Your child wanting that 18 rated game!
This is just coming from experience, and still narks me when I think about it. Was a few months back a relative came over with his swanky Xbox 360 (which I am jealous of cos I STILL don’t have one!) and I saw him playing a game. Me being naturally interested in games (And Xbox deprived) I am to games like bees are to honey so I swung on in there and wanted to have a go.
The game revolved around you stealing and driving cars and doing tasks of taking out people with various types of weapons (I think you know which one game I’m talking about here!). I was staggered to learn he had managed to obtain this game and so I interrogated him by how he managed to get this game.
Me: “Hey lil dude, what you got there, oohh Xbox 360, me wants to have a play!!”
Relative: “Sure!”
(Not like the poor kid has a choice mind you, I swoop in like a hawk and nab the controller off him! And after few mins of playing I’m just a bit concerned…)
Me: “Eh, Dude, this game is a bit violent no?”
Relative: “It’s cool though, you get to shoot people and steal cars and stuff!”
Me: “But eh… it says on the packet it’s an 18 rate…”
Relative: “Yeah?”
Me: “You’re 11 years old!!”
Relative: “Yeah???”
Me: “well how in hell did you buy the game!?!?!”
Relative: “Oh, *Insert grown up person of age 18 and over here* bought it for me for my *Insert special event here!!*”
Me: “WHAAAA???!!??” *shakes fist of rage*
Now usually I’d be shaking the parent/relative vigorously, asking them why and what in their right mind are they doing, but unfortunately they weren’t available!
But one thing I have to say is this…
IT’S AN 18 RATED GAME FOR A REASON!!!!
>_< <—- Yes I am pulling that face as I type this!
I mean you wouldn’t give alcohol or cigarettes to a child now would you? The same reasoning should be applied to the games rating system. If they’re not of age, then don’t buy it for them. It is common sense after all.
And you hear on the news “games blamed for child violence on others” etc etc. Well, how did they get their hands on the game in the first place? I would assume that game stores and sellers have the sense not to sell an 18 or even a 15 rated game to someone who looks underage to play it. Do they even ask you for ID when you’re buying a game and you happen to look younger? (I got asked once for ID when buying lotto tickets, 16 is the legal age, I was 21 at the time! Ha! I find that quite flattering *n_n*)
But then there is the internet. Children can seemingly buy games with ease with their own pocket money just as long as they have an account and a bank card, then it’s all hunky dory. They get the game. No questions asked.
It’s good that the rating system is going in for an overhaul. But i just hope thye don’t go too overboard with it, as in for example, take a good game like Super Mario series and put it a rating of “12″ because it contains “Mild head stomping of animals, pyromania and drug induced growth by mushroom eating” !
Sometimes I hear “But it’s only a game Sooz, kids play on them all the time! What’s the fuss?” You are kidding me!?? What kids’ game do you know that takes you where you have to slice baddies with a overly sized sword or makes you go on a gun totting killing spree to say the least? Games aren’t just for kids, they’re for us adults too and with the market focus widening it’s audience, all the games are varied in nature.
I think exposing a child to that kind of violence and adult related content at such a young age just desensitizes them to a degree that what they do and play holds no value in the game or in real life. Kids are growing up far too fast. Let them be innocent for a while in their lil fluffy safe haven bubble until they fully understand the values and morals of life.
- Suzie
Dude.. totally freaken agree! it’s like said “grown up” (and i put that in quotes cos lets face it, sometimes they’re anything but) have a super brain fart, thing an just say: “oh my son and or daughter is mature enough to play this 18 and over game!” and then a few months later they get a hold of daddy’s shot gun and go on a shooting spree, shooting into on coming traffic and then when caught profess: “i didnt think anyone would get hurt… uh.. um.. uh.uh.. OH! i know!!!! i saw it in a video game?
! that gets me off right!??? ” (btw, that is taken from an actual news story i saw a while back… they didnt say “that gets me off.. but COME ONE!!! YOU HAVE A FREAKEN LOADED SHOT GUN YOU BASTARD!)
Makes me want to shake not only the parental-type; adult sized person that bought or mad it possible for these kind of kids, but the kid them self for being so freaken brain dead…
Kids do grow up way to quickly now, and given that most parents appoint TV as the ultimate babysitter is it any surprise that they find out about such thing as sex, drugs, and the like at such an early age…
maybe if more parents took an active role in beat.. er.. >_> monitoring what their kids watch and listen to we wouldnt have kids going “OMG! EMINEM TOL’ ME TO DO ITZ!” …
and with that… i give you this:
[link removed - John]
Gotta love the internet
I agree with this because I’m 20, almost 21.
So any rating won’t affect me. :> I like this train of thought, I have going on.
Ok, starting off with the fact I’m 16 I’d like to express the other side of this argument because as I read through it seems to be pretty one sided.
Agreed the age ratings are there for a reason and these should be enforced to the hilt and that these games can in the odd case result in violent acts to society and that they can make kids ‘grow up’ quicker than they used to but you gotta think elsewhere, who’s more dangerous? The kid with the controller or the kid with alcohol on a street corner, yes we all know that alcohol has an age rating but the amount of drunken kids/teens causing damage to lives and property in the streets is far more common than Avid Gamer believes we will all respawn without the slightest hitch and the number of game related incidents are few and far between.
You can blame the parents of which in some cases is truthful and they are to blame but which parent is more irresponsible?
The parent who buys their kid a game to keep them occupied or the parent that lets their kid run amok in the streets.
Personally I think it depends on the child, some children are mature enough to understand that it is a game, and can tell the difference between a game and reality. However, some are not…
What are you going on about, so what if it says 18 on the package, it doesn’t stunt the childs growth or affect them at all, I was playing GTA when I was six (Oh yes, old school GTA) and I turned out fine, I mean, a game like Convicted or Manhunt, fair play, it scares the shit out of me and I’m 17.
Which leads me on to my next point, I’m 17 and feel that I should be allowed to play games that have a mature rating on them.
Anyway, this article was pointless, adults who arn’t mentally retarded and complete hippies will agree with me that an 11 year old can play an 18 year old game fine.
lol, Manhunt is banned in Germany and New Zealand..
Rating(s) BBFC: 18
ESRB: M
OFLC: MA15+
OFLC: RC (re-rating)
OFLC (NZ): Banned
USK (GER): Banned
To be honest completely pointless games like Manhunt don’t appeal to me or many of my friends, the whole point of the game is a tad pathetic and sickening (who comes up with the idea for that?).
The most annoying aspect is the fact that Rockstar fight for them to be brought out even though the average review of the game/s say they’re are going to suck and 9/10 times they do especially manhunt, completely pointless.
Don’t get me wrong I love GTA etc as they have a story worth playing and the depth in which the games go is impressive so I applaud Rockstar but as for Manhunt they should just stop making them, the Manhunt games suck and they should know it.
Cain, I agree I didn’t really like Manhunt. The game that I really want to see in production is : The Elder Scrolls Online. It’ll be immense but they’ll need some super quality servers to pull it off.