Age restrictions on Games and any content is complete nonsense...society is wrong!

[WhiteSkyMage]

Hello there gamers,

As you probably already know, this topic has been discussed and brought up a lot more than you could imagine, yet society is still thinks "this way is the right way", where it's not. Let me bring up some points that you should just think before you decide to either let your child play mature games, or play them yourself (if you are the kid yourself). Now I know this will spark big heat over here, but let's just see how far can it go...

 

As far as it goes - people "try" to measure your maturity and judge you by your age, they think they know what is good and bad for you...unfortunately, this doesn't mean they are right. Actually it's more to do with YOU - your experiences, your moral beliefs, mentality, life choices etc. etc. and as such you could be more mature than an adult without knowing it, while you are just 12 years old or perhaps even younger.

Now although age is defining number that decides what and when we are allowed to do things (watch movies and play video games with blood, horror, gore, abuse and...many more of those things that you are trying to protect your children from, because YOU think it's bad for them), we as people, have the ability to decide what our actions are. Again, it's all based on your mindset, and it is generally learned rather than instinctive (one reason you see them 8 year 'lds playing COD and whatever).

 

Individual maturity is not directly correlated with age at all. There is a slight correlation between maturity and age, but overall it is totally down to the individual. This is why all laws based around age, and age restrictions in general, should be replaced by maturity restrictions, and you would need to be tested first to find out your level of maturity. This level would determine which laws apply to you. Eg. Whether you can drink, consent to sex/marriage, vote (this shouldn't really be based on maturity or age either way, democracy should not be limited to those who are mature/older), watch certain movies (to be honest movies have never been proven to harm anyone of any maturity level, cinema age restrictions should be abolished in general), and all other similar areas currently limited by age generalizations (there is NO PROOF WHATSOEVER that video games harm your kids, rather what can be considered harmful is looking at the screen for long periods of time, video games themselves are GOOD for kids, needs, and everyone) and ageist discrimination.

 

Now a little bit for me and my sister, and how we didn't care that much about that age restriction, nor my parents did at all....2 years ago, I bought Tomb Raider for my sister, she was 14, she played it, she loved it, and then she played Skyrim. My father even helped her with the puzzles involved in those games, knowing that the game was for mature, for us, she was mature, again, it's up to her to judge if she is ready for it or not, but it's just mind boggling that she doesn't like seeing blood in real, but when it comes to games, it's one of those textures she can not play without. It is the same for many of my friends and i keep advertising Star Citizen to minors and my old school....though...they are all stuck at CSGO and LoL...  I've played GTA San Andreas with her, when she was only 7...or 8, i can't remember, but that's pretty much the only GTA we played cuz we were on to WoW back then...I was about 10 . Are we murders now - no. Perhaps the only thing that changed was that we broke the "law of age discrimination" that society thinks it's right for kids. NOPE! IT IS NOT! THIS IS ALL WRONG!

 

BOOM! AGE RESTRICTIONS INVALID!

 

Let's see what you have to say about this guys.

[comicsansms]

I couldn't care less about your massive post, I honestly think it is up to the parent and what they feel is best for their child.

Yes, some parents are over protective and sensory, but most are fine. An age restriction justs adds a second layer of thought to what they are actually buying their child and if it is appropriate for their child, (Believe it or not, not all 15 years olds are the same, and not all 15 years olds should be able to play GTA since they don't fully understand that it is a narrative)

 

Any kid who has been told "No" to a game they want to buy believes age restrictions are bad, but they are fundamentally not and that is why they exist. Video games often have a harsher rating than TV shows or Movies purely because they are interactive, which makes sense; you are not just watching someone get shot, you are shooting them.

[vorticalbox]

When i was a kid I played gta after having kids there is no way I would let my kids play that game. Lucky (or unlucky) my parents had no idea hat it was to them it was just a game.

[cj09beira]

What you propose would never work. And democracy Should! be just for mature people, there's a lot of things in politics are you only start to understand as you get older like how certain policies afect the economy, and this decisions should not!! be in the hands of young naive people.

