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As a child did you play violent videogames?

Technically it would have been a some Master System game, but I consider my first to be Jet Force Gemini. I had to convince my parents to let me play it.
 
I had Combat and Berzerk in early grade school on the 2600. I was playing Microprose combat flight sims by age 11 or 12. Some of the CRPGs of that era could be considered mature. Even old arcade games like Ikari Warriors could be considered violent. But I don't think it really got big until 3D came along. Doom was pretty awesome. Seeing a pile of guts after blowing some monster away. GTA3 was another significant achievement in depicting realistic criminal violence. I see nothing wrong with these games as entertainment, but I think it would be wrong to let some 8 year old kid play a GTA game.
 
Generally no, other than a few rounds of goldeneye and halo at friend's houses. It wasn't really due to my parents restricting them, though if I had bought GTA and started ranting and raving about killing hookers they would have put a stop to it. I just wasn't really interested in most M-rated games as a kid, having never really fallen in love with first person shooters. The only open world game I really liked as a youth was Bully a few years later, because it had a novel concept. The first M-rated games I bought (and some of the only ones for a few years) were DMC3 and MGS3.

Though, my best moment was my mom being with me when I bought No More Heroes a couple years later. The clerk was fucking hilarious. "Yeah, Ma'am, this game has incredible violence, a lot of profanity, a lot of sexual content....really, it's one of the most offensive games I've ever played."
 
I certainly did, but it wasn't until I payed Max Payne that truly experienced violence of a genuinely messed-up nature. This is a bit weird, but when the first Max Payne came out, I was about 12 years old, and my younger brother and I - having heard that it was awesome - managed to convince our dad to buy us a copy for the PS2 (yeah, he was one of those completely oblivious parents when it came to buying video games).

We went home that night and proceeded to be terrified by it. I mean, the intro to that game is pretty fucked up for a couple pre-teens who'd never been exposed to that kind of horrifying scenario in any form of media up to that point. We literally had never experienced anything like it before.

We actually stopped playing the game and told our dad to take it back to the store because we just couldn't bring ourselves to play it. It's not the violence we had a problem with per se, it was the situation and the atmosphere around which the violence was constructed. We would go on to play GTA3 with no problems whatsoever because that game is a fucking cartoon by comparison.

I revisited it a couple years later and needless to day, I really enjoyed it. But yeah, it really fucked with me for a while.
 
Yes

MK was my first I was like 12 or 13 and I turned out fine

Didn't consider Wolfenstein that violent since I was like 7 and I saw titties in movies all the time. It was normal
 
I always kinda did (I started on Doom & Wolfenstein), though even as I was in high school my parents were very centered on the alarmist media headlines about violent videogames so I often had to do my dealings on the down low, before EB Games/Gamestop really started pouring the lead out on carding. The first time they ever really threw a fuss was at the REmake, which I left sitting out one day and they thought it was some crazy satanic shit and got all on my case about it. I lied and said it belonged to a friend, took it over to his house and hid it there.

Then for my next birthday, I asked them to get me Eternal Darkness. Somehow they went for that without a fuss, but Resident Evil was the king of satanism. Or something.
 
were games even especially graphic in the 16 bit era? like i played super metroid or mortal kombat but i never found them gory
 
I grew up with games such as Contra, P.O.W. and Rush'n Attack. As for movies, Predator, Commando and American Ninja.

I'm glad my parents raised me that way. I learned early in life how it was to be a real man.
 
Yes i started with golden eye when i was five.

Actually what is interesting is that as people got older they started not to really for violent games
 
Not really. My first console was an N64 and I played mostly Mario/Zelda/Smash etc.

First violent game I owned was probably Doom 64.
 
I remember my dad buying my brother and I Turok and Turok 2 when I was 8 and my brother 6. There was a weapon where it would lock on to the enemies head and rip their brains out. That was probably the most violent video game until my friend brought over GTA III when that came out.

I don't think it effected me in any negative way. My parents made it clear what behaviors were acceptable and weren't.
 
I played Doom when I was 10 or something, maybe younger, but I don't even remember how we got that game or if my parents knew what it was.

