLD.

Parents need to buck up their ideas.
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I don't see the harm in a 5 year old talking about boobs. Why is that bad ? Does it suddenly become ok when he hits 16 ? Kids are exposed to all manor of things these days, much more than when I was growing up, internet etc. I honestly don't think it's a bad thing, exposure, sure some things like porn are not appropriate at a young age, but a kid talking about boobs isn't the apocalypse is it ?
 
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