Call of Duty, Grand Theft Auto: Would you let your 6 year old play?

Lip_Stick

unholyangel wrote: »

Personally, I'd say the first part isnt really a good thing. For one, if kids are really going to want to kill people etc merely by playing games that allows them to do so, they'll get a nasty shock when their real life victim doesnt respawn.

As for the 2nd part....I guess I must be unhinged then! I was allowed to watch horror movies from a very young age (somewhere between 4-6) and also played my dads games (duke nukem, doom etc) from a young age. To this day I've never been arrested or done anything that would warrant my arrest.

Also yet to hear from any source that playing adult games while underage is what turned psychos psycho. Games/films may provide inspiration to psychos, but they were already unbalanced to start with.

Thats not to say I agree a 6 yr old should be allowed to play CoD, GTA etc.....but we do let our 6 year old play 8-12 games depending on the individual game/content.

I dont like the nanny state britain has become. Particularly where children are concerned. People wonder why 20 year olds are still immature and irresponsible, its because they're babied even throughout their teenage years.

I don't quite get what you're saying with your first sentence. I don't think kids are going to want to kill people just by playing COD, the same as they wouldn't by playing with toy guns in the garden.

I agree with you on the second part, it was only later that I realised I should have included that the child would have suffered a depraved upbringing too, but then I suppose it could just be the upbringing that turns a child into a psycho. What I'm trying to say is that it took more than horror movies to turn those kids into the Bulger murderers.

trets... have you played COD MW2? The multiplayer is not graphic in the slightest. I do agree with the language used in lobbies being shocking though and wouldn't want a child to hear it.

Flyonthewall

No

Sneezy wrote: »

her mum said she plays Mario karts and crashes on that so it wouldn't have mattered as much to crash in GTA IV.

Crashing on Mario Kart is nothing at all like crashing GTA. It's that type of thing that leads to children playing unsuitable games.

unholyangel wrote: »

Personally, I'd say the first part isnt really a good thing. For one, if kids are really going to want to kill people etc merely by playing games that allows them to do so, they'll get a nasty shock when their real life victim doesnt respawn.

Also yet to hear from any source that playing adult games while underage is what turned psychos psycho. Games/films may provide inspiration to psychos, but they were already unbalanced to start with.

I dont like the nanny state britain has become. Particularly where children are concerned. People wonder why 20 year olds are still immature and irresponsible, its because they're babied even throughout their teenage years.

Good point on the respawning.

I agree with them being unbalanced to start with.

I disagree with that last part though to a point. Not sure babied is exactly right. They can view all sorts on the Internet, constantly on their mobiles, playing games (possibly with a high age rating) and they don't respect adults, don't spend much time with family and are just given money when they need it. Obviously not the same for all kids/teens. But for a lot they don't learn to be responsible or mature because they don't really have to be. Anyhow, that is rather going off topic.

As far as age ratings go, they should be followed to a point (as in, no 6 year old should be playing an 18 game).

Lip_Stick wrote: »

The multiplayer is not graphic in the slightest. I do agree with the language used in lobbies being shocking though and wouldn't want a child to hear it.

It may not seem graphic to you, but that doesn't mean it doesn't seem that way to a child.

footballgirl07

No

I played my first GTA game when I was 7/8 but it was GTA 2 and as someone mentioned previously, did not have the same 'themes' that more recent GTA games have. Okay I could still shoot and run over people but I was more interested to just drive about in that game. First GTA game I actually owned was GTA Vice City when I was 12. My parents bought it for me.

So with todays GTA games, no I would not let someone that young play them.

Flyonthewall

No

footballgirl07 wrote: »

I played my first GTA game when I was 7/8 but it was GTA 2 and as someone mentioned previously, did not have the same 'themes' that more recent GTA games have. Okay I could still shoot and run over people but I was more interested to just drive about in that game. First GTA game I actually owned was GTA Vice City when I was 12. My parents bought it for me.

So with todays GTA games, no I would not let someone that young play them.

It did have the same themes, just perhaps less obvious especially to someone younger. It also didn't have the graphics of today.

unholyangel

Lip_Stick wrote: »

I don't quite get what you're saying with your first sentence. I don't think kids are going to want to kill people just by playing COD, the same as they wouldn't by playing with toy guns in the garden.

Sorry, shouldve explained myself better.

What I mean is that if children are truly so impressionable that playing these types of games make them want to kill people (which I personally dont agree with since as above, I said they're already unbalanced to start with), they'd be thinking people in real life will respawn when killed - which obviously they dont.

fionajbanana

No

If these such games were around when I was 6, my parents would not let me play on them.

Chickabiddybex

No

There's definitely a difference between GTA 1 and 2 and the subsequent ones. I mean really the first ones were all from a distance (As though you were watching violence from a helicopter) and it was all very pixellated. Now you look over the character's shoulder and the graphics look almost real to life.




(Plus strippers: http://cdni.wired.co.uk/620x413/g_j/gtav6.jpg)

I think it is far more acceptable for a child to play the game in the first picture than in the second.

Sneezy

No

Sneezy wrote: »

her mum said she plays Mario karts and crashes on that so it wouldn't have mattered as much to crash in GTA IV.

Flyonthewall wrote: »

Crashing on Mario Kart is nothing at all like crashing GTA. It's that type of thing that leads to children playing unsuitable games.

I know and I was actually quite shocked when she said as normally she's very level headed - I didn't feel very comfortable at all (which is why the ps3 had to go to sleep).

Okydoky25

No

Right or wrong (personally I believe wrong) to let a 6 year old Play these game. But for those that do why the need? Is there not a million and 1 more suitable things to be doing with your child than sat 'playing' computer games of this nature?

Go to the park? Kick a ball, swimming, build camps, make up games, bake cakes. Anything but this surely?

Flyonthewall

No

Okydoky25 wrote: »

Right or wrong (personally I believe wrong) to let a 6 year old Play these game. But for those that do why the need? Is there not a million and 1 more suitable things to be doing with your child than sat 'playing' computer games of this nature?

Go to the park? Kick a ball, swimming, build camps, make up games, bake cakes. Anything but this surely?

I agree to a point. They shouldn't be playing such games and they certainly should be active and use their imagination. However, there's nothing wrong with playing computer games as well. In fact, it can be a really good thing. It can help hand eye co-ordination, educate, entertain them, some games have writing which means they're reading, there's many games that require you to think and use logic and/or skill. None of these are bad things, they just need to playing more suitable games.