[pbx2]

Looking from experience here, TF2 is rated 15 here, Yet its only got some slight harmful swearing and blood. However, NaughtyBear is full of knives and stuff like that yet it's only a 12?!?!?!?1?!

 

Age ratings are not balanced, Which i think is more of a problem.

[KuJoe]

No offense but the original post looks like it was written by a kid and not a parent of a kid. When you get older you will hopefully have completely different views on the subject. As a current parent and a previous teenager, I can tell you that if you give kids the freedom to decide what is best for them they will make the wrong decisions enough times to make you reconsider the freedom you give them (and not because they are bad people, but because they don't understand things the same way adults do). Some kids can handle mature games, but some cannot and thus guidelines are in place to give parents the ability to be decent parents.

[KuJoe]

And to add some more to the topic...

 

Would I like my kid watch or play a game that is rated mature? Maybe, if I play or research it first.

Would I let my kid buy a game that is rated mature? Nope.

Would I blindly give my kid a game that wasn't rated mature without researching it first? Nope.

 

This is a good example of why the ratings are there, not to stop kids from playing the games entirely but to make sure the parents are involved in the process.

[cj09beira]

22 minutes ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

Hello there gamers,

As you probably already know, this topic has been discussed and brought up a lot more than you could imagine, yet society is still thinks "this way is the right way", where it's not. Let me bring up some points that you should just think before you decide to either let your child play mature games, or play them yourself (if you are the kid yourself). Now I know this will spark big heat over here, but let's just see how far can it go...

 

As far as it goes - people "try" to measure your maturity and judge you by your age, they think they know what is good and bad for you...unfortunately, this doesn't mean they are right. Actually it's more to do with YOU - your experiences, your moral beliefs, mentality, life choices etc. etc. and as such you could be more mature than an adult without knowing it, while you are just 12 years old or perhaps even younger.

Now although age is defining number that decides what and when we are allowed to do things (watch movies and play video games with blood, horror, gore, abuse and...many more of those things that you are trying to protect your children from, because YOU think it's bad for them), we as people, have the ability to decide what our actions are. Again, it's all based on your mindset, and it is generally learned rather than instinctive (one reason you see them 8 year 'lds playing COD and whatever).

 

Individual maturity is not directly correlated with age at all. There is a slight correlation between maturity and age, but overall it is totally down to the individual. This is why all laws based around age, and age restrictions in general, should be replaced by maturity restrictions, and you would need to be tested first to find out your level of maturity. This level would determine which laws apply to you. Eg. Whether you can drink, consent to sex/marriage, vote (this shouldn't really be based on maturity or age either way, democracy should not be limited to those who are mature/older), watch certain movies (to be honest movies have never been proven to harm anyone of any maturity level, cinema age restrictions should be abolished in general), and all other similar areas currently limited by age generalizations (there is NO PROOF WHATSOEVER that video games harm your kids, rather what can be considered harmful is looking at the screen for long periods of time, video games themselves are GOOD for kids, needs, and everyone) and ageist discrimination.

 

Now a little bit for me and my sister, and how we didn't care that much about that age restriction, nor my parents did at all....2 years ago, I bought Tomb Raider for my sister, she was 14, she played it, she loved it, and then she played Skyrim. My father even helped her with the puzzles involved in those games, knowing that the game was for mature, for us, she was mature, again, it's up to her to judge if she is ready for it or not, but it's just mind boggling that she doesn't like seeing blood in real, but when it comes to games, it's one of those textures she can not play without. It is the same for many of my friends and i keep advertising Star Citizen to minors and my old school....though...they are all stuck at CSGO and LoL...  I've played GTA San Andreas with her, when she was only 7...or 8, i can't remember, but that's pretty much the only GTA we played cuz we were on to WoW back then...I was about 10 . Are we murders now - no. Perhaps the only thing that changed was that we broke the "law of age discrimination" that society thinks it's right for kids. NOPE! IT IS NOT! THIS IS ALL WRONG!

 

BOOM! AGE RESTRICTIONS INVALID!

 

Let's see what you have to say about this guys.

