Minors playing M rated games. How do you feel?

[Donut417]

4 hours ago, Statik said:

First, I was talking about the not uncommon opinion to require ID to purchase games, or ID photos sent to game companies bought through steam, etc. And that flat out is my opinion on minors playing games. They should be allowed. Restricting games that are M rated, etc to people over 18 is stupid.

 

I know a few retail locations in my area that have done this for games and movies of certain ratings. I think this is an acceptable practice as it forces parents to Adult. Sorry, but Im sicken and tired of these dick headed parents blaming gaming companies because some ass hole kid shoots up a school. Because you know for a fact thats what they do. Retailers should have policies of asking for ID for these items. I mean they ask for ID for Alcohol and Tobacco products, I dont really see the difference. 

[Clanscorpia]

32 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

I know a few retail locations in my area that have done this for games and movies of certain ratings. I think this is an acceptable practice as it forces parents to Adult. Sorry, but Im sicken and tired of these dick headed parents blaming gaming companies because some ass hole kid shoots up a school. Because you know for a fact thats what they do. Retailers should have policies of asking for ID for these items. I mean they ask for ID for Alcohol and Tobacco products, I dont really see the difference. 

A game cant directly harm you like alcohol and tobacco

[ARikozuM]

15 minutes ago, Clanscorpia said:

A game cant directly harm you like alcohol and tobacco

I could direct you to some stories if you'd like about the lengths to which uninhibited folk will go to. If you'd like.

 

http://www.looper.com/9331/video-games-ruined-peoples-lives/

[Donut417]

47 minutes ago, ARikozuM said:

I could direct you to some stories if you'd like about the lengths to which uninhibited folk will go to. If you'd like.

 

http://www.looper.com/9331/video-games-ruined-peoples-lives/

Not to mention in one of the many Ethics Classes I have taken, one of them talked about Advertising to Children. Children are susceptible to suggestion. So yeah, if they dont understand that the video game is not real, they could emulate the behavior in the real world. We were talking about the ethics of marketing items to children. And the affect it has on the parents. Because if your child is whining and crying about it, parents are more likely to cave and buy it. 

 

The fact is Im all for asking for ID to buy games. Movie Theaters can restrict children from Entering rated R films which is in like with Mature Title games. 

@Clanscorpia what about porn? Its just a form of media and its restricted to who technically can view it. Does porn not harm people? Video games are the same thing. Porn does not technically cause physical harm like my two other examples. Why is it restricted to 18 -20 years old to buy or rent? 

[Clanscorpia]

1 hour ago, ARikozuM said:

I could direct you to some stories if you'd like about the lengths to which uninhibited folk will go to. If you'd like.

 

http://www.looper.com/9331/video-games-ruined-peoples-lives/

The thing is, Alcohol will have bad effect in any child if they consume too much. Just a little bit for tobacco. Video games dont harm every kid

 

9 minutes ago, Donut417 said:

The fact is Im all for asking for ID to buy games. Movie Theaters can restrict children from Entering rated R films which is in like with Mature Title games. 

@Clanscorpia what about porn? Its just a form of media and its restricted to who technically can view it. Does porn not harm people? Video games are the same thing. Porn does not technically cause physical harm like my two other examples. Why is it restricted to 18 -20 years old to buy or rent? 

Coming from a grade 8, giving porn to horny violent teens is not a good idea. They will get ideas.

[MarvinKMooney]

Not my kids, not my problem and none of my business.

[Praesi]

Violent Games dont belong  in Child Hands. Parents  who let play their Kids GTA or online Shooter are disgusting.

[vorticalbox]

I'm ok with it so long as they actually play the game and don't turn into a screaming little fuck wit that thinks its ok to mess up the game repeatedly because the boss you're killing as a "Pokémon".

 

It wasn't funny the first time.

[Brooksie359]

As someone who grew up playing rated M games since I was very young I don't believe it really is harmful. I mean my parents where still wary of some games like gta and other games of the sort but they didn't stop me form playing halo or Call of Duty. I think people believe that video games do more than they actually do. 

[samcool55]

It just depends on the child tbh.

I played GTA:SA waay before i should have but i don't believe it affected me.

 

Some people are just easier to influence than other people...

 

It's sadly the few twats that decide it's a good idea to try the in-game stuff in real life that ruin it for everybody...

 

[Velvet Revolver]

Look everyone is so protective now of their children, games do not make children grow up to be violent. Let your kids roam free and dont hover over them.

