10 Video Games to Cross Off Your Child’s Gift List

Warden said:
I'm sure Dragon Age makes the list do to the ability to have sex with an NPC member of your party including gay sex with the male elf if you choose... not to mention the fact that you can go to a tavern and order up a female or male prostitute, regardless of your character's sex.

Warden
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I wouldn't exactly call it "sex" regardless of the genders of the PC and NPC.. Hugging is more like it...

It's funny how much movies get away with compared to games, both when it comes to sex and violence, but especially sex.
 
There is some truth to the concerns, though not as much as the pols would like you to believe. The studies that have been done show that when you look at children that played "violent" videogames compared to those that played a "non-violent" video game the first group showed increased aggression and impulsivity. However, the numbers weren't exceedingly strong (don't remember the p value at this time and don't feel like looking up the articles) and the effect was transient. If you looked at the same kids after some time had passed from exposure, the behavior had faded. This is pretty obvious, how many of us as kids wanted to immediately pretend we were jedi after leaving the theater? There is concern that long term, unregulated exposure to the same media would produce more long lasting effects, but it's a difficulty study to perform and control for but it suggests the real issue.

What the big issue comes down to is children have difficulty with reality/fantasy at young ages and if their exposures are filtered/interpreted by parental influences that's where the problem lies. Kids need parents and they need parents that will take an active roll in them. My 8 year old loves Halo 3, but he knows not to run out and gun down his problems because I play it with him and explain things. Its when the kids are plopped in front of the TV and left there so mommy and daddy can do their own thing that's the problem. Kids are work, kids need parents' time and when they are neglected or babysat by the TV/PS3/360 that's when there are issues. If someone is really worried about their kids, pull them out of daycare which has been shown to increase anxiety and aggression and not just transiently.
 
Playboy: You obviously don't believe songs can make people kill or rape or commit suicide.

Frank Zappa: There are more love songs than anything else. If songs could make you do something, we'd all love one another. Violence in songs functions the same way violence in movies does. In Lethal Weapon, people get blown up, mashed and mutilated. The people in the audience would never do anything like that.

Interview in Playboy
May 2, 1993 (read it when i was 17, tsk tsk)

On September 19, 1985, Zappa testified before the US Senate Commerce, Technology, and Transportation committee, attacking the Parents Music Resource Center or PMRC, a music censorship organization founded by Al Gore's wife Tipper Gore and including many other political wives, including the wives of five members of the committee. He said,

"The PMRC proposal is an ill-conceived piece of nonsense which fails to deliver any real benefits to children, infringes the civil liberties of people who are not children and promises to keep the courts busy for years dealing with the interpretational and enforcemental problems inherent in the proposal's design.
"It is my understanding that, in law, First Amendment issues are decided with a preference for the least restrictive alternative. In this context, the PMRC's demands are the equivalent of treating dandruff by decapitation."

"I wrote a song about dental floss but did anyone's teeth get cleaner?" Senate Hearing on Porn Rock, 1985, in response to Tipper Gore's allegations that music incites people towards deviant behavior, or influences their behavior in general
 
I was a bit...conflicted when my 4-year-old came out of her room one night asking for water, while I was busy with the final push in L4D's Dark Carnival campaign's 'Stables' chapter. Do I let my character and possibly my entire (live players) crew die in order to protect my daughter's eyes from the zombie slaughter?

Bad parent confession: I finished the push into the safe room before herding her out.
 
Really?

A list of Mature games you shouldnt buy for kids? Im so glad someone out there is wasting money doing research on the obvious. Stupid parents....
 
This is all bs to be honest. I played Duke 3D, Doom, Quake all before the age of 10, and I don't go up to strippers every moment and say shake em baby.
 
Know your child and how well adjusted they are and make the call. Obviously ratings can't encompass everything about a form of meda, Saving Private Ryan is in no way the same movie as Saw yet they are both rated R. I have a blast playing borderlands with my 8 year old son. It's bonding time and we talk about anything he asks questions about, anytime. I'd rather be the one to broach sensitive subjects with my kids pre-emptively in my home than some random kid at school who is going to twist things or just flat out tell my kid something wrong. I'd rather it be my kid telling him. :D I draw the line at sexual content though, I try to minimize the exposure to that till he's a bit older.
 
OldPueblo said:
Know your child and how well adjusted they are and make the call. Obviously ratings can't encompass everything about a form of meda, Saving Private Ryan is in no way the same movie as Saw yet they are both rated R. I have a blast playing borderlands with my 8 year old son. It's bonding time and we talk about anything he asks questions about, anytime. I'd rather be the one to broach sensitive subjects with my kids pre-emptively in my home than some random kid at school who is going to twist things or just flat out tell my kid something wrong. I'd rather it be my kid telling him. :D I draw the line at sexual content though, I try to minimize the exposure to that till he's a bit older.
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Same here. I'll play a game or watch a movie before he can, but I know my kids better than anyone else. If I know they can't handle it, they can't watch/play it. They know the difference between reality and games. And, games and movies are NOT a baby sitter. I am always there when they play. It took me a year and a half before I let me son play Ghost Recon (he's 10, now). But, he told me what he knew about war from books he read and told me what he thought about the game and killing.... He told me it was a game, nothing like real life. He told me about gun safety and made a good argument. I was very impressed with him that I let him play. He's actually very good at it. Of course, he's also a damn nice shot with the .22 and pellet gun. No point and shoot, he's point, line it up just right, breath and squeeze. Perfect shot every time.

My other son can't play (he's 8) because he has a different outlook on it. He wants to shoot peoples brains out.... Yea, he might be 18 before he can play that game. I'm working on him, though. He doesn't like shooting very much though. He'll point, shoot somewhere in the direction of the target and be done. He wants to make games, and wants to learn programming... So, I'm not too worried about him yet.