They wouldn't buy me Goldeneye on N64. Said they didn't want to buy games where all you do is kill people. I did have Mortal Kombat on SNES though.

Now my brothers are about the same age I was in the late 90s... playing Call of Duty, Halo, etc online. I've told my mom before that it's kind of funny.
 
My first violent game was Wolfenstein 3-D for our PC. My dad (president of a company) told their IT guy to come over to our house and "put some games on the computer for the kids." Not sure my dad ever realized what Wolfenstein was. I was 8 or 9.
 
I did yeah, but due to the primitive graphics back then, stuff like Grand Theft Auto and Mortal Kombat wasn't that horrific for a kid like me to be exposed to. Silent Hill's demo that came free with MGS proper fucked me up for a while though, and while SH was more about psychological horror, that intro segment was still kinda gorey.

Wasn't a child by this point, but I'm amazed Fear Effect was only rated 15 by the BBFC. I was 14 when it came out and had to lie about my age at HMV (by a whole whopping 1 year!) to buy it, but that ended up being a seriously messed up game. Looking back, I'd have rated it 18, easily.
 
I remember skipping junior school at times to go to the arcade with some friends. Most games weren't violent there but there was still the odd Mortal Kombat, Blood Bros, etc. Though even Blood Bros was more cartoon than anything, much like all the beat 'em ups and fighting games I didn't think of adding to the list since they don't seem so violent because of that, though they probably are, I mean, they show lots of killing often, when in cartoons like G I Joe there was no such thing, just people getting hurt but otherwise always escaping. Also, Fantasia. Not violent but that shit scarred us with the failure screens. When I finally got a Saturn a few years later there were violent games like Resident Evil and mature games like Panzer Dragoon Saga which are deep and thought provoking without forcing violence or sex for emphasis. That's what I liked the most, and still do.
 
Yeah, here and there. Mostly at friend's houses. Unfortunately for me, my mom was responsible enough to learn what an M rating was. Doubly unfortunate was that she bought into the whole "connection" between school shootings and violent video games.

There was always the occasional M-rated game I could convince her to let me buy ("I can turn the blood off in MGS: The Twin Snakes."). She didn't really care about T-rated games though.

My dad didn't know or give a shit about the ratings. The few games he bought me were M-rated PC games.

I think I turned out fine.

Not financially, mentally. If finances are any result of violent video games, then stay the hell away, kids. I can't find a good job at all.
 
During the 8-bit and 16-bit generations, violence was basically just cartoon violence

Mortal Kombat and Doom were basically cartoons with blood. Though I did play Night Trap, but that wasn't violent or pornographic.

I did watch Horror movies though, I vividly remember being in 2nd or 3rd grade discussing the Friday the 13th series, and the Nightmare on Elm Street series with friends at school. It was normal, everybody watched them, we'd rent the VHS tapes and watch them at sleepovers.

erawsd said:
This is how I react as well. I didn't have any restrictions growing up -- heck, Mortal Kombat was a gift from my parents for learning to tie my shoe. My dad played the games with us so he knew what type of violence we were being exposed to. I've probably been a witness to millions of fictional acts of violence and death in my life time. Yet, when it comes to real life violence I cringe or turn away. There is definitely an emotion/awareness that triggers when I realize I'm watching real violence vs fake.

I don't think I'm unique in anyway. Every kid I knew growing up played violent games and watched the most depraved movies imaginable. In fact, we made fun of the few kids that didn't have the same freedoms. Somehow, none of us developed into murderous psychopaths.
Click to expand...

That's exactly how I remember it too.
 
erawsd said:
This is how I react as well. I didn't have any restrictions growing up -- heck, Mortal Kombat was a gift from my parents for learning to tie my shoe. My dad played the games with us so he knew what type of violence we were being exposed to. I've probably been a witness to millions of fictional acts of violence and death in my life time. Yet, when it comes to real life violence I cringe or turn away. There is definitely an emotion/awareness that triggers when I realize I'm watching real violence vs fake.