Plus kids prevent good games for the older people because devs know people dont respect age restrictions. So theres certain things they can't do.i would say it would be best for age restrictions to be more in forced but for violence and swearing to pass to be 16+ instead of 18+, this would help younger people to play the games they like while allowing for the older guys to have games made just for them

[WhiteSkyMage]

1 hour ago, KuJoe said:

No offense but the original post looks like it was written by a kid and not a parent of a kid. When you get older you will hopefully have completely different views on the subject. As a current parent and a previous teenager, I can tell you that if you give kids the freedom to decide what is best for them they will make the wrong decisions enough times to make you reconsider the freedom you give them (and not because they are bad people, but because they don't understand things the same way adults do). Some kids can handle mature games, but some cannot and thus guidelines are in place to give parents the ability to be decent parents.

1 hour ago, KuJoe said:

And to add some more to the topic...

 

Would I like my kid watch or play a game that is rated mature? Maybe, if I play or research it first.

Would I let my kid buy a game that is rated mature? Nope.

Would I blindly give my kid a game that wasn't rated mature without researching it first? Nope.

 

This is a good example of why the ratings are there, not to stop kids from playing the games entirely but to make sure the parents are involved in the process.

First i am actually 20years old, and I've played a crap ton of mature games. My father actually bought me GTA San Andreas in the first place and then I gave it to a friend who is 14 year old, 2 years ago, since I wasn't playing it anyway...

Anyway, to the point.

Now I had a friend who's brother was about to poke the dog with a knife because he saw his brother doing it in COD. Now, you might just say now "See? Kids can't handle those games" and I agree with you, but guess what was the age of this boy - he was 5 year old. Yup! A 5 year old, and btw he played COD and GTA...until that situation happened and my friend (his brother) took the PS3 away. Now I do see where you are going, let's assume that age of 5 is just way too young for this, but on the other hand, COD right now is actually filled up with 10 year olds and...overall...teens. They are the audience who unfortunately dominate the COD scene...and needless to say, a lot are into GTA series too. Now knowing a lot of people who have played many many of those games, nothing changed about them when we were at school or anything. They talked about how good they were in the last match in some break time, but that's really where it kind of ends. Let me just say, the violence at some schools are not really because of mature games/movies or whatever, mostly it happens because of issues in the family (parents divorce, fight, shout, spit and whatever). Unfortunately, there is not study to say that THIS /bad thing/ happened because this child played X game when he was 10 - 15 years old. And actually there is hardly any way to test this. I however do agree you have to have a guidance for the parents, but in fact that guidance should not be over-forced. And in the end of the day, the chance of YOUR CHILD doing anything that bad, BECAUSE OF playing violent and mature video games is actually negligible, it's really up to you to decide, but more, up to him/her (the child).

 

I would ask you - for your second post though - What IF you say NO to your kid, but he goes and torrents the game and STILL plays it, or you are busy with work and you don't have the time to research into the game? The more you say NO, the more it the kid will be willing to do it! Just as me - the more my mom told me NOT to watch porn while i was 14 and 15, the more the teachers told me to sleep in the kindergarten, the more i did the opposite. Eventually, it gets boring and you stop doing it, depending on the kid.

What I would suggest you do instead - ask the child if he/she thinks the game would benefit him / her in any way. That first. And then perhaps if gets annoying, just buy it or download it or something, and let the kid play. IF he/she starts behaving like crazy, then just take the PC / console away. Don't say no, and don't prevent content - or it will go worse, the kid will get violent, he/she will try to oppose that "NO" and you got no time to deal with all of that - you got other things to do than watching your kid the whole day and what kind of pirate site they would find and such. Rules are meant to be broken - and the word "NO" will be opposed! That I guarantee you!

[KuJoe]

1 hour ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

And in the end of the day, the chance of YOUR CHILD doing anything that bad, BECAUSE OF playing violent and mature video games is actually negligible, it's really up to you to decide, but more, up to him/her (the child).

This is the flaw in your thinking right here. I don't think mature games cause kids to do bad things, I think that mature games can impact those who aren't mentally ready for them in other ways.

