To not allow GTA

[panicovernow]

My DS is 11, 12 in 3 months. He is most put out as neither my DH or I will allow him to have GTA for his Xbox. Many of his friends his age and younger have it and we're good friends with some of their parents who are similar to us in many ways but with this we differ. DS is a lovely sensible lad and I don't think it would change him in any way I just don't think it's appropriate. He however thinks we're being most unreasonable and he feels isolated from a group of friends who play it. I will add that we are not strict on everything being within age ratings (other games or films) but just check it out online first. So what I'm asking for is your opinions.
Thanks

Jacques, yes, I get that, but plenty of people are happy to let their children play it and there is some fun being made of those of us who have issues with the game as such.

i dont think its particularly misogynistic- you kill a lot more men then women. the prostitute thing is entirely optional and not an integral part of the game.

Oh well that's okay then.

I don't have 'entertainment' like that in my home. And if my children buy it for themselves as adults I'll be disappointed.

That was the one I really didn't want to allow. I held out until he was nearly 14 but I must admit he was the last in his gang to get it and I felt a bit sorry for him being left out, so I reluctantly gave in.

Me and my brother played it at a young age. We didn't do the missions, just drove around evading police and having a general laugh. Didn't have any adverse effects on us. My cousins have all played COD etc and they aren't raging violent maniacs with love of guns and war.

OH plays it online a lot with others. I don't think I'd get it for anyone under the age of 14 though.

Kids GTA? No bloody way! I'm fairly liberal too, I'd let them play shooting games. GTA is to another level and wholly inappropriate for 11 year olds.

That has to be the worst thing I've heard about it.

Well it's an open world game where you can wander around thinking up things to do, meaning you could come up with lots of random things a person could do in real life and they would be possible in the game.

They have made an open world game with adult content, it's open season for Daily Mail style "in this game you can X" but the simple fact is kids shouldn't be playing it.

No GTA in our house, DS is almost 13. One of his friends got GTA as a 10th Birthday present!

i wouldnt let a 12 year old play it though

aralwa, so why not if it's such fun?
Genuine question.

what is fun for me is not necessarily always fun for a kid or appropriate. having sex is fun- i dont think 12 year olds should be doing that either

Pacific

I have no issue at all with people not allowing their kids to not play games with an age rating that is older than they are - and making fun of people for that is a ridiculous thing to do.

I have an issue with the hysterical myths that are perpetuated around GTA by people who haven't played.

I also have issues about adults dictating to other adults what games they can play.

I'm sure there's some kind of magic about the letters G, T and A that causes people to involuntarily just make shit up You're not a pimp (except in some specific side missions in a few games, and it's just one of many business options, not particularly graphic - you just drive women to places), it's certainly not "just porn", I've never seen any option to pay more for anal sex , yes, you can kill a prostitute to take her money just like anyone else…

GTA V cost millions of dollars to make. It features a huge, complex city in which you can do hundreds of different things. It has a complex storyline with great characterisation and definite emotional content. GTA IV's storytelling, especially, emotionally affected me. There's humour, political satire, cultural satire, and the most fully-realised worlds I've seen in any media production. Hundreds of artists work on any modern GTA game.

On top of that it's a great game to play, in terms of fun, replay value, the way you get sucked into it - I've experienced incredibly tense shootouts in the single-player mode, where my heart thumps and I forget I'm in a game. (I prefer not to play online; I just get killed repeatedly by people who are much more experienced at the online play than I am, and I wish Rockstar would go back to producing expansion packs like The Lost and Damned instead of focusing their energies only on improving and bringing new features to online play.) The controls feel smooth and you forget the mechanics of controlling your character very quickly - after GTA IV, I just couldn't get into, say, Saint's Row, because it felt kinda clunky. It's an all-round well-made product.

I never quite understand people (on every GTA thread) who boast that their DH thinks it's utterly disgusting and won't let it into the house. Firstly, why is it all about what your husband thinks of it? And secondly, it doesn't make you or your husband a morally superior person if you choose not to play it. If your concern is having it in the house and your kids maybe playing it, yes. But for your own entertainment?

It's definitely not for children. You'd probably have to be an ignorant twat or plain irresponsible to give it to a primary school kid. I know it's a beautiful and complex world to drive around in, but there are other games for modding cars and playing cops and robbers.

DH has GTA, I actually used to have an old version on the PS2.

It's not an awful game, I prefer watching it to the football game DH has!

He won't play it in front of our children. They haven't shown an interest in it anyway, if they do they can wait till they are mature/ old enough to play it. It's an 18 for a reason.

YADNBU. My best friend is a primary teacher (9 year olds) and a huge number of the boys in her class have this game - it's absolutely ridiculous.