[Praesi]

41 minutes ago, Abyssal Radon said:

That's kinda harsh... basically you are stating that my parents, and 1000's of other parents are "disgusting" for allowing their kids to play a game like GTA or shooters. You might want to really think about that statement, ask yourself this. Did your parents let you play violent video games when you were younger? If so, are your parents disgusting?  

I know bad parents who let do their childs anything just to get them off their nerves. Unfiltered Internet, violent Games ect. Retarded @#$ in my Eyes.

[desertcomputer]

Any game with multiplayer aspects should be rated 18+ even than... 

[AceTaker]

On 12/4/2016 at 5:36 PM, Axeonelite said:

It’s that time again. Time for a trip to your local store, whether it be the Best Buy, EB Games, Gamestop, Or even Walmart. Once you get there you see  A child asking their parent to buy them some M rated video game. You’re infuriated. “How does this child even know what that game is?” “Games like this aren’t made for children” “They have a rating system for a reason!” You proclaim in your head. Then in the midst of your self-righteous monologue you hear it. Their parent finally does “Sure!” Or “Whatever, you can have it.”

 

“WHAT IN THE WORLD!” Your jaw drops to the floor. “How dare the parents allow their children to play that violent, sexual, experience, Why would they even allow such a thing?

 

 

The problem is not in the rating. Whether it be M for Video Games, R for Movies, or TV-MA for televised programing. The ESRB and MPAA ratings give us a good guideline as to what the content within is. But their rating is not the issue. The rating system in any country is still an opinion. The Rating is not meant to imply that no one under the age on the box can not handle the content contained in that Game or Movie.

 

But let me be very clear that gaming today is not the innocent happy-go-lucky experiences they used to be. Today, games are filled with realism in many forms, Violence, Sexual interactions, and drug & Alcohol usage.

 

But these things are not new things people are being exposed to. Humans have experienced this things for many generations. Even children are being exposed to this things at younger and younger ages. A lot of parents and adults worry that children will act out the things they do in games in real life. The same has been said thousands of times about movies and television as well.

 

The ratio of people who view violent movies and play violent video games versus the people who act on what they see or even just people who commit these acts without every playing a violent video gaming or below average TV and movie viewing is not enough to cause alarm. Yet, since video games aren’t as understood or accepted by some as movies and T.V. are, video games get more hate than they should.

 

Each person has the right to choose what type of content they will consume. And I stand by that statement myself. But as far as children go I also believe that if you are living in your parents home, you do have to abide by their rules.

 

Many Children who play M rated games, Watch R rated movies, and TV-MA, content do so because it’s trendy. Which is true, many people are attracted to the violence or whatever Mature theme is in that content. But that being said they are other video games to play. Many Children claim that only M rated games are coming out nowadays.

 

In Metacritic's list for the top video game released by Score in 2016 as of the time of uploading this video only 33 of the top 100 games were rated M. And that includes the same game being listed multiple times for different systems. So there are clearly other options of games to play.

 

But that being said people are going to be attracted to what they like. 

 

What do you guys think? 

Then I grew up right, my mom knew how horrible GTA was, I turned 14 in September and now I can pretty much play whatever. No one really cares, which is nice for me, but it's really quite sad. They should need a ID (Or Drivers license) for M games. It doesn't effect me because I'm a master at deceiving my brother into buying me stuff. I do agree though that kids should not be allowed to play M games like GTA V. When I said that I grew up right, my mom never really allowed us to get M games because she thought that if we grew up playing games like GTA, (Which is known for a bad influence) we might have acted like the characters. It really depends early on....why am I still typing this? Jeeze, I need to stop.

[spamy666]

From a guy who started playing GTA at the age of 6, I think its okay as long as they aren't stupid and copy everything in the game.

[Clanscorpia]

2 hours ago, Praesi said:

I know bad parents who let do their childs anything just to get them off their nerves. Unfiltered Internet, violent Games ect. Retarded @#$ in my Eyes.

Just because they let you play violent video games doesnt mean that you're magically allowed to do everything. Im also allowed unfiltered internet because Im mature enough in there eyes and they know that theres nothing stopping me from going around their roadblocks. Im rarely allowed to go anywhere without either a few of my friends or my parents. Im also only allowed to spend large amounts of money with their permission. Plus most of the violent games I play my dad plays or played a very similar game as a kid. Exception in CS:GO and assassins creed. I also just got R6:Siege and it is Amazing! The amount of planning you need to do is crazy. Its super fun so far

[Statik]

17 hours ago, Donut417 said:

I know a few retail locations in my area that have done this for games and movies of certain ratings. I think this is an acceptable practice as it forces parents to Adult. Sorry, but Im sicken and tired of these dick headed parents blaming gaming companies because some ass hole kid shoots up a school. Because you know for a fact thats what they do. Retailers should have policies of asking for ID for these items. I mean they ask for ID for Alcohol and Tobacco products, I dont really see the difference. 

