Kids and over 15+ Games

[Riesz]

I find it odd that kids are even interested in war simulation games. When I was a kid I was only interested in cartoons and Mario games. My older brother had sports games and some war games but I always found them boring and too serious.

 

[Hey Listen!]

I started playing call of duty 4 when I was 9. i got really into the whole army and shooting stuff. though I still play fps games occasionally (halo, battlefield) I obviously grew out of it and I think that the current generation of kids playing the game will grow out of it too. I just look at it as kids using their imaginations for a game they enjoy

 

[oath2order]

~ This is a rant about 15+ Games~

Now, in my general area. I have seen 7-14 talking about 'Call Of Duty' and other 15+ games. And worse, i've walked into Gamestop to buy my games and I see about a 7 year old buying Call Of Duty. Hello? Parents, do you realise what your kids are playing? I've seen little kids running around trying to shoot people with their toy guns in Tesco! And being rude. And the teenagers, they are like drones to that game. "Hey dude, i'm going in at 12 a.m. to buy the new COD!" On a school night. It's madness!!
I don't play COD myself, I find it boring. But seeing my brother play it 24/7 and falling asleep on the console worries me...
Please parents and other people who care about our childern's minds, Don't buy them COD if they are not 15+

(Sorry for being so dramatic, had to get it off my chest.)

I agree that parents should look into what their children are playing. However, if the parents believe their 7 year old is mature enough to handle Call of Duty, then by all means, let 'em play it.

Okay, so they're shooting with their toy guns and...? Is this related to the video game or what? Kids have shot with play guns all the time, even before video games. They're being rude? Well, that's the parents' job to watch what their kids are doing.

How old is your brother? Is he over 18? Then don't worry about him falling asleep playing games. Is he under 18? Tell your parents about your concerns.

To me, these kinds of games don't really stimulate the imagination like some more "childish" games do

Everybody's imagination is stimulated differently.

Besides, there's a lot of harsh language in COD and other shooters that probably will add to the child's vocabulary because they are young and don't know a whole ton better.

They are words. These words are just words that have a meaning given to them by society, which has deemed these to be "bad". Maybe instead of teaching kids that these words are, by default, bad (which they are not), and instead taught them that some people may take offense to them, and we should therefore watch who we say them to, we can allow them to experience games with this "harsh" language.

Anyway, I feel these games are completely okay if they have been taught well by their parents and they know the difference between reality and the video game world. However, I do feel that there are some games that children should just wait until they are older to play *cough*those ones with the "you know what" and "you know what" in them*cough* but COD... I don't feel that those games are one of them.

I agree for the most part, but again, it depends on the parents. If the parents think, say, a 12 year old is mature enough for a game that has the "adult fun" I guess you could say, then by all means, they can play it.

You can make it a teaching opportunity and communicate to the child what is appropriate behavior and what isn't. Shielding children from things rather than explaining things makes them that much more curious. The only kids that would impress on a violent video game are children with undiagnosed psychological or developmental disorders or children with no healthy parental guidance, although some kids can and will understand on their own.

This is the best post on this thread.

 

[Elijo]

It really depends on the child's maturity really. If they can handle blood and violence and don't turn out to be an immature and violent little brat then I don't see why parents wouldn't allow them to play games like this. My brother, who is twelve, can handle it but sometimes rage quits on COD. I can handle blood and violence well.

 

[ForgottenT]

I played tons of 18+ games when I was a kid, when I was around 8 I used to play a ton of Time Splitters with my friend, it was awesome.
Games don?t harm anyone, unless they?re afraid of gore.

 

[broadwaythecat]

Mature games can be played by anyone of any age as long as that person knows how to handle that game. I want to play COD, but my mom says "NO!" because apparently anyone who plays it turns into a demon.

 

[StarryACNL]

My brother was mad with over-rated games when he was 12-- he still is but now he's 15!
He stills plays 18 games
And now grand theft auto 5 is out.

 

[Colour Bandit]

You can make it a teaching opportunity and communicate to the child what is appropriate behavior and what isn't. Shielding children from things rather than explaining things makes them that much more curious. The only kids that would impress on a violent video game are children with undiagnosed psychological or developmental disorders or children with no healthy parental guidance, although some kids can and will understand on their own.

Edit: I posted this without checking recent posts. This was originally in response to Kippla's first post.

Agreed, when I have children I will let them play games like this, but first I would explain that the game is violent and that they shouldn't copy what they see. Though my children will be allowed to choose the games they do and don't play- Though there are some games I won't let them play, such as horror games.

It has been psychologically proven that violent games do not make a violent child (bar those with developmental disorders) in fact it has been proven BENEFICIAL for children to play violent games as it REDUCES their aggression! This theory is called the Catharsis effect, in which the individual relates to a violent on-screen character and release negative feelings, thereby becoming less violent than they were prior to playing/viewing.

Personally I played 18+ games when I was younger, but my parents would talk to me about the games and I'm not a violent person now, in fact I believe that playing those games when I was younger and communicating with my parents has prevented me from becoming a violent person now.

