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Teenagers

Parenting teenagers has its ups and downs. Get advice from Mumsnetters here.

Original poster

would you let a 12 (nearly 13) year old play Call of Duty 6?

34 replies

mimsum · 11/11/2009 10:49

It's got an 18 certificate ...

apparently everyone else is getting it

none of the other games he has is more than a 15

wwyd?

OP posts:
WhatDidISayRoy · 11/11/2009 10:51

i have just bought it for my ds just 13. It is true everyone else is getting it, but if you are not happy about it, don't buy it.

Scorps · 11/11/2009 10:55

No way. Have you actually seen the actual game? It's very violent indeed.

WhatDidISayRoy · 11/11/2009 10:57

is it? Oh gawd. My DS has told me that there is a 'gore' button on the violent games which takes out all the blood and guts. I don't believe him though. Have you heard of it?

Ripeberry · 11/11/2009 10:59

Why do you think it has an 18 cert? Parents who buy this sort of thing for minors are being iresponsible. Who cares what the other parents do?
So your child is going to be feeling 'left out' because he can't do some slaying and watching blood and guts on the TV?
Can't you tell that I hate games machines ?

WhatDidISayRoy · 11/11/2009 11:05

I hate it too, but the whinging and whining is worse. I do limit time on xbox though. weekends only unless special occasions.

Scorps · 11/11/2009 11:18

You point blank rangeshoot people, stab them, helicopter bomb them, cut their heads off etc, all very real looking. There are scenes of torture and terroist slaughter in it. Not nice at all, I don't even like 27 yr old DH playing it!

There is NO way to get all this 'gore' out of the game.

Scorps · 11/11/2009 11:20

You can opt out of certain scenes but the graphic violence and shooting, stabbing etc remains. Awful.

AMumInScotland · 11/11/2009 11:26

No. My rule has always been (for films and games), that I would consider allowing the next category up from their age, but no higher. So, with a 12yo I might let him have/watch a 15, but not an 18. Now that DS is 16 I might allow an 18 - after looking at it carefully!

StripeyKnickersSpottySocks · 11/11/2009 11:34

No way. I've played Doom a few times which isn't as bad but a similar shoot 'em up thing, though monster iirc rather than people. God it made me really wired and tetchy.

It would worry me that at that age a teenager could become desensitised to the violence and think its normal behaviour.

Original poster
mimsum · 11/11/2009 11:44

thanks, so I'm not the only really mean parent out there

We have the same rule AMuminScotland, so he has Call of Duty 4 as it's a 15, but I'd put my foot down about CoD 6

Interestingly he got banned from xbox for a week and after the first couple of days when he whinged, whined and stamped his little foot about it he was much calmer - even he noticed, to the extent that he has decided to restrict himself to playing at weekends ...

He doesn't really play the game itself though, just goes on xbox live where he and a group of friends endlessly play the same scenario of capture the flag - all leaves me feeling a bit

OP posts:
mumblechum · 11/11/2009 12:20

I wouldn't let a 12 yr old have it, but ds (15) got it yesterday. There was an interesting article in the Times today about MW2.

Arf at "gore button".

WhatDidISayRoy · 11/11/2009 12:22

I am going to get him to show me the 'gore' button and report back!

GypsyMoth · 11/11/2009 12:23

i always said no to these types of games,but he plays them at his friends houses anyway,so not much can be done about that!

i occasionally let him pay £5.95 for a weeks hire of a game from blockbuster.....a kind of compromise

flea · 11/11/2009 12:46

There are sometimes GORE buttons in games but there isnt one on MW 2 (COD 6).
This game is so not suitable for someone under the age of 18 - it was rated 18 for a really good reason in nearly every place in the world.
(And I worked on the game so I have seen it a lot.)

WhatDidISayRoy · 11/11/2009 12:48

well i have got it put by for xmas so may not have to give it to him. Maybe a nephew (haha my brother won't be happy)

mumblechum · 11/11/2009 16:36

Actually, although I thought the gore button was a fib by the OP's ds, according to my ds, there is on on MW2.

WhatDidISayRoy · 11/11/2009 16:39

well no, it was my DS who said there was one, but i didn't really believe him. I will find out though.

Rubyrubyruby · 11/11/2009 16:41

This reply has been deleted

Message withdrawn at poster's request.

Tortington · 11/11/2009 16:47

depends on the 12 yr old i suppose.

i actually don't agre that you are corupting the morals of a child by leting them play games like this.

i dont think that they are going to go out and shoot their classmates.

no - something else - significant must be absent emotionally for people to torture bunny rabbits after playing video games - in other words i truly believe that parental guidance on a childs moral compass far outweighs a computer game.

however they do affect moods. they can become adictive.

this is through experience.

so in conclusion to this mahooosive post - i think that as long as my child played a game for no more than an hour a couple of times - at weekend only - i wouldn't see a problem.

however reality doesn't work like this.

so tell your kid that you don't give a shit if everyone else has it!

Stayingsunnygirl · 11/11/2009 17:58

Can I ask the wise mumsnetters who have answered here, to come over to my thread - ds2 is telling me he's going to get bullied if we don't get him call of duty 6, but dh and I really don't want to buy it for him - it seems one step too far. He's 14, btw.

seeker · 11/11/2009 18:03

I would never, ever go more than one age category up got games or films. You won't be the only mean parent in the school - there will be plenty of others. I think this is a really important stand to take for two reasons. Mainly because I don't want my children to view inappropriate content, but also because if the film industry has to consider children watching films classified as 18 it will restrict the type of films made - a form of censorship by stealth.

sylar · 11/11/2009 18:16

These games are rated in the way they are for a reason. Its not the same as passively watching an 18 cert film, they are interactive and involve the gamer taking the decisions to commit the