Call of duty

[31Daisy]

My 13 year old is desperate to play call of duty black ops. We've said no. He claims 'everyone' plays it? Is it 18 for a good reason? What age would you let your teen play it?

[Pepperpot99]

It is full of violence and especially violence against women. You wouldn't want your 13 year old to watch hard core porn which is 18 rated would you? why let him watch video violence?

[FourStarDragonBall]

I would my brother whose 8 plays it and watches his step dad play it all the time. And also yes, all 13 year olds play COD so I really wouldn't worry

[worriedmumred]

My nearly 12 yr old isn't allowed it...he can play 16s...18 is adult...film/whatever, I'm okay blurring child ages, he hasn't watch any 15 films but does have one 16 game. If everyone has it he can play it at their house!

[chantico]

Single player or online mode?

I let mine play in online mode from 16, with known similarly-aged people only, and only the driving and some shooting missions permitted.

I'm holding off full access to missions for as long as possible. And we sometimes watch him play and talk about the game.

[31Daisy]

He wants to play online with friends. Can you stop them playing with strangers?

[saoirse31]

Online, poss depends on console. Wouldn't have issue with 13 yr old playing cod tbh.

[Myoption]

I wouldn't have a problem with a 13 year old playing CoD... Yes it's obviously more mature then say Fifa or Star Wars, but the whole "Blood, guts and gore" is widely over hyped and not actually the main point in the game.

It's more like gaming/cartoon war, just shoot someone quickly in like 2 seconds and then run off, capture a flag, toss a smoke grenade over a wall, etc. It's not like torturing prisoners or massacring civilians. I think you can actually turn the blood off in the settings, and on some of the more "hardcore" missions it gives the player a choice to skip the mission (With no penalty to the player).

As for online play, if your child has no mic then they cannot talk to people, simple as, even if they do have a mic, you can change the settings so other players voices come out of the TV speakers, so you can hear what's being said by them, and your child in the room (Who you can obviously hear if you listen from in the room or out side of the door)... But yes like everything public, there is sometimes some mature language used, but you can block other players so you cannot hear them and so they cannot message you.

In my experience 90% of 18+ games are fine from around 13/14+, the same with 16+ games from say 11/12+ and pretty much no bother with 3/7/12+ games. But obviously at the end of the day it's your choice and you know your child the best.

[Strangeoccurence]

You can play call of duty with bots, rather than real people. It is the same set up as multiplayer online, just with bots instead.

Its really not as entertaining though as one of the best things about the online multiplayer is knowing your actually knocking someone off a kill streak, or actually winning a game against real opponents.

I personally dont feel the multiplayer is anymore violent than the likes of ben 10.
There isnt such a gore factor in multiplayer.

If you look at that game, vs paintballing.
I would find paintballing and similar real life games more dangerous, than call of duty. Since they actually place a real life 'feel' to it.

As for the story mode, that is where the gore and things are.

[LostPlatypus]

If it's just multiplayer, then my only concern would be about the language from other people that he might hear. If it's on PC, then I wouldn't worry because most people don't speak that often IME, but if it's on xbox then it's likely to be a lot noisier.

A lot of 13 year olds (and younger) do play games like COD and Counter Strike: Global Offensive.

If you did let him play, you could get him to block the speech from other people, although I suspect that wouldn't go down too well with his friends. I don't know if you can block just strangers on an xbox as I don't own one.

[JustDanceAddict]

They do I'm afraid! I have this battle with my DS of same age. He played it at a friends and you can disable the violence and language. I still wouldn't let him buy it, but I have to take a step back from what he does at friends' houses and let their mums call the shots. He has Battlefront (Star Wars) which is a 16, but I see nothing in it that's 'bad' apart from the shooting bits, which happens in the film anyway (DH bought it for him - then I checked it was ok). I would actually look at the game in action with the violence/language disabled and make your decision based on that. I'll prob let him have it in the next couple of years, but he has enough games for now and they're not cheap!!

[JustDanceAddict]

Ps: sorry, DS is nearly 12, not 13.

[Strangeoccurence]

I love battlefront. Simply because it is very much like call of duty. No difference on the multiplayer other than the characters

[Scatter]

My son is 14 and plays COD. We held off for a long time (he was asking for it and playing it at friends' houses from around age 12). He's been playing it for around 5 months and as far as I can tell, it has made no difference to any of his attitudes. He hasn't come out with any bad language, or anything else that causes us to worry. He very much knows the distinction between 'real' and 'video game' and we talk about online safety to him all the time. He mainly plays COD and Destiny online with school friends but does also hook up with strangers (sometimes the same strangers repeatedly) to carry out missions which require a group of people. He knows all the rules about not giving out any address/school details/his age and about never agreeing to meet up with anyone he 'meets' online.

My advice is - hold out as long as possible, since the content is rated 18 for a reason, but do be aware that, if everyone else really is playing it, then not being able to join in could have the effect of isolating him from a particular group at school. Like most things, playing COD will probably be a phase until he and his friends find something else that piques their interest more.

And if it's of any interest - my son has definitely widened his friendship circle at school since playing COD, which seems to be a good thing. He now has plenty of more 'geeky' friends as well as the 'sporty, popular, cool' type. Which I think is great.

[31Daisy]

It's the peer pressure that's the issue. He is desperate to fit in with the gang. Reckons he's being bullied and called a baby. I know it is social as he already plays 16 games online with friends and 'regular' strangers! I have let him play at friends houses before but actually buying it is a different level.

[BonitaFangita]

My 15 yr old plays CoD online with his friends, like you say it's mainly a social thing. They play other games too, just depends on how they're feeling at the time. They also play Minecraft, FIFA and GTA.
I was a bit when he wanted GTA, but it turns out they spend most of their time dressing up their characters, giving them daft hairstyles (at the moment he has a leopard print suit and a fucia pink Mohican!)and pimping up the vehicles to race against each other.
To be honest I only every really get trouble with him when he's playing FIFA, that really makes him rage. I'll make him go off the game and do something different instead.
I think it depends on the kids who are playing. All of DS's online friends are his RL friends and it's just another way of getting together when they can't go out. They play CoD like it's paintballing, GTA like a racing game, and Minecraft like manhunt.
Like PPs have said it's your choice to when to let him have the game and what boundaries to set.

[BabyGanoush]

My 13yr old doesn't, neither do most of his mates

[BabyGanoush]

Fwiw, they are not the "cool crowd" but neither do they aspire to be

[Feellikedancingyeah]

No. It's rated 18

[jellybeans]

I haven't played Black Ops so can't comment on that but I wouldnt worry about basic COD multiplayer or mobile type games.. GTA 5 I didn't like because of the sexual content. Even in Lego games you can run people over or smash them to pieces. I've always been a gamer and it never did me any harm. If anything it keeps kids off the streets.

[Iyiyi]

I was much stricter with DS1 than DS2 about video games and I honestly think I was worrying about the wrong things, given other behavioural etc issues we’ve since had with him! I would let a 13 year old play it.

[Feellikedancingyeah]

I'm a bit shocked at kids playing 18 games so young

[CatsArePeopleToo]

I'm a bit shocked at kids playing 18 games so young

Most of cool games are rated 18. There isn't much for teenagers to play one they've grown out Super Mario and Minecraft.
CoD is a war game, isn't too inappropriate as for example GTA.