Have you ever met someone who said "My kid is NOT mature enough for this M-Rated game!" ?

[Praglik]

I lived in Europe, in France, and from my own experience as a kid parents were very harsh with violent games or movies. If it's rated M (16+ or 18+ there) my parents and my friends parents wouldn't allow us to buy the game.
Light erotica in movies was fine though.

 

[Vulcano's Assistant]

My aunt wouldn't even let my cousin have GoldenEye, which was rated T.

Edit: matter of fact, he got it at some point and they made him sell it to a friend.

 

[AniHawk]

yes. in retail we had to read off the descriptions of the games on the back of the box. it was usually fine for language, alcohol, gore, and violence - but once you got to sexual themes and nudity it was always 'nope put it back'.

 

[oracledragon]

I do this with my kids; honestly the parental controls on all 3 major game platforms are so good these days, that it is really easy to control ratings and screen time... it's actually much harder on mobile devices.

My son does get to play some m rated games he likes that I've tried myself and I'm ok with (since around 14). Ex: he loved Limbo and Inside, so I authorized those games on his profile, even thought they are M rated I'm ok with the content. Layers of Fear was another one, he loves scary stuff like that. But games where basically the point is just to kill other people, I dont, so no COD, no GTA, etc. I know his friends play those things all of the time though.

 

[DealWithIt]

I have a close friend who says that about his son. My parents had rules for me in the nineties.

 

[Pryme]

Yep. Me.
To this day, I haven't played through the MK11 story mode because I don't want my kids present while playing an M rated game.

 

[MangoUltz]

I always distinctly remember being 12 when God of War first came out. Was hyped for it for ages.

Went in with my dad to get it on release and the woman serving us asked him if he was sure he wanted to get it for me as it was a very mature game.

He just looked at me and asked me did I think it would give me nightmares. I said no, and walked out a minute later with God of War in my hands. Shout out to my dad

 

[Imperfected]

I've known puritanical families who literally only let their kids watch Disney movies. They damn sure weren't playing M-rated games.

 

[ShinobiBk]

My parents lol

If I have a kid there's no shot in hell I'm letting them play any M rated and even some T games until I feel they're ready.
They'll have to go behind my back and play it at their friends house like I did when I was a kid, which is less of an issue now since most games only have online only multi-player anyway

 

[Exist 2 Inspire]

When i was a kid my mom wouldn't let my brother and me play wrestling games (not exactly Rated M but still) because we would always try to replicate the moves afterwards, which is fair i guess. But later when i was a teenager nobody cared really. Played games like Half-Life, GTA1 or Nightmare Creatures when i was 13-14.

 

[LunaSerena]

Yes, my mother.

My brother got RE4 when he was a kid as a gift for his birthday. Mom took one look at it and said that he wasn't playing that until he was older (he was around 11 I think? She handed the game back when he was 14, if I don't remember wrong).

 

[crazillo]

Great thread, OP. Just look at which age kids start to play and get addicted to Fortnite. It's ridiculous. Not only do they play these games too early, they also get addicted to it and this includes lootboxes in some cases. Thankfully, my 12-year old nephew has a strict mother and her fiancé is very likeminded and they use parental control on consoles and internet settings. It's bad enough that he has his favourite streamers who I just find bad rolemodels, but you can't control everything. I for my part am happy that I introduced him to some other franchises early on. He also like Animal Crossing, Mario or Overcooked. My nephew keeps telling me that many other kids just play a very few franchises that are big in school. There is peer pressure because "other kids" are being allowed stuff but you need to think about your kid first and foremost.

Only between 16 and 18 years I think I'd personally probably be a bit more relaxed if it was my kid.

 

[Phellps]

I have, but reality is most parents are not prepared to judge whether their kids are fit to engage with content above their age or not. People think age ratings are a flexible thing when, in reality, they're not. And in any case, a therapist would actually have the qualifications to make such judgment.

 

[Deleted member 31873]

My friend lets his kids play Conan Exiles, the youngest of which is 6 years old.

 

[Deadpool_X]

Me. My son turns 13 this year, and I've never allowed him to play an M-Rated game. The only M-rated game that I've ever played in front of him is the original Doom, because of how old and pixelated it is. I've explained to him that the ratings system exists for a reason, and while I've let him play certain T rated games(Star Wars titles and Fortnite), he knows he's years away from any M-rated titles.

