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Original poster

GTA for 15 year old??

100 replies

RedSkyLastNight · 18/11/2018 20:27

I thought this had been done to death, but actually couldn't find anything recent.

DS (almost 15) says that GTA V is the only thing he wants for Christmas. He has already played the game (2 of his friends have it). He followed up asking for it by telling me all the things he thought I would object to and his counter arguments against them. We had an interesting discussion about misogyny. He promised me that if he could have the game he was happy to continue to discuss the themes in the game with me.

Confession - I've never played or seen GTA. I only know what I've read on the internet which is very polarised. After he asked for it I spent some time googling and found mixed opinions on a suitable minimum age.

Do I get it for him (on the basis he's already played it anyway and make it a condition that we keep lines of communication open)? Or is he still too young (and in that case can anyone suggest any good games that he might accept as an alternative?)

OP posts:
JobbyBum · 18/11/2018 23:04

Get him Red Dead Redemption 2 instead. It’s superior to GTA, made by the same developers. And there’s no gratuitous sex etc. And simply put is awesome. BTW I’m a die hard gamer.

ProfessorMoody · 18/11/2018 23:06

Great game, not particularly my cup of tea, but I'll play it if friends are. Obviously your son isn't going to turn into a drug dealing gang member just through playing GTA, despite what some MNetters think.

I'd say 15-16 is the minimum age I'd let a teen play it though. It has very adult content. DS10 has asked about playing as some of his friends do and he has absolutely no chance.

PebbleDashed · 18/11/2018 23:22

I'm not responsible for other women's behaviour, nor do I believe that everything women choose to do is good by virtue of them being female. And I'm not having gratuitous violence against women represented as entertainment in my house. I am aware that there are cheats on the internet to get around it, but there is no way any money from any male relative of mine is going to support misogynistic outlooks.

DaedricLordSlayer · 18/11/2018 23:30

I was a no way before your 18 parent. But ended up allowing it when he was 15.

like your DS, he knew all the things I didn't like about it and understood why. he was very grown up about it, and we had many discussions about it, and to be fair he could have bought it without us knowing easily, as he is a pc gamer and earns his own money and downloads loads of games all the time.

he's 16 he doesn't play it that often and mainly when he does it's just him and his friends online pratting about. he takes his other games and work more seriously.

if he wasn't so mature about it and capable of separating gaming from reality I probably would still not have allowed him to have it.

Purplejay · 18/11/2018 23:39

I have told told my 12 yo ds ‘not while under my roof’. I am not having any GTA.

He has started asking for some 18 games. The answer is not for the forseeable amd then take them on their merits (as we do 16’s now).

blackcat86 · 18/11/2018 23:49

Just buy the game. He's playing it elsewhere and you'll probably find that if you buy it he'll play it to death and move on to something else. It's pretty graphic but we're always clear with DSS (14) that its just a game not real life.

GrandTheftWalrus · 19/11/2018 00:00

I love all gta games. However I haven't played 4 or 5 on a console yet as I'm used to playing it on a pc.

Someone also mentioned bully. I need to get a hold of it for the ps3. I have it for the Wii and it's a bloody workout playing it.

MrsStrowman · 19/11/2018 01:17

My 35 YO DH won't play it mainly due to the misogyny. There are lots of prostitutes in the game, you can beat them up without consequences. Lap dancing clubs you have to visit, where you can ogle the naked computer generated breasts of the women who work there, as you get your character progressively drunker. That's without the drinking, drugs, organised crime, mindless violence, torture and so on that you also get in some other games. It has an eighteen rating for a reason. Unlike some posters who say my DS has played it there's no issue, I've actually played it myself with DH neither of us would recommend it for a teen and neither of us will play any of the future versions.

ProfessorMoody · 19/11/2018 08:11

Those who don't have it in their homes, you do realise it's a game, right?

Does this also mean you don't have 18 movies that depict violence or rape? Game of Thrones? Comedies? Literature?

ThePants999 · 19/11/2018 08:58

I would, but if you decide not to, I'd recommend Watch_Dogs 2. Exactly the same sort of gameplay, but you play someone who is trying to be a force for good rather than a career criminal, and the adult themes are toned way down.

PaddyF0dder · 19/11/2018 09:05

Right. Look at the box.

See those numbers in the big writing? The “1” followed quickly by the “8”? Cool. That’s an “18”.

18 is bigger than 15. There’s your answer.

SherlockHolmes · 19/11/2018 09:11

Isn't it's age rating 18? If so ask your son if he is 18. If he says "errrr no" say "oh well you can't have it then".

