My son is a recently turned 9 year old. He comes home daily bemoaning his fate because 'everyone in his class' is allowed to play on xbox/playstation games like Call of Duty, Halo and Skyrim and he's not.
Now I'm fairly certain that not 'everyone in his class' is actually playing these games. A good number won't be. A good number may claim that they are but aren't. But I do know that quite a few are allowed to play on them.
I've googled the games he's mentioned (as I don't have a clue about these things) and they are age 18 and tend to be described as hard core violence. Like this review (this is just one random one I've pulled but they mostly seem to say the same thing): This game earns its Mature rating with violence, gore, profanity and intense scenes. Also present, though not intense, are sex, drugs, drinking and smoking. There is a setting to reduce the violence, but unless it abridges the story I don?t think it will help with anything but the gore.
My son is genuinely distraught that he can't contribute to conversations at break time about these games as he's not allowed to play them. He thinks I am being grossly unfair. Am I being unreasonable for not letting him play them? Are the reviews over egging the violence on the games? Is there some setting that enables them to play but without the sex, violence, swearing?
I have said no repeatedly and tried to explain my rationale but this is a daily battle. I don't see me changing my mind soon but want to know whether I really am being unreasonable here.