Call of Duty

[midgeysmum]

My 13 year old is pleading with me to let him have the new C O D x-box live game so he can play with his classmates who all have it, only came out on Wed. It is an 18, he was only 13 in July. I haven't allowed him to buy any previous COD games which were rated 16, but he has borrowed one and played it at home. What do I do?

I agree with you on the fighting at war and boxing. And definitely agree on it being a parental decision, but the certificates are there as guidance, I guess the alternative is trying it yourself before letting a child watch/play it.

OP > It may be worth looking up clips or reviews of MW2 online to see for yourself more of what is involved, then you can make a more informed choice.

I'm quite grateful for the fact that both me and my partner are gamers, and in my case horror movie fans, so we would be viewing the material before letting our child view it. Also I'm aware that this is all rhetorical from me as I'm not a parent yet.

Thought I'd put this up here. This is the controversial scene. Hopefully this will help you decide if this is appropriate for your DC to play.

Blimey.
That was unpleasant.
Reminded me of Columbine and all these school massacres.

It does appear to be 18 for a reason.

I don't know what to do. We ordered DS the set with the night vision goggles before the rating was announced. Now I am tempted to give him the goggles and not let him play the game.

well having watched that there is no way I would be letting my child play it.

Oh my god.

Having watched that clip, I then read the comments (in English) below.

"I have to say, I have played this level, and while the actual killing of civillians isn't disturbing, it is if you don't kill them. You see people running crawling to get away, people dying in each others arms, scrambling to try and wake up their dead friends..."

And people think this is OK for children?

Good grief, I feel very very old

ds just said that there is a bit a the begining of the game where you can choose to not see some of itand it doesn't affect the game(he is 17 and 8months

FlashHarriet what sickens me is i know a 9 yr old who plays games like this...

y bumpsoon Fri 13-Nov-09 20:13:19
Hi, I am bumpsoon's 15 yearold "ds"
I bought the game recently and have played the airport level.
First of all, if you bought your son the game, it gives the player the choice to skip the level because some people may find it offensive to watch/play, so if you don't want him too play that level then you can just tell him to skip it, or skip it for him - It shouldnt bother him too much because skipping the level makes hardly any difference to the game itself.
Second of all, it really isnt that disturbing, in my opinion a 11 year old wouldnt even understand the controversy surrounding it and would just like shooting people!

So, i say it's up to you.

He put it better than me

Exactly Kaloki, the certificates are there as guidance.

DP is a gamer and played the game first.

I have just looked and seen that it does not have an impact on unlocking achievements if you don't play the airport scene. So there is no need to play that scene in order to play the game as a whole.

It doesn't look even vaguely real; it is absolutely nothing like Saw where real people appear to be horribly tortured. I have no idea why anyone of any age watches those films, and I would never have them in the house.

It is very cartoonish by comparison. I would think it is more similar to civilians being attacked in a film like Batman.

I just watched that scene... looks pretty cartoony to me and certainly nothing like torture-porn movies like Saw or whatever. I really wouldn't be worried about my kids playing it. They're well aware of the difference between games and reality and I doubt it would disturb them - they're aware that the rules of a game are different from the rules of everyday life and are self-contained.

I really don't buy into this 'It's 18 for a reason' argument. Elsewhere in the world, games don't have ratings and in the US, they're rated 'M' for mature, meaning just that it's not targeted at children but it's not legally enforced. I'm far more of a fan of knowing your children and knowing what they can deal with and how it will affect them, rather than letting pressure groups and governments tell you what exactly your children can see.

Never watched a "torture-porn" movie myself and cannot ever imagine wanting to.
I just don't understand the need for violence as fun, for adults or children.

lol at cartoonish
yeah, it's a bit like the smurfs isn't it

Having said that, this reminds me of a similar controversy surrounding one of my favourite games when I was a yoof.
It was called Cannonfodder and it was accused of making war seem fun.
Truth be told, it did just that. What a glorious game.
Look at this clip for the Call of Duty of my day..

So maybe all this is just a ritual between adults and teenagers that keeps repeating itself.

Yep, DaddyJ. Adults will always find something to blame for corrupting their teenagers. Anything except their own parenting.

