Do/will you restrict your kids from playing M-rated games?

When my kid turns 8 or 9 I'll let him/her play whatever she wants because thats how old I was when I started playing M rated games, and I turned out fine.

@TheHBK said:

@believer258 said:

@TheHBK said:

Depends on the game for me as well. Call of duty, I would let them play, though i would monitor the online portion. Halo yes. GTA or japanese games, no way. I don't want my kids playing something like Metal Gear Solid. Aside from the fact that Kojima is a stephanie meyer esque writer and plot maker, all the sexual and Raiden stuff would not be something I want my kids exposed to.

You won't let your kids play Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy or Mario? Well, OK, Mario's constantly after, *ahem*, "cake", but the other two should be fine.

Well the question was about M rated games. So I don't think those count. Think about M rated japanese games, yeah, you get a lot of stuff like what I mention.

@BrockNRolla: What does it have to do with morals? Just stuff found in games like Metal Gear Solid are not something I want my young kids exposed to before they are ready to understand how fucking stupid it all is.

How is it not related to morals? You're making a determination of what your child should play based on your morals, as in what you think is and is not ok. Unless you're making the determination based on... mechanics I guess? (No 3rd person platformers for you Timmy!)

Part of my confusion is exactly what another user highlighted, the "japanese" part of your comment, as though Japan is somehow so morally bankrupt they should include "Japanese" on the ESRB ratings scale along with "Blood" and "Gore." That doesn't make sense. I'll just assume your jab at MSG was just intended to show your dislike of the series and has nothing to do with you fearing your child's "exposure" to the content as it is no more "sexual" than most games and "Raiden stuff" doesn't even make sense (The only thing I can imagine you're refering to is the whole, "Child Soldier" thing, which if anything is a real world issue and isn't handled with a lack of respect).

The other part of the confusion comes in with the flippant, "I'll let my kid play Call of Duty" as though that should go without saying. Yes, keep your kid away from all that dangerous "Japanese" debauchery, but let them help themselves to all the realistic military combat they can handle, because what could possibly be wrong with gunning down legions of soldiers? As I said, it doesn't make sense to me.

I'd decide what games I want to let him or her play on a game-by-game basis, and I'd play them with him or her. Because I'm such a video game dork, myself, I would be buying the games for both of us, not just my kid. If there was a M-rated game my kid wanted, he or she would have to convince me on two fronts: why I should let them play and why I would want to play it myself.

@TheHBK said:

@believer258 said:

@TheHBK said:

Depends on the game for me as well. Call of duty, I would let them play, though i would monitor the online portion. Halo yes. GTA or japanese games, no way. I don't want my kids playing something like Metal Gear Solid. Aside from the fact that Kojima is a stephanie meyer esque writer and plot maker, all the sexual and Raiden stuff would not be something I want my kids exposed to.

You won't let your kids play Chrono Trigger or Final Fantasy or Mario? Well, OK, Mario's constantly after, *ahem*, "cake", but the other two should be fine.

Well the question was about M rated games. So I don't think those count. Think about M rated japanese games, yeah, you get a lot of stuff like what I mention.

@BrockNRolla: What does it have to do with morals? Just stuff found in games like Metal Gear Solid are not something I want my young kids exposed to before they are ready to understand how fucking stupid it all is.

So you're gonna teach your kids to be ignorant and stupid? Good to know.

I'd consider MGS to be a good M-rated game because it isn't completely gratuitous in its violence and being hardcore violent isn't its priority.

Depends on the game. The kid'll be allowed to play Halo, but I ain't letting him anywhere near Saints Row until he/she/it is at least 15-16.

I played a lot of Killer Instinct when I was in 2nd grade. I have never been in any sort of physical altercation with another person. I also watched Alien, Predator, Jurassic Park, etc. at a very young age. None of that stuff affected me negatively. It really depends on the child. If they are anything like me, I probably won't restrict them too much.

That said, games by the time I have kids will barely resemble games when I was a kid. It's hard to say if they will be more potentially traumatizing, particularly in the level of violence depicted. The explosions of torsos in Mortal Kombat were hardly realistic or disturbing, especially then, when they were all pixelated to boot. I just wouldn't want them playing anything too heavy, with torture, executions or any of that sort of thing.

I wouldn't really care if they saw a breast or something like that, but I wouldn't want them to play games with gratuitous depictions of sex either. I realize, though, that there won't be anything I'll be able to do to keep them from finding out about sex on their own (at least, not without getting straight tyrannical about it). Hell I figured out what it was before my parents gave me 'the talk', and I didn't have the bounty of.."educational resources" that are now available online. Hell, Wikipedia has descriptions of a ton of sex acts.

im going to hand my kid Amnesia: The Dark Decent when theyre old enough to hold a controller. or maybe Silent Hill 2.