or is my sister wrong for letting my 12 yr old nephew play an 18 rated computer game?

[deaconblue]

I am horrified he was allowed to use birthday money to buy Call of Duty for his new playstation 3. All the info I've found on it says it's clearly for adults not children and is very violent. When I phoned and talked to her about it she said that all his friends play it and the violence isn't too bad because it's in war not on the street. Obviously there's nothing I can do about it except ask her to insure he doesn't play it when our dc's are visiting and I guess it's ultimately none of my business but AIBU to think this is madness?

I have to disagree that video games do not enhance anything. Video games are great at many things.

You can play puzzle games that can be quite challenging and fun. They help with spatial awareness development. Even a first person shooter like call of duty can help encourage teamwork, communication and leadership skills if you play online with friends.

From half the comments it sounds like hardly any of you have ever played or know what you are talking about when it comes to call of duty. For 99% of the game the most you see when you kill someone is their character model turning into a ragdoll and falling over with a few blood squirts.

When it comes to 18 rated games they are all different. imo call of duty is perfectly fine for younger teens. Obviously there are exceptions i know a few 18 rated games that are very very graphic.

But people need to know what they are talking about most of the time. A parent will know if the game is suitable for their childs level of maturity. People blaming riots on games like gta and the likes really need to think before they post. most ridiculous thing i have ever heard.

Well if games that involve killing peiople don't encourage kids to be more violent why don't we have games that invole sexual assult or even rape. I'm sure there are loads of teenage boys out there who would love that, and after all it wouldn't encourage them to actually do it would it?

And for anyone who says that isn't the same why not? Why is it ok to let you 12 year old pretend to murder someone, but not ok to sexually assult??

• thought it was time this AIBU stopped being so nice.

CoD is a war game. Sadly, war is a necessary evil. Rape and sexual assault never achieve anything positive.

There has been no correlation linked to violent video games and increased violence. Same with films.

Having a game about rape has no relation to having games about killing. It is a completely different issue. It is all about context.

having your computer controlled character doing things that have no meaning and are not accepted in society does not make for a good story or character. and wouldn't be fun to play or have a character you can relate to. However being a british or american army guy fighting to save the world in a warzone appeals to people.

what would you think to people who watch action films or films like saw. People on here seem to think these people are emotionally unstable and prone to killing people and that if you watch these things at a young age you turn into psychopaths. It really doesn't work that way.

young boys like to have action figures and beat the bad guys up. They like to run around with toy swords and guns. When they become teens they like to sneak and watch porn, watch horror/action films and play violent video games. They all grow up fine.

Whenever there is a news story on some killing and they link it to a video game. Chances are it has absolutely nothing to do with what they did. Theres many more factors in play the main one being they were disturbed in the first place.

Why would lots of 12 year olds love video games of sexual assult and rape? What a bloody odd thing to say!

yanbu.

My dsis lets my 7 and 5 year old dnephews play it.

I told her I thought it was unsuitable (would she let them watch an 18 cert horror film???) and didnt ever want my son exposed to it whilst he was there.

I cant stop her from letting her dc play it but I have a right to make my views known if it affects my dc.

My 9yo ds has COD and my 11yo watches some 15s. I do check everything beforehand though. I draw the line at him playing GTA, because of the sex in it. It started with him playing it at a friend's house and went from there.

Before video games, they would have still been playing games of killing each other, it is normal for boys of that age! ds spent last weekend, dressed up in army gear running around a field with two dozen boys, armed with giant laser guns trying to kill each other. He also fired airguns at man shaped targets. I don't see how playing COD is really much difference!

I objected to the terrorist aspects in one of the COD games, and he isn't allowed to play that. There is no circumstances where he should be role playing paying hookers, so he isn't allowed GTA neither.

I think if I stopped him from doing EVERYTHING, chances are he would do it behind my back anyway, so we have boundaries and he respects that atm!

I don't allow GTA either - many parents don't, so it completely destroys the argument that if you allow your child to play an 18 rated game, you have no control over them and are a feckless parent who allows their dc to run wild and do whatever they want.

Gta has no sex in it.

It shows the outside of a building and a few seconds of 'oh yeah,oh yeah'

You can pick up prostitutes too if you can find them and it involves a car bouncing up and down while you and the prostitute are fully clothed sitting in separate seats

The previous game did but only if you had the pc version and hacked it because it was cut out content.

gta is really a pretty tame 18 rated game. which is why i do not understand why people go ott about it personally.

