Age restriction for violent games

[Grummer]

Dont ya guys think GTA IV (and previous generations) should be R18? doesnt it alarm you seeing teenagers young as 13 playing the game? or what age do do you think is appropriate? 16? is 16 year olds really mature enough to know the difference between reality and fiction ?
Sorry if i spoil this, its just an age comment - as I am curious what you fellas thinks
FYI, I've played and clocked GTA3, GTA-SA great games, but now I look thing and kind of wish they didnt invent this sort of game. Clever idea though it blurs the line between films and role-playing-and action video games, but the criminal element I so dunno about it, how you think they justify it?


Cheers

 

[Steel X]

Honestly...age never really matter to me when it comes to videogames...it's the responsibility of an adult who lets the child play such games...the adult must know what the game is about and everything before allowing the child to play...and teach the child about the game...about the difference between reality and fantasy and shit like that.

Even I've played Doom when I was like 10 years old and did I turn into a non stop killing rampage? No.

I know it's just a videogame and it's not real so I'm not that stupid.

Anyway, like I said it's the parent's responsibility when it comes to videogames, watchin the child playing the game and everything so...parents who blame videogame companies over this shit obviously are the ones who should blame themselves cause they miss something they havent taught their child about.

For videogames presenting violence, it depends on HOW violent the game is. If you are talking about M rated games, I would actually say 13 to 17 yrs of age is actually old enough to know about the game and how it is played and everything.

I've played alot of M rated in my teenage years such as Turok, Doom 64, Metal Gear Solid series, and so on. So I think I was old enough to play them as long as they are all about fun.

 

[Banjo]

Well, the ratings are there for a reason. It's the parents that keep buying the games for the kids. Stores like Walmart and Best Buy made a policy to not sell any M-rated games to minors, but a lot of stores do anyway.

It's a real shame.

 

[MoonDrifter]

Kinda like selling alcohol to minors, R-rated games are sold to adults and given to minors. It is not the product itself that makes people go bad. It is how one uses the product and manages their own responsibilities with or without the products.

 

[purplecatty]

Kinda like selling alcohol to minors, R-rated games are sold to adults and given to minors. It is not the product itself that makes people go bad. It is how one uses the product and manages their own responsibilities with or without the products.

Catty

 

[Grummer]

so the OLD games, like the original Doom, Carmageddon were not very realistic due to its quite pixalated graphical depiction. couldnt this attribute to its players being able to delinated the differences between reality and fiction? where as new games now are highly refined (think Crysis, far cry before that) this blurs the line? no? or yes? or depends , also what about actual gameplay?
and how about the realisiticity of gores? should this be allowed in M rated? or R18?

I for one, think since computer games have improved vastly in terms of graphical refinements, while gameplay is pretty much the same as it were 5 years ago, so hmmm, contents of game hangs to another question, what does it encourages? law breaking is alright?, reality of hurting is fun? what about how far ome teenages goes with 'mobbing' with the use of cellphone cameras? are they trying to heighten their sensuality of violence by recording and making it real at same time.

 

[purplecatty]

so the OLD games, like the original Doom, Carmageddon were not very realistic due to its quite pixalated graphical depiction. couldnt this attribute to its players being able to delinated the differences between reality and fiction? where as new games now are highly refined (think Crysis, far cry before that) this blurs the line? no? or yes? or depends , also what about actual gameplay?
and how about the realisiticity of gores? should this be allowed in M rated? or R18?

I for one, think since computer games have improved vastly in terms of graphical refinements, while gameplay is pretty much the same as it were 5 years ago, so hmmm, contents of game hangs to another question, what does it encourages? law breaking is alright?, reality of hurting is fun? what about how far ome teenages goes with 'mobbing' with the use of cellphone cameras? are they trying to heighten their sensuality of violence by recording and making it real at same time.

It can happen if kids are not disciplined to recognize difference between virtual and reality. It can happen. If kids spend too much time with violence video games with friends, they get numbed and lose conscience with their feeling of others outside of "gaming arena". Often young kids under 14 don't understand the difference that well.

My oldest son who was then 9 years old played with Spiderman 2 on PS2 which was rated "E" for Everyone. When he became good with one level and moved to higher level, it become violent and he became aggressive (Spiderman game contains bad characters who curses but not bad words but "rude" words that my daughter heard and don't like it and lot of fightings). My daughter (she's older than him) didn't like his behavior and the way he treat her. We had to take out Spiderman 2 and hid it. few years later we eventually swapped the game for NASCAR 2004 that he wanted. Now, he's 12 and he knew the difference but still he don't always understand the difference on certain games. I told him NO-NO on Grand Thief Auto and several games which are very violent. He know that. I told him I'm just concerned if he visit his friend and play the game which are not appropriate for their age. He told me one of his friend did play one game and he didn't like what he saw and told his friend he don't want to play it so they changed the game for better one.

I agree the graphics are getting better but sometime developer tend to target certain graphic chipset that they supports and provide better feature on that than other graphic chipsets. For example, Roller Coaster Tycoon 3 targets ATI and tried to "advertise" that it'll play better on ATI than any graphic chipset. I have Nvidia and it plays fine but can't get special features that targets ATI. It's pretty unfair for my son tho.

Catty

 

[Cheri]

Just because they have a policy to not sell M-rated games to minors it doesn't mean that an hourly employee will not sell an M-rated game to a minor.

There was just this one time I took my son to Wal-Mart just to give them a test just to see if an employee will sell an M-rate game to my son, sure enough an employee had sold my son an M-rate game without seeking for my permission or without asking for an ID. So I decided not to trust Wal-Mart because obvious they do not care.

I only go to stores that are member of the ESPB retail council, because they enforce the policy if an employee was caught selling M-rate game to a minor that employee will be fired. They are always suppose to ask for parental consent or for an ID.

Game shop is one store that is a member of ESPB retail council. I do matter of fact trust Game shop, I haven't had any problems with them.

 

[Foxrac]

Just because they have a policy to not sell M-rated games to minors it doesn't mean that an hourly employee will not sell an M-rated game to a minor.

There was just this one time I took my son to Wal-Mart just to give them a test just to see if an employee will sell an M-rate game to my son, sure enough an employee had sold my son an M-rate game without seeking for my permission or without asking for an ID. So I decided not to trust Wal-Mart because obvious they do not care.

I only go to stores that are member of the ESPB retail council, because they enforce the policy if an employee was caught selling M-rate game to a minor that employee will be fired. They are always suppose to ask for parental consent or for an ID.

Game shop is one store that is a member of ESPB retail council. I do matter of fact trust Game shop, I haven't had any problems with them.

Depends on stores, some employees at wal mart does require proof of ID since some aren't.

Wal mart take tobacco and alcohol so seriously but for games, it's their least concern due no law that require to enforce the ESRB but some stores does and depends on employees.

I had bought some games at wal mart before and they required me to proof of ID but not anymore today.