Call of Duty Modern warfare 2 dilemma - pls help

sjpkgp

Please can you help if you play this game.

My son (who is 14) is desperate to buy this for his xbox360, and his dad and I have said no initially because it is an 18. He is very upset, and has been lobbying - all of the usual pleas -"all my mates etc...."

I have had a chat with a couple of male friends to understand the 18 rating. Apparently, it has a lot of strong language, and is violent (i.e. you shoot civilians not just the baddies). Obviously, I know my son really well and he is intelligent, mature, balanced and I am not unduly concerned about the swearing (we have a good trust agreement, and he has a good attitude about swearing, which I don't want to undermine). I am a little concerned about the violence, but having talked through the game I am wavering on trusting him following a chat with him about it and some ground rules. I am not, however, keen on him playing it online with strangers, currently he does not have an online subscription for his other games. He has been saying that he would only play it with his pals.

My questions are a) is it possible to restrict the game so you only play with people you know (my son is a generally a good kid and would adhere to our ground rules) and b) is there something so horrific about it that I should reconsider.

I'd be really grateful for practical advice on a) & b) (as opposed to hurtful snipes that I must be a bad parent to even consider it - Always found this forum very helpful and considerate so sorry to have to have put that caveat on:o)

Anyway, thank you in advance,
Sal xx

globalds

If it is to play on-line through X- box live then there is not really a story line or any emphasis on killing civilians.
It is much more about team fighting and match play.

Although he would probably have to play some of the game just to skill up before he went against real people.

My son has it and is not 18 ..Not a problem for me.

As for meeting strangers on line ..I don't think your average dodgy on line geezer is going to use a (virtual) room full of ten crazy fighting males as a chat up area.....But it could happen.

Future bad news to look out for ...
He will constantly complain your internet is not fast enough
He will start asking for expensive gaming headsets like Turtle beach ..So he can hear the enemy creeping up on him

NiVZ

Hello,

There is a level in the story mode where you go through an airport shooting civilians.

However, the very first time you play the game it gives you the choice if you want to play this level or not so you could always make sure you are there the first time he puts the disc in and choose not to include this level

Amazon and Play are selling it for £24.99.

Hope this helps.

NiVZ

P.S The next game in the series called Call of Duty: Black Ops is being released in November 2010.

Apples2

The swearing, although plentiful isn't that bad,

For those that have served in the military or watched nearly any film depicting war, they will understand that swearing is a large part of a soldier?s vocabulary. Call of Duty 4 is no exception with regard to language and contains plenty of swearing throughout the game. Some of the game?s favorite phrases are Holy s? did you see that?? and Get the h? out of here!? among others. There are also some references to alcohol use.

Are you okay with him grabbing a dog by the head and snapping it's neck :):)

Bear in mind if he doesn't get it he will spend his time looking at p0rn though so a bit of swearing may be the better option.

diable

It will educate him and help him deal with real life situations........

sjpkgp

Fantastic answers and thank you to you all for responding so quickly. I am reassured. i suspect this will be on the discussion list over breakfast tomorrow !!!!!

sal xx

kutsu119

When I first read the opening post, I suspected that this may be a case of over-zealous new age parenting. But you know what? kudos to you for taking both sides of the story and being reasonable about it!

Your son has great parents.

bugbabe1970

COD is a big favourite in my house. Both my sons love it esp my 15 year old. I too was a bit concerned with the level of swearing and violence but at the end of the day they are able to see and hear far more on the telly at the moment.

My youngest boy is 13 and him and about 6 of his mate have joined army cadets since starting playing this game. I know it sounds rediculous but its quite funny really. So thanks to COD my son has been inspired to take up a really fullfilling and rewarding passtime.

You know your own son like I know my boys. Its just a game at the end of the day, I know this and so do they! Go on, make his day! x

Hammyman

sjpkgp wrote: »

My questions are a) is it possible to restrict the game so you only play with people you know (my son is a generally a good kid and would adhere to our ground rules) and b) is there something so horrific about it that I should reconsider.

I'd be really grateful for practical advice on a) & b) (as opposed to hurtful snipes that I must be a bad parent to even consider it - Always found this forum very helpful and considerate so sorry to have to have put that caveat on:o)

Anyway, thank you in advance,
Sal xx

A) Not really He will have a friends list and you can restrict his ability to add friends HOWEVER you can't restrict playing on open public ones. I would suggest you let him add friends as he will then be more likely to have matches with them than on public servers - its far more enjoyable playing with people you talk to than random strangers. Remove the headset and he can't talk to people. There's no text chat in game.
b) nothing at all. My 8 year old son plays it - I reckon most of the players online are under 15. There is only one scene in the entire game which is troublesome and upon first playing the game, a question comes on the screen asking you if you wish to ENABLE this content as it is disabled by default. I have noticed no degredation in the behaviour of my son.

MW2 is pretty much all about the online play and its quite good with lots of achievements to aim for. Don't believe all the bad press and talk - its mostly by people who've never even played it.

Hammyman

sjpkgp wrote: »

Fantastic answers and thank you to you all for responding so quickly. I am reassured. i suspect this will be on the discussion list over breakfast tomorrow !!!!!

sal xx

I would go with the: "We'll let you have this game as long as the following ground rules are followed..."

He is right about one thing - all his mates are playing it. He will end up playing with them. You're obviously OK with him playing with them in the real world and them playing online will usually result in however many of them in a private match playing with or against each other.

Googlewhacker

Personally I think anyone playing it under the age of 18 should have their internet cut of, most of them are annoying, high pitched, start singing (I mean singing on a fighting game for crying out loud grrrr!!!!) and they all get muted very very quickly!

Swearing, lots of it happens, it use to be American vs Britain with your normal slagging of (ie Americans are fat C U Next Tuesdays, and us British have bad teeth)(not by me) but they I think introduced European servers so you rarely play American's anymore which is good because if they get Host the connection is rubbish

Racism for some reason is prevelant(not by me).

Playing with people on your friends list is a must, it is ok to play on your own but the chatting inbetween the games and during the games make it more enjoyable

It does make me smile with wonderment how Parents will allow young kids to play this game but to watch a film like SAW is a no? An 18 is an 18 end of.

I would suggest that if you allow it I am pretty sure that you can restrict conversations to friends only so you will not hear the public.

Turtle Beach is a must if he wants to be good

It is a great great game.

That is my view on the game.