Irresponsible Parents?

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Charles
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Irresponsible Parents?

Post by Charles » Wed Oct 29, 2008 7:20 pm

No 2 son had a sleepover with one of his chums the other day. The other child is into his games big time and Oliver gets sucked into the whole thing - such that he stays up late and is grumpy the next day.

Anyway, it transpires that they were playing some shoot em up game - Call to Action or something like that - which is an 18 certificate.

Nothing wrong with that except that both boys are 9 years old.

Now, before I start wading in and having a shout at son's friend's parents, are these ratings a reasonable reflection of content and if so, should I be concerned that No2 son has been exposed to this content?

As a point of reference, I wouldn't be overly concerned if it was a 12 rating.
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Re: Irresponsible Parents?

Post by thomas v8 » Wed Oct 29, 2008 9:20 pm

Charles wrote:No 2 son had a sleepover with one of his chums the other day. The other child is into his games big time and Oliver gets sucked into the whole thing - such that he stays up late and is grumpy the next day.

Anyway, it transpires that they were playing some shoot em up game - Call to Action or something like that - which is an 18 certificate.

Nothing wrong with that except that both boys are 9 years old.

Now, before I start wading in and having a shout at son's friend's parents, are these ratings a reasonable reflection of content and if so, should I be concerned that No2 son has been exposed to this content?

As a point of reference, I wouldn't be overly concerned if it was a 12 rating.
In my experiences with some of the games |I've played .The
games certificate rating has been a little over the top. I cant comment on the game you are refering to Charles, I think its A call of Duty you are talking about. My outlook on it is, there doesn't seem to be a age limit with games like car games that a child can be in control of a very fast car and crash and all sorts and smash the car to pieces. Where as shot them up games now days have a age rating on them. The graphic scenes of some of the games today are a bit far fetched. Years ago we had games like astoroids and you were in control of a spaceship and could shot other obects and spaceships out of the sky. Its all to do with the style of game in my opinion. A army game for instance is great fun for mosdt ages over 9-10 as theres loads of planning and things to take into account other than just shooting the hell out of someone or something.
I can sympathize with you Charles, but if your boy isn't into games to much it shouldn't be to much to worry about.
Me and my son tend to stick to the sport games. I did buy Halo when it first came out on the original Xbox,now that was a fab game and that was all zombies and things running around and loads of shooting and vehicles to drive so was a very fun game. There wasn't loads of blood and heads flying everywhere like some of the games that are around now days.
At the end its the parents dicision to buy the child the game or not. As i said we keep to the sport games and they are fun.
You will have to start playing on the console with them Charles to keep an eye on them. oh yeah and take a beating from them on certain games now and then :lol: :wink:
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Post by blacky » Thu Oct 30, 2008 12:55 am

call of duty if it is that game isn't as bad as it sounds but some of the language used when playing on line is shocking i normally mute the loud people with to much to say
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Post by neil » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:29 pm

We had the opposite last week a friend of my youngest (Harry 5) came around and wanted to play GTA4 on my xbox360 - we said no and he couldn't understand as his mum let him play it !

Needless to say he didn't get to play it - and had to make do with Lego Batman :)

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Post by Chas » Mon Nov 17, 2008 4:54 pm

My wife has grave concerns about anyone playing some of the games currently on the market. She's a clinical psychologist and is therefore probably a little biased - she has to deal with the mental health problems of teenagers on a daily basis and is exposed to some of the more serious cases. 99% of the kids she sees are spending too much time viewing life on a computer screen, especially the killing games. Go figure.

It's much the same argument we had 20 years ago with violence in films. Thankfully we got bored with the Rambo genre. This time round it's much more interactive and is arguably more sinister as a result.

To answer your question Charles, I wouldn't tackle the parents.... I'd leave that to Mrs Chas :lol: On a serious note, I wouldn't be happy if my son was doing this at 9 or even 13.

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Post by Charles » Mon Nov 17, 2008 6:00 pm

After I found out I sat down with said son and discussed with him the games he had been playing.

He's a sensible chap and when I asked him how he felt after playing the games he told me that he was scared for a while.

On that basis, I then discussed with him the certicate ratings of games in general and related it to some films we have at home which are 12 or 12A - which he is not allowed to watch unless Mum or Dad is present. Quickly he understood about the ratings and why he can play/watch some of them but others he should wait until he is older. He also understood why the Parental Controls are switched on for >=12 ratings on the Sky Box.

This was reinforced by No1 son who announced a few days later that watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (12A) in the evening made him scared when he went to bed - and he's almost 12.

As for dealing woth the other parents, I left that to Mrs L because, as she put it, "I don't want you having an argument with them" :!: :!:

We have since been assured that this won't happen again AND No2 son is still invited for sleepovers :!: :!: :!:
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Post by Chas » Mon Nov 17, 2008 7:45 pm

Charles wrote:No1 son...announced...that watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (12A) in the evening made him scared
I was quite relaxed about that one but I didn't get the full impact - it's difficult to see what's going on when you're quaking behind the sofa :shock:

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Post by Charles » Tue Nov 18, 2008 12:17 am

Chas wrote:
Charles wrote:No1 son...announced...that watching Harry Potter and the Order of the Phoenix (12A) in the evening made him scared
I was quite relaxed about that one but I didn't get the full impact - it's difficult to see what's going on when you're quaking behind the sofa :shock:
Not the same as Doctor Who though :!:

The interesting thing about No1 son was that he has seen that film numerous times during the day but this was the first time he watched it late and just before bed. Something to do with lying in bed in the dark straight after watching the film, I guess.
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