TeamFortressII - too much, too long for a 12 year old?

[BusyBusyBusy1]

My 12 year old son plays Team Fortress II for hours (and I mean hours) - sometimes 5 hours a day on the weekend days, or 2 hours a night each weekday night. I feel that this is too much, cutting into homework time and meaning exposure to violence for too long, but DH strongly believes we should not set any limits to the amount of time he plays. Is there any evidence to back up either argument?

Well, a quick search seems to indicate this is a 15 rating.

So imo even 1 minute is too long for a 12 year old.

My 15 (today) ds has been playing TF2 for about a year. He has asperger's and doesn't socialise outside school/home at all but online he has a completely different persona. He's captain of a team who play in league matches and although last year he was apparently incapable of organising his way out of a paper bag he managed to coordinate fixtures and team practices with 7 other (presumably) boys across several time zones. So IMO it's been very positive. It's very cartoonish so although yes there are guns etc it's not at all realistic and very easy for teens to distinguish between reality and fantasy.

Ds would love to play all day if he could but we make sure he's done his homework first, he goes running three times a week and plays cricket. He's not allowed to miss family meals and the rule is that computer games can't get in the way of real life

Thanks Basildon!