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13y/o convinces parents to buy him GTA V using Power Point
- Thread starter OraleeWey
- Start date
I don't know about the first two, but I think they'd die if they stopped the latter.
silvermember
Banned
And you can get all of that from simply reading the presentation.
Not to be rude, but not even psychologist are arrogant enough to state their opinion about the mental state of a person without first interacting with that person.
ESRB exist as a guideline it in theory is suppose to look at the population at large and not individuals. So even if the kid was somehow mature enough based on your awesome assessment, it is still a bad idea.
At least read the story. He wants to buy it himself but he needs to ask permission from his parents because he's not old enough.
The ESRB guidelines are born out of America's Christian morals. Unless I'm mistaken there's zero science put into the guidelines. Games with pornographic content aren't rated AO because there is reason to believe it's unhealthy for individuals under 18 to see porn, they're rated AO because Americans have an unhealthy relationship with sex.
LookAtMeGo
Member
How many of us played violent games at 13? I know I did. I was obsessed with Mortal Kombat when I was 8. I turned out kind of OK. I don't think there is a definite "right" answer whether its OK for this kid to play it or not. I love gore in movies and games but I see a drop of blood IRL and I faint. As long as the kid has the ability to distinguish fictional violence and real violence, I don't see a problem with it. When kids can expose themselves to any media they choose via the internet, whether its on their phone or at a friends house, I think its good to allow some leniency about this kind of stuff when they show maturity about it.
Slap a bunch of restrictions on them about things they are interested in and end up with a rebellious hellion.
Slap a bunch of restrictions on them about things they are interested in and end up with a rebellious hellion.
Apollo Cree
Member
I don't get this attitude. The kid made decent points, clearly explained the game, explained his intentions, and invested a decent bit of time in making the PowerPoint.
Led_Zeppelin
Member
While also having a complete double standard with Violence or Sex when viewed from their own self. I mean I doubt every single teenager in america never heard of sex before the age of 18 even less start to practice it. And this is not just applicable with the ESRB but with the MPAA as well.
ViciousAnchovy
Member
I'd have denied him just because of all the punctuation errors and the complete lack of capital "I" as a pronoun.
NekoFever
Member
It makes me laugh how many on here grew up on Doom, Mortal Kombat, GTA 1, Carmageddon, Duke Nukem, etc, often way younger than 13, but are now completely puritanical about it.
Well, I have a degree in psychology and I provide therapy to children with autism...
Yes, I can get that from reading the presentation, and I used qualifying words like "seems" because it's based on just that evidence. In the presentation he demonstrates clearly that he knows that the content of the game is considered wrong and he has good reasoning skills. Based on that he seems well adjusted. SEEMS.
ESRB provides general guidelines. They exist due to baseless fear mongering from US politicians in the early 90s. If people are exceptions then there's no reason not to make exceptions. If a kid genius takes a test and qualifies to skip high school and go straight to college, you're not going to force him to go to high school anyway because that's the norm. Likewise, you're not going to deny an alcoholic immature frat boy from buying something he's legally old enough to buy even though he doesn't demonstrate maturity. Parents should decide what's right for their own kid based on their individual upbringing and disposition.
Skellig Gra
Member
I used to smoke but I stopped and I'm not dead. Should my kid smoke?
NekoFever
Member
GTA gave me cancer.
Erm, no, they're the ones who give the kid way too much credit for growing up in the digital age and his shitty "decent points". Fuck this thread.
Skellig Gra
Member
Hyperbole aside, I don't think it's accurate to say those of us who played doom, etc as kids turned out fine. Personally I'm completely desensitized to violence, surely that's not very healthy.
Dice
Pokémon Parentage Conspiracy Theorist
Yes, let's not intentionally teach our kids how to navigate the realm of thought, because that is equivalent to religious dogma and sheltering them. A free-reign policy for youth has surely led to great outcomes in our society.
The fact that something is normal or common does not justify it as the condition it ought to be or what we should aim for with our children, unless you are fully satisfied with the kind of stats we're seeing among youth these days.
Leave the kid on autopilot until they are demonstrably fucking up because they've been under-equipped for life for who knows how long, and then ban them from what appears to be instigating outside sources of influence after they're already approving of and attached to them and/or cram cognitive skills that conflict with their manifested values into them too late when they are already bombarded from every angle and using their own self-developed rationale to sort things out rather than having experienced the positive benefits of listening to you in the past? That's a terrible idea.
