I was over at my friends house last night. He let his nephew play RDR. His nephew did nothing more than go on a continuous shooting spree in the game. And when it was time for him to go and stop playing it, all hell broke loose. He threw an insane temper, probably the craziest I have seen. He got irate.
 
Anyway, what effects do you think it could possibly do to him?

Wait, you're not thinking he might turn into a cowboy and start a rampaging looting/pillaging throughout the world, are you?

yeah he's gonna turn into a cowboy and go and shoot bears and shit you better stop him.

No.  The violence is pretty serious.  The Jump scares (cougars, and such) can be pretty bad.  There is frontal female nudity in the game (though it is very brief).  And there are topics like necrophilia, prostitution, gambling, conning, and random violence that I don't think I would want a six year old to be exposed to. 
 
The effects though couldn't be that bad.  I'unno, maybe he'll set a cat on fire or something.  Normal stuff, y'know?

Let's hope nobody gives him a lasso for his birthday.

I dont let my 10 year old step bro play games past T. sooooooooooooooo not much to say bout this cept for smh

I let my young cousins play RDR, GTAIV and so on when they visit. But then again I sit with them and make sure they understand that they play a game and understand the seriousness of the "play" they are doing. Like I do when they play war in the backyard. It's no difference.  Whatever happens to the nephew relies on his parents and your friend. Not the game.
 
Personal involvement and responsibility all the way.

Probably not; this game's pretty mature for a kid that young.

You mean without any supervision or context informing him on what's going down? No.

Supervised yes. Letting him ride around on the horse and exploring, but nothing more.

Yes .... RDR wasnt as bad as you make it sound :P , then again I dont have kids near me as often (never really) , but I wouldnt if it meant less play time for me

I think those are the kids problems, not general ones. Still, I wouldn't let my 6 year old play ANY games less than a decade old. I attend the Paul Barnett school of parenting, and it I ever have kids I want them to be at least able to play older games. I think that anybody who grew up on even kid-friendly current-gen games is going to have incredible difficulty going back and playing some incredible games.
 
Essentially, I want my kid to have the life-altering experience of Super Mario 64 that I did.After that he can get in to Call o' Duty 5...thousand.

Nope, I sure wouldn't. 

I probably wouldn't but I don't really think it would have any negative effects. Kids throw tantrums all the time over anything and obviously because he had something that's more fun than he is usually used to he through a fit when he couldn't play anymore. Everything just needs to be in moderation and if he is going to throw tantrums when its time to stop playing obviously he is not old enough yet.
 
When I was six I made forts out of boxes and did forward roll's.

Let him play to the end:
 

I would but only if I thought the kid could handle the themes in place. I don't think the violence or brief-ass nudity would scar him for life, but realizations about things mentioned, like necrophilia, could have a deeper problem, just because it would be such a shocking thing, even if he DID know about sex.

I would hope that my child would be well-adjusted enough to not go on a killing spree immediately. Unless I can convince him to only examine and explore the surroundings in the game, no, I wouldn't let my child play RDR. 
 
Unless, y'know, they really wanted to.

I didn't even have the attention span to finish this game, so I doubt a six year old would do even half the missions. They'd probably just want to shoot/lasso people. 
 
Which I would be alright with.

No. 

Nah.

No

No way, man.

I subscribe to the theory that your behavior in open world games is a reflection of your personality and not the game influencing you. When I play Grand Theft Auto or Read Dead Redemption I stick to the story and don't shoot anyone who doesn't take a shot at me first. Many other people simply want to ride around killing everyone in site and buying hookers. This says more about them than the game.
 
As for the situation with the six year old I think his behavior at the end is very telling. The fact that he threw an ungodly fit when he was told it was time to turn the game off and leave says a lot.

" You mean without any supervision or context informing him on what's going down? No. "

No.

I dunno, I saw worse when I was that age.

I wouldn't but I guess it is up to the parent.

Absolutely not.

" Let him play to the end:
 

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

And say it's his fault that John died. Guilt him for life!

"

I would not let a six year old play any of the story missions or go into any of the towns. I might let him run around and explore on the horse. Maybe let him hunt a deer or two. I wouldn't let him skin the dear or anything.

Let him play to the end:
 

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

And say it's his fault that John died. Guilt him for life!

My neighbor let his seven year old son watch once while he played Resident Evil 4. But then he said his wife came home and was super pissed. Once when they were visiting I let him play a little Vanquish, which is M rated but is really no more violent than Transformers except for a couple cutscenes, he thought it looked awesome but couldn't get a grip on the right stick aiming.

I... Don't think I would, no.
... With supervision, though, yeah, maybe. Just maybe. But there are just so many alternatives to consider to begin with.

i wouldnt.

I dunno, I was playing games with violence in them at about that age.... so probably not?  Srsly though, I think how mindless it is is a bigger deal than the fact it has violence in it.  At least back in the day if you were playing something like Pirates! or Syndicate or whatever then you'd be getting a mental workout at the same time.  
 
The least you could do for him is turn auto-aim off so he doesn't grow up to be a ham-fisted pussy.

Yeah. My cousin was the same and is now kind of the same, just playing Saints Row destroying everything in sight at age 13. Total spastic.

Hell no!

I definitely wasn't playing games that violent when I was 6. Maybe some at 7, though.  
 
Anyways, I let my little sister of 6 years old play GTA IV just because she enjoys driving around or flying in a helicopter. I don't show her how to go on killing sprees (or how to kill people at all) or bring Niko to a strip club while she's playing. These mature games, especially open world ones, have plenty of things for the player to do that are not composed of violence or sex. 

" @Abyssfull

Let him play to the end:
 

SPOILER WARNING: Click here to reveal hidden content.

And say it's his fault that John died. Guilt him for life!

I was expecting a joke spoiler, not a game spoiler... "

I don't think that games are as harmful to kids as a lot of people seem to think but no, i wouldnt let a six year old play that game. 

On one hand your gut tells you it's weird.  On the other hand, when I was 6 I would have been pretty boring if I wasn't constantly training to be a ninja-cowboy between Double Dragon and Contra marathons.

" Let's hope nobody gives him a lasso for his birthday. "

i dont think it would be a good idea to let a kid play this game.  i personally wouldnt hand a controller to a kid.  although the shooting wont affect him too much (if the kid's playing video games during this day and age, i would guess he already has a taste for fps') there are various elements that wouldnt be appropriate for him

suburban white kid? Hell No!!!

Probably not a good idea.

" I let my young cousins play RDR, GTAIV and so on when they visit. But then again I sit with them and make sure they understand that they play a game and understand the seriousness of the "play" they are doing. Like I do when they play war in the backyard. It's no difference.  Whatever happens to the nephew relies on his parents and your friend. Not the game. Personal involvement and responsibility all the way. "

No.

I don't think I would allow my 6-year old to play any M rated content without supervision. There's things in games like Grand Theft Auto and Red Dead Redemption they shouldn't be exposed to when they're that young.