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I stopped a kid from getting GTA V

I think the parents should be intelligent enough to decide on their own if a kif is able to play a mature rated game.

I've seen Jaws, James Bond and many other "violent" films. Also allowed to play Diablo on PC at a very young age.

My parents just told me what a movie is. A piece of entertainment to excite people in any shape or form. It's fake, and I was able to understand that.

Never had any trauma's or issue's.
 
But its not just about age appropriateness. Its also about basic parenting. The kid knows exactly what the game is about (the one from OT) and tries to outright lie to his mother to get something. Children need boundaries. He might not become a killer, but he will become an entitled little brad, if he can just roll over his mother like that.


Also, when the label says "18", how can you ask if the game is for 8 year olds? I mean just look at the pictures at the back or read the text.
 
The strict age is one thing, but the 'mental' age of said person is more into play, if I were the parent.

None the less having all the facts and asking to get straight answers and making a decision based on the information is never bad, it's just being curious what you might give to your kid.
 
The Dutch Slayer said:
Sorry for the bump but I guess this is pretty related and I thought pretty funny.
Still would not let a 13 year old get the game though.

http://imgur.com/a/pAFKU
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That's cute. The logic is questionable, but the argument is more coherent and thought out than most internet discussions carried out by adults. Most of the time people pull statistics out of their ass, they don't admit it up front either.

Hopefully he'll enjoy the game as much as I have been, regardless of when that happens.
 
The Dutch Slayer said:
Sorry for the bump but I guess this is pretty related and I thought pretty funny.
Still would not let a 13 year old get the game though.

http://imgur.com/a/pAFKU
Click to expand...
Quite the effort. I wouldn't allow him to play it if he was my son but I would appreciate it enough to not discuss the inconsistency of his claims (though I might have askedhim where he gets the number from when he claims more than half the teenagers play the game on a daily basis). If it was Halo, I would probably let him play it. It's funny he lists shooting under the harmless stuff though.
 
Meh, I'd let my kid play GTA at 8 because he'd know the difference between what's fiction and what's real life. I do understand there are some kids out there that really shouldn't be playing games like GTA though. That's a reflection of parenting. My older brother bought us GTA III when it came out and we used to take turns playing it. Was fun to just run around shooting stuff but I never actually completed it until I was like 15.
 
If i would have been there,
i would have told the mom regardless if she asked me or not.

Yes, i'm that nosey sometimes

timthumb.php
 
In 2003 I did the opposite.
I lied in the counter and told that I was the kids guardian so he could buy GTA3
Kid asked me to do it basically. He was 15-16 so it wasnt that big deal
 
You did the right thing. You have to work up to those types of games. Start off with children's games, then mario, then fighting games and other types of games with simulated violence or adult themes when you're old enough.
 
I really hope some of the responses in here are a joke. Or should i say trying to be a joke.

OP you did the right thing, an eight year old does not need that in their life. Sure when they are maybe 13 or so it might be okay but even then I'm not so sure (14 up probably good), but eight?! Also bit concerned that the mother was almost swayed by her kid, certification boards label it 18 for a reason.
 
Fun fact: I was 11 years when GTA III came out. My mom saw the commercial for it & said "Wow, this looks like a nice game. You want it?" That's when 11 year old me had to stop my mother from buying me that game. She had no idea what it was about & I had to tell her that I was just too young.
 
J-Skee said:
Fun fact: I was 11 years when GTA III came out. My mom saw the commercial for it & said "Wow, this looks like a nice game. You want it?" That's when 11 year old me had to stop my mother from buying me that game. She had no idea what it was about & I had to tell her that I was just too young.
Click to expand...

You're a good boy. :)
 
J-Skee said:
Fun fact: I was 11 years when GTA III came out. My mom saw the commercial for it & said "Wow, this looks like a nice game. You want it?" That's when 11 year old me had to stop my mother from buying me that game. She had no idea what it was about & I had to tell her that I was just too young.
Click to expand...

that's very mature of you. I honestly wouldn't have done the same.
 
TheDanger said:
So I was in the game section in a local store today browsing through (I do this from time to time even though I know all the games anyway for some reason), then this kid and his mum come to the Playstation games and the kid wants GTA V. Then she says it says 18 on the box bla bla, then the kid was going on about how it's just about driving and he had almost convinced her when she suddenly noticed me and asked if this game is alright for an 8 year old.

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.
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Are you sure? Just kidding TheDanger. You did the right thing.
 
NoblesseOblige said:
Would have told her I didn't care, it ain't my kid.
Click to expand...

Sorry but that's such a stupid thing to say when the mother is clearly trying to get a mature gamer person's advice because she cares that much about her 8 year old kid.