 

[in-a-pickle]

I don't find war-games like Call of Duty, Battlefield, etc...all that exciting. Neither do I find GTA fun. I'm a pretty small minority, and I'm a 15 year old guy. If I tried to bring up animal crossing at school...well, you can imagine lol.

I will play them with friends occasionally, but I see why your concerned for the younger generation. Violent games do have an impact, a kid in my area/state shot his grandmother in the head after playing some game or other. I dunno...I sigh when I see kids playing these games and wonder, "You know...you really should just play mario."

 

[FTToasty]

I do not believe that there is anything wrong with liking something that is not targeted toward your demographic.

 

[ForgottenT]

I do not believe that there is anything wrong with liking something that is not targeted toward your demographic.

This.
Something might be targeted for a group of people, but it does not mean that others can?t enjoy them.

 

[Seravee]

The problem I have with it is with the fact that most places where you can purchase these games have the ESRB info posted (and if they don't, they should) but most parents don't even bother reading them. Where I worked it would happen time and again when an angered parent would try to return an opened game (which can't be returned) because it was too graphic or violent when they could have saved themselves the hassle had they bothered to check the rating on it in the first place. Then you get the ones who try to blame the employees who let them buy it but all they can do is ask for an ID. If a parent is buying the game for the child and willingly shows an ID then they have no choice but to let them buy the game.

Video games have nothing to do with how children act and it's infuriating to see how negligent parents use them as the scapegoat for their lack of worth as guardians.

 

[Redlatios]

I do not believe that there is anything wrong with liking something that is not targeted toward your demographic.

agreed, but back when i was a kid, if you had one of these games, you slowly became a douche because you could play T Or M games. Of course thats the fault of the parents...

 

[Lauren]

I can't really say kids shouldn't play games that have a higher age rating than them. I've been playing GTA for years, it's never done me any harm. It can give children the wrong impression if given to children who are easily influenced. If parents want to give violent games to their children they have no one to blame but themselves.

 

[Jarrad]

I absolutely despise it when people blame video games for people's real life actions. "My 12 year old son was influenced by call of duty to punch this boy in the face!" I agree with you. What on hell's earth are these parents thinking when they purchase their child a WAR-SIMULATION game? Call of Duty is an okay game. It's fun at times, but it's people that constantly play it and pretend to use it as an influence that really give it a bad name. You mustn't be so negative towards these sort of games, after all the sole purpose of these games are to stimulate joy!

P.S. Any child can run around a supermarket and pretend to shoot people with a plastic gun, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were influenced to do so by the modern-day gaming industry. Heck, when I was younger I used to do that with my brother!

 

[Lauren]

I absolutely despise it when people blame video games for people's real life actions. "My 12 year old son was influenced by call of duty to punch this boy in the face!" I agree with you. What on hell's earth are these parents thinking when they purchase their child a WAR-SIMULATION game? Call of Duty is an okay game. It's fun at times, but it's people that constantly play it and pretend to use it as an influence that really give it a bad name. You mustn't be so negative towards these sort of games, after all the sole purpose of these games are to stimulate joy!

P.S. Any child can run around a supermarket and pretend to shoot people with a plastic gun, it doesn't necessarily mean that they were influenced to do so by the modern-day gaming industry. Heck, when I was younger I used to do that with my brother!

I've had a young boy come into work and pretend to shoot me? It's a thing children do! COY BOYS AND INDIANS? It stupid! Like I said, I played many violent games as a child and I turned out like many others fine! They want someone to blame because they obviously cannot control their child. It's like blaming horror films for violent acts.

 

[cIementine]

I think games do actually affect kids behaviour. There was this kid down my street, and he thinks he's really in Call of Duty or whichever game they're underaged to be playing.
I saw these 6 year old girls who were saying 'Oh that's an 18, I've seen that. It has the word [insert cursing here] in it. And they all swear at each other and laugh about it.
So it is common for young children and teens, but wouldn't it make a lot more sense if 7 year olds were watching Mickey mouse club house and not Paranormal activity? Or were playing.. animal crossing instead of Black Ops?
I think parents should spend more time watching what their kids are doing. Even I have never seen an 18 or played one and I'm over 10, I'll say that (not allowed to say my age xD)

 

[ShinyYoshi]

I hate to blame the parents, but to me it doesn't really seem to be the video games fault as much as the fault of parents. Kids these days that do turn out to be huge jerks and ruin everyone's fun weren't really disciplined by their parents and usually got everything they wanted. Growing up being told you never have done anything wrong really messes kids up when they get older.

Most of these kids that get what they want get CoD cause it's "cool" then they act like shooting is "cool" and no one ever tells them they're wrong. Parents should be more worried about how they raise a child than what games that child is playing.

 

[sock]

Totally agree. When I was 9/10 yrs old, my classmates always talked about COD and similar games. I didn't see the attraction and didn't understand why they were allowed to play it! Though, my mum said if they can't play it at their own house, then they will play it at their friends, who have older siblings or are allowed to play it, which is true. Some people also have parents who play these games, so it means they can't really hide it from their kids. I know people say its harmless but it can't really do any good for kids minds can it? Don't worry about being dramatic, I can see why you would want to rant about it!

 

[Retro Rider]

I only prefer to play E-E 10+ games.

I don't care much for constant human killing.