So will 12 year-olds get the 'satire'?

Do you let your 12 year-olds watch adult (18) films?

But I'm a bit bemused that it's anathema to view the misogyny but killing people is fine.

Why "satire" in inverted commas? Do you think it's not satire?

My eldest plays it, he's 12.

But I've never seen any of the prostitution, sex etc, because him and his mates aren't playing it for that so it never comes up. We've talked about it with him.

All they are interested in is collecting the best cars, going on missions to drop packages off to earn money to buy better cars, apartments etc.

The PS4 is in a communal room, so the whole family can see what he's doing on it.

DS1 is 11 and a few of his mates have it. I'm not always strict on xbox games; he has Star Wars Battlefront which is a 16 so it depends on the game and it's content.

As for DH, I don't think it's even been spoken about by him; DS1 mentioned GTA a while back, I vetoed it and he's all but forgotten it by now. But he knows that if he begs and wheedles I'll go batshit, so has learned that 'no' just means no.

YANBU. An example of the "fun" to be had on this game is that you can have sex with a prostitute and then kill her and set fire to her. If you wouldn't let your child watch a film with this (and what reasonable parent would?) then why on earth would you want them to play a game with this in? I think the problem is many parents buy it for children without knowing what the game involves. Sadly many of your DSs friends will have the game and he will be exposed to its content via them. But stand fast, you don't have to have it in your home!

I completely agree Jaques. An 8 year old should not be playing live against people he doesn't know on an 18 game.

The fact is, many children do.

"Going on missions to drop packages off to earn money".

You do realise these packages contain drugs and you are allowing this to be normalised behaviour to your son? Drugs kill.

My 14 year old is not allowed it either.

Why is it always just killing prostitutes that people object to? You can also walk up to homeless people and kick them repeatedly until they die. Or destroy someone's hotdog stand, robbing them of a living. Or be a sniper at the top of a building and murder people from there. Or drive down a crowded pavement and mow people down before getting out and stabbing them. Or shoot at your cousin repeatedly, even though he can't die, because he keeps ringing you up and asking you to go bowling with him Or run someone over, wait for the ambulance to turn up, and run the ambulance crew over too. Or cause an enormous traffic jam then blow up a car in the middle so that they all explode one after another, maiming and killing dozens of innocent people. In that world you're a criminal and do reprehensible things, but it's always one particular crime that gets singled out.

All that too Addley, just didn't have the enthusiasm to write that much. It's starting to sound like an IS training game now...

It's starting to sound like an IS training game now

Seriously?

GTA is an excellent game. I've completed the game a couple of times. It's definitely not for kids, hence the 18 rating. But grown adults going on about banning it from the house and not playing it themselves etc is a bit ridiculous If you're not interested in the game, fair enough. I have no interest in things like call of duty but I'm not banning it from my house, I just don't want to play it! To be honest, I don't play many games like that, mostly only play the sims and other simulation games but GTA is definitely a favourite.

I've not yet turned into a criminal, I don't steal cars or deliver drug packages for dealers!

I've experienced incredibly intense shootouts in the single player mode,
where my heart thumps and I forget I'm in a game

This is fine for adults who have masses of experience of real life, but increasingly in schools, we're seeing children whose experience of life is primarily through games, as they don't play outside with friends often.

Real life becomes a scary place, where they're reluctant to take risks and 'fail' (they tend to not see having another go as a learning experience).

Of course GTA isn't responsible for this; it has an 18 certificate, so that the people playing it have formed brains, full of experience... just like other 18 games.

This thread is about whether children should be playing it though.

I work with children with behavioural issues. Without exception, their primary emotion is fear. Fear of being found to be fearful mostly. They can't bear to be seen to fail, so diversions are created. Underneath this behaviour usually lies a child whose self esteem is at rock bottom.

My (work) children are at the extreme end of the behaviour spectrum, but I saw shades of this with many kids in mainstream too. The little chap I mentioned upthread was in a school in a very well to do village.

It's not about banning the game; it's about respecting the age certificate. Learning patience and deferred gratification never did a child any harm.

This is fine for adults who have masses of experience of real life, but increasingly in schools, we're seeing children whose experience of life is primarily through games, as they don't play outside with friends often.

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This thread is about whether children should be playing it though.

I did mention that children should not be playing. But as always, the thread descended into "it's a disgusting game full of anal rape and nothing else and my DH won't have it in the house".

Weird, though… gaining experience from failure and having another go is pretty much exactly what happens (repeatedly, for hours, if you're as shit as me ) in GTA.

Totally agree about fear being at the root of a lot of problems though.