niot allowing ds 7 to have a 12 cert ds game

[iambach]

My ds age 7 asked for tomb raider underworld ds game from Santa. My dad got him it but i've just been handed it and it is a 12 cert. Cant help but feel i dont want him to have it.

Anyone know if it is realyy violent. I dont really let him play anything that involves shooting people down or anything war like.

Anyone know what its like or think aibu to say sorry it has to go back?

My mum not pleased i dont want him to have it as it was 'on his list'

I don't know the game, but DC don't get everything on their list do they?

It's up to you what your DS gets to play on, not your parents.

Don't feel you have to let him have it just because they'll lay a guilt trip on you if you don't.

The list is a suggestion-as far as I am concerned Santa has his own ideas and goes by certificates. If they don't like it-tough!

Tomb raider does have lots of shooting. People and animals :(
mine do have tomb raider for old ps2 but its too hard and a bit boring so they have never really bothered with it. Do you know why he wanted that one ? had he tried a friends?
We find the lego games good, shooting yes, but its all lego!!
Scribblenauts is really good as helps with spellings, but it is a 12 as you have to write hat you want to appear on screen to help solve puzzle and you can have guns etc.

YANBU.

I have discussions with my children if things are unsuitable. I dont know whats in the game, if he was 10 Id say, fair enough, but he is 7 and its a 12 and that is enough.

And I have realised from on here that I am actually pretty lax about my Dcs!!

If you let him have a 12 now he will want an 18 when he is 12.
That seems to be the view from my 12 yr old anyway and that 'everyone' has these games except him. That being said he totally accepts my view on it.
Treat the age limit as a guideline by all means but they do put age limits for a reason.
If you feel you don't want him to have it follow your instinct. YANBU

I'd second the comment about Lego games - indeed my ds is unable to comprehend how it can be that Dobby died in the Lego Harry Potter game (he hasn't seen the film) when all that happened was his legs fell off. Everyone knows if you explode in a Lego game you just put your pieces back together, et voila.

As it's not for a console that you could play on together so you could see first hand if you were happy with the content, I think you're right to send it back, esp if your ds doesn't know it's coming. A bit annoying for your parents, admittedly - if I was aware of a list I'd assume (without thinking) it was an approved list rather than a child's wishlist, if you know what I mean!

you are doing the rightthin not to let him have it.

YANBU to be worried about giving him the game. In your situation, I probably wouldn't let him have it.

YAB a bit U to let him put a game on his list without checking suitability first - I can understand why your parents are a bit , since they bothered to ask what he wanted, and then face having their gift rejected because it isn't right.

On balance though, I don't think 7 year olds should play 12 games, so you'll just have to explain again with lots of apologies to your parents.

It's a 12 certificate for a reason, probably due to difficulty as much as violence.

I wouldnt be as worried about a 7yo playing a 12cert game, than I would them playing an 18 game.

Play it with him and see how he gets on with it, or play it yourself first, I would have thought most 7yo are capable of knowing that a game is just that, and not go out trying to get hold of a gun and shoot real people afterwards..

uk.ign.com/videos/2008/11/19/tomb-raider-underworld-x360-tomb-raider-underworld-video-review?objectid=14224305

I dont think the game is very violent. It is more a strategy game. Most of the shooting is monster type things and is very game like (not at all like COD).

^^is a link to a video review so you can have a look at what the game is like.

Tomb raider is not a violent game.

YANBU
I dont let any of mine have any games older than their ages, much to the disgust of my 15 yr old, who says I am the only saddo parent in the world that wouldnt let him have the new COD. My answer is that he will thank me when all his contemporaries are psychotic and depressive and he is normal!!!

I am much more relaxed about films btw, I recently watched Pulp Fiction with said 15 yr old ( had a great time explaining what a gimp was! ) because I think you get much more immersed in a game, and play it for a longer time than you ever watch a film for and somehow I am much more uncomfortable with the idea of them shooting and maiming and swearing at one another for hours on end than I am at explaining a bit of wierd sex and drug references

Riiiiiiight...

So you will happily watch a film with him, that shows drug taking, and violence, but you wont let him play a computer game with graphics??

I know plenty of people who play COD and none of them are psychotic or depressive.

Do you go with him when he goes round to friends houses too, to make sure he doesnt play it?

i'll add to that actually. Tomb raider is a survival puzzle game.

Essentially for the majority of the game you are avoiding raps and obstacles andfindingkeys and doing puzzles to progress. Enemies tend to be wild animals and in the newer ones it contains badguys aswel.

It is no more violent than a lego game. When you fight the bad guys you shoot them and they fall over. Theres no heads exploding or crazy slow motion gore shots or anything of the like.

The age rating on that game will be more to do with difficulty than on its innapropriate content. in the same way as a lego set has an age rating on how difficult it is to make.

im really strict on certificated things MY dds are older than your son i wont let my 13 yr old watch a 15 film , I would suggest you return the game and get a refund and ask your dad to get him something else ,

Squeaky, could the difference be between watching the actors play it out from the outside watching a film, but in a computer game you're directly involved in the action?

You could worry about some kind of 'tetris effect' with your DC carrying on a similar thinking pattern when they're not playing the game, and more likely to see the boundaries that exist in RL as OK to be broken?

Or is that over thinking it?

I would say it is over thinking it.

I have played Mortal Kombat many times, ripped peoples heads off, etc, and a bit of cartoon gore does not bother me at all. The sight of blood in a film has me hiding behind a cushion... (Despite loving all the Final Destination movies!)..

I just think there is a world of difference between animation and actual actors and gore.

Can I just say that I bought a sonic the hedgehog game for my ds when he was 7..it was rated 12, have no idea why. I'm relaxed about ratings, my ds knows the difference between reality and fiction, he is a polite and pleasant boy (other than when dealing with his sibs obviously) now aged 11 and plays 16 games. I won't let him play 18 rated games like Grand theft auto, much to his 13yo friends mirth. IMO watching the news these days is far worse than the games, kids know the games are not real, the news can be really gory..and very REAL!

I can't imagine any tomb raider game being overly violent. Well you do tend to shoot things, but fgs it is very not of this world. It is really not very realistic, Tomb Raider was the first game we ever got for the playstation in about 1997, was bloody brilliant.