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Is Black Ops 3 appropriate for a 12 year old?

A 12 year old can definitely handle Call of Duty, especially if the graphic filter is enabled. I mean, I played Vice City and San Andreas, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, and a good chunk of other "adult" games growing up, and it didn't affect me negatively. As long as the parents are clear with the kid that what they're doing is absolutely in no way real, it's fine.
 
Lol I was exposed to R rated movies as early as 6, played GTA SA at 12 or 13 I think. I turned out fine I believe! My only problem was playing too many video games (and it wasn't violent ones either, mostly played platformers and the like on PS2/GC/Xbox/GBA/DS). I was never denied access to anything (except porn, eventually found it myself at 12).

I just think it depends on how the kid reacts to things, if they have some sort of mental problem then of course not CoD is not suitable. Some people in this thread are nofunallowed.jpg ...
 
M-rated games were still pretty tame when I was 12 years old, so it's hard for me to relate (I was already 17 when CoD1 came out), but I would say 12/13 years is about a good starting age for Call of Duty.

Shit's a cartoon, it's not going to scar anyone for life.
 
While I am still childless, my fiance and I have already had arguments over when it is appropriate for a kid to play violent games. My opinion to the OP's question is that it's fine. When I was 12 I had watched Jason/Freddy horror movies, knew how to do every Mortal Kombat fatality by heart, and already had to shave below my chin by that point.

I think ~8 years is when they can explore the Teen rated games, and need to hit the double digits before playing anything M-rated. Obviously, this is dependent on the subject matter of the game, as all M-rated games are not equal.
 
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Just let the kid play with his/her friends. It sucks being left out and it's 2015, those kids have seen so much worse shit on reddit it doesn't make a difference.
 
Yeah no. Black Ops 3 can get pretty nightmarish at points, I recommend Halo instead.

Just please don't let them get on online multiplayer, we already have enough annoying brats yelling about how they all know my mother.
 
shoreu said:
I mean if they are going to just play multiplayer i don' tthink it matters. They won't be traumatized by it.
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The kid's interest is probably going to be mostly the multiplayer mode, so I'd say it's fine. My son was playing the original Black Ops when he was like 8, just multiplayer only - splitscreen with me or neighbor kids, online with voice chat disabled. If the kids a gamer there's nothing in the multiplayer that would be the least bit troubling.

The campaigns are a different matter though.
 
CoD is fine for a twelve year old. Predator,terminator and aliens had plenty of violence and not a single kid I knew hadn't seen those films by the time they were 10. Kids aren't as easily traumatised as people think.
 
It depends on the kid, but I can see it being OK, I'm a dad of 2 younger than that gamers who often thinks about when they will be ready for certain games.

In today's COD in MP the lobbies are painfully void of banter, and you can permanently mute anyone not in your party in the options, so that means no verbal tirades.

The MP itself is pretty obviously fantasy, especially compared to COD4 which didn't have cyborgs and shit lol

Its not going to turn a kid into a killer anymore than playing paintball will, which is to say it won't.

Campaign is probably off limits at 12 IMO.

I know a guy with a 9 year old whose friends are getting GTAV and he's like "hell no", his son gets mad, but oh well kid, be happy you got a good dad.

So I vote yes to MP only, muted, no chat, profanity filter on.
 
RangerX said:
CoD is fine for a twelve year old. Predator,terminator and aliens had plenty of violence and not a single kid I knew hadn't seen those films by the time they were 10. Kids aren't as easily traumatised as people think.
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Those films were basically childhood rites of passage. Not sure how it works with video games and kids these days, but I'd assume something similar
 
Umm. Even if you dont let the kid play, whats the point? The internet and television is full of gorey and sexual stuff. The kid will find it sooner than later. Age requirements on video games wont do anything.
 
If 12 year old never watched rated R movie or played rated M games, I wouldn't recommend it.

The 12 years old now are more expose to violence and sex from the internet than when I was 12 AND I've seen some shit when the internet was not big at the time. If the 12 year old have access to a tablet/computer and watches "things" on the internet, Black Ops 3 is fine.
 
Tell her mother what the game is about in great detail and let her decide.
Show her walkthroughs, show her the most brutal parts.
 
Violence and nightmarish segments in the campaign would prevent me from letting a 12 year old play this game. Simple answer is NO but then maturity level and what each kids can handle are different.
 
Anyone citing gore in the campaign as an issue obviously doesn't realise that your average 12 year old is not remotely interested in the campaign.

My 14 year old son is on his 3rd COD and hasn't touched the campaign in any of them. Nor have any of his friends. They will, however, spend endless hours shrieking at each other on MP.
 
Depends on the kid. Some kids are much more impressionable than others. The ESRB ratings are there as only a guideline, no different than movie ratings. If you you feel your kid is mature enough to play it. So be it.

