13yo not allowed GTA. Aibu?

[Raaarrrrrrrr]

Hello all. Son, 13 last week, wants to play Grand Theft Auto. His older brother has never been allowed it.

He thinks we are the worst parents in the world. AAALLLLLLLLL his other friends are allowed it.

TBH I only know what they say, prostitutes, drug deals etc, I've never looked into it more than that.

AIBU to say absolutely not?

I'm open to views...

TIA

For me it would depend on what type of 13-year-old he is and if he could handle the content. I played GTA at 13 and I was fine... the content didn't disturb me and it didn't make me think drugs, prostitutes, and running people over are fun. Other 13yos would be disturbed by it.

Are you sure all his mates are playing it? Isn't that just what teenagers say? I have a 14 year old and would not let her play on it. My husband has played it a few times and says no way.
Given that you said no to your eldest you can't really say yes to your son. Even if you sit and play it with him can you be certain he'll never play it alone.
I'd say no.

I have a "No GTA" rule in my house and it applies to everyone in it. If the kids play it in someone else's house well that's on them. My husband is a gamer (very very part time) and he agrees with the rule.

I have very few rules, and if the kids complain then I just remind them that they can make whatever parenting decisions they want when they have their own kids.

@Rosebel

Are you sure all his mates are playing it? Isn't that just what teenagers say? I have a 14 year old and would not let her play on it. My husband has played it a few times and says no way. Given that you said no to your eldest you can't really say yes to your son. Even if you sit and play it with him can you be certain he'll never play it alone. I'd say no.

Agree with this. If I believed my 9 year old, then all of her friends have a phone and are allowed TikTok.

Anyhow, you are perfectly reasonable to ban GTA from your house permanently, if you choose. It's a controversial game, to put it mildly, and it's your house!

Two teen sons here. Been there, done that. The answer is no. Same with CoD. And guess what, seems like most of their friends' parents said the same.

Having played the newest gta id probably say 15/16, depending on the child.

I wouldn't. It's disgusting my oh plays on it and iv seen it. But I heard their is a kids mode on the game so cuts out the bad language and the prostitution? I may be wrong but sil says she does this for her son who's 11???????????

It's a real shame they don't do a PG GTA. I think it would sell really well - the graphics I've heard and the gameplay are exceptional. There just needs to be no violence, sex, drugs etc.

He's 13. It's an 18. Yanbu.

YANBU
My DS is nearly 15 and not allowed to play 18 rated games.

The game has an eighteen certificate so therefore you're not being unreasonable to say your thirteen year old can't play it

Mugging old women, having sex with prostitutes then killing them and doing hit n runs isn't really something a thirteen year old should be exposed to

I'm somewhat relaxed towards the age range on games and what I'll let my kids play but I definitely wouldn't feel comfortable letting younger teenagers play gta. Kids do play it and will find a way to play it but I wouldn't buy it myself for mine. I have played on previous gta games, I've not really played the latest one but I've watched someone else play it. I can't remember which gta but one of the missions is to watch some bloke shagging a woman through a pair of binoculars, just nah. Some kids would probably find it funny and yeah I have to admit running around punching random npcs after a bad day is fun occasionally, but some aspects of the game go too far and the 18 is justified.

@spidermomma

Your sil is lying.

I did get it for my son at 13. I did say though that I had heard bad things about it and if it was too much and I didn't like it would be put away. He did play the storyline part to start which isn't so nice but then found casino heists part, which him and his mates play together and I think that part is fine. Its just stealing cars and shooting guards etc. My son was fine with my rule and would of been fine if I had took it off him. I think its about a bit of give and take and being realistic and trusting my son's intelligence on what he himself thinks is too much. And yes, before someone says, I do know which bit he plays, he is in the living room and I sometimes sit and watch them play too.

I'd say it's certainly an 18+ the game has some transferable skills like showing the importance of team effort, how to plan projects in detail, how to see the bigger picture, how not to take people's loyalties at face value ect admitted, it's also got distasteful aspects too.

its absolutely not appropriate.
there are hookers and loads of swearing and killing people, but not in normal game ways- you have to torture someone by picking what to do to them- pull a tooth out, burn them, electrify their nipples.

drugs
sex
swears

just don't do it.
it is a good game though

Oh good god, no!

It’s very adult. I was wavering over whether or not to buy it for my DS for Christmas when it came out and he was 22!

Awesome game, though!

Agree with a PP that a cleaned up version would go down a storm.

there are hookers and loads of swearing and killing people, but not in normal game ways- you have to torture someone by picking what to do to them- pull a tooth out, burn them, electrify their nipples.

Burn them, definitely. Should get rid of a lot of the DNA evidence.

I agree with the fact that discussing those 'adults' subjects are important. Its pron but not pron imo.
But what he wouldn't have been mature enough for is to be able to not absorb some of the values that are intrisic to the game. What happened to porostitues, how are they portrayed? Who are the 'baddies', their skin colour etc...? It's normalizing a lot of things (the same way that porn is normalising certain sex behaviours) and because of that, isn't suitable for a young audience.

@TonMoulin
In terms of skin colour, I personally didn't see a big display of prejudice - in fact the "craziest" person in my book was a very white hillbilly type. So in terms of racist normalization, I think GTA V isn't the worst culprit (particularly if you're mostly just driving around or jumping out of planes as some PPs have mentioned they did). I'd say on the whole all the characters are treated as caricatures of themselves, whether they're black / white, male / female etc.

As for prostitution, it's true that prostitutes aren't treated well in the game. But potentially if you have an understanding that "this is a game where you do pretty much entirely bad things" then the logic applies to not treating prostitutes / women like that in real life (and of course, I'm not advocating for everyone to have this game because many children and some young people don't have that capacity yet).

Just some food for thought, but I think it's also important to acknowledge that children are (on the odds) being exposed to sexual content and violence and you can't solely say no to a game and have that be enough in terms of keeping them innocent to some extent (not saying the OP is doing that, just in general terms). Still important to have the conversations around violence, porn, and how you treat other people irrespective to GTA.

When my son tells me that all his friends have x or can do why, I contact all their mums via a WhatsApp group and we all have a good laugh about the bollocks our offspring come out with. Never fails. So far it has never been the case that the friends have or can do these fabled things, or at least not in the way presented.

Y not why

I tend to be very meh on the age ratings but gta is one I won’t be allowing till at least 16 tbh.

Can’t he play cod instead 😅

if he really really wants gta see if you can get an one ps1 he can play that gta back when it was ok for children not sure that would be cool but if find it funny as the parent.

I wouldn’t say it’s appropriate at all for 13. My DS is 16 and he’s started playing it and I was really surprised by it, I caught him in the strip club once and it is fairly graphic! I remember playing it on the P.C. when I was a teenager and honestly it’s nothing like I remember when I used to just steal cars and drive around. He actually prefers COD which seems like a popular choice with kids so that might be a better compromise.

It’s really not appropriate for a 13 year old I would say.

My 13 year old isnt allowed to play because it's an 18 🙄