To not let 13 year old (Y9) have Red Dead Redemption 2?

[NameChangerAmI]

Have already asked this once, but just looking for more traffic.

Hoping for opinions of adults who have played it ideally, or those who have let their 13 year olds play it, but have a good knowledge of the game themselves.

DS won't stop going on about it - and made the suggestion that I put a post on mn about it . This could backfire horribly, but am willing to be told IABU.
TIA

The rating on it is mature, the blurb says “from the brutality of its blood splattered battles”, so no YADNBU. I would absolutely not let a yr 9 have it.

Isn’t it rated 18? I’d say there’s your answer, right there.

It is gruesome in places, lots of swearing even in cut scenes.

It is an absolutely brilliant game though, lovely scenery etc and quite a heart touching story line.

13 is on the cusp I think, depends how you are with swearing, I know there will be a lot on here that still think violence in computer games causes violence etc, my day it was dance music and hip hop, before that it was rock and roll and colour television.

I would look at some of the gameplay online and see what you think yourself.

Part of it is going hunting, killing an animal, skinning it, etc, etc.

Not mindless violence but might end up having to cater for her new found vegetarian diet!

The plotline for the main character can be quite harrowing, even without the violence/swearing in the gameplay. Just something else to take into account.

Thanks everyone.

Triskaidekaphilia

Can I ask what the plot of the main character is?

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Can I ask what the plot of the main character is?

Not who you asked, but you control an outlaw who's gang are unravelling, he gets an incurable illness whilst out on gang duty and he wants to do the best for some of the others in his gang.

It's a western about a bad man with a good heart, seeing the light when faced with his own mortality.

The ending of the character is either him dying on a mountain top watching the sun set, with an alternative ending if you played the out and out bad man robbing everyone etc.

www.nytimes.com/2018/11/23/opinion/sunday/red-dead-redemption-2-fallout-76-video-games.html

DH thinks it is fine for our DS who is 12 but you know your own child. DH only let's them play games he has tried already. Have you looked online at the game play etc.

I haven’t got much knowledge of the game itself but DH has it and from the snippets I’ve seen, it’s full of prostitutes and terrible attitudes towards women. My son is only 20 months but if he was 13 years old, no way would I be letting him have this game.

There is swearing and violence but you can choose how to play the main character. You can be a violent outlaw and do some grim things or you can help people. How you play it informs what you’ll see.

It depends how you think your child would play it.

I personally can’t watch DH play it in case the horse gets hurt

Are you getting confused with GTA? There are prostitutes in Red Dead but you can't hire them.

It depends on the 13 year old, if I'm honest. Why don't you have a look on Twitch at some people playing it live, and make your decision from there?

I’ve seen, it’s full of prostitutes and terrible attitudes towards women.

It shows you have no knowledge, and maybe spend sometime watching it, there isn't terrible attitude to women at all in the overall story or even side missions

Agree it's a great game with beautiful scenery, you can see how much work has gone into producing it and I really enjoy it but I would think carefully about letting a 13yo play it. I usually take age ratings with a pinch of salt and will play through a game to help me decide if it's suitable or not but personally wouldn't let my DC play this particular game at 13yo.

DH started playing it last night after watching me playing. He accidentally shot and killed several people trying to figure out how to work his weapons then had to hide the bodies. He killed and skinned a bear. Fell of a cliff while riding his horse then accidentally shot and killed it. There's lots of swearing and bawdiness, he gave some NPC's a ride into town and they were singing a song about a woman who owns lots of fine things and "paid for them with the crack in her pants".

My DH has it and I think there are definitely worse games out there. I'm actually quite hooked by the scenery and some of the missions such as collecting different plants, birds and animals. The swearing I have to admit isn't that noticeable. There is violence and an area where there are prostitutes. I normally can't stand watching/listening to Xbox games but I like this one. My DS is 15 and I wouldn't have any objection to him playing it but maybe at 13 I would of had to think long and hard about it.

NameChangerAmI in the latter half of the game he slowly dies of TB.

@Justanotherlurker summed up the overall plot but that's the bit I was referring to.

My 14 year old daughter plays it. They see worse on television tbh

My 13 year old got it for Christmas. The imagery is amazing and I’ve watched him play. He’s focused on his morality and I have yet to see anything worse than a lot of other games.

We've said no to DS aged 11. Common sense media says age 12. I'm sure he'll tell me all his friends have it and I'm so mean but he'll live.

coffeeandpyjamas what?
there are prostitutes in the saloons, like you see in cowboy films. I asked DH the other day (he got it for Christmas) if you can hire them, the answer is definite no. He tried talking to one beyond the standard "hello" part, she told him off said he was frightening her, started walking away and other male NPC started telling him off and making their way towards him. he dropped all dialogue before he ended up shot or in a bar fight.

DH would let our 13 play.

Don't play, but my husband has watched lots of youtube gameplay videos as I've peered, in fascination, over his shoulder! Far as I can see, the guys who just 'take you through the game' do exactly that but there is a whole subgenre of misogynist gamers who post videos where they've set up scenes where woman are killed, including one I've seen where one of the Suffragette protestors was murdered.

I don't say this to put you off buying the game, but it's something to be aware of if your DS wanted to watch any walkthrough videos.

I also know a youngish chap whose girlfriend plays it and he tells me she spends hours just foofling around, exploring the game's world.

Basically you can beat up or kill anyone you want to, doesn't mean you have to or should.

I have played this game and I also played similar games such as Grand Theft Auto (a game also published by Rockstar) at an age slightly younger than your DC. The story is very good and the artwork and details are breathtaking.

The person who said it has bad attitudes towards women, this is absolute rubbish. Among other things, there is a very strong female character who rises up throughout the game. Similarly, you also encounter (and assist) a suffragette movement.

You can shoot and skin animals but you’d have to have a very weak stomach to find what is shown truly disturbing IMO. There are some slow motion shots of you hitting weak spots on people also e.g. a shot to the head or stomach.

My personal take on it is that it depends how mature your child is. It has the usual bad language, violence etc. so it depends how strict you are with that and how you feel your child would cope (e.g. ask yourself what other games he plays, does he cope fine with action/violent movies etc?). I was mature minded from a young age and have always known that games are just fantasy and therefore games such as this did not phase me at a young age.

I second what others have said in watching some Twitch streams of others playing this game if you really want to make an informed decision. YouTube also has many if you search for ‘Red Dead Redemption 2 Let’s Play’. There is a team called PlayStation Access on YouTube who have quite a few videos out on the game, so you could also check some of those out, though some of their streams are in the online mode of the game - they do also have single player ones giving each other challenges of silly things to do (which given how my friends and I used to play such games at your DC age, these might be useful to see).

I've seen where one of the Suffragette protestors was murdered

You had to go search for this, it also negates the hours of videos where he was killing the KKK (which the game gives you good honour for) if you kill the suffragette and manage to get out of the city the game actually gives you bad karma, people tried to jump on this for manufactured outrage like GTA V but as more and more people have completed the game there is a reason why it slowly went away, even on Tumblr

There are far more story lines and missions that are pro women than some random on YouTube doing it to intentionally tile up the outrage mob.

As others have said Sadie is an integral part in the plot line and a bad ass the general consensus is hoping that she gets her own DLC storyline as she is still alive

Twitch streams...thanks. Never heard of this & will definitely look into it, & look on Youtube, also.

Thanks so much for all the insight...the idea that these games are so sophisticated that if you make poor moral choices, Karma will strike is mind blowing to me. I stopped at Mario Kart, so reading these posts is enlightening .

I feel like I can make an infomed choice, once I've followed the advice to check out Switch & Youtube.