Was I out of line? (GTA4 related Story)

T

TheToE!

[H] Brewmaster
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May 17, 2005
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Funny story! I went with a couple friends about an hour ago to Target to pick up copies. There was a lady there with her 10 year old son. The kid was at checkout with his mom when I strike up a conversation with them both. I say : "So what are you guys buying?". The kid replies, "GTA4!!!!!!! It's gonna be awesome!". I see the copy in hand. I raise an eyebrow to the mother and reply that the ESRB rating is 17+ and showed her how to read ESRB ratings and what they were. She instantly put back the game!!! The kid was then pulled away screaming!

I would have never done this with just about ANY other game, but the fact is the kid had no business playing GTA4 at 10 years old. If the mom still wanted to buy the kid the game, thats her call, but she had no idea what ESRB ratings were.

In a way I feel bad because I know how much fun it is looking foward to a game coming out and then picking it up. But on the other hand I think it's the parents responsibility to know what their kid is playing. What do yall think? Was I out of line?
 
Owned. I agree 100% with what you did. Good job. 10 year old has no business playing this type of game. Parents need to be better informed on game ratings obviously.
 
Id rather you be an asshole and deprive that kid the game than have to hear more idiots bitch about how videogames cause kids to be violent.

Bravo to you.
 
nah, you weren't out of line. you just provided her with information so that she can make her own informed decision.
 
since she had that reaction....she would have called rockstar complaining about how bad the game is as soon as she watched him play it for 5 min...and then would have been more angry when target didnt return it
 
I'm guessing the poor mom had no idea what the heck she was buying if a ten-year-old kid wanted it, so TheTOE! actually did a good deed.



(Okay, maybe not good for the kid.)
 
You should have done it with a bit more flare tho.

Maybe nudged her and said "GTA4 huh?, man thats so awesome, I wish when I was his age we had games where we would get hookers to suck our dicks and all kinds of awesome degenerate shit like that ...... fuuuuuck, youre the coolest mom ever ..... say ....... you married?"

*waggle eyebrows at mum*
 
I guess i'll play devils advocate and say yes, you were out of line. I think there's a good chance she knows what the M 17 on the front of the box means. It's pretty self explanatory. Her reaction may have just been embarrassment at being called out by somebody. Bottom line: a child is their parents business and nobody else's. I think you should have minded your own business.
 
normally i'd say that you should let other people parent kids how they like, and you should butt out. and i guess it depends on your age (how old are you) but i feel like in this case, where you weren't saying afaik: you shouldn't let your kid play that, yada yada, that you're fine.

the kid may hate you, but he'll get over it and just play it at a friend's house. i'm not one to believe that as soon as you hit a certain age you all of a sudden understand and can process mature content in a mature manner, but i do believe that many parents are too lazy to parent their kids, and research the shit they buy them.
 
pigpen said:
I guess i'll play devils advocate and say yes, you were out of line. I think there's a good chance she knows what the M 17 on the front of the box means. It's pretty self explanatory. Her reaction may have just been embarrassment at being called out by somebody. Bottom line: a child is their parents business and nobody else's. I think you should have minded your own business.
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The lady actually had no idea that there was a rating. I agree a child is a parents business. They need to start taking it seriously though, they should know what their kids play.
 
damonposey said:
pics of the mother plz or it didn't happen
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03_LA%20target.jpg
 
I'm wondering how old you are, thetoe. If you are 17, I would bust a gut laughing at this whole thing.
 
ummm that parent was a dumbfuck.. i feel bad for the child, who will most likely end up just as stupid. Grand Theft Auto.. hmmm, I wonder is that a felony criminal action? Yes! The parent should have been smart enough to figure it out by the name of the game alone, with or without the ESRB rating.
 
Great job! you should start a movement to have people police the stores and notify parents of a games rating. I'm sick and tired of hearing prepubescent children on xbl playing +17 older games(using racial slurs, singing, etc). I wish they had an adults only part of xbl.
 
We all know that the real reason you said that was to entice her to not buy the game because it was the last copy on the shelf. :p

Kinda reminds me of when one year in Best Buy on black friday, during the crazy hordes of people rushing everywhere I grabbed the last copy of Shrek on DVD (first one, this was a while ago), and as I was holding it in my right hand, I tapped my buddy's shoulder with my left to show him I had the last copy and out of nowhere some 80 year old granny grabbed it from my hand while giving me a horribly dirty look and hobbled off faster than I thought possible for someone with arthritis. It was pretty funny, but still... lame. lol

Either way, a ten year old should definitely not be playing that game.
My 13 year old bro is mad enough at me because I've never let him play GTA III or Vice City.
 
b4dk4rm4 said:
You should have done it with a bit more flare tho.

Maybe nudged her and said "GTA4 huh?, man thats so awesome, I wish when I was his age we had games where we would get hookers to suck our dicks and all kinds of awesome degenerate shit like that ...... fuuuuuck, youre the coolest mom ever ..... say ....... you married?"

