Thoughts on video game ratings?

[Logsi]

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?

 

[Logsi]

The age ratings should stay, but parents play a massive part in educating their kids about the content and themes of mature games.

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"

 

[Logsi]

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

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]

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.

Wasn't sure which word to use! 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.

 

[Logsi]

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

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]

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

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?