You obviously don't have teenagers!

PebbleDashed · 19/11/2018 09:14

ProfessorMoody, I find I very rarely enjoy 18 cert films due to the ever-more-extreme violence depicted in them as it happens, so no I don't have many. The only literature I enjoy containing high levels of violence are those works that make no attempt to glorify it or present it as it is, such as the war poetry. I find it alarming how many are so desensitised to the casual way violence is presented as entertainment. It reminds me very much of Roman amphitheatres.

We live in one of if not the most violent, aggressive and misogynistic country in Europe. The acceptance of violence, aggression and misogyny, and the promotion of it through all kinds of media, is exactly why. I will not support such a culture where possible.

iIcouldsleepforaweek · 19/11/2018 09:16

I only recently discovered that in GTA you have sex and get blow jobs from prostitutes before beating them up.

A no from me

Nothisispatrick · 19/11/2018 09:17

I’ve been playing GTA since I was about 11 starting with GTA 3 then Vice city.

They are fantastic games and I can only assume those so strongly against it have never played it and know nothing about it. These threads are always completely hysterical. Like Game oh Thrones threads, loads of posters against it who have no idea what it’s about and have never watched it, they just heard there were tits out sometimes.

Nothisispatrick · 19/11/2018 09:18

I only recently discovered that in GTA you have sex and get blow jobs from prostitutes before beating them up.

Oh for goodness sake. It is not a mission in any GTA game to visit a prostitute then beat them up.

calpop · 19/11/2018 09:20

I watch GoT happily and have played GTA and play other 18 games. I have bots, oldest is 14 and they know that GTA will never be purchased or reside in my house. They joke that they will play it in Freshers Week. Any other game is fine for me really. I work in tech and am a gamer myself. I'm not hysterical. No GTA in this house because of the i ert mysoginy. Its hard enough bringing uo boys ti be decent human beings without that shit in their bedrooms. I cant control much of what they will be exposed to but I can choose not to have GTA in my house.

calpop · 19/11/2018 09:21

Boys not bots!

iIcouldsleepforaweek · 19/11/2018 09:23

Nothisispatrick

I didn't say it was. My husband has the game (totally normal, lovely man) and I asked him about it after my son kept going on about it. He said no and showed me why as even though it's not the main objective, it's still a feature. I would not give it to my 15 year old on that basis. I have no problem with adults playing it and I don't think it turns every child who plays it into a prostitute using thug, but the OP asked and I gave my view on it

PebbleDashed · 19/11/2018 09:23

No, but you can do it, and such behaviour is rewarded through the bands of teenage boy social networks stoking each other's ego and status. Many people are remarkably naive if they assume their sons are not part of these social networks, since the main reason people usually quote for allowing under-age gaming is so that 'they don't feel left out'.

My dh was a fan of the earlier GTAs, I played the first one myself, so we did download a demo of it when it came out. I took one look and said no. I'm very familiar with the gaming world.

Usernumbers1234 · 19/11/2018 09:26

@pebbledashed

Is the Sopranos banned in your house? What about Game of Thrones?

calpop · 19/11/2018 09:31

Adults have the capacity to separate fantasy violence from reality. 14/15y olds are in the process of learning how to do that. Thats why we're not supposed to let them watch or a sorb too much of it as it corrupts that process and normalises things which adults know are not real/not acceptable. That's why we have 18 certificates.

ProfessorMoody · 19/11/2018 09:40

We live in one of if not the most violent, aggressive and misogynistic country in Europe

Are you in the UK? Confused

Sethis · 19/11/2018 09:51

We live in one of if not the most violent, aggressive and misogynistic country in Europe.

Got any evidence to back that claim up?

Further, do you have any evidence of a link between the mainstream use of computer games and a commensurate rise in sexual violence?

There's always so much pearl clutching over computer games, when not a single worthwhile study has shown any link whatsoever between them and negative behaviour.

Sexism and misogyny have been problems for literally millennia before computer games turned up. They're not new issues. If you fear and mistrust new technology then by all means, refuse to allow it in your house, but don't blame societal problems on it without any evidence, and stop peddling the myth that gaming is inherently bad for you.

ghostsandghoulies · 19/11/2018 09:51

We live in one of if not the most violent, aggressive and misogynistic country in Europe. The acceptance of violence, aggression and misogyny, and the promotion of it through all kinds of media, is exactly why. I will not support such a culture where possible.

People in France, Italy or Spain aren't watching Narcos, playing GTA and watching porn? I don't think the UK is any worse than other countries. The current "epidemic" of knife crime probably has more to do with government policy of austerity than media.