You don't see the difference between alcohol, tobacco, and video games? Like I said elsewhere it boggles my mind that at 17, people can join the military, use real weapons, and go to a real war, yet people still expect them to not be allowed to buy COD or GTA.

[Mooshi]

I skimmed a little of the more recent responses and honestly, IDs to buy games is a bad idea. 

 

Did you forget being a kid? Not every minor *looks* like a little kid. Parents are also the one's who usually buys the game anyway and if you card *them*, they'd think someone was wrong with you. Plus there is this thing called "the internet" lol 

 

When it comes to ill effects, mental illness isn't exactly an age specific issue. I'm willing to wager a vast majority of LTT members played M rated games under the age of 18 and turned out fine. To echo another poster, a culture that's okay with sending a 17 year old off to war, but has a fit over a kid playing COD is highly illogical. 

 

While it can be weird hearing a kid talk about certain adult themes and I totally get that, we're ultimately talking about something that isn't real. If someone goes on a shooting spree they were already mentality broken before picking up a controller. 

[Guest lilbman]

I think it's okay.  As long as the child can distinguish between what is reality and what is not and their sense of right and wrong, it is okay.

[Statik]

33 minutes ago, Mooshi said:

I skimmed a little of the more recent responses and honestly, IDs to buy games is a bad idea. 

 

Did you forget being a kid? Not every minor *looks* like a little kid. Parents are also the one's who usually buys the game anyway and if you card *them*, they'd think someone was wrong with you. Plus there is this thing called "the internet" lol 

 

When it comes to ill effects, mental illness isn't exactly an age specific issue. I'm willing to wager a vast majority of LTT members played M rated games under the age of 18 and turned out fine. To echo another poster, a culture that's okay with sending a 17 year old off to war, but has a fit over a kid playing COD is highly illogical. 

 

While it can be weird hearing a kid talk about certain adult themes and I totally get that, we're ultimately talking about something that isn't real. If someone goes on a shooting spree they were already mentality broken before picking up a controller. 

Preach it sista.

[Donut417]

5 hours ago, Statik said:

You don't see the difference between alcohol, tobacco, and video games? Like I said elsewhere it boggles my mind that at 17, people can join the military, use real weapons, and go to a real war, yet people still expect them to not be allowed to buy COD or GTA.

M rated Titles are for 17+, AO is for 18+ considering that COD and GTA are M, people who are 17 can play. If you actually looked at the ESRB rating system over at ESRB.org you would have known this. 

[SomeRandomNoob]

Interesting conversation guys, just posting my experience, don't mind the wall of text, just my opinion.

 

When I was a kid I remember rated M games being very tame. GTA Vice City and Resident Evil 4 were very cartoon like and FPS games at the time were not very realistic and story lines were pretty crude making people who I was hanging out with think that it was perfectly fine for kids to play CoD or Metal of Honor. Of course graphics have improved and some scenarios are extremely graphic in nature these days that some people argue that it should not be shown at all (Jack Thompson anyone?). I was playing shooters since I was 12, it was Counter Strike which isn't that mature of a game but when I moved to other more realistic shooters I still find them quite unrealistic and mostly harmless. I recall Metal Slug and Super Smash Bros having a greater effect in me wanting to rush recklessly with a heavy machine gun and fight everyone in existence to get on top, and those games were rated T not M.

 

Movies were way more scarring to my childhood development than video games. When I was a kid my father loved to watch World War II shows/movies (on the Eastern/Pacific front) where almost everything was shown. I can still vividly recall a scene in one show where a child was taken away from his parents by the Japanese and was tortured and enslaved in a child labor camp/concentration camp for a long time before the camp was liberated. The show screwed with my brain so hard and it took a while for me to realize that World War II happened ~60 years ago (at the time)and that all the old war movies were not currently happening but it still left lots of scarring for me.

