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I went to a 7-year old's CoD themed b-day party

The Lamp

Member
Am I wrong for thinking this is a little...inappropriate? The cake had a grenade and gun and bullets on it with a little 7 on it. The kids were clamoring over eating the pistol and the bullets. When I asked what to get the birthday boy, I was told he is obsessed with the CoD games this year. And I'm like...wtf is he doing playing CoD at 7? I got him a Lego Marvel game instead.

I guess I played rated M games as a kid, but I was like 12...6/7 is kind of too young imo to be encouraging a kid to obsess over that level of brutality and serious themes IMO. It's not my kids so I obviously didn't say anything, but I don't think it's right.

What do you say, GAF? Am I being too judgmental or is it kind of inappropriate for a 6/7 year old kid to be obsessed with CoD?
 
Why were you going to a 7 year olds party?

When I was little I loved playing war with my brothers.. don't most kids love that stuff at that age?
 

Machina

Banned
Were Army Men games on N64 inappropriate?

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Lol it's actually rated T for Teen. America is unbelievable.
 
There is a concern that stuff like that might desensitize kids to violence and guns, but it's nothing new. Would it have been all that different if it were a cops/robbers or cowboys/Indians themed party? Most kids come out of it alright.
 

luulubuu

Junior Member
As much as it sounds weird and such, cod is a kids thing and blame on the parents by allowing it but let's give it the benefit of the doubt and celebrate the fact the kid had fun and a very special bday party.

Gloryfication is wrong as fuck, shaming a kid for having harmless fun too
 

HardRojo

Member
6/7 years old and playing CoD. Yup, definitely inappropiate in my opinion. I did play games meant for older people despite not being old enough, but I wasn't THAT young lol.
 

spelen

Member
to me it certainly is but I think I lean on the conservative side when it comes to games and explicit content.
 

SebastianM

Member
Depends on the kid.

At 7 I remember I was playing Counter Strike, Mortal Kombat 4, GTA 2. Turned out just fine.

Videogame-themed birthday party on the other hand sounds a bit nuts, but hey, what are you gonna do.
 

13ruce

Banned
When i had a traineeship on a primary school in class alot of kids liked GTA V.

I don't care tho i played adult games as a kid too would be a hypocrite otherwise.

Altho the party theme is indeed a bit much altho it's his birthday so whatever:p
If i had kids i would atleast try to get em into the some nicer game franchises i enjoyed too.
 
Imaginary play isnt the same as a graphic shooter

I just think its natural as a kid to be drawn to those things. At that age I thought Splatterhouse on my mega drive was the coolest thing ever because of how graphic it was, granted I didn't know the word graphic but I thought this is gross and cool!
 

jrcbandit

Member
Completely inappropriate. Kids under 12 shouldn't be playing or watching the vast majority of mature rated games and especially not play ones that could kill brain cells (mindless fps like COD). So why exactly is the kid a huge enough fan of COD to have a birthday themed party unless they play the game or watch it played on YouTube.

One series that I don't understand why it is mature rated is Halo. There is some blood but it's mostly alien blood and the gun violence is all futuristic and against alien creatures. No bad language I can recall for any game staring the Master Chief.
 

AHA-Lambda

Member
Nah I was watching Aliens and Robocop when I was like 5 or 6, and turned out fine.
Leave it to the parents OP, good or bad, it's down to them. Either they're ignorant on it or think he can handle it.

To me anyway fwiw, CoD is pretty cartoony, and young boys tend to love guns and explosions. If it was GTA, I'd be more inclined to agree (even then I was playing that at 12 as well).
I'm sure most posters here were playing games they shouldn't have been according to the rating when they were young after all.

You - like a majority of GAF people - are overthinking this

Yeah, I'm with this post.

Telling other parents how to parent is a good way to earn a well deserved "fuck off".

Also this.
 
Honestly 7 is really young and inapproriate IMO but i guess the parents dont really care enough to think it is for him. Or they are ignorant/capable to think hes mature enough to differentiate between reality and fiction.
 
Not particularly a fan of it myself. I'd rather my kid be more interested in interesting worlds and characters and not war related things.

A cake with a gun and grenade on it is like, crazy sounding to me, but what can I say, of course kids are playing CoD. It's where the whole stereotype comes from where only kids play it. Kids around that age probably also play GTA to be honest. Some parents just don't care what they play cuz it's "A video game".

Again, not my kid, so I can't say much, but I'd much rather my own kids (that don't exist yet, I'll add, lol) play something that flexes their imagination and wonder more than something that's trying to emulate realism.

Also I'll add that the worse games I've seen/played when I was young was Mortal Kombat, which was very clearly kinda goofy back then and not very realistic at all and I saw my brother playing Doom for like 5 minutes one time and I got scared and never watched him play it again. Lol
 

bosseye

Member
Seems inappropriate to me. CoD is not a suitable game for a 7 year old to play, let alone play enough to obsess over and have themed parties about.

My 7 year old is currently obsessed with Minecraft (his playtime is monitored though) and there is no way I'd let him play CoD.
 
Shhhh how else will we be able to indoctrinate the future generations to idolize the military so we can continue being the most powerful. 'Murica!!!
 
Some people in here are to stupid to fully read the OP.
I mean it's not "just videogames lol! I turned out normal, too" but a cake with a gun and grenade.

It's definitely strange and inappropiate for a kid's birthday party..
 
Yeah, it's pretty inappropriate to be glamorizing lethal weapons to little kids. I'm a huge fan of CoD, but I wouldn't let my kids play it at seven years old - and there are so many other great games that are suitable for that age range, FPS and other, that it's not as if I'd be depriving them of any enjoyment.
 

Jintor

Member
i'm still weirded out whenever i go into targets or whatever and there's CoD toy lines

i mean i guess maybe i shouldn't be? GI Joes and all that? But still
 

BigEmil

Junior Member
Maybe should've got him Overwatch a more lighter tone family friendly shooter he can switch to for his shooting need
 

alr1ght

bish gets all the credit :)
The racist fuckwits talking on mic are far more damaging to little kids than the shooty bang of COD. Still, 7 years old is pretty damn young.
 
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