18 rated computer games.................

[joe999]

Is it just me or is it wrong to allow a 7 and 9 year old boy (or girl for that matter) to play Call of Duty MW3 which has an 18 rating????

My 9 year old DS has been saying for ages his friends are allowed to play 12, 15, 16, 18 rated computer games and we have assumed they were stretching the truth and that surely their parents wouldnt let them.

Some facebook discussions going on today suggest otherwise and one of the school mums has updated their profile to say their 7 year old wants to play too and so she is off to buy it for him on her way to work!!

Why are computer games treated differently to films with the same rating? Surely she wouldnt let her 7 year old watch an 18 rated film?

I would love to hear other mums views as I am starting to wonder if its just us and we are preventing DS from doing something that every other kid out there is doing.

I really think that parents don't understand how awful some of the graphics and story lines are in these 'games'. Calling them 'games' makes them seem harmless, and parents who wouldn't let a child watch an 18 film are quite happy for their children to play these.

I haven't watched them but am reliably infored that Grand Theft Auto includes controlling prostitutes/pimping, and Call of Duty has some graphics which show intestines and brains being splattered everywhere.

Of course, just because other parents allow their children to play them doesn't mean you should.

Holy smokes NO WAY. That is massively irresponsible parenting - I'm familiar with several 18 games including Call of Duty and Grant Theft Auto and believe me there is absolutely no way a child under 15 - never mind under 10 - should be playing them. Utterly appalling. If these parents are allowing their children to watch 18 rated films as well then it would be consistently awful, but if you think they may just not realise how horrendous some of these games are then you should say something to the mother. Really, seriously, these games are very damaging at that age! And I'm a gamer, I'm pro gaming, I know whereof I speak. This is not stuff to be giving to children.

Lots of parents do allow it, but equally lots don't. The thing is all you'll hear from your DC is "But everyone else has it" because they hear about those that do. The others who don't won't be going round school shouting about "My mum won't be buying me COD-MW3" as loud as those who will be getting it.

I suspect some parents have no idea what computer games are like - the cut-scenes in games are little movie scenes and just as realistic - maybe because they have never played them, or not played anything modern. And other parents just don't think other people's rules apply to their child, who of course won't be affected by graphic violence because he's better than that.

Stick to your decision - your child will not be harmed by not having these games.

Thanks for the replies, I agree that maybe they don't understand how graphic these games are, but they are so realistic nowadays and surely they can see for themselves once its on the screen. I do think its irresponsible parenting.

I have only seen one such game for myself and it was appallingly graphic, the opening scenes were of someone being tortured, but it was enough for me to realise how realistic these so called games are nowadays. I know that some of the dads of my DC school friends play these games and maybe thats where it starts, maybe the parents in this case become desensitised to the content???

My child hasn't even been born yet (28 weeks and counting!) and things will be different when they are interested in games. However, my wife and I have already agreed that games will be played in the living room. They won't have a system in their own room. I myself play the CoD games and I would never let a child anywhere near these games. If I am still playing these games when I am a parent then these games will be played when our child is in bed. Similar to the way you would watch an 18 film when the child is in bed.

Gaming has moved on from what a lot of parents will be aware of. As someone said earlier, the cut-scenes and storylines can be VERY graphic.

It's not just cut-scenes and so on being graphic - it's the desensitising effect of dishing out unlimited violence. It is REALLY bad for children to become desensitised to this. It's not just Space Invaders any more.

We stopped gaming during DC waking hours once she was about 9 months old and was clearly reacting to explosions and so on.

If you play online you have the swearing, racist, bigoted comments to listen to from other players along with the violence!