gaming Why do parents buy their little kids mature video games?

[Sabrinie 392]

I can't talk for all parents, but growing up, I wasn't censored with anything. I played GTA and watched R rated movies all the time. I grew up with my grandparents as my guardians and while sometimes they didn't know what was bad about certain things, when they saw what was bad, they would talk to me about it. While I was playing GTA, my grandfather was told by someone at work that I shouldn't be playing it and he told him all about it, but instead of taking it away, we talked about it. I don't think violent games or movies are necessarily a bad thing as long as people can differentiate between real life and a game, it shouldn't matter what they're playing. 

 

Again, this is just my experience but I think communicating with your kids is the biggest thing.

[Malinter 3,064]

If you know it's wrong to kill, and rape, and whatever in real life, you say you don't do it. But why exactly is it any different in a game? Just because you may not be doing it physically, does not mean now it's alright to do. That's why I don't do it. If you know it's wrong, why do it?

 

because blowing stuff up is awesome, but mostly because:

 

1/ Rocket Launchers are expensive; i'd probably blow myself up using one IRL before anyone else (highly likely)

2/ Guns in real life tend to leave folks dead. Guns in GTA are unrealistic, you can't take that many bullets and still get up.

3/ both in GTA & IRL. If some asshole is trying to kill you. The time for being nice is over.

[Sunlight 357]

I agree I with you completely with that one. Little kids are really easy to leave an impression on, and giving them such a bad influence could result in some serious rebellious behaviour. Not good. Not good at all.

[Moonlight 7,286]

If a kid is 13 or older and can handle it, then they should be allowed to play it. However, if the kid acts like a stupid little idiot, they don't need to play it and their parents need to step in and say "no". If a kid is ridiculously young (4 years, for example), then they shouldn't be anywhere near mature rated games.

 

Age isn't measured by maturity but if only parents would actually do something to stop their kid from screaming into the mic over public chat in online video games.

 

The only reason a parent buys it is because they wouldn't hear the end of it if they didn't. 

Edited November 9, 2013 by Michael De Santa

[Blue Moon 6,341]

Personally, I think every child is different, and some will handle things such as this earlier or better than others. If a kid is old enough to understand that it's just a game, and it doesn't affect them in a negative way (such as them showing more violent behavior, or swearing); I think they should be allowed to play the game.

 

I think the way the child was raised also plays a part in how a video game affects them. If a child was taught good morals; I highly doubt the video game will affect them negatively or change them into some murderer. Kids are more intelligent then some people seem to think, and most know the difference between reality and fiction.

 

However, there are the kids who are immature about this (i.e. the ones who scream bloody murder online for dumb reasons, swear, etc.), and I don't think they're quite ready to play mature games. And of course; I don't think children around toddler age or younger should be playing violent video games, as I think they could be doing much better stuff such as growing up and learning good morals.

 

Anyway, to answer your question: I guess parents either know their child and allow it, or just don't care. 

[Moonlight 7,286]

I personally think that it is one of the most stupid and dangerous things you can do to a child. I don't play these horrible games like GTA, because for that very reason. To much violence, cussing, nude. What exactly does it teach? That being bad is perfectly fine. I think it's awful that these kind of games exist. And to those who don't think it effects you, well it does. Crime in today's world has only gotten worse. Many people who were convicted from crime or murder admitted they were influenced by video games. And this is coming from "mature" adults, who should know better. No 5 yr. old understands what they are doing. But their brain is developing. If people are teaching their kids violence with these video games, then they WILL grow up to be a violent person. It's just how the brain works. It's so frightening. It's why I stay away from these kind of games.

 

Video games don't usually have an effect on people, no matter the age. A kid has to be royally messed up in the head to play GTA V (great game, by the way) and think, "Wow! I suddenly feel like killing a bunch of people!" and then proceeds to go do it. I have played violent video games for a majority of my life, do I want to go out and slaughter people? Nope. Plus, I mean, come on....violent video games are simply fun to play and enjoy. Parents need to teach their own kids right from wrong (and what's real and fictional) and not let some video game (or any other type of media) do it for them. Stop blaming video games.

 

 

If you know it's wrong to kill, and rape, and whatever in real life, you say you don't do it. But why exactly is it any different in a game? Just because you may not be doing it physically, does not mean now it's alright to do. That's why I don't do it. If you know it's wrong, why do it?

 

It's different in a game because it's completely fictional...no one actually gets hurt in the process. 