 

[theosmeo]

My parents never bought me games, i had to pay for them by allowance from doing chores and working for neighbors. That kinda ended up meaning there were no m games in my house just because i couldnt buy them myself LOL

Altho as a kid aside from halo there wasnt really anything M rated that i wanted, Im still not big into shooters to this day and i know me as a kid could not handle any horror or anything

 

[Funky_Monkey]

My son is just finishing 6th grade. I am stricter about what I let the kids play in our own home than what I would let them get away with at somebody else's. I'm not expecting them to say to their friends "my mum and dad will not let me play that" (although I did have one parent call me to ask if it's ok, which I appreciated).

I use the same rule that I got told when I got taken to a football (soccer) match for the first time. Just because something is acceptable in one place, doesn't mean it is allowed at home.

 

[OrdinaryUsername]

I only bought my first 18+ game when I was seventeen years old (Skyrim). I didn't need parents to check me out. I've encountered 18+ games before, but I wasn't exactly interested in playing them and avoided them. However, I played 12+ games when I was too young, such as World of Warcraft (on a family member's account, with a family member's adult supervision) when I was eight and Super Smash Bros. when I was ten (without adult supervision).

If I had a child, I wouldn't be strict on 12+ games in most cases, but mature games... That's a different matter. I would never let my child play games like Grand Theft Auto (drugs, sexual content), Call of Duty (propaganda for American patriotism and imperalism) or Wolfenstein until he is of appropriate age. I would completely block online multiplayer until he is 15+ years old.

Too often nowadays, I find that children play unchecked on online services. I already see very young children using a smartphone and social media like YouTube, Twitch, Instagram and Messenger. Sometimes those kids are even pre-teen and I think that's completely irresponsible. I myself was active on the internet at a young age and I didn't have any good memories of it. I wouldn't want my kids to come into contact with bad people online like I used to.

Unfortunately, it is so difficult to have an overview of a child's internet behaviour, as well as to monitor it.

 

[Forearm_Star]

Not in those exact words, but def knew some who didn't want to buy M rated games for their kids.

 

[werezompire]

Other than letting my oldest daughter play Persona 4 Golden when she was a teen, I don't let any of my kids play M-rated games and some T-rated games for that matter. Admittedly, all of my other children are much younger than her (she's in college now, whereas the 2nd oldest is still a preteen). P4G being an exception as I feel like the ESRB rated it poorly (it's got a CERO-B rating in Japan which means 12 and up) and it's a fantastic game.

 

[Sera]

my mum, who is a primary school teacher

 

[Deleted member 48434]

Yesh.
My parents.

All the other kids played GTA while was stuck with more age appropriate stuff.

 

[Kiekura]

Yes. Actually more than just people who let their child play about anything.

 

[RunJumpStomp]

Depends on the game. Some M rated games I would let my son play (he's 12) Some I wouldn't. Depends on the context of the game. Why its rated M.

 

[superNESjoe]

I have two kids and while I will be waiting until I believe they're old enough to handle mature content, I don't have an arbitrary date in mind. I started with very violent content when I was like 7, and even though I turned out fine I still feel that was way too young and won't be replicating it.

By the time my kids are in high school, I'm sure they'll be consuming mature content.

 

[bgbball31]

My mom let me watch R rated movies before I turned 6.

When I asked for GTA in elementary school I got laughed at and a hard no. I didn't play a GTA until 4 which came out when I was 20. I think my first M rated game was Halo, which as we all know (and since she played games too and talked to her coworkers about games, she would have too) probably didn't have a real reason to be rated M.

 

[Camjo-Z]

Yeah, my mom... all the way up until I was legally old enough to play M-rated games. Had less to do with her actually understanding the content of the games and more with her blindly following the ESRB rating. Case in point: I had to desperately convince her to let me get Super Smash Bros. Melee for my 10th birthday because it was rated T. Yeah, the game with Pikachu and Kirby in it really looked like too much for me to handle.

Thank god for older brothers who would let me sneak in play sessions of Halo 2 and GTA.

 

[Valcrist]

When I was a kid, my parents didn't let me play Mortal Kombat until I begged them to death. Even then, they'd watch me play it and groan at how violent it was. The SNES version was blood-free though.

 

[LuigiMario]

I didn't get an M rated game until I was 13, I think Halo 2 was the first one.