 

1 hour ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

I would ask you - for your second post though - What IF you say NO to your kid, but he goes and torrents the game and STILL plays it, or you are busy with work and you don't have the time to research into the game? The more you say NO, the more it the kid will be willing to do it! Just as me - the more my mom told me NOT to watch porn while i was 14 and 15, the more the teachers told me to sleep in the kindergarten, the more i did the opposite. Eventually, it gets boring and you stop doing it, depending on the kid.

First off, if my kid is smart enough to bypass my security then I would commend them before disabling their computer. The day my kid starts to pirate anything is the day they will be forced to start paying for everything themselves. I'll gladly drop a few hundred dollars on Steam, Microsoft, Adobe, Newegg, etc... for legitimate software for them but if they torrent something to break my rules then that's over. As they get older I'll be less restrictive of course and once they turn 18 they can do whatever they want outside of my network, but until then there will be consequences for their actions. 

 

1 hour ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

What I would suggest you do instead - ask the child if he/she thinks the game would benefit him / her in any way. That first. And then perhaps if gets annoying, just buy it or download it or something, and let the kid play. IF he/she starts behaving like crazy, then just take the PC / console away. Don't say no, and don't prevent content - or it will go worse, the kid will get violent, he/she will try to oppose that "NO" and you got no time to deal with all of that - you got other things to do than watching your kid the whole day and what kind of pirate site they would find and such. Rules are meant to be broken - and the word "NO" will be opposed! That I guarantee you!

I appreciate the advice but how many children have you raised and how many times have you been 20 exactly? In theory what you're saying makes a little sense but in the real world that is not the case. Communication is key with children and the word "NO" is part of that communication. When I was 20 many many moons ago my outlook was similar to yours, luckily I waited to have kids and I feel much differently than that now so hopefully my child will grow up to be a better adult than I am now.

[CyanideInsanity]

It really does sound like writing from a kid. Rules are meant to be broken? No, challenged perhaps but not broken. Saying no encourages dissobaying? To some degree yeah, but saying no is to build restraint. Children don't know what they need, so putting the choice to them doesn't make sense. What child is going to deny the forbidden fruit offered before they even understand why its possibly bad for them?

[WhiteSkyMage]

6 hours ago, KuJoe said:

This is the flaw in your thinking right here. I don't think mature games cause kids to do bad things, I think that mature games can impact those who aren't mentally ready for them in other ways.

 

First off, if my kid is smart enough to bypass my security then I would commend them before disabling their computer. The day my kid starts to pirate anything is the day they will be forced to start paying for everything themselves. I'll gladly drop a few hundred dollars on Steam, Microsoft, Adobe, Newegg, etc... for legitimate software for them but if they torrent something to break my rules then that's over. As they get older I'll be less restrictive of course and once they turn 18 they can do whatever they want outside of my network, but until then there will be consequences for their actions. 

 

I appreciate the advice but how many children have you raised and how many times have you been 20 exactly? In theory what you're saying makes a little sense but in the real world that is not the case. Communication is key with children and the word "NO" is part of that communication. When I was 20 many many moons ago my outlook was similar to yours, luckily I waited to have kids and I feel much differently than that now so hopefully my child will grow up to be a better adult than I am now.

Wow I guess I was such a bad kid in my teen years. I pirated everything from music to video games to movies... and the best part was playing COD4 in the library at high school with friends after the lessons were over...

 

And good strategy you got there. And no I haven't raised a child, but I do read about parenting stuff and whatnot. So thanks for that one, it might be well useful for me later on...

 

5 hours ago, CyanideInsanity said:

It really does sound like writing from a kid. Rules are meant to be broken? No, challenged perhaps but not broken. Saying no encourages dissobaying? To some degree yeah, but saying no is to build restraint. Children don't know what they need, so putting the choice to them doesn't make sense. What child is going to deny the forbidden fruit offered before they even understand why its possibly bad for them?

I guess you haven't been on my place to see rules completly ripped appart. And if you look at the chaos my country is in, i wont say the name, id just say, south east europe, it makes sense for those things to happen. There are no laws where I lived my childhood, and i guess the first thing you learn from your friends in primary school is how to pirate this and that game, from which torrent to download this and that movie, how to bypass blocked websites (at school or by your parent)...those are just few im telling you. Now you might ask "why"? well, the mentallity was - "how to get away with it?" in other words, yeah, it is what you think it is - everybody stabbed each other in the back.

