Thoughts on video game ratings?

Logsi

Logsi

Logsi

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Hi all,

Just been having a heated debate with my old man about video games and in particular kids playing ultra realistic/ultra violent video games.

My view and opinion is that ultra violent/ultra realistic video games desensitise children who are yet to be mature and mentally capable enough of understanding them properly. I personally hate the thought of my 9 year old brother playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and i feel it has desensitised him of what guns actually do. I feel he is not mentally capable enough to be able to comprehend what is being done and i hate the interactivity that he has within the game. To me it is desensitising him of death which to me is wrong.

My fathers view is that these games are fine and that kids from an early age should be know about all this stuff. While i agree about this i don't agree that kids should play ultra violent and ultra realistic video games. He believes that a kid playing Call of Duty MW2 is no worse than going out in a forest with mates and pretending to shoot each other with sticks. While it may be no different when stripped down, it's the interactivity and violence of CoD4MW2 that in my opinion shouldn't be seen by children.

I'm excited to hear your opinions and what you feel about what these games nowadays can/may do to children's minds.

Do you think there should be no age ratings on games?

Do you think children should play ultra violent realistic video games?

What effect do you think these games may have on children?
 
The age ratings should stay, but parents play a massive part in educating their kids about the content and themes of mature games.
 
KNiVES said:
The age ratings should stay, but parents play a massive part in educating their kids about the content and themes of mature games.
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Agreed.

It does come all down to parenting but would you let your 4 year old play CoD4 with your supervision even though it is violent and could seem very realistic to someone of that age? I just feel they are not mature mentally to understand what is going on and it may effect them.

Maybe a mod could change the thread title to "Ultra Violent Video Games and Children"
 
My father grew up reading 'Commando' and other simialr war story comics, perhaps they didnt create such a strong visual image in his head but I think its relative. Just like how violent amiga games rated 18 would be laughable by todays graphic standards.

They must have some effect, but games shouldnt be isolated, obviously I have no evidence but Im sure a lot of those who commit violent crimes dont have much access to video games compared to other media forms that might induce violence like rap music about shooting people. Also violence has been around longer than the video games industry.
 
Logsi said:
Hi all,

Just been having a heated debate with my old man about video games and in particular kids playing ultra realistic/ultra violent video games.

My view and opinion is that ultra violent/ultra realistic video games desensitise children who are yet to be mature and mentally capable enough of understanding them properly. I personally hate the thought of my 9 year old brother playing Call of Duty Modern Warfare 2 and i feel it has desensitised him of what guns actually do. I feel he is not mentally capable enough to be able to comprehend what is being done and i hate the interactivity that he has within the game. To me it is desensitising him of death which to me is wrong.

My fathers view is that these games are fine and that kids from an early age should be know about all this stuff. While i agree about this i don't agree that kids should play ultra violent and ultra realistic video games. He believes that a kid playing Call of Duty MW2 is no worse than going out in a forest with mates and pretending to shoot each other with sticks. While it may be no different when stripped down, it's the interactivity and violence of CoD4MW2 that in my opinion shouldn't be seen by children.

I'm excited to hear your opinions and what you feel about what these games nowadays can/may do to children's minds.

Do you think there should be no age ratings on games?

Do you think children should play ultra violent realistic video games?

What effect do you think these games may have on children?
Click to expand...

Your profile says you are 21. I assume the 360 or the generation before that you were below 18.

1) Did you play any 18 rated games before you turned 18?
2) Do you have bad parents?


rp2000
 
rp2000 said:
Your profile says you are 21. I assume the 360 or the generation before that you were below 18.

1) Did you play any 18 rated games before you turned 18?
2) Do you have bad parents?


rp2000
Click to expand...

Yes, i played 18 rated games before my time but i feel i was mentally capable of understanding the game and it's contents. I'm talking about sub 10 year old children.

And what do you mean by bad parents, in what way?
 
Logsi said:
Yes, i played 18 rated games before my time but i feel i was mentally capable of understanding the game and it's contents. I'm talking about sub 10 year old children.

And what do you mean by bad parents, in what way?
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I meant in the context of parents knowingly letting their children play games rated higher than the child's age. (not in the sense that your parents in particular are bad!! re-reading it my question was worded badly!!)

Surely your arguement is lowering age ratings (based on your example of yourself). 18 games are Ok for 16 years olds but not 10 etc?


rp2000
 
Shamikebab said:
:eek:

In all seriousness I agree with Knives, I think games need age ratings but it's general Parenting with regard to games that needs to improve.
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Wasn't sure which word to use! :p Pretty drained after talking to my old man about it!

