What age for grand theft auto on PlayStation

I'm a woman that's played gta. It's great game but 16+ would be my cut off.

I also won't be allowing my dc fortnite until they're 12.

DH bought a Playstation 5 package for DS that came with GTA. I told him to test it first and we were both horrified at the language and sexual violence. I sold the game on Vinted immediately.

I do wonder if part of the appeal is that we do so vehemently say no. Teenagers/young people tend to gravitate towards things they’re not allowed to have/do even more and then there is the curiosity of only having hearsay to know what it’s really like.

Im also aware you can’t police what they do when they’re at friends houses.

I am by no means saying it’s ok - I was fuming when DS was gifted a copy. There is also a new one coming out (supposedly) this year! There is no way that one will be allowed on our PlayStation.

Never I wouldn't even like my 36 year old dh playing it! You can go around raping women. Completely different ball game to fortnight or whatever

This is asked all the time.

It is quite hard for parents to evaluate the content of video games, some of which can be only exposed after many hours of play.

In order to facilitate parenting decisions, the industry places a large sticker on the front of the game telling you what age range is suitable for the game to be played at. This age is determined by trained psychologists with extensive experience and is not arrived at by random members of the public giving their expert opinion such as "it never did them any harm".

Why you need random comments from the public to make your decision is something of a mystery.

The industry has evaluated it for you and you know your child better than anyone else on the internet as to how they will react to the experiences in the game and whether they are mature enough to handle them in the right way.

What you don't need is hundreds of people saying "we will never play it in my house" and "my children played it from the age of 2 and are fine and are now working as doctors for the UN".

So no other input is really necessary - you may want to modify the industry recommendations by some amount according to your knowledge if you feel your child is mature enough to handle 18 rated themed experiences.

Neither are my 19 and 17yo. They know that this game will never enter this house and fortunately have no desire to play it.

11? I wouldn't care what other parents are doing. Would you let your child play on the railway lines or drink/smoke in the park because other parents were?

I won't have it i n the house. It's vile.

As close to 18 as possible for GTA.

Things are rated 18 for good reason! Our 15 year old doesn’t have it. Stick to your guns and keep saying no.

When our kids were at primary we had an evening with a presentation given by the local police about keeping children safe online. One of the things I remember them showing us was how you could basically make p**nographic images on GTA, eg woman giving bj to character in a car. Not to mention the horrific violence!

God no, the most recent gta has a very vivid torture scene that turned my stomach at 21, never mind 11.

It's incredibly violent.

16 minimum, it's not nice (actually it's great fun but not for kids)

”but all my friends have it” is one of the oldest lines in the book to get what they want.

Have the parents actually confirmed this? Because I would bet money that an awful lot don’t have it and their talk is just bravado.

But that aside, “if all your friends jumped off a cliff, would you think that was ok? No? Bingo. You’re not having GTA.”

Too many parents are afraid to say no because of making their child miss out. Their children aren’t missing out, the parents of eleven year olds playing violent games like GTA are irresponsible. And then we wonder why violence in teenagers is on the increase.

My DS asked for it when he was 11 as well and was told no in no uncertain terms. He did have fortnight, and in retrospect I wished I’d banned that as well.

I think ‘everybody else does it ‘ really means 1 or 2 play it and everyone else says they do to look ‘cool’ .

I’m on the relaxed side about age ratings- mine were both allowed GTA from age 15. Some of their friends were playing it from age 7 😮

I think of 18 games as like other things with an 18 rule, like alcohol.

So 17

Sometimes I just used to blame the ratings to shore up my decisions. Stand your ground (if you can!). I know it’s hard. I still get the ‘but everyone…’ argument but I just know it’s not true! As sometimes I have sneakily done a straw poll on school WhatsApps and have loads of parents saying “of course not!”.

My ds13 hasn’t directly asked for it but has told me that lots of people he knows play it. It’s a hard no from us but I also can’t help but wonder if it’s true that lots of his friends are playing it or if they just say they do…… just can’t get my head around so many parents letting young kids play a game like that!
My youngest (age 10 yr5) also says he has a couple of friends who are allowed to play it 😮

Completely agree. It’s exactly the same in this house. I have drawn a hard line against it. My boys argued and we had a big discussion about it. I’m generally pretty relaxed but not on this one. It just doesn’t chime with my value system. They can play it when they leave home (hoping by then they will have better things to do!).

At least 16 absolutely no way would I let my nearly 13 year old play it. It's totally unsuitable for kids. I would also be monitoring closely his friendships if all his friends played that game at 12 (none do as far as I am aware).

You can sleep with a prostitute and then bear her up to get your money back. No one should play this game IMO. It gamifies use, abuse and objectification of women. I certainly won’t be allowing my DS to play it under my roof.

I remember having the same issue with ds when he went to secondary.
I told him that that particular game would never be allowed in my house and we had a long discussion about why that was my stance. Then some ongoing discussions over the years about respect, particularly respect for women. I told him when he was 18 or had his own house he could decide for himself. He moaned for a couple of weeks but the peer pressure eventually wore off and he has never played it.
Please, young brains are developing and it's really not healthy to be exposed to violence at this level at that age. And it's not the same as slaying goblins or dragons or Star Ward machines or anything else fantasy. There are plenty of other very exciting games.

We generally let ours play most games but GTA is a definite no. I wonder if the parents that allow it don't realise the type of content it contains.

Even the makers of it advised against letting minors play the game OP. It's one game I'm really strict with.

I watched my sister play a earlier version when I was about 18. Even as a teenager I thought it was offensive.

I lol'd at you comparing it to Fortnite. I let my 6 year old play Fortnite. He can turn 18 and I will never buy him a GTA game.