 

And here is the big kicker - take somebody from a barbaric place they lived their lives and then put them in civilized world, and examine what happens...yeah...if you show your friends what you have learned, you would be only left with just a few who are "kind of" from your culture (count them on fingers).

So idk which children you are talking about, but not all children in every country are the same. The words "you are not allowed to ... or (insert punishment here)"  create a lot of dissobeying over here. Don't raise your child in this part of the world. Age restriction of any content, as parent, is the least to think for when you know the violence at school is real.

 

 

[Totallycasual]

I gave GTAV to my brother as a gift when he purchased an Xbox one recently, i was mortified to see my 13 year old niece playing it the other day when i popped in for a visit, he just shrugged his shoulders because he hadn't played i that much but no way in hell would i let my kids anywhere near that game.  

[Praesi]

Violent Content is out of the Question for Minors. No matter what USK&Co say.

[WhiteSkyMage]

9 hours ago, Newenthusiast said:

I gave GTAV to my brother as a gift when he purchased an Xbox one recently, i was mortified to see my 13 year old niece playing it the other day when i popped in for a visit, he just shrugged his shoulders because he hadn't played i that much but no way in hell would i let my kids anywhere near that game.  

Well, I wasn't only referring to just that game, cuz by the time you have children, Rockstar might be bankrupt, and I don't really referring here to a far future. Perhaps GTA 5 no, but for example there are horror games out there and there are many other genres and stuff... A game can be easily 18+ ONLY because it's got blood and gore / bad language.

If I was to ask you, would you let your kid play Skyrim, the answer may be different, but let's say your kid installs mods and textures to that game an then it really does jump to another level of age group. And no not all 18+ games really are 18+.

 

Hell i don't really get it, What would be a RESULT of someone playing violent games at a young age (or perhaps watching action movies with blood and stuff)? Cuz many kids did, and still do it, but what happens in the end of the day? Will they do anything bad or is it just a mind (psychological) damage that would cause problems in adulthood? I have not studied psychology (I am more into computers and programming), so i don't really know...You might wanna give me a study or article or something for that one, you don't have to write me an essay here on this forum. It is just for me to know and keep in mind...

[Sir Asvald]

My dad got us the PS3 at the age of 16 (24 now), so we were "close" to the age of playing games. As for my kids, I'll have the game researched beforehand, and I know they will most likely go and play it at their friends house. That is was I did back then when my parents didn't buy me my games. As for R rated games, those are a no go, once they are old enough they can do what they want. As of right now, I have a cousin who is 13 and he plays GTA 5 and other R rated games. He's started to have an attitude, started swearing a lot. His parents can't control him. 

 

Also, kids get it easy nowadays, all they do is cry and they get what they want. Which is a shame, such a sensitive generation. They get sad over everything. Also, about my cousin, which is not related to this topic. He wanted an iPhone 7. His parents got him the 6s. He started crying, screaming, shouting and swearing. That just shows, some games do take affect on kids. 

 

 

 

 

[typographie]

2 hours ago, Abdul201588 said:

As of right now, I have a cousin who is 13 and he plays GTA 5 and other R rated games. He's started to have an attitude, started swearing a lot. His parents can't control him.

Does that prove his engagement with GTA V is the direct cause of that behavior, though? This sounds like a classic case of correlation not necessarily equaling causation. For all we know this could be completely backwards. Maybe his behavior encourages his interest in media like GTA V, rather than the opposite.

 

GTA V includes a lot of immature humor and language, but I don't think there's anything in it instructing the audience to rebel and disobey their parents. Maybe I'm being too literal, but it seems like a lot of sweeping assumptions have to be made for this to work. Most children can be taught that they may see things in the media that they aren't supposed to emulate, so I really don't believe it's enough just for the words to be there.

[Princess Luna]

4 minutes ago, typographie said:

snip

When I was little I used to really like to play GTA san andreas only for the driving, loved to drive one town to another, even nowadays the thing I like the most in GTA V is the driving, being able to do awesome movie like piloting around the town and all, it is the thing I always liked the most in the game, not the killing or swearing.