I really don't understand what parents who are censoring what their children see are doing?

If it's about drugs, alcohol or smoking, surely those are good things to discuss?

If it's about violence or swearing, what are you worried about? That they'll copy the behaviour? That they'll be upset and disturbed?

Actually - I was annoyed that 'Are you Smarter than a 5th Grader?' (the US equivalent of '10 year old') had clips of WWE with men kicking each other in the face because it did look imitable and showed no consequences. There's a big difference in my view of seeing 'real' people do something and seeing pixellated graphics doing it.

If it's about sex, then again, what are you worried about? In the US, everyone went loopy after Janet Jackson's wardrobe malfunction. A flash of nipple is enough to get a mature rating over here and you never see nudity on tv.

I'm not saying you shouldn't worry - but you should know WHY you are censoring something you don't want your children to see. I don't think you should show your child things they'll find upsetting or terrifying, but some edgier things can make for a good talking point.

Relying on certificates is lazy.

I agree that discussion with your children is paramount. And that nudity in itself shouldn't be shocking ( we all have bodies)
Edgier stuff is good if you're prepared for the questions and have the resources there to answer them... or "let's find out about that"
Letting your kids watch or play on anything that you haven't had a look at yourself IS lazy.
My only disagreement with you carmen is that certificates are in place to protect those who could not emotionally cope with the content. If there were no certificates then really lazy parents would watch all kinds of filth in front of their kids.

Actually despite the cert, I know that a lot of parents do... I work in a primary school and am often horrified by what the 8 yr olds in my class have witnessed. I had a girl crying throughout a full day because of nightmares recently... she had stayed up late watching TV with mum.

My DH (Who took 4 days off to play this game) was disturbed by the bit where you shoot the civilians. However he has not yet turned into a serial killer.

I have always assumed that they go before a board who watch/play it and discuss it thoroughly, from all aspects, and in a responsible way. They then award it a certificate-this means that as a parent I don't have to do the same myself, I can just take all their hard work and know that it isn't suitable. I find it strange that an adult waves it all aside just because their 13yr old wants to play. There are a lot of things that a 13yr old might want to do, but are not age appropriate. As the adult you have to be the unpopular one and tell them so.

Personally I don't rely on certificates so wouldnt really trust what age a board of strangers decided a film or game is suitable for.

I'm thinking about Watership Down as an example for me - this is a U (so ok right??), however I recall seeing it as a kid at a friends house and being distraught, nightmares for weeks the lot. My mum told me many years later when it came up in conversation that she knew I wouldn't have liked it which is why she never got it for me to watch.

I am a firm believer in mum / dad knows best in situations like this. If you think your kid will be upset by a game then don't get it, if not then get it. Simples.

As a side I cannot wait to get my mitts on this game. I enjoy violent games and horror films and am a big fan of the Saw films. I also like cooking, reading romance novels and love animals and my mum.

I rely on certificates for myself. If it is an 18 because of the violence or horror I don't watch it-I hate them. I am not going to watch it to see if it is suitable for my 13yr old-I will just take their word for it and not put myself through it!!

For me its not the violence that would put me off the idea of getting it for a child, its the immorallity of the airport scene. Same with other controversial titles such as GTA, etc.

As adults we can at least weigh up the value's of an entertainment medium and decide if its just a satire on the darker aspects of life (like GTA is, really) or if its actually promoting bad things. Not all children can make the same distinction.

I used to work for a major games developer, and worked on a title 10x more violent and disturbing than this. But, it was strictly aimed at adults, and not a single member of the dev team would've wished it to be seen by children.

This would also be a good time to point out that games do not legally have to be sent for classification in the UK. Its voluntary. Or at least, it was 2-3 years ago when I worked at said gaming company.

i agree with you re:the airport level and how a child would deal with it. but i wouldn't call it immoral, i actually thought it was a rather clever twist.

Playing a terrorist is a rather clever twist?

Oh for goodness sake, boys have been playing shooting and killing one another since time imemorial !

I think that a lot of posters are going to buy this game for their children no matter what people post.

I'm hiding the thread now as I see I've wasted my time posting, wasted my time asking DH's opinion etc.

I'll just know that I am not letting my 10 year old play this SHIT.