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

DCFC79

No

Sparhawke wrote: »

Anyone who didn't hear about this:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2013/08/27/marie-smothers-grand-theft-auto_n_3821879.html

I have been playing computer games my entire life, when I was 8 I think I was playing Elite.

Kids that young should not be playing these games; but a lot of parents do not care at all. It is just like those that let kids habitually watch horror or murder films, when I was 8 Macgyver came out but he barely ever even looked at a gun.

And there was this incident and this 1, Ok they are older teens but shows what can happen. Then theres the manhunt game where the death is blamed on the game like here.

The_One_Who

Tornik wrote: »

If I wanted to start a video games violence debate, I would have done so, but that was never the intended purpose of the thread.

I asked a question - why not let a child have a go at GTA? - which you still haven't answered.

Also, people seem to have changed their tune here. You CAN let a young child play the game - with conditions attached, something I always advocated.

Flyonthewall

No

The_One_Who wrote: »

I asked a question - why not let a child have a go at GTA? - which you still haven't answered.

Also, people seem to have changed their tune here. You CAN let a young child play the game - with conditions attached, something I always advocated.

It's been answered by a number of people.

I still would not let a child play GTA even with conditions attached, nor do I think supervising them while they play and view all the adult content is acceptable.

However, for the one person on here that will strongly monitor exactly what is done on the game, knows exactly what is in the game and only allows the child to see like 1% of the actual game, of which does not include the adult content, I'm not going to judge them for it. They know their own child and do not wish for them to see the adult content.

The_One_Who

Flyonthewall wrote: »

However, for the one person on here that will strongly monitor exactly what is done on the game, knows exactly what is in the game and only allows the child to see like 1% of the actual game, of which does not include the adult content, I'm not going to judge them for it. They know their own child and do not wish for them to see the adult content.

And so why are you judging me?

I said I would let a child play the game with conditions attached. I have no real problem with them seeing in-game blood, or driving around (unless the mechanics have improved drastically driving in GTA will never be realistic), but things would be closely supervised.

Flyonthewall

No

The_One_Who wrote: »

And so why are you judging me?

I said I would let a child play the game with conditions attached. I have no real problem with them seeing in-game blood, or driving around (unless the mechanics have improved drastically driving in GTA will never be realistic), but things would be closely supervised.

Your conditions weren't that strict. You'd still allow them to the play the game as is, not extremely filtered. Closely supervising the child watching/playing adult content is still bad parenting as they are still being subjected to it.

In-game blood can be really realistic. The cars do look pretty realistic in GTA, as do the people. So although the driving itself is not realistic, if you run someone over it still looks realistic enough to be disturbing for a child. Driving carefully and where there is no people is alright as you've no chance of running people over, hearing bad language etc. The conditions I did not judge were those that meant the child was not subjected in any way to adult content as I don't believe they should be subjected to that at all however closely monitored.

RichardD1970

No

The_One_Who wrote: »

And so why are you judging me?

I said I would let a child play the game with conditions attached. I have no real problem with them seeing in-game blood, or driving around (unless the mechanics have improved drastically driving in GTA will never be realistic), but things would be closely supervised.

But you didn't say that,

The_One_Who wrote: »

Why isn't it? As long as the child is made aware of the the fact that it isn't real, nor is it something to aspire to, I don't see the problem. Grand Theft Auto is often quite cartoon-like in its violence as well, quite over-the-top.

no mention of restrictions or supervision.

Lumstorm

No

DCFC79 wrote: »

And there was this incident and this 1, Ok they are older teens but shows what can happen. Then theres the manhunt game where the death is blamed on the game like here.

Games don't cause these incidents their just a victim of poor journalism and a easy target. I also believe in the case of Manhunt it was later revealed that the victim had the game not the killer.

It always amuses me when some cases like the 8 year-Old that killed his Gran cause such outrage in the states of how can a child get his hands on such a game, they don't seem to have the same concern over how he got his hands on a loaded gun but guns don't kill games do.;)

There does seem to be a real problem that parents ignore the ratings as games are for children. But the industry has grown up with people playing games into adulthood so the content is more mature. I have seen plenty of parents buy 18 rated games for under 10's yet I bet they wouldn't buy them an 18 rated film.

Weird_Nev

No

DCFC79 wrote: »

And there was this incident and this 1, Ok they are older teens but shows what can happen. Then theres the manhunt game where the death is blamed on the game like here.

Please don't buy into the absoloute horseshit that's trotted out EVERY TIME some tradgedy happens involving young people and violence.

You'd be hard pressed to find a teenage male who has NOT spent significant time playing "violent" computer games, and ye we do not have to dodge a hail of bullets t get to the corner shop.

The Media drag out ill informed opinion every time, citing correlation as causation and sensationalising violence with phrases like "Did the highschool killer train for his mission on Call of Duty?????"

It's the media and reporting of such events that need to take a long hard look at themselves, and parents of children who grow up angry, isolated and without an outlet or voice.

Not games.

liney

No

I just can't understand why, when you can buy so many games that are suitable for minors, you would even consider letting them play violent games with foul language and sexual content specifically designed for the adult market.

You can buy older versions of games from from ebay or trade intype shops for a few pounds if money is the issue.

A valuable lesson that every child has to learn is that they can't do everything that adults do. This an excellent time to teach that lesson, and make it very relavent to the child.

My son is 9. He knows he is not allowed to play games that are even rated 12 without specific permission. My DH will check it out and decide if it is approapriate, much like when a 12A movie is released. The Hobbit, yes, Batman the Dark Knight, no.

For those that think it is ok, would you also let them watch 18 rated movies? I mean, they aren't real and they won't copy them...

Chickabiddybex

No

I think it's not a black and white question so you can't get a black and white answer.

The question does not state: "would you let your 6 year old play the part in GTA San Andrea where you see heavy drug use and swearing?" it also doesn't state "would you let your 6 year old play the part in GTA San Andreas where you cycle to the top of a mountain?"

So I really can't answer.