I don't think I'm unique in anyway. Every kid I knew growing up played violent games and watched the most depraved movies imaginable. In fact, we made fun of the few kids that didn't have the same freedoms. Somehow, none of us developed into murderous psychopaths.
Click to expand...

I'm the same way. And I got exposed to everything from a young age too. And people that I grew up with were too. If they were allowed to see/play that stuff at home.
Everything was fairly violent while growing up lol. Games, movies, cartoons, etc. I loved action movies / slasher horrorfilms as a kid. Robocop, Terminator, everything starring action stars. Everyone I know saw those. And games and cartoons also reflected that era.

But I hate real violence. Hell, kids these days seem more violent then when I was growing up lol. And all they get on tv are quirky, bland and happy cartoons.
 
Yep, I remember Mortal Kombat, Wolfenstein 3D, and Doom being my first experiences with violent games. I played many others that may have had a gruesome death when you died or something else somewhat violent. Smash TV was violent but I don't remember it being as violent as the three I mentioned. That's probably my earliest memory of playing a violent game.
 
I was playing Doom before I was 10. Don't remember the exact age. When my dad would bring me to his office he would set me up on a PC and I'd play the shareware versions of Doom and Wolfenstein 3D. Without sound. Good times. And Mortal Kombat on the SNES.
 
Super Mario Bros and Duck Hunt - stomping those poor Goombas and shooting innocent ducks. I've learned how to kill.
 
Not really, but it's because I never had an interest in those types of games. My parents didn't really care about games with guns though, they let me rent them the few times I wanted to.
 
I got into gaming because of Street Fighter. My first SNES game was Mortal Kombat II when I was like six. Funny, now at 25 I prefer stuff like Mario and Kirby.
 
I remember that when I was a kid I always said I didn't need to play violent games, because they were immature things that little kids used to make themselves feel like grown-ups. While my 7 or 8 year old self was indeed correct, I soon started playing good violent games and from there I just cared if the game was good or not.
 
I had the opportunity to play them when i was little - my dad would let me play GTA Vice City when it came out and I was 7 or so, but I didn't play it much and when I did I'd crash into other cars and wait for my car to blow up and then run away. Didn't shoot anyone or beat people up or anything.

Suffice to say, I spent more time playing Mario Sunshine.
 
Mortal Kombat on Genesis was my first one, followed by its two sequels, I think I was 7yo. Resident Evil came two years later, scared the shit out of me. Both series are still in my favorites today, good times.
 
I played violent video games as a child along side non-violent video games.

As an adult, my taste remain the same.

I'm not particularly fond of movies like Saw and Hostel and shows like CSI, which I think goes too far.
 
I played the original Time Crisis when I was a toddler. Got pretty far by myself.

FIrst played CS in 2nd grade.

Played halo 1 in 4th grade.

Probably more I left behind.
 
Uh.. does Adventure count? Hm.. Castlevania II on NES.

Mortal Kombat didn't hit arcades until I was in high school.

So I guess the answer would be "no", but mostly because they didn't really exist, at least not in the same types of games that are available now.
 
Growing up during the 8- and 16-bit generations, Contra and Street Fighter II were about as violent as it ever got for me. My mom did eventually ban Street Fighter from the house because my younger brother would get violent after losing too many matches against me.

As far as blood n' guts type stuff, I was never interested in it -- and I'm still not. The only M-rated game I've ever played is Bioshock.
 
Doom was one of the first games I ever played. Played it on my dad's computer after watching him because I wanted a go. Spent a bunch of time running around with the full screen map up running into walls but eventually got the hang of what to do though I was terrible at it.
 
I remember playing Doom, MK, and later some Goldeneye64. But most of the games I played were zelda/mario/racing/donkey kong type games.
 
Primal Rage was the first game I can think of for the Megadrive. I'm not even sure why I got it because I knew nothing about it or asking for it but I do remember my dad playing before me to see how violent it was and my parents were happy to let me play it.

Next game I suppose would of been GTA III on PS2 which I didn't know would be violent it as it was .. lol I returned 1 week later for THPS3. Growing up I didn't have much interest in video games until I was at college so didn't play much.
 
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