*waggle eyebrows at mum*
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LMAO :D
 
You were definitely not out of line. If you saw a mother smacking up her kid at a supermarket and just turned the other cheek, it would be the exact same thing.
 
TheToE! said:
Funny story! I went with a couple friends about an hour ago to Target to pick up copies. There was a lady there with her 10 year old son. The kid was at checkout with his mom when I strike up a conversation with them both. I say : "So what are you guys buying?". The kid replies, "GTA4!!!!!!! It's gonna be awesome!". I see the copy in hand. I raise an eyebrow to the mother and reply that the ESRB rating is 17+ and showed her how to read ESRB ratings and what they were. She instantly put back the game!!! The kid was then pulled away screaming!

I would have never done this with just about ANY other game, but the fact is the kid had no business playing GTA4 at 10 years old. If the mom still wanted to buy the kid the game, thats her call, but she had no idea what ESRB ratings were.

In a way I feel bad because I know how much fun it is looking foward to a game coming out and then picking it up. But on the other hand I think it's the parents responsibility to know what their kid is playing. What do yall think? Was I out of line?
Click to expand...

Awesome. You are my kind of mean. I like you.
 
What is in GTA4 that a kid can't see on HBO or Cinemax after 10pm? It's not THAT bad...

Also, if that mom didn't know what GTA was, she is either retarded, or doesn't watch tv/read the news.
 
Nice move. :)

Too bad the little snot probably already played the previous GTA games so it'd be nothing new to him.

P.S. MILF?
 
grendel240sx said:
What is in GTA4 that a kid can't see on HBO or Cinemax after 10pm? It's not THAT bad....
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That is true, but you have to question the parenting skills of anyone letting a 10 year old watch HBO and Skinemax after 10pm (especially Skinemax).

I realize times have changed, but GTA for a 10 year old? Seems nuts to me. My kid (when I eventually have one) sure as hell won't be playing a game like this at that age.
 
My kid, at that age, will be sitting next to daddy.

"no no, look, you gotta keep your pimp hand strong, you want kick her in the vag 1st, THEN back hand her. That way, shes already bent over slightly, and your hand doesnt have to travel as far."
 
b4dk4rm4 said:
My kid, at that age, will be sitting next to daddy.

"no no, look, you gotta keep your pimp hand strong, you want kick her in the vag 1st, THEN back hand her. That way, shes already bent over slightly, and your hand doesnt have to travel as far."
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That is so wrong... but hilarious. :D
 
The_Law said:
That is so wrong... but hilarious. :D
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This is all under the assumption of course, that my wife hasnt already divorced me and taken our kid when I demand that at the age of 6 he "be cast out into the wilderness" and not come back until he brings me the skin of a wolf.

0_o
 
That kid is so gona murder his parents and go back to the store and steal the game...wait he'd have to play the game first to learn how to do that...
 
Boo.. not a MILF.

Phimp said:
Either way, a ten year old should definitely not be playing that game.
My 13 year old bro is mad enough at me because I've never let him play GTA III or Vice City.
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He should be grateful, they're pieces of crap. Do you let him play other games that are rated M?

If you ask me alien blaster FPS games like Halo shouldn't be in the same category as GTA. A kid isn't going to mistaken that for anything real in this world. Then he sees something like GTA where that behavior is plausible in reality. In conclusion, ESRB is whack yiggity yo.
 
b4dk4rm4 said:
You should have done it with a bit more flare tho.

Maybe nudged her and said "GTA4 huh?, man thats so awesome, I wish when I was his age we had games where we would get hookers to suck our dicks and all kinds of awesome degenerate shit like that ...... fuuuuuck, youre the coolest mom ever ..... say ....... you married?"

*waggle eyebrows at mum*
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ROFL!

good job tho OP. if more people did that sort of thing, we probably wouldn't have to hear about how violent video games are marketed to minors.
 
I know what the ratings exist for and more parents should know of them and make educated descisions on what they feel their own kid should be able to play and handle.

However at the same time, I ask myself, at 10'ish yrs old what was I playing?

Doom
Daggerfall
Resident Evil
Gta I

yeah, I think a lot of us were playing violent games at around his age as well.
 
Normally yeah it's a bit uncalled for, but having played GTA all day. Damn they need to keep this away from kids. I'm 26 and I've winced at some of the stuff.
 
I bet the kid already has San Andreas if his mother was that clueless, so he'll just go back to playing that. Good job, in my opinion!
 
Stiler said:
I know what the ratings exist for and more parents should know of them and make educated descisions on what they feel their own kid should be able to play and handle.

However at the same time, I ask myself, at 10'ish yrs old what was I playing?

Doom
Daggerfall
Resident Evil
Gta I

yeah, I think a lot of us were playing violent games at around his age as well.
Click to expand...

Just adds to the argument that ESRB is not at all a substitute to good parenting. I was playing Doom, Wolfenstien, Duke Nukem, Shadow Warrior and such when I was a kid. I came out perfectly alright. I don't plot school bombings, day dream about shooting people, cut myself, or anything. :)
 
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