[Shanks 10,816]

Most of these parents are a bunch of idiots that use video games, TV and computers as electronic babysitters. While I am not one of these people who thinks that violent video games turns people into psycho killers I do think that if they are going to let young kids play them than they should only do so if they actually talk to their kids about it, make sure they are mature enough to handle it and recognize the difference between fantasy and reality. Don't just park the kids in front of the controller and let them have it, they should I don't know be parents and say no if they have to.

[Derpius 138]

Many irresponsible parents buy their 6-12 year olds M rated games because they just want their kid to shut up and leave them alone. The parents basically use the games as babysitters while they go off and do their things.

 

Meanwhile, the kids often end up cussing out other players online and in get the wrong impression of what war is like. Kids like this also end up creating negative stereoypes for certain communities of the games. This has happened happened with the Halo community and the CoD community. Eventually, older players end up getting verbally attacked by people who say things like "You play Halo? Halo is for little kids!" and other stupid shit.

 

So essentially, irresponsible parents and obnoxious kids and are ruining the online communities and genereal experience of certain games.

[Metemponychosis 1,259]

I'm against all forms of censorship. having said that, I'm also a defender of the concept of both personal responsibility and of group responsibility in different measures. The problem is that parents don't really care about the stuff their children are doing to others: they just care about getting their children to shut up. If it takes buying an incredibly violent game to them, one that is rated for older players for example, they will buy it and their children become somebody else's problem.

 

Now, I don't have a clue about how Call of Duty Whatever is going to influence in the mental development of someone. I don't even think it's relevant because morality and other subjects should be taught by parents and maybe teachers, not games. I expect people to understand that offending others in games or any other media is unacceptable. However most forums already showed me that I expect too much... Why should I expect it in a competitive game?

 

Of course I've met teenagers with better manners than some adults, and the same goes for children: I've seen children that understand that different situations warrant different behaviors <gasp!>

 

So the problem are not the games or the age of the gamers. It's the education they receive. If someone is capable of behaving like a civilized human being and understand the difference between fiction and reality, also deal with the frustration of defeat, for example, I don't see why they should be forbidden to play a game.

[Sapphire Quill 1,186]

Simply, they don't know what the game is or about, and they just want to get the child of their backs wanting it so they buy it for them.

I'm not against the fact of it, and I don't mind little kids playing so called video games like GTA and such, look they won't understand most of it, and they're going to see much worse later on.

Personally I am against children playing online such as Call Of Duty and such, as for one, there are mature people and adults online looking for a good time, and then you have all the immature people wanting to change that, and just ruin it all. And the language they learn from all of that is dreadful.

[Jon the VGNerd 885]

To be honest, I don't know how and why would GameStop, or the ESRB, even allow parents to buy violent games for younger children. I'm betting their parents would cheat their way into persuading clerks into thinking that they're just buying violent games for themselves, which in reality, they're buying it for children. I could only hope that GameStop and ESRB would stop parents from even trying to buy violent games for children UNLESS they're sure of it.

[OkBuddy 586]

I would either consider the parents to be ignorant about mature video games or they just don't care at all. 

One sad example of this was when I went into a gamestop and saw two ladies and a little boy (maybe 9 years old) buying video games. I heard one of them say "Hey, this video game has robots in it. Why don't you buy it?". When I turned and saw what the game was, it was Borderlands 2. BORDERLANDS 2. Not a game that a 9 year old boy should be playing.

[Shanks 10,816]

 I'm betting their parents would cheat their way into persuading clerks into thinking that they're just buying violent games for themselves, which in reality, they're buying it for children.

Or they could just go into the store without their kid and buy it themselves no questions asked, there is no realistic way to actually make this happen without intruding even further into peoples personal lives. I could walk into a Gamestop tomorrow and buy a violent video game and there be no way they could possibly know if I was buying it for myself or I was buying it for my kid (I don't have one but again they have no way of knowing that) so I just don't see how that could possibly be enforced.

[Jon the VGNerd 885]

Or they could just go into the store without their kid and buy it themselves no questions asked, there is no realistic way to actually make this happen without intruding even further into peoples personal lives. I could walk into a Gamestop tomorrow and buy a violent video game and there be no way they could possibly know if I was buying it for myself or I was buying it for my kid (I don't have one but again they have no way of knowing that) so I just don't see how that could possibly be enforced.

 

True, but they could at least supervise their children. If they show signs of violent behavior or end up playing it for lengthy hours without a break, the least they could do is ground them from their disruptive behavior or notify them to take an hour or two of break.

[Pomfritter 165]

I remember playing some game with nudity on the Sega Saturn when I was too young to understand what was happening. In fact, I remember playing GTA 3 like the year it came out. I consider myself to be fine, but I can understand the problems that some people would have with it. I will not allow my children to play such video games at that young of an age, since I do believe it could negatively impact early growth, but I hope I can manage to raise my children well enough that they could survive on their own at 13, so I'll allow them that then.

