Parents Ignore Game Ratings

Rant in reply.
I've probably offended many people with this one, but think about it.

I have an idea... THEY SHOULD JUST MAKE IT ILLIGAL FOR THE PARENTS TO BUY GAMES FOR THEIR KIDS!! BRILLIANT!!!

I think parents nowadays are just lazy.

Here's my theory on why (now, understand this is just my own personal theory, one that is difficult to put in words). Anyway, here we go:

There was a time prior to the ill-fated 1960s when family life was still a-ok, parents were responsible and took care of their children and their children then turned into responsible parents also. Then, in the 1960s, a new generation (the "baby boomers") appeared that were so spoiled by the affluency of the 1960s that they turned into self centered assholes, too lazy to do anything beyond simply feeding their own children and giving them a place to life. These selfcenterd asshole parents produced more selfcentered asshole children that turned into selfcentered asshole parents themselves.

I mean, parents nowadays let their kids play videogames no matter the violence or sexual content for one reason: to make them shut the hell up. They don't want to deal with them. They are such selfcenterd "I do what I want" asshole parents that see their children as a mere burden, one that can bring happiness from time to time but a burden that is hella annyoing most of the time. That's why some parents spank their children, because "it's the easy" thing to do. Because spanking a kid for a couple of minutes is easier than having a half hour long conversation about the real issue.

I don't think this is about video games at all. There is a much bigger issue at hand here: a serious lack of parenting skills. And parents that just don't f***ing care.

Anyone remember "The Bilestoad" on the Apple ][? "The Bloodaxe" Top down disemberment fighting game...circa 1984(-ish)...It had no rating that I know of, but there was NO MONEY in attacking the violence in video games.

Almost all video games in the good old days were violent to varying degree: Pac Man eats or is eaten by ghosts, Mario is burnt by fire or smashed by barrels, The good ship Asteroid is broken into pieces by a rock or UFO bullet; all hands lost, Dig Dug EXPLODED his opponents by over-inflating them, or crushed them with huge subterranean boulders, Renegade stabbed guys with knives, or pummelled them while on the ground, Missile Command would have entire cities destroyed (and was an actual semi-realistic scenario - SDI)....
But back then, NO ONE COULD JUMPSTART THEIR POLITICAL CAREER by attacking violent games....

It's all just another backmasking type scare...Media attention, study grants, steady employment...If the scare stops, so does the gravy train...

Anyway, I'm 37, and I've been playing games for 30 years (Advent and Dec-Man on Digital Systems mainframes with 8" floppies, for your info), and I've never killed anyone (that I will confess to), but when I did get violent urges, I could always sublimate it by misting a zombie with the double-barrel, or dragon punch some fool, or throw a harpoon through a guy, pull him to me, and uppercut him, or even hitting the POW right when my opponent is about to kick over a crab...
Violence has existed since life began, and it'll be here after no "humans" remain on this planet - Music, TV, Books, Games, Movies, etc have a negligible effect in comparison with instinct. We are a warlike race - that's why we're the dominant species (to our knowledge - wait till the dolphins get opposable thumbs) on the planet...

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True story. Mom is in game store with 12.5 yo son (mom stated age to clerk when asking about game). Son sees used GTA games. San Andreas for $34.00. Vice City is right next to it for $17. Kid begs for SA. Clerk warns about content and what have you off hand mentions that there is in-appropriate language and situations and explains the premise of the game. Kid sensing situation tells mom he's already played it. Mom calls dad. Unknown cnversation. Mom asks about Vice City. Clerk states that VC has less language issues but more unappropriate ::ahem:: adult situations. Mom say's flippantly "Oh, that's ok. The language isn't as bad though? We'll get that one". WTF!?

Personally, I dunno much about the games as far as what the clerk was saying. But... Sheesh!

As a parent I use them as a guide, but if the title is a T or M (my kids are 3, 7 and 11) I'll play them first to see what the content is like. I don't mind letting my 7 and 11 year olds play Halo or Halo2, but GTA stuff is obviously out as well as some of the more gory/sex laden M stuff. My 7 year old likes playing Half Life 2 (especially the grav gun) but I've disabled the blood/gore for him.

My guess is I'm not like most parents who wouldn't go through such lengths especially if games don't really interest them. It's like TV, a new kind of babysitter so they can do their own thing and ignore their kids. My wife does daycare and I see it all the time with those parents as well. They have no clue what the games are about or what kind of content they have--the kids know more than they do.

Ban parents. They are clearly bad for kids!

It's not the parent's fault. I think the problem is the ratings themselves are too high. For example Quake 3 is rated 15 in the UK, Serious Sam 15, Painkiller 16. These ratings are absurd since the games contain no real guns, no realistic violence and nothing at all offensive. The only violence in any of them is the gibs which is just comical violence.

When games with no offensive content are rated 15 and 16 then the impact of the ratings is lost and thus they get ignored. If a parent sees Painkiller is rated 16 then they might think the 18 rating on something like GTA: SA rated 18 is unwarranted and buy it for their child.

If they rated the games realistically the ratings would have more impact. The likes of Q3, Serious Sam and Painkiller should get a 10 rating, which keeps things realistic and means when a parent sees an 18 rated game they will know it’s unsuitable for children.

As it is the ratings are a joke and to say Q3 is unsuitable for a 14 year old is pretty much asking for the ratings to be ignored. Also having separate ELPSA and BBFC ratings causes further confusion and compounds the fiasco.

Parents Ignore Game Ratings

Not suprised really. From what I've seen at my both kids' schools and around our neighborhood, most ignore their kids anyway.

Meh I remember playing Mortal Kombat when I was like 7. I turned out ok. Haven't killed anyone yet, got into college, and stuff.

I would let my 10 year old play GTA. No problem.

The majority of ratings are not legally binding anyway (in europe), it is upto the parents discretion to buy they're chidlren what they like, what if they're teenage son or daughter has previously broken the law or has a drug habbit, and the only way to prevent ths is to keep them off the streets, and if the game they want to play is GTA, who cares, if it drops crime rates, its not that bad, a 18, for stuff that a lot of people do by 16 years old. Stop trying to make us a nanny nation and accept individuality. The ratings are good as a guide, but thats all they are.

after extensive research and investigation, we have concluded that water is good for you.
do you concur?

They had to conduct a study to figure this out? Seriously have these people been living in caves? Its exactly the same with music and movies. A fucking monkey could have figured that out. Shit man.

"Parents perceive age ratings as a guide but not as a definite prohibition,"


Duh? It is not the ESRB's duty to stop parents from buying titles that are rated above the childs age group. The ESRB is exactly what he quoted, a guide.

Quote from the ESRB:


"The ESRB rating system helps parents and other consumers choose the games that are right for their families. ESRB ratings have two parts: rating symbols that suggest what age group the game is best for, and content descriptors that indicate elements in a game that may have triggered a particular rating and/or may be of interest or concern."

Straight out of the redudancy department ;)

As digweed said, I'm not suprised, just look at the people who bring 7 year old kids to r-rated movies.

Yup, parents need to get a fucking clue and be involved in what their kids are doing instead of letting TV, games and soccer practice be their baby sitters.

This isn't much different from the large number of parents who let their children rent, buy, and see rated R movies

Well, no shit?