I think parents should know more about what they're buying they're kids as i'd say GTA is far worse than a 18 movie due to the interactivity.
 
rp2000 said:
I meant in the context of parents knowingly letting their children play games rated higher than the child's age. (not in the sense that your parents in particular are bad!! re-reading it my question was worded badly!!)

Surely your arguement is lowering age ratings (based on your example of yourself). 18 games are Ok for 16 years olds but not 10 etc?


rp2000
Click to expand...

The argument is not so much about teenagers getting a hold of 18 games but more to do with sub 10 year old children playing them and what implications mentally it may have on them.
 
Logsi said:
The argument is not so much about teenagers getting a hold of 18 games but more to do with sub 10 year old children playing them and what implications mentally it may have on them.
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To me ratings are ratings. The system does not work if you arbitrarily choose to ignore them for some, but not for others.

Kids should not play violent games at that age, but 10 seems a weird line to draw, why not 11, or 12 etc, who decides the line?


rp2000
 
rp2000 said:
To me ratings are ratings. The system does not work if you arbitrarily choose to ignore them for some, but not for others.

Kids should not play violent games at that age, but 10 seems a weird line to draw, why not 11, or 12 etc, who decides the line?


rp2000
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I just said 10 as a random child age. I have a little brother of 9 and sisters of 9/4 so i just said 10 as a figure.

I think the thread title should be changed as this thread was more intended so that i could read people views on the effects of video games more than the actual game ratings. I just said ratings as 18 games like GTA and CoD are more violent and i feel they shouldn't be played by minors at all.

Is desensitising children a bad thing?
 
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Kids that young should not be playing 18 games. I don't agree with the ratings 100% but games and all forms of entertainment do have an effect on the viewer/player. A parent who lets a 9 year old play a violent war shooter is irresponsible in my opinion.
 
I think all games should be BBFC rated and these ratings should strictly enforced in shops. Severe punishments handed down to stores that break these exactly as alchohol/tobacco sales.

Parents need to be a lot more involved in what their children are doing/playing. Just because it's a video game doesn't mean it's something that can be ignored.
 
Macky said:
Parents preference IMO. I was about 10 when I first played a GTA game. I'm no knife wielding gun blasting thug. ;)
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About the same age for me. First got GTA on the PlayStation, followed by GTA London, GTA2 on the PC, GTA3 on the PS2 when I was 15 etc.

As it stands, I have a degree in Criminology and I'm looking to join the police soon. Not exactly the definition of someone who's been influenced by violent games from a young age, but then I imagine the Daily Mail would deny my existence if necessary anyway.

Age ratings need to be there for legal reasons and to help parents make the right decisions, but ultimately it does need to come down to their own proper judgement as to whether their child is mature enough and of the right state of mind to be playing those games. Unfortunately, the sorts of children who are liable to be negatively influenced by a game like GTA probably don't have the right sort of parents in the first place anyway.
 
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Did anyone else see the thing that Supernanny did about video games to prove the violent games desensitised children to things in real life?

She got half the room to play a football game (Fifa) and the other half to play a FPS (CS possibly). After 10 mins or so she got them all to watch clips of real life rioting/fighting/bad stuff and most of the kids that had played Fifa opted to not watch the footage as they were too disturbed.
Then after another session of playing their game they got an interview thing from the tester. He dropped a set of pencils and only 40% of the CS group helped him while (i think) 80% of the Fifa group helped.

I think it's up to the parents about what they let their children play. I was pretty young when I watched my brother play Resi and it gave me nightmares so I wasn't allowed to play it until I was much older but my parents let me play other 18 rated games and there was never an issue. Most games I think I was underage to play and I don't think it was very detrimental to my sensitivity to others. I'm just a heartless *****! l :D

Man, that was a ramble. Silly wine!
 
Parents should definitely pay attention to games ratings.
If they say 18 they say that for a reason.I'm sure a normal parent wouldn't buy a copy of hostel or something for their 12 year old kid.
Although i'm not convinced games make kids violent.I've been playing games since I was about 4 years old(im 32 now) and i've never thought it'd be a good idea to kill somebody.
Blaming games is just an easy excuse IMO.
 
I work in a video games retailer, and I usually try to offer alternatives to 18 rated products when parents come into the store,

They usually ask for GTA4 and my favourite line is "I wouldn't recommend this game as it contains drugs, gang warfare, extreme violence, prostitution, and to regain health you sleep with prostitutes and kill them afterwards to reclaim your money" parents usually reconsider after this but one mother said to me "oh he sees worse in the playground"
 
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