 

It is a shame that games get the blame for lack of parental education, or other issues alike, It would be a shame if I couldn't play it back then based solely in the content age restriction as none of that stuff wasn't even attractive to me.

[Sir Asvald]

33 minutes ago, typographie said:

Does that prove his engagement with GTA V is the direct cause of that behavior, though? This sounds like a classic case of correlation not necessarily equaling causation. For all we know this could be completely backwards. Maybe his behavior encourages his interest in media like GTA V, rather than the opposite.

 

GTA V includes a lot of immature humor and language, but I don't think there's anything in it instructing the audience to rebel and disobey their parents. Maybe I'm being too literal, but it seems like a lot of sweeping assumptions have to be made for this to work. Most children can be taught that they may see things in the media that they aren't supposed to emulate, so I really don't believe it's enough just for the words to be there.

He "was" a nice normal kid. Until he was introduced to those types of games by his "friends". He used to misbehave from time to time, but where you would notice it. Also, his parents found out that he was with the "wrong crowd".  I guess the influence came from them? and caused the behaviour to worsen. Now I wish he is realising what he is doing to his parents. But too be honest, I try to keep myself away from their problems. 

 

I don't want to get into too much information, too much personal stuff that I don't want to say on the Internet..that could get me in trouble. 

 

 

[PlayStation 2]

No two people will be influenced by anything in the exact same way, so really, I guess it would all depend on how they are raised and how they are influenced by things. 

I personally was around a lot of mature content at a young age. If anything, that kind of prepared me to become more mature about some things. 

[LogicalDrm]

Having age restrictions in games and other media is not so much because of how violence/swearing/cruesome images etc. might impact to young people. They are in place because young people lack the knowledge and skills to judge that content. There was lot of text, some poorly presented so pardon me if I've missed something. For a 20yo you have things to learn in written presentation.

 

Lets take 3 age groups. 5, 10 and 15. 5 year old has wide imagination and usually is well protected by parents and other members of community. Why? Because they will believe anything they see or hear as truth. You don't want to 5yo to believe killing random people at street, bashing others with fists or swearing all the time is normal life. If you would give them possibility to see mature content, that would happen. For same reason children who have been at war zone or (sadly) grow up there are scarred for life. They lack trust to anyone with uniform, have constant nightmares etc. I'm not saying adults wouldn't be like that too. But with adults, they know difference with games being fantasy. For kids its same thing.

 

At 10yo you already start to question if things you see or hear are true or not. Like not believing in Santa Claus. So games rated for 12 might be just fine for bit younger kids. But you can't make any generalizations. At that point age restrictions should be advisory and parent/teacher etc. person to decide. I've played GTA (the original) at age of 10. My little brother was 7yo. Thinking back we shouldn't have been allowed to play those games. But since we had already played Worms1&2, I think my parents were fine with that. So anything without clear brutality and such would work. Depending on person ofc. I don't like anything mind blending/horror-styled. I played bit of HL1 when I was 12yo and got nightmares from that. So its really about person what goes and what doesn't.

 

15yo is hardest. There isn't much difference between T-rated and M-rated games imo. Just nudity and more graphical violence. Problem is that at that age teens won't or don't want to believe that restrictions are still for their own protection. For some just breaking few restrictions is enough, others will be influenced by the consumed content. I think the rating should stay even there, but it would be more towards advisory.

[WhiteSkyMage]

On 2/28/2017 at 4:23 PM, Abdul201588 said:

He "was" a nice normal kid. Until he was introduced to those types of games by his "friends". He used to misbehave from time to time, but where you would notice it. Also, his parents found out that he was with the "wrong crowd".  I guess the influence came from them? and caused the behaviour to worsen. Now I wish he is realising what he is doing to his parents. But too be honest, I try to keep myself away from their problems. 

Not surprised. Even in university life, being with a partner who SMOKES actually triggers some students to "try" it. And we are talking about 18+ students here. So if even adults get influenced by their partners / friends, what are we talking about kids - obviously - going with the wrong crowd of people will 90% cause you to do the things they do. A lot of my friends were not smokers, but when being with a crowd of smokers, before I realized they BECAME smokers.

