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I stopped a kid from getting GTA V

mind your own business. honestly.

Read the post next time before commenting, honestly.

When someone asks you a genuine question and you answer truthfully, you are very much "minding your own business."

If you lie to the parent because of what you think is right for her kid, you are not "minding your own business."
 
You took away his outlet for murder now he's going to have to let it out in real life.

Just kidding you did the right thing OP.
 
Makes you wonder how many people of the 35-40 million copies sold of this game are actually 18+ yo.

You did the right thing. The mother asked you and you gave an honest answer. That's all.
 
You gave your own example of how GTA didn't ruin you, but she asked and it's her parenting and knowledge of her own child that makes the call.
 
You informed his mother of something she didn't know and SHE made the choice not to give her son that.
 
so I told his Mum I'm sorry for the kid, but you can shoot innocent pedestrians and she immediately said no.

I wonder what her stance is on sneaking photos of a couple having anal sex... doing drugs and going on a violent rampage... he's 8 yrs old, so rampant cussing... prostitutes... stealing (it's right in the game's name)... the list goes on and on.

You did the right thing by starting with the low end of things she might find objectionable, but I would've at LEAST followed up with an ominous "and that's just the tip of the iceberg when it comes to why this game isn't appropriate for a child."
 
Then how was OP not being honest? Mom asked about the game, OP you can murder innocent people (which is true), mom objects to that and refuses to buy the game

I think Heyt is trying to say that since the OP played violent games when he was young, it makes what he did hypocritical, and therefore he should not have the authority to divulge the information which prevented the kid from getting the game.

It's an odd stance to take.
 
I think you did the right thing OP.

I don't get the logic of some parents "Hmmmm, the box says mature and 18+....I wonder if my 8 year old should play it?"
 
I didn't know what to do, I saw it in the kid's eyes how much he wanted it, but then I thought about GTA V and how perfectly it can be used as a "murder innocent helpless people simulator" so I told his Mum I'm sorry for the kid, but you can shoot innocent pedestrians and she immediately said no. The kid got teary eyes I felt really bad for it (8 year old me would have hated me with the passion of a thousand burning swords), but I think I did the right thing. Then again I played Vice City at that age too and I'm not a sociopath, granted it didn't look nowhere near as realistic, but I still killed thousands of pedestrians and cops.

What would you have done? If she didn't ask me I probably wouldn't have said anything.

You called the kid an it. You're more fucked up than you realize

:P
 
I would have gone with the, "You can sleep with prostitutes and run people over with your car".

You went light on the subject. Just shooting pedestrians is a new one. I'll have to use that sometime if I can.

Anyway you put it would get them not to buy it. When GTA3 came out I went with my dad to get it after school. I was a freshman in high school. I did the same thing with Vice City. My dad spoiled me. I had all the M-rated games at the time. He would even take me out to eat afterwards.

It's kinda sad remembering all that. He bought me State of Emergency with the 18+ sticker on the front. That was the only time I remember something more than the ESRB IIRC. I saw Kingpin for PC, but I didn't buy PC games. That game had a huge sticker about violence on the cover. My dad just bought the game. I remember talking to other parents about GTA and so forth because they knew I played the games without anyone carrying on about it.

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My folks had gotten a divorce. My mom cared, but still... by that time my dad was spoiling me because he had more money than the knowledge about being a father at home. No disrespect to him at all. He just did it more with money.
 
Did good. I was only allowed to play "T" games until I was 15 or 16. Enjoyed plenty of ultraviolence later in life, but I definitely didn't need GTA when I was 8.

Then again, I didn't have an cell phone til I was 16 either. Kid probably has an iPhone and an iPad.
 
Somebody asks a question, you answer truthfully to the best of your ability. That's not quite how I'd have described the game, but it's close enough.

You did right in my books, at least.
 
8 years old children shouldn't play GTAV

No questions , no compromises

Had you suggested a "driving game" to them As a bonus , you would had perfect answer.
 
Did good. I was only allowed to play "T" games until I was 15 or 16. Enjoyed plenty of ultraviolence later in life, but I definitely didn't need GTA when I was 8.

Then again, I didn't have an cell phone til I was 16 either. Kid probably has an iPhone and an iPad.

You had to be 15 or 16 to play games that say 13+ on them? Damn. I thought I had a strict upbringing by not being able to play M rated games until I was 15 or 16.

To the OP, you did good. I would've done the same thing had I been asked.
 
i'm surprised that the overwhelming consensus seems to lean towards the "good traditional parenting" side on this issue.

weren't we all ripping peoples' heads off in MK when we were 8 years old?

the almost-a-daddy in me is still conflicted though

The thing is, he was specifically asked to describe the game, he didn't go poke his nose into other people's business.
That said, i did play violent games as a kid, and watched violent movies, and i wouldn't change that if i went back in time.
But OP wasn't that kid's parent and it was up to the mom to decide, so she was just given the information to do an informed decision, and she did.
 