I was never withheld from any game I wanted to play due to graphic content. My parents knew that I understood they were only games.
 
monkeymagic84 said:
Yeah, illegal narcotics that radically alter one's physical and mental state are totally an apt comparison to draw to the discussion we're having. You got me there.

The vast majority of us have played games and consumed television, music and movies meant for older audiences without any ill effects. Taking a hard-line stance against a 12-year-old nowadays doing the same when most of us all turned out fine is really silly and frankly quite stupid. My adivce: if the kid is well adjusted and the parents monitor behavior during and after and all seems fine, let him or her play.
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The comparison is for the sake of your position, that being that if a person did something they shouldn't as a child, it makes them a hypocrite to say others should not as an adult. It doesn't. At all.

I have an easy stance with my stepson, he can play what he wishes, and I agree with your advice, just not the argument you framed it with.

level1 said:
If we're comparing weed to violent media, it's not about trying it out, but about smoking it enthusiastically all throughout your teenage years.
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See above. You can replace it with pretty much anything for the sake of this comparison.
 
If only there was a team of professionals that would view all content and make a recommendation on the minimum age a person should be to view / play it.
The could then put a sticker on the box and let us know.

/sarcasm.

My answer to OPs question is no
 
I got CoD4 when I was 12. Changed my perception for competitive gaming. Kept me out of trouble too. A lot of the people I hung around with at the time grew into bad, bad people. CoD is great. Once he knows it's not real and wouldn't try to imitate it, then it's fine. I'd suggest not allowing chat outside of friends though. Game chat can be quite toxic at times.
 
12. That's middle school. Yeah a game like CoD is not too much for people that age.

I'll never forget when I was 11 and a classmate was not allowed to have Smas Bros. Melee because it was rated T. Use your own head.
Or this other poor sheltered soul that ran to his house to ask if he could play that Simpsons Taxi game because of the rating on the box. Again, just use your own head.
 
I lean towards no, but as others have said, it depends on the child. I think I was allowed to watch Beavis and Butthead when I was around that age and it didn't affect me, although some kids were inspired to throw bowling balls onto highways after watching or abuse animals.
 
Hmm. Let me think NO. I'm not sure what age is okay to experience "head shots".. I'm 40 and sometimes it is too much for me.
 
If he just wants a shooter then he should get Battlefront or even Destiny. There are bundles with both so they work out perfectly.
 
Triggerhappytel said:
I played plenty of violent games growing up such as Mortal Kombat and Duke Nukem: A Time to Kill, but I think those are worlds apart from gory FPSs nowadays or games like Mortal Kombat X. Besides, my parents knew nothing about videogames while I know tons, so I like to think I'm more informed on the matter and can better screen what I think is appropriate for specific age groups.
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"I smoked pot in my day, but now it's so strong that it's like a different drug... like crack."
 
I question the efficacy of any parent that defaults to yes or no with the consumption of any piece of media. You should be making the decision based on your child's mental/emotional maturity, not their age. Parenting isn't a part-time job, any time you let someone else decide what is best for your child, without any consideration on your part, you have failed fundamentally.

Don't get me wrong, it is inevitable that you will fail, but that is no excuse for championing the cause of "everyone should limit your child based on this arbitrary restriction".
 
Spman2099 said:
I question the efficacy of any parent that defaults to yes or no with the consumption of any piece of media. You should be making the decision based on your child's mental/emotional maturity, not their age. Parenting isn't a part-time job, any time you let someone else decide what is best for your child, without any consideration on your part, you have failed fundamentally.

Don't get me wrong, it is inevitable that you will fail, but that is no excuse for championing the cause of "everyone should limit your child based on this arbitrary restriction".
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Wow amazing advice I honestly try to keep this in mind when I have kids
 
When I was 12... I guess Doom was the new thing. Doom was awesome. Probably more disturbing than COD in general, though Blops 3 does have the one scene. Yeah, tell your friend to get COD. It's not going to traumatize him, it's going to be a treasured memory.
 
Think about what games or films (especially films) you would have seen at that age. I would say yes, but check with your friend. If she let's him watch films like terminator/aliens etc then cod is probably fine.
 
As long as tha parent makes sure the kid knows a lot of swear words and is mildly to extremely racist, then it's definitely ok because he'll fit in. Otherwise he needs to step up his vulgarity game.
 
It depends I would say but as a child that was allowed to watch/play things on occasion that wasn't in my age range I think it's fine as long as you know the child is mentally stable and mature still it's a good idea to check out the content before hand.
 
My brother is 12years old and has played GTAV, CoD, Bloodborne and some other "violent games", this doesnt make him violent, and he actually prefers to play Sonic or Skylanders.

Hes much more exposed to violence/cursing with TV series/films than videogames, and being aware that we cannot stop him from watching/experiencing violent content, we prefer to teach him, instead of forbidding it.
 
Depends on the kid, but I would generally say yeah, why not?

Turn the gore filter on and it should be alright, I remeber playing "violent" games as a youngster and I turned out fine!
 
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