Nearly every single kid knows fantasy from reality by age 5, but that is an entirely different issue from knowing how to discern and decide what is right. "Strong" media is actually a great practice tool for it, but it has to be intentionally guided. If you let a kid take it all in and figure things for themselves, they think it is fine when they've seen it all before, and often think some actions/attitudes are fine just because many people share them. Not intentionally practicing discernment of ethics with them also makes them trust you less when it becomes most needed.
Yeah, I grew up in the ghetto and that shit was all of life around me. I don't look at myself making it out without a criminal record as proof it is not a danger. Some of my friends lost family, plenty got into drugs and/or jail, some became teen parents and suffer to this day for it, my own family learned some lessons the hard way. Being "good" is not just a thing that naturally comes from having some positive examples as parents, it is a skill of applied reasoning that has to be taught, and schools leave instilling good values up to the parents.
machemachete
Banned
If my son did this I would pat his head and said: Nice job buddy, go play some soccer.
And no, I would never bought him the game.
And no, I would never bought him the game.
That PP is such SHIT. Wow wtf. Everyone keeps ignoring that. I would deny him the game just based on the formatting/grammar (before even touching that shoddy line of reasoning). Funny to think I was making better PP presentations at age 9 than this kid. He's clearly got much bigger issues. I would be way too embarrassed to post up my 13 yo's PP if it was like that. lmao
Dreamgazer
Member
You're honestly not giving today's 7th graders enough credit.
ClayKavalier
Banned
Are you sure? At the end he says that if he gets the game, "i can save up money for other stuff i want i the game if their si stuff". Who knows what the hell that means, but if getting the game allows him to save for other stuff it sounds like the parents would be paying for it.
It's almost as if peoples' opinion on what is and isn't appropriate for children changes from the time their 13 to when they have kids themselves.
NekoFever
Member
I consider myself desensitised to virtual violence, sure, but there's a world of difference between that and actual violence.
I wouldn't have a problem with a mature 13-year-old playing GTA as long as the parents had some involvement in talking with them about the consequences of violence, fantasy vs reality, what is and isn't acceptable behaviour, etc. I'm not proposing leaving your kid in front of the TV and leaving them to teach themselves, because that's where people become shitty parents.
Black Mantis
Member
I nod in agreement with your parents.
Step 1
Purchase
Currently it is on sale on Xbox. And i should have enough by now to buy this friday
Ain't that the truth.
I still always got my cards if it was my dad. Mom would be angry, though.
User 479360
Banned
Smart kid
I was lucky, because my parents trusted me and I matured quickly. I had Grand Theft Auto III in grade 9, and my Mom bought me Vice City the day it came out. Hell, I took half the day off of school.
I'd never hurt a fly.
I was lucky, because my parents trusted me and I matured quickly. I had Grand Theft Auto III in grade 9, and my Mom bought me Vice City the day it came out. Hell, I took half the day off of school.
I'd never hurt a fly.
flamingotripod
Member
Better slide deck than any presentation I have ever seen at university. This kid will be successful
orthodoxy1095
Banned
Posters in here are giving him credit for making good points and being mature, and he certainly does make some decent points...but I think too many are glancing over the third slide which has this gem of a line:
Haha, people think he's mature? Kid still sounds like a brat. I have sympathy for the idea of "presentations" to parents. I remember when I was a kid and I would show my dad a game, movie or a book and walk him through the reasons I wanted it. I always made sure to make carefully thought out points and be honest about the things he might not like in the game (since lying sure wouldn't have helped build any trust). Sometimes I'd get the item I wanted, sometimes he'd say no. You know what I never did? Threatened to beg non-stop if I didn't get my way.
GTA 1 =/= GTA 5
Haha, people think he's mature? Kid still sounds like a brat. I have sympathy for the idea of "presentations" to parents. I remember when I was a kid and I would show my dad a game, movie or a book and walk him through the reasons I wanted it. I always made sure to make carefully thought out points and be honest about the things he might not like in the game (since lying sure wouldn't have helped build any trust). Sometimes I'd get the item I wanted, sometimes he'd say no. You know what I never did? Threatened to beg non-stop if I didn't get my way.
This is a stupid comparison and you know it.