My 10 yr old wants GTA. He admitted to me that some of the games he has are rubbish and he only got them because it makes him look cool to his friends. I saw my stepson play GTA and there seemed to be a lot of gratuitious swearing in it so I have not let DS have it. TBH though, I know he plays it elsewhere. I'm not bothered as I know he actually hates swearing so, clearly, it has not influenced him adversely in this respect.

I think the main influences on kids are not the fantasy games they play, it is the values they are given by their parents. If you teach them that killing is wrong, playing a game about killing is not going to change anything.

I think there is one version of GTA where a prostitute gets thrown out of a car. Have vague recollections of seeing it when my brother played it as a teen.

I do think GTA is horrible, but my brother owned all the versions and has grown into a lovely, kind 22 year old, who is holding down a responsible job and isn't out roaming the streets, rioting. so it clearly hasn't done him any harm.

In my personal situation I allow most games to be tried by ds12/13 because I know full well if I ban it he will find it elsewhere.

At the mo, we don't have any 18 games in the home , he has traded a couple (that he) got in trades for other things...

I have never paid for a violent game, never will ...if he happens to get them through other ways ,fair play.

My son actually scripts for games himself ,so the graphics are the main interest for him these days.

However ,I am no fool and I am sure he enjoys blowing a few characters up in the process

There's nothing wrong with a child playing COD. It's not like he going to your bedrooms and picking up an AK-74 you have hidden under your bed and murdering people

Why does missusct need a reality check? She has some pretty valid points and seems to know a lot more about the games than half the people in here.

I also see nothing wrong with younger teens playing a game a few years below the recommended rating. As long as you check the content and get it out of your head that a normal teenage boy or girl playing these games are going to start imitating them. People seem to not give teens enough credit. They aren't stupid.

I totally judge the number of people who think that games are inappropriate because of tabloid hype as much as the ones who haven't got a clue what their children are playing.

For example tabloids seem to focus on the sex on Gta which if I recall, is minimal. There are quite a few games that involve nicking a vehicle and doing missions but are much lower rated as they aren't about gangsters and things like drive by shootings. I can't understand why tabloids don't use the glamorising of criminals as an argument but maybe car crime is so frequent that it's not so shocking?

If you know (or have played) the game and are letting your child play a game that is rated higher than their chronological age then I can understNd that and have done it with my children.

Personally I do nOt allow my children to play war games like CoD because of the language used. There is too much swearing and graphic language for my liking. My oldest is 10 and his friends and him copy the sort of banter you hear on war games like CoD. I think that life is precious and don't like the In-game banter where other characters are just meat. I allow him to play with Nerf guns but will ask him and his friends to tone down the language if it gets too much.

I think that it is naive to think that computer games play no influence on children and adults but obviously it's effects will depend on loads of factors like how much children play so it's not so simple but I am confident with my choice ad I know my children well.

My twelve year old has played it as his nineteen year old brother has it and plays it infront of him anyway. He is fairly grounded and a sensible caring boy so i don't mind it being played occasionally..
He is aware of TV / Games and real life i.e the rioting and damaged caused ( the three lads that were killed were only a few roads away from us) so there has been alot of exposure to those deaths in this area. Touch wood he stays grounded

Ds has a friend who is 5 and was 4 I think at the time and allowed to play black ops - I think that's an 18 yes? I have no idea about video games - nor does ds cos he doesn't like staying still in excess of 2 minutes but I was shocked.

Ds has a friend who is 5 and was 4 I think at the time and allowed to play black ops - I think that's an 18 yes? I have no idea about video games - nor does ds cos he doesn't like staying still in excess of 2 minutes but I was shocked.

personally I find it shocking how many kids are allowed to do age innapropriate stuff, and yes maybe they do see stuff on the news and this is real so being shocked that this really happens, to me is far preferable to becoming so desensitised by violence and blood and guts games / films that they can't actually recognise that people really die in wars etc! when I read about the awful things people do to each other I can't help but think it has a lot to do with the influences in their early lives that include the games played and films watched. As others have said there is a reason there is an age limit, my kids knew better than to ask for items that were over there age.