Call of Duty Modern warfare 2 dilemma - pls help

trets77

I am nearly 38 and a 100% confirmed Modern Warfare 2 addict . i have so far logged nearly 20 days of playing online since it came out .so yes i do consider my self a expert on what to expect .

Yes it is a fairly Violent in the single player game but nothing worse than your average 15 rated film .

this debate has been raging since i was a lad . The Daily mail crowd were saying back in the Eighties that people like me and my brother would turn out Dysfunctional and Psychopathic. guess what we didn't , and neither did any of our friends who used come and play games or watch scary movies with us . In fact being so into Video games led my brother into a career in computers , where he now commands a six figure salary as head of a major travel agents web activities . If anything it was the kids who had overbearing parents who ended up going off the rails . well it certainly seemed that way at our 20 year school reunion .

there is pretty much Zero risk to your son playing online , nearly every other person on there is a teenager , and the conversation is pretty much like you would expect to hear in any school playground . thats how you should see it , the playground for the 21st century , where your son simply wants to play with his friends .

if you were really worried about playing online and hearing bad stuff , then simply don't allow him to have the microphone in . i play without one and simply turn down the Chat , as i find it distracting ( and a little immature ) and it does not effect my ability to play the game .

I think you are a very good parent for taking the time to ask about any concerns , and not believe the Media scare mongering about modern video games , cause that all it is . The Keith Vaz's of this world are very quick to be judgmental without knowing the facts .

DCFC79

I dont know whether you have considered it but how about sitting in with your son while he plays, yes he can just play with his friends and you do this by setitng up a private game/match(well i think it would be just him and his friends)

playing against random people is ok and i think he can mute other people and just hear his friends but dotn quote me on it,

your the parent and your the best person who can decide if he is mature enough to understand that its a game, i dont think anyone can judge you for thnking about

weegie.geek

He'll be knee deep in racism and homophobia but by his age he'll have encountered all that before.

Check out youtube for xbox live bullying, xbox live homophobia, xbox live racism etc.

Playing against random people isn't a pleasant experience, but games like these are amazing with a group of friends.

DCFC79

weegie.geek wrote: »

Playing against random people isn't a pleasant experience,

it depends as you dont have to speak them if you want to, if any weird messages are sent then its easy to deal with(another reason why a parent could be present when he plays the game)

weegie.geek

DCFC79 wrote: »

it depends as you dont have to speak them if you want to, if any weird messages are sent then its easy to deal with(another reason why a parent could be present when he plays the game)

True, but if there are people co-ordinating their team over voice then it adds a lot to the game. Voice is a useful aspect of live, there are just too many people on there acting like asses.

spg_SCOTT

Being a 14 year old, when the live account is created, it will have an adult live (hotmail) account associated with it. (That is if his true age is given to the hotmail account that he has chosen to use)

This means (unless it has changed since I first signed up) that initially eveything will be locked down. (so no voice, friend requests confirmed by the parental account etc.)

You can then (I think through the console as well) change the settings on xbox.com as you please. There are options for whose voice can be heard, whether messages can be sent/received...etc... these can all be set to 'friends only' if wanted (And IIRC on a child account changing this requires confirmation of the parent, by logging in, or something along those lines.)

Here is a screenshot of most of the options available:
http://dl.dropbox.com/u/3105891/Capture.GIF
(wont wrap it in img tags, kinda large size...)

i have so far logged nearly 20 days of playing online

Haha...I'm at 5 more...

villabadger

We let our 13yr old play it online - have got him booked in for surgery for the hand controller removal! :rotfl:

Lots of his mates, cousins etc play it and they can chat away for free for hours if they wish. Am trying to get the wife and our girls on it to keep the phone bills down.

If you play it with the tv sound down and don't give him a headset then he couldn't hear or engage with anyone who chooses to swear.

I quite often spend a bit of time on it with him although, rather annoyingly, he's much better than me :mad:

I also find that it's a great bargaining tool when, as a teenager, he tries to give us a 'Kevin' moment.

DCFC79

weegie.geek wrote: »

True, but if there are people co-ordinating their team over voice then it adds a lot to the game. Voice is a useful aspect of live, there are just too many people on there acting like asses.

except ive not heard anyone speak for ages on xbox live when using my mic, its not what it used to be for communicating, unless of course its soemtihng to do with my settings

sjpkgp

Bought it, may even have a go on it myself as suggested, not bought a headset yet, and he will have to work out the online bit. His xbox is linked up to a PC in a cubbyhole downstairs so I walk past from time to time, and it'll be two minutes before I am bawling "turn that down I can't hear the telly". I always wondered whether the media and the easily worried parenting sort would make this out to be worse than it really is - seems so. Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to reply - knew I could rely on a balanced view in here. Hopefully anyone else with the same niggling concerns will pick this thread up too. Sal xxx

DCFC79

sjpkgp wrote: »

Bought it, may even have a go on it myself as suggested, not bought a headset yet, and he will have to work out the online bit. His xbox is linked up to a PC in a cubbyhole downstairs so I walk past from time to time, and it'll be two minutes before I am bawling "turn that down I can't hear the telly". I always wondered whether the media and the easily worried parenting sort would make this out to be worse than it really is - seems so. Thanks again to everyone who has taken the time and trouble to reply - knew I could rely on a balanced view in here. Hopefully anyone else with the same niggling concerns will pick this thread up too. Sal xxx

if hes going to spend alot of his time playing with people he knows then you shouldnt have to worry about strangers, i think he could set up a game with his friends on 1 team against other people