GTA 1 =/= GTA 5
SRTtoZ
Member
Sounds like hes making a joke with that line. Bratty immature kids don't create power point presentations to try to convince their parents to buy them a video game. Also, I'm sure hes seen worse on the internet on that same computer he made the PP presentation on.
orthodoxy1095
Banned
I don't think it's a joke line, but what the hell do I know. I don't think there's any meaningful way to prove the bolded. Kid could just be a sophisticated brat. On the "Consumer" section of the final slide he lists this reason:
Which could be me totally misreading it, but again, sounds like some whining going on.
Hidden One
Member
Power point and all.
Nintendoga
Member
Man I say good for him. Most of us were already playing M rated games when we were his age. As long as he can handle it, let him enjoy it.
100% agree with those two posts. I don't know but it should be clear that a universal system can't be applied to everyone equally especially with such an arbitrary system. It is absolutely crazy to believe that. You as a parent should know best if your kid is mature enough and able to understand why the violence portrayed in GTA5 is wrong. Some kids are less mature than others, some are more mature but you can't make an universal claim about that.
Is there anybody in here who really waited till they turned 18 for their first R rated movie or game? Because some act like this ESRB rating is something which is cast in stone. Some sort of holy bible which is undeniable.
Yeah, that line is what got me too. He's just trying to be as professional as possible to look mature and manipulate his parents into getting the game. It was successful and they rewarded it.
The kid was clearly diligent in making a professional looking presentation, I will give him that, but that diligence could have been used elsewhere.
Spoken like someone who either doesn't have kids or is young enough to still be considered a kid by others. Age is absolutely the issue - no one is a special snowflake that somehow lives outside the limits of human evolution and development. I see this in my own kids all the time: "everyone else might be weak and not able to handle it, but I'm the exception to all that and will be fine."
No, you aren't the exception.
Maturity comes from time and experience and children, by definition, have neither.
I wish all you guys mentioning how his PowerPoint skills will land him a great job would interview me. Shit, my presentation-making skills are MUCH better than his, and they've yet to land me a great job.
Personal woes aside, I'd get my kid PowerPoint classes. He has a good start, but clearly needs help.
Personal woes aside, I'd get my kid PowerPoint classes. He has a good start, but clearly needs help.
prag16
Banned
While using a powerpoint for this is kind of lame... fine... whatever.
As I said earlier, the thing that would have prompted me to tell him to fuck off was the overt threat that he would badger and harass and beg them nonstop if they still said no after reading the presentation. Little shit.
"The horrible story is about ... killing"
"I just want to shoot guns with my friends"
Had a good laugh.
I would let him play the game. He shouldn't, but I did play those games too (although it were a lot more simple games) from c64 and Amiga era. If he is intelligent and reasonable enough, I'd allow it. However I still think that it should be a crime to sell such a game to 13 year old.
But I would tell him that swearing and sex is not bad - but shooting guns is, because its whole purpose is to kill. And I would tell him that his reasoning is flawed.
But I'd appreciate the effort. He did think about it, so after a discussion it would be ok for me. But he would have to buy the game from his own money. GTA is no christmas present for a 13 year old.
"I just want to shoot guns with my friends"
Had a good laugh.
I would let him play the game. He shouldn't, but I did play those games too (although it were a lot more simple games) from c64 and Amiga era. If he is intelligent and reasonable enough, I'd allow it. However I still think that it should be a crime to sell such a game to 13 year old.
But I would tell him that swearing and sex is not bad - but shooting guns is, because its whole purpose is to kill. And I would tell him that his reasoning is flawed.
But I'd appreciate the effort. He did think about it, so after a discussion it would be ok for me. But he would have to buy the game from his own money. GTA is no christmas present for a 13 year old.
Man I thought I was going to make it through the entire thread without an argument like this. The implicit argument here is that someone who has kids, the biggest single thing that the human mind is designed to be irrationally protective of, is able to make the most rational decision about what to do with all kids.
It's fine if you agree or disagree with buying your kid M rated games, but this argument is ridiculous.
Anyway a 13 year old is in 8th grade. They aren't going to be learning anything new from GTA. I'd be much more concerned with the absolutely dismal work the kid is putting out.
Technically even though we all played some 'hardcore' game sin our youth graphics were not as detailed and games weren't as deep as they are now, so that alone makes a difference.
Still I would buy the game for the kid, but keep it under lock and key maybe, or maybe let him play while supervised?
Still I would buy the game for the kid, but keep it under lock and key maybe, or maybe let him play while supervised?