You did the right thing OP. Kid should learn how to acquire his illicit goods independently of his parents. That way he'll be able to fend for himself in later life.
 
You did the right thing. The parent was uneducated of what was in the game and you rightfully informed her. At that point it was her call, and she chose not to give her kid game that has mature content.
 
For what it's worth, if she really cared that much about violence, she probably would have seen him play it at some point and THEN taken it away.

Except now you saved her the money from actually buying it in the first place.
 
OP you suck! But you supposedly did the right thing. I watched the exorcism of emily rose with my mum when I was like 10 and I am fine. That was weird though, other than that I wasn't allowed to watch any movie above like R16 or whatever. That was a pretty glaring omission. What the hell happened that night, actually? I wonder if my mum was sad and didn't have the energy to enforce the rule, or what. Seriously there was like a naked hanging injured lady from a tree - I think it was that movie. Or else some movie I remember...

Anyway, when I was 8 I was enamoured with Japanese games that were really transportative. I really liked Zelda. I remember some lady's house that my mum used to visit having GTA3. I'd kill some hookers and then get bored within maybe 10mins. It really didn't have the terrible effect on me a lot of adults are frightened of. I think that particular fear is the effect of adults projecting their own insecurities onto children - who are a lot more neutral and non-judgemental than we give them credit for.

I think coddling our children is, in a lot of ways, something society does to improve its own self-esteem. If we really didn't want our children playing these games, we'd do a lot more to make these games hidden. But they're in Gamestop, right on the shelves. I think it makes us feel a bit better to draw this imaginary line where 'being a child' ends and you are allowed to enter the wonderful world of violent and sexual media. But it's quite arbitrary. Media is like... pervasive. I don't really know how to express my thoughts here, or quite what I'm feeling, but I certainly get a strange vibe from this issue that tells me "protecting" kids from this kind of media is a little pointless. I was swearing like mad when I was 12 at school with my friends. We would go on about pussies and doggy-style and all sorts of crude shit. It was funny, man. And it was fine! I was still very self-assured, and very capable of playing Zelda or reading Harry Potter and being utterly transfixed by subtle intricacies and descriptions of vast wonder. Media is pervasive. Maybe it makes us feel a little less like it dictates us when we can exert some control over other human beings... haha, I don't know.

Humans are pretty capable machines, anyway.
 
Good job OP. 8 year old kids don't really know what they want anyways. I'm sure he completely forgot all about it once his mom gave him a candy or something.
 
I would have done the same thing OP. It's not a game for an 8 year old. And yeah, I played vice city at a friends house when I was around that age, but V is so much more graphic in every regard.
 
Sorry but this is kinda hilarious in it's absurdity. Short of the xenomorph turning to the camera and saying "you're next little girl", I don't know how that could have gone worse. I hope she's gotten over it. :(

Honestly I didn't expect that reaction at all, but I usually try to keep the exposure to violent death down quite a bit. Also I don't think she had seen anything like that where a regular person is attacked by a monster, they beg for help and help doesn't come. There was also no real set up either. She knew there was a monster and it could "get" me if I wasn't careful, but sh wasn't expecting to see someone get killed.
The crying isn't surprising, but what surprised me is that she was angry about it, and she couldn't explain to me why she was angry.

Anyway, the point of my anecdote isn't your kid will run away screaming from Xenomorphs like mine, more like, you don't know how they process that stuff in their minds.
 
Ya done good OP. It's too bad that, presumably, non-gaming oriented or knowledgeable parents still seem to look at videogames as a child's medium instead of understanding that they're just like films and TV shows where there is a wide range of content for all age groups and the content needs to be scrutinized before you allow them to digest it. It's not like the ESRB rating system is a secret and not to mention just looking at the cover art for GTA:V should set off some kind of red flag if you're shopping for an 8 year old.
 
That decision is not up to you. It is up to the parents..... Get upset all you want.

The OP provided information when he was asked by said parent, and said parent was the one that ultimately made the decision. A better informed decision than what she would have done prior, obviously.
 
An 8 year old didn't get a game meant for 17+ because you informed the mother of the content.

I see nothing wrong.

If the parent decided the kid was not ready, that's her choice.

If people here want to let their 8 year olds play a 17+ games, that's your choice.
 
You should have told her the truth, OP. GTA5 contains GTA Online which is unrated and could contain anything; completely torpedo the kid's chances of ever getting an online game. Such audacious lies on his part simply cannot go unpunished.

I mean, as if she wouldn't eventually notice a cutscene, gunplay, or an inevitable strip club visit. It's such a careless deception. This defeat will ultimately make him better... he'll thank you in the long run.
 
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