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AIBU?

Share your dilemmas and get honest opinions from other Mumsnetters.

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Original poster

WWYD re GTA5

40 replies

busyboysmum · 13/03/2016 13:01

Posting on here for traffic as need help with a situation that has arisen with 14 year old ds1.

Basically he has been nagging for weeks now to be allowed to play GTA5. All his friends are playing it at the moment and he is being left out of it as I have said no. It doesn't sound like a game I want him to be playing. We had a chat about it and he said his friends weren't doing any nasty stuff but I said it was still not a nice premise and i thought we'd agreed to disagree.

Anyway an Amazon parcel has just been delivered which I opened before looking at the label as I was waiting for a book I'd ordered and thought it was that.

In fact it was GTA5. I have stashed it in a cupboard for now as dh is hiking with ds2 and Scouts today and obviously I need to discuss it with him when he gets home.

Ds1 has been down to ask if I have seen a parcel as he is waiting for a delivery of a game he has ordered with his birthday money. I said I hoped it wasn't that game we had discussed and he said no it was another game. Modern Warfare.

Just wanted people's thoughts really as to how to deal with this. Thanks

OP posts:

ollieplimsoles · 13/03/2016 14:27

vivian

Jesus Christ... You actually nc'd with your own son because he wanted to play a video game...

All due respect but are you fucking insane?

SleepyBoBo · 13/03/2016 14:29

Vivian, if you're serious, you really are an awful person. I highly doubt you are though.

Not getting into the GTA argument, most people who are against it have actually zero idea about what the games are actually about. Not that stops people going on about how evil it is, I know.

However, it is an 18, and although I don't believe in being uber strict on age-ratings, I personally believe it is not a game for a 14 year old to be playing. You also need to address the fact he is lying to you as well.

Abed · 13/03/2016 14:31

Bullshit Vivian, why does GTA always bring out people who know nothing about it.

Owllady · 13/03/2016 15:19

A bed it doesn't matter what I know about it or not (which is more than you'd imagine :o) my son, my home, my rules. I think it's vile, that's my opinion, one you don't share but that's fine isn't it?

I doubt vivian is real

IvySquirrel · 13/03/2016 15:41

After much discussion we let 15 year old DS get GTA last year as he was being left out online due to all friends playing it. He is not supposed to play the more dodgy aspects and we have to trust him on this. The bits I have seen are ok and it's certainly not 'rubbish', I can quite see why it's so popular. I think it is entirely unrealistic to expect kids to wait til 18 to play these games. Since then we've also let his 13 year old brother buy Rainbow Six Siege, also an 18. If am both a feminist and a Christian!
It's the lying that's the issue, not the game. I'd be inclined to remove the console for a while as a punishment and set up some clear ground rules going forward. Banning 18 games for the next 4 years is not going to work though.

Witchend · 13/03/2016 15:54

I think the simplest response is that a parcel has arrived, but ashe said it wasn't gta they've obviously delivered the wrong one and so you'll return it tomorrow.

Original poster

busyboysmum · 13/03/2016 17:43

Little bit of an update. He's just come to me and confessed that the game he ordered is GTA5. He says I can have it when it arrives tomorrow. Apparently he ordered it because he was so cross that he was getting left out.

OP posts:

bloodyteenagers · 13/03/2016 18:00

He has confessed because he went on Amazon and looked at the tracking to see that, oh shit, mum has it.

Original poster

busyboysmum · 13/03/2016 18:17

Yes. We are now in the middle of an argument as to what is to be done next. Bloody teenagers indeed.

OP posts:

TalkinPeace · 13/03/2016 18:18

busyboys
he's spent the money.
I would suggest you set a rule that he can only "sandbox" with the sound off in a public room.

The graphics are absolutely stunning
the yoga on the mountain top is downright funny
as is the tennis
and the in jokes about the USA are worth looking out for (its a UK written game)

Missions - yup some of them are foul.
DS started one of the nasties and closed out of it
others are quite surreal

there is a great deal of hype about GTA
most of it written by those who have never sat reading a book next to their son playing it

bloodyteenagers · 13/03/2016 18:25

I would send it back.
He was told that no, he isn't allowed to play it. Reasons are unimportant because as the parent, you install rules.

It doesn't matter what can and cannot be done in the game to switch off content. It is an 18 and for a reason. And yes I have played this and it's predecessors.

helhathnofury · 13/03/2016 18:31

My 13 yr old been going on about gta5 for over a year. He is allowed 16's and 18's are on a case by case basis. Gta is a no and another one recently but fallout 4 and rainbow seige yes. I can only go by reading reviews and there's a website that gives parents views. He grudgingly accepts and we do have a conversation about the reasons he cant have them. Not easy though.

IloveJudgeJudy · 13/03/2016 18:42

Mother of 3 teenagers/ex-teenagers here. GTA is one video game we will not have in the house. I'm not so worried about other games - cod, just cause, halo... I'm also not one who says they have to be the age to play the game, but we will never have any GTA games in the house. I've been asked about when they're 18. I don't care. They can have it in their own houses.

As for what to do with your DS, he's confessed. It's not the worst thing in the world. I would just tell him that you won't allow that game in the house.

meditrina · 13/03/2016 18:43

commonsensemedia is the site that is usually recommended on MN for insight into games.

Here's a link to its GTA V page

Original poster

busyboysmum · 13/03/2016 19:02

Thanks for all the input. He has just come down and given me a very interesting powerpoint presentation about why he did what he did and why the game was so important for him to play. He has apologized and we have hugged.

OP posts:

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