I am guessing now it's worse because there's not even a box parents can look at, parents probably just give kids their card or enter their card at the payment screen without even realizing what they're buying. I always had to have my mom look at the box of a game I rented haha.

 

[Governergrimm]

Me. My son wants to play GTA. He is too young.

 

[JohanKRS]

I'm 38 and grew up with Atari, NES and SNES... By the time PSOne came out (I honestly don't remember any "mature" game before that on console, at least none that was available in local stores) I was already 14 or 15, so I guess i skipped this discussion with my parents.

 

[Ricky]

It's case by case basis for my kids. My 6 year old plays mostly Minecraft, Brawlhalla, LEGO "everything" and Spider-Man (PS4). My 11 year old mostly plays Fortnite and Apex. He was surprised when I said he could play Warzone as long as he was in party chat with his friends. My wife was a little concerned but shooting people in Fortnite is no different than shooting them in Warzone, imo.

 

[LavaBadger]

Up until I was old enough to get them myself, I needed to convince my parents it was ok for me to play M games (Since I couldn't buy them myself), and that was an uphill battle at best. Most of the time, I didn't even bother as I knew the violence was going to make it a hard "no". Same with most of my friends in middle school.

And you know, it really didn't affect my enjoyment of video games. Sure, I played stuff at sleepovers at some houses, but that sort of "bad" behavior for a kid is always going to happen, and obviously, in smaller doses, playing M games and watching R movies is pretty benign. It's more about not normalizing excessive violence or other content for a kid when they're too young.

And even if that does happen, most kids are still fine, but I do think boundary setting is important and valuable between a parent and a child. Unfortunately, a lot of what you're describing OP may be total ignorance of video games on the part of the parents, and more broadly, ignorance of what the kid is up to.

 

[Bakercat]

I mean, if I had a teen who I thought wasn't mature enough to handle GTA, then I wouldn't allow it. It honestly depends on the situation and behavior.

 

[corasaur]

I was restricted from playing m-rated games when my mom thought M inherently meant explicit sexual content. When she realized many of them were just violent, she didn't care any more.

 

[Irrotational]

It's case by case basis for my kids. My 6 year old plays mostly Minecraft, Brawlhalla, LEGO "everything" and Spider-Man (PS4). My 11 year old mostly plays Fortnite and Apex. He was surprised when I said he could play Warzone as long as he was in party chat with his friends. My wife was a little concerned but shooting people in Fortnite is no different than shooting them in Warzone, imo.

Click to shrink...

I think some of the callouts have swearing in them? Certainly in base multiplayer. It's also a bit more realistic and is closer to the line of "real" violence than cartoon violence...so i could see most people drawing a line between the two, but also why some people wouldn't.

In my random village in scotland most of the kids aren't allowed full on grown up games like GTA...but some of them are playing COD campaigns fairly early.

I use the family control settings on google, microsoft, TV apps etc and it's a PITA and a full time job...but it does help set boundaries and stop incessant questions (from screen time to banning youtube).

 

[Richter1887]

My parents didn't care. We even used to play games like GTA and Mortal Kombat together.

I lived in a wartorn country and things like gore, death and all that were pretty common sight. Games paled in comparision and my parents made sure to make me realize that games are games. They made sure that I understood that what happens in games (by that I mean bad things like crime, killing etc) is something that stays in the game and shouldn't be done in real life.

 

[Bastos]

My first PC game was Doom. And I played a lot of Duke Nukem 3D, Shadow Warrior, Blood and Quake after those.

Different times, I guess. My parents never cared about the contents of the games. They also played and still play games nowadays.

My parents didn't care. We even used to play games like GTA and Mortal Kombat together.

I lived in a wartorn country and things like gore, death and all that were pretty common sight. Games paled in comparision and my parents made sure to make me realize that games are games. What happens in games (by that I mean bad things like crime, killing etc) is something that stays in the game and souldn't be done in real life.

Click to shrink...

Perfect. I had the same education. Never prohibit, always just explain and have me understand all that.

 

[Deleted member 62078]

Yes. Me.

Click to shrink...

^

 

[Le Dude]

I feel like there's a huge variance in M-rated games. When I eventually have kids, they'll be able to play on a game-by-game basis.

 

[Aesthet1c]

My parents didn't really stop me from playing violent video games when I was a kid, but games were also different in the 90's.