[Remi 1,309]

There are a variety as to why parents are willing to buy 'M' rated games to their children whom are more than under 17 years of age, not only physically, if not also in maturity and mentally. One of the most common cases is they are simply unaware of the games contents, and don't bother to even ask the clerk what the game involves, nor what the 'little M thing at the bottom' signifies. Although, various GameStop employees are explaining the gravity of the games they are purchasing for their children, most commonly, Call of Duty, Battlefield, and Grand Theft Auto. All franchises whose new game releases caused an uproar in purchases for each new game, Ghosts, Battlefield 4, but even more sales was given to Grand Theft Auto V, which is also the strongest video game out of all them. Very strong language, very explicit sexual themes and content, which, to my knowledge, Rockstar went further into the sexual scenes in GTA V, various scenes involving drug use, and even an actual sex scene with Trevor.

Other than that case, another one is more of the child begging and being bothersome for their parents to purchase them the game. The parents, push-overs and irresponsible as they are, simply purchase and throw the game at the kids to get them to stop annoying them. This is the worst case, in my opinion.

Another one, is that the parents feel the child is mature enough to handle the content in the video game, but isn't all that common.

[Moved to Elsewhere 11,331]

Well I kind of agree. When I was young I wasn't allowed to play M rated games. The closest I'd get was in 1st grade, I'd watch my older brother play stuff like grand Theft auto and Halo 2. Though by middle school I was still playing Nintendo games and it bothered me that no one played those anymore and I felt like everyone just wanted to play call of duty. Which I had no interest in. So  yeah maybe watching would be okay but know how much a kid could enjoy them at such a young age.

[Radost 76]

when i was younger i enjoyed playing Syro, Jack and many other classics but hey, times change, people change. Its not like its real or anything its just a game, i a few months away from being 18 so i still need one of my friends or my parents to give the okay when i buy i game witch sucks btw

[PoniesPlease 365]

They do it because parents don;t trust babysitters, so they use technology to do it instead. Kids will blast hours into games far above their recommended age, such as GTA and CoD, and often the case isn't that the parents know what content these games has, it's that they don't care.

[pleasedontcomeback 209]

 TY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTSTY STOP LOOKING AT MY POSTS

Edited July 19, 2018 by PonyLover123

[Moss 95]

I played plenty of violent games when I was little,and I turned out alright.But,the only game that my dad didn't like was The Godfather,as he thought it was a bit too violent.

 

I guess it depends on the kid's upbringing and influences,and maybe the parents either want their kid to stop complaining or they think they are mature enough be exposed to them/can handle that sorta stuff.

Edited November 9, 2013 by MOSFETv2

[GhostPony750 959]

Along with most of the stuff here: The parents doesn't want to take care of their childs anymore.

 

If he get stuck infront of the tv all day long, he's not going to bother us. Right? There are more and more people in the cities, our cultural values are changing. Before, we would keep our parents at home when they would get older. Now we just put them in hospitals on forget them. Slowly, we want to do the same thing with our kids. But instead of an hospital, there are video games.

 

I was playing some fps games when I was younger, but I was playing for world war games. I tried playing modern fps, but it was just boring. GTA is boring also, I prefer my old gamecube/gameboy games. (Super Monkey Ball 2 was epic)

[Harmonic Revelations 8,835]

Since there is no correlation between violent video games and actual violence (A trend of LESS violence, if anything), meaning there is no long term effects on society, it's not our business what games kids are playing.

 

My parents let me play mature games and watch mature movies growing up, and I turned out fine.

Edited November 9, 2013 by Harmonic Revelations

[GONEFOREVER 518]

"Mom can I please have Call of Duty: Ghosts? I swear I will be mature! Please please PLLLLEEEASSSSEEEE?"

 

When the boy gets home:

 

"STUPID BUCKING F*****! GO TO HELL!"

 

Hahahahahaha.

 

That is AWESOME.

 

Anyway, my explanation is that most people are idiots.

Idiots to the point that they will let their 5 year old kid to play an FPS

[Flutter's lover <3 8,205]

Funny, I went into EB games the other day to pickup my CoD: Ghosts pre-order on the launch day...and as I I was getting it, some kid, couldn't of been older than 10-12,got his mom to buy him Ghosts. Like wtf. These are the same kids on Xbox that are like "Huehueuhue, I can 360 quickscope then teabag you, you stupid noob fag"

 

If I worked at EB Games, I'd be like "Yea there's a 5 minute long porn scene and so much swearing, blood and gore." just so the kids mom doesn't buy it for them.