And to the other poster, this being ok because the kid can and will see violence elsewhere doesn't mean we add even more violence to his long list.
 
Still can't understand the logic of this. To best prepare a child for the adult world you do your best to hide anything adult from them, wait till they are some age written in law, then spring the adult world on their unsuspecting minds?...

Nothing should be hidden from kids, its only through experience that we learn. The role of adults isn't to create a false world for kids to live in but to be there to explain the world to them.
 
nasanu said:
Still can't understand the logic of this. To best prepare a child for the adult world you do your best to hide anything adult from them, wait till they are some age written in law, then spring the adult world on their unsuspecting minds?...

Nothing should be hidden from kids, its only through experience that we learn. The role of adults isn't to create a false world for kids to live in but to be there to explain the world to them.
Click to expand...

I find it hard to believe a kid (or anyone) needs GTA style games to understand how the world works. Presenting a GTA game as adult is in itself a lie actually since it's pretty much varying amounts of cheesy toilet bowl humor. The same way people think CoD is juvenile, even if it's not supposed to be.

Some kids are mature enough to handle it, and some aren't. Empowering the parent/guardian (who knows more about their kid than anyone else) to choose for them until they are old enough to be more responsible is fine.
 
nasanu said:
Still can't understand the logic of this. To best prepare a child for the adult world you do your best to hide anything adult from them, wait till they are some age written in law, then spring the adult world on their unsuspecting minds?...

Nothing should be hidden from kids, its only through experience that we learn. The role of adults isn't to create a false world for kids to live in but to be there to explain the world to them.
Click to expand...

This is a very good point though this game is the false world. One where they commit crime and do questionable things without the repercussions. Without the parent watching everything the kid does in a game ratings are a good indicator. Most media don't go out of their way to "explain the world to them" outside a documentary and even those are questionable.
 
nasanu said:
Still can't understand the logic of this. To best prepare a child for the adult world you do your best to hide anything adult from them, wait till they are some age written in law, then spring the adult world on their unsuspecting minds?...

Nothing should be hidden from kids, its only through experience that we learn. The role of adults isn't to create a false world for kids to live in but to be there to explain the world to them.
Click to expand...

I agree, but also if it's the parent's money then they have a right to not go out of their way to buy them something inappropriate. Kid should do what I did when I wanted to play M rated games at that age: earn the money myself plus a little extra, and pay someone over the age of 17 to buy it for me. Made sure the TV in my room was pointed away from the door, always wore headphones, etc. If a kid is mature enough to play games they aren't supposed to be playing, then they're also mature enough to figure out how to get away with that on their own terms. IMHO.
 
TheDanger said:
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.
Click to expand...

I played God of War when I was like 12 because I was really into Greek mythology and convinced my mom it was just that type of game, and truth be told, I thought it was. Never mind how violent it was, there was a lot of sexual stuff I probably shouldn't have seen as kid.

I think you did the right thing. I think I would've done the same if given the chance. Give him a few years before he gets into that stuff so it doesn't rot his prepubescent mind.
 
I am a teacher, a sub didnt come in so on my prep I had to take over a grade 2 class, one of the students was talking about playing gtav and you could tell he wasnt bullshitting because the detail he used....good job parents
 
Game has drug references and terrible language. Why would anyone want an eight year old exposed to that if they CAN control it. Not ASSUME that they are seeing it on TV anyway.
 
I would do the same thing. Not only because of the violence, but because of the nudity. The sex/murder scene when Trevor was introduced was too much to handle for an 8 year old.
 
I would have suggested that under supervision it can be fun driving around the city in cars, bicycles and even boats in the ocean but that it can certainly doesn't shy away from violence

Then id suggest another game that i know is awesome

(Whch system was it on op by the way?)
 
I would have done the same as you OP. Granted, I played Vice City and San Andreas when I was 13/14, but they don't really compare IMO. Graphics alone make a huge difference, the cartoony style of VC/SA vs V.
Also, English wasn't my main language so I didn't understand half of the game (I remember singing the "Glory Hole" themepark commercial out loud, not knowing what it meant...)

That being said, the
torture
scene in V was the first time I cringed in a videogame. While I don't think it turns kids into monsters, I also can't imagine why anyone would let their 8-year old play this.
 
I don't recommend any game (or movie) for kids which has story like this. Kids don't understand such a story, so I don't recommend this for kids because of the story that older generation understand not because of the brutality, normal kid won't kill pedestrians just because he sees that in a game or movie.

However at his age I was playing with Doom or Duke Nukem :D But it was a different thing back then with that graphics. Games now pretty close to the reality in some cases so nowadays it's not recommended to allow kids to play this. If you want games for your kids then there are options for kids too. If you want brutal let him play the original Doom :D

I would not allow movies and games under 15 or 16 in most genres
 
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