But, I know some kids that I wouldn't watch a rated PG movie or play any game other than TD for Toddler....
 
I would say fair list of games kids under 13 shouldn't be playing, but any parent should already know that. You know why?.........the games have ratings on them. Fault lies once again with poor parenting so amount of warning can cure that.
 
Quoted from the site:
Brutal Legend: A violent cartoon fantasy action game that includes the use of a double-sided axe to hack at demonic armies.
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I must be screwed up because that sounds just about like the best game ever if I were 10 years old.
 
Giolon said:
Quoted from the site:
I must be screwed up because that sounds just about like the best game ever if I were 10 years old.
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Until the game turns into a rather poorly done and poorly controlled RTS.
 
the-one1 said:
Super Mario Bros. for the Wii is not on the list?! C'mon, it's so violent with all the stomping and shooting of fire and ice balls.
Great game btw. Brings back memories of ye ol' NES.
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I know.
Pokemon too. Seriously, that Pikachu is possessed, and the game promotes animal cruelty, with their horrible little Poke-balls.

This is exactly why I'm a Conservative.
 
Genghis Khan grew up without violent video games, and look how he turned out.
 
Banko said:
I don't go up to strippers every moment and say shake em baby.
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That's because, just like in Duke, you're not in a strip joint every moment...

You say that like being an adult in a strip joint and offering money to a stripper to "shake 'em, baby" is inappropriate...
 
"Why can’t people just rely on word of mouth? I would imagine asking any 18–25 year old male (and a lot of females) would give parents an idea of whether a game if appropriate for a child. I wish the NY Times wouldn’t join in on blacklisting adult games. Although, I guess it is better than banning these games altogether.

Also, as an adult that had basically uncensored exposure to media as a child, I think it is great for kids to witness serious issues, if they have an adult with whom to discuss them. For me, some of my best development came from being able to discuss war, poverty, criminal acts and so forth with my parents. Whatever parents choose to do, children will see that these things exist eventually. They might as well witness them in a controlled environment."

Best answer IMO.
 
kingsleytim said:
Really?

A list of Mature games you shouldnt buy for kids? Im so glad someone out there is wasting money doing research on the obvious. Stupid parents....
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Sadly many parents won't do the research. :(

Headcase said:
I know.
Pokemon too. Seriously, that Pikachu is possessed, and the game promotes animal cruelty, with their horrible little Poke-balls.

This is exactly why I'm a Conservative.
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College student here (to give the following a time frame):

My parents didn't allow me to have Pokemon. Or watch any superhero cartoons. Or play any video games not rated "E." Or watch any movies rated worse than "PG." Or listen to non-Christan music. Or use social networking sites. Shall I go on? And yeah, I was homeschooled...my friend circle consisted of two other families who were exactly the same way.

And I had an awesome life...well, until my parents finally saw the light, I guess, and turned me and my siblings loose into public school in Ninth Grade. I was hypersensitive to everything (e.g. I cried if someone said the F word) and developed many social and psychological defects, some of which I've only recently gotten over. So yeah...I'm going to declare my parents' Super-Christian Anti-Evil Bubble a failed experiment.

Kids have to face the world eventually; let them do so gradually and in a controlled manner. Parents should make the decision about when their kids are ready to play certain video games. All of the games on that list are rated "M," which should automatically mean parents need to make an informed decision before letting their kid play. But shielding kids from the world for as long as possible will only cause them to come crashing down when that protection becomes impossible to sustain (which it inevitably will).

Although my parents actually did this because they were ultra-conservative and very religious. Extremism to either side is not a good thing.
 
HOCP4ME said:
Sadly many parents won't do the research. :(



College student here (to give the following a time frame):

My parents didn't allow me to have Pokemon. Or watch any superhero cartoons. Or play any video games not rated "E." Or watch any movies rated worse than "PG." Or listen to non-Christan music. Or use social networking sites. Shall I go on? And yeah, I was homeschooled...my friend circle consisted of two other families who were exactly the same way.

And I had an awesome life...well, until my parents finally saw the light, I guess, and turned me and my siblings loose into public school in Ninth Grade. I was hypersensitive to everything (e.g. I cried if someone said the F word) and developed many social and psychological defects, some of which I've only recently gotten over. So yeah...I'm going to declare my parents' Super-Christian Anti-Evil Bubble a failed experiment.

Kids have to face the world eventually; let them do so gradually and in a controlled manner. Parents should make the decision about when their kids are ready to play certain video games. All of the games on that list are rated "M," which should automatically mean parents need to make an informed decision before letting their kid play. But shielding kids from the world for as long as possible will only cause them to come crashing down when that protection becomes impossible to sustain (which it inevitably will).

Although my parents actually did this because they were ultra-conservative and very religious. Extremism to either side is not a good thing.
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As someone who experienced very similar effects - not due to protective parents, but due to non-English-speaking parents (language barrier worked pretty much the same way as the "anti-evil bubble"), allow me to say that I fully understand and feel sorry for what you experienced.
 
Enduring_Warrior said:
Obviously you don't know much on the life of Temudjin do you?
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:rolleyes: Apparently a lot more than you do.

He didn't have fake sex and violence so he engaged in the real thing. Everyone should know about the violence, but he was also history's most prolific rapist. Estimates are about .5% of the world's population are descended from him.
 
Those are not games that are ment for children, but me being an adult, I LOVE them.
 
So the person that did this "research" played these games?

FFS, I wouldn't buy Dragon Age for a kid just because he's not going to have any idea what to do. He/she will suck majorly...

I played Turok when I was in kindergarten. I think as long as let your kids know it's not real, and the game isn't total violence/sexual. Let em play it! :p
 
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