 

That's definately not because of GTA V, or id say GTA V perhaps maybe just "aided" in the whole thing to make the kid more and more aggressive and misbehave. But again, if u have a band of friends that are delinquent themselves....you become one of them.

 

7 hours ago, LoGiCalDrm said:

At 10yo you already start to question if things you see or hear are true or not. Like not believing in Santa Claus. So games rated for 12 might be just fine for bit younger kids. But you can't make any generalizations. At that point age restrictions should be advisory and parent/teacher etc. person to decide. I've played GTA (the original) at age of 10. My little brother was 7yo. Thinking back we shouldn't have been allowed to play those games. But since we had already played Worms1&2, I think my parents were fine with that. So anything without clear brutality and such would work. Depending on person ofc. I don't like anything mind blending/horror-styled. I played bit of HL1 when I was 12yo and got nightmares from that. So its really about person what goes and what doesn't.

 

15yo is hardest. There isn't much difference between T-rated and M-rated games imo. Just nudity and more graphical violence. Problem is that at that age teens won't or don't want to believe that restrictions are still for their own protection. For some just breaking few restrictions is enough, others will be influenced by the consumed content. I think the rating should stay even there, but it would be more towards advisory.

Yes I would agree, but unfortunately, the 15 year old age group have actually gone down to like 10 year olds - example is a COD full of kids. So even if you try to protect your 10-11 year old child from getting into call of duty, it doesn't take much for him/her to go to a friend and play it - so where is your protection when the kids go to the computer club  or go to someone's house to play this and that game - you got no control over them? From 12 onwards is the "teenage" age up to about 18...and depending on friends, depending on the mood, things get out of control a lot of times - like playing COD in the library. 

[LogicalDrm]

2 minutes ago, WhiteSkyMage said:

Yes I would agree, but unfortunately, the 15 year old age group have actually gone down to like 10 year olds - example is a COD full of kids. So even if you try to protect your 10-11 year old child from getting into call of duty, it doesn't take much for him/her to go to a friend and play it - so where is your protection when the kids go to the computer club  or go to someone's house to play this and that game - you got no control over them? From 12 onwards is the "teenage" age up to about 18...and depending on friends, depending on the mood, things get out of control a lot of times - like playing COD in the library. 

You are saying that like those other places wouldn't be under same style of education and overseeing. Unless "friends" are much older than our test subject, they too have parents who should look over. Same goes to public places where you can play those games. Aren't librarians responsible for content they provide to minors? Ofc there are always situations where parents/pthers aren't present and rated games can still be accessed. But thats not what we are discussing about. We are talking about meaning if rating. Having supervision or not doesn't change the fact that restrictions and ratings are supposed to act as guidelines. If not restrict minors from accessing material, then awakening parents to see that material might contain something they wouldn't want kids to see.

 

Overall, our (who have been kids/teens 80s and later) generation will be more alert about restrictions and what they actually mean. Since we are the ones who have consumed those products.

[aisle9]

My two cents, based upon an old game called "Soldier of Fortune". SoF came out when I was in high school, and I managed to get my hands on a legit, non-pirated copy (not that pirating games was all that common in 2000) courtesy of eBay. SoF was, at the time, the most graphic and explicit violence against human beings in a mainstream title. I enjoyed the hell out of amputating body parts off of corpses with a machete, blowing massive holes in people with a shotgun and, on occasion, getting up close and personal and executing some poor sap who was on his knees begging for his life. Oh, and the game itself was pretty fun. Not overly original and the plot got sort of ridiculous at the end, but it was fun.

 

If I had a child, would I let them play SoF? At the age I was, probably, just so long as I didn't get summoned to the principal's office to discuss why my kid was bragging about chopping off a guy's arm then blowing his head off at point blank range. Younger? No. Is it discrimination to let a parent have a say in what their kid can or can't play on a computer? lol. lolol. lolololol. HAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA go take a history course and learn what discrimination really is before you make statements like that.