 

Video games on the other hand were pretty mild to me. Playing "No Russian" in CoD didn't really make me think twice when I was a teen. I know that my childhood was very screwy with all the stuff I was exposed to before but even Manhunt was not damaging in the least, it didn't come close to war-crime torture. The think that really screwed with my head as a teen was pornography (the very hardcore stuff) but I wont get into that. Sex in video games is pretty vanilla compared to whats out there, and kids are exposed to health/sex ed when the are 14/15 so it should not be much of a problem to have some of the overt sexual things in video games for that age group. Violence is harder to argue for because of all the negative news about it. I do like the argument that "millions of people are playing FPS games, we should expect to see millions of people gun down others if it does have a large influence on people", I know not the best logic but it does make me wonder. I do recall showing my niece (12 years old) me playing Battlefield 1 and she was not that interested. People will be drawn to the content the want and the gatekeeper for a child is their parents (or someone they know who would buy it for them) and it is ultimately the parents decision to allow them to play. If the kid turns out to be bad later in life you can blame it on bad parenting, the rated M game may have been a factor, but it most certainly would not be the first or deciding factor. Personally I would be fine if I had a kid and he wanted to play rated M games, hell I'd even play with him but I would explain to him that it is all fantasy (unlike my parents who never corrected me until later in life).

[piemadd]

On 12/4/2016 at 5:36 PM, Axeonelite said:

It’s that time again. Time for a trip to your local store, whether it be the Best Buy, EB Games, Gamestop, Or even Walmart. Once you get there you see  A child asking their parent to buy them some M rated video game. You’re infuriated. “How does this child even know what that game is?” “Games like this aren’t made for children” “They have a rating system for a reason!” You proclaim in your head. Then in the midst of your self-righteous monologue you hear it. Their parent finally does “Sure!” Or “Whatever, you can have it.”

 

“WHAT IN THE WORLD!” Your jaw drops to the floor. “How dare the parents allow their children to play that violent, sexual, experience, Why would they even allow such a thing?

 

 

The problem is not in the rating. Whether it be M for Video Games, R for Movies, or TV-MA for televised programing. The ESRB and MPAA ratings give us a good guideline as to what the content within is. But their rating is not the issue. The rating system in any country is still an opinion. The Rating is not meant to imply that no one under the age on the box can not handle the content contained in that Game or Movie.

 

But let me be very clear that gaming today is not the innocent happy-go-lucky experiences they used to be. Today, games are filled with realism in many forms, Violence, Sexual interactions, and drug & Alcohol usage.

 

But these things are not new things people are being exposed to. Humans have experienced this things for many generations. Even children are being exposed to this things at younger and younger ages. A lot of parents and adults worry that children will act out the things they do in games in real life. The same has been said thousands of times about movies and television as well.

 

The ratio of people who view violent movies and play violent video games versus the people who act on what they see or even just people who commit these acts without every playing a violent video gaming or below average TV and movie viewing is not enough to cause alarm. Yet, since video games aren’t as understood or accepted by some as movies and T.V. are, video games get more hate than they should.

 

Each person has the right to choose what type of content they will consume. And I stand by that statement myself. But as far as children go I also believe that if you are living in your parents home, you do have to abide by their rules.

 

Many Children who play M rated games, Watch R rated movies, and TV-MA, content do so because it’s trendy. Which is true, many people are attracted to the violence or whatever Mature theme is in that content. But that being said they are other video games to play. Many Children claim that only M rated games are coming out nowadays.

 

In Metacritic's list for the top video game released by Score in 2016 as of the time of uploading this video only 33 of the top 100 games were rated M. And that includes the same game being listed multiple times for different systems. So there are clearly other options of games to play.

 

But that being said people are going to be attracted to what they like. 

 

What do you guys think? 

I believe that a lot of games(such as halo 4) are labeled at m for no real reason. As long as it should really be a teen rated game, I'm fine (like foster games), but gta should be for more mature people

[fullautohotdog]

I think the ratings systems have (pardon the pun) too big of a boner for sex. A movie or a game where somebody gets a leg ripped off by a monster, or someone gets murdered by a crazy clown? Give it a T or PG-13. But show a boobie, gotta slap an M or R on it... 

[Praesi]

1 hour ago, fullautohotdog said:

I think the ratings systems have (pardon the pun) too big of a boner for sex. A movie or a game where somebody gets a leg ripped off by a monster, or someone gets murdered by a crazy clown? Give it a T or PG-13. But show a boobie, gotta slap an M or R on it... 

Same on LTT. Post screenshots of dismembered Bodies, no Problem. But post a pair of nice Skyrim Boobs and be ready warningpoints heading your Way.