Things like the original Mortal Kombat or Doom don't compare to things like GTA or The Last of Us.

My oldest is 11 and my kids aren't allowed to play anything that is rated M, and I even debate some of the T stuff (although I can't think of an example of a T game that I didn't let them play). I don't have a hard date on when I'll allow it, but it will probably be closer to 15+.

 

[Curufinwe]

Not exactly, but when I bought my PS1 in 1996 there was a kid in the store trying to buy Resident Evil and the store worker shut him down hard. This was in New Zealand where games use the same ratings as movies and are legally binding.

 

[Tavernade]

I was in charge of the video game department at Toys R Us and 'maybe' five or so times parents would ask my opinion but every other time they got pissed at me for speaking up when they bought an M game for their six year old OR their kid started sobbing when I even brought it up. I think the problem is parents don't understand what the games are AND think so highly of their children they don't want to be second guessed. I wonder if, as the generation that grew up with GTA has kids, they'll either be more aware and limiting or they'll think they grew up fine and not care.

My parents were outliers for making me get age appropriate games.

 

[PAFenix]

Growing up, I didn't get a gaming console until I was in middle school. (Had a Gameboy before then but mostly just played Pokemon) That first console was an N64 and we didn't really own any Mature games for it. Closest being Goldeneye. I guess they knew what 007 was or just wasn't aware what kind of game it was, as anytime they bring up watching us play games back in the day it's always about "that running Link game" (Ocarina of Time lol).

By the time I got my next console, a PS2, I was in high school. Stuck mostly to games like Kingdom Hearts and Final Fantasy since that was what my friends were interested in. I think my first mature game was God of War. I remember my dad walking in on the boat scene of that game and he made some snarky comment about it, but he didn't seem to care to much otherwise.

I guess they felt they raised us well enough to be able to handle things like that? I'm not entirely sure.

As for myself as a parent, I try to make a point to keep my M-rated gameplay off screen until after the kids are in bed. Sometimes I let this slip though due to my lack of patience of gaming time for me and send them out of the room. (Sometimes they still sneak in lol) But this is few and far between as most M-rated games still don't interest me all that much. Most games I play are usually T-rated with fantasy elements (Tales, Final Fantasy, etc.) that I think my kids are fine with. As for games THEY are interested in playing, they still focus solely on Switch titles with things like Mario, Animal Crossing, and the like, so I haven't had to regulate too hard. I will do so though if I think they won't be able to handle it.

 

[Pocky4Th3Win]

My parents made me return Mortal Kombat because it was not something I should be playing.

 

[Unclebenny]

My nieces were allowed mature stuff, but only a couple of years before they reached the legal age. Then it was only allowed once their parents had vetted first. They would check films and games out first before allowing their children to play.

That's probably how we plan on doing it with ours, although not an issue now, one is three and the other isn't born yet!

I was basically allowed whatever from a young age but I'll be going very slow introducing mature content to my children. I can certainly see no benefit to them seeing it early. Apart from kudos from other children and who cares about that. Children are idiots. Honestly I'm more worried about access to the internet than I am mature content in media, at this point.

 

[Theswweet]

I played Gauntlet: Dark Legacy with my dad when I was 4, but then my mom got angry and I wouldn't be allowed to play T rated games until I was 10, and M wasn't until I was 13.

Some exceptions were made when my dad could chance it lol.

 

[TYRANITARR]

I just realized that I am a hypocrite.

I bought and allowed my 7 year old daughter to play Dragon Quest XI on Switch last year (I played it too alongside her, I love JRPGs!). She LOVES that game. She talks to me about it almost everyday and she beat it months ago!


I didn't even occur to me that game was even rated Teen. I don't think any of my other kids have ever played a Teen game except they one.

... So I guess I don't pay attention to ratings either!

 

[Skip2baloo]

As a kid in the 90s in Germany my parents didnt't mind what I've played. My older sister tried to get our dad to watch over my games but he was busy to work.
Later my sister wanted me to watch over her sons games activity. Till his 15th bday I was a lil bit harsh and didn't allow him to play the more brutal games. Later he and my sister were very thankful for that.

Out twins are now +2 yrs old and I will see how I can handle it in the future.

 

[thomasmahler]

I'll absolutely have a good watch over what my son will be playing when he grows up - He's 2 now, but there's no chance in hell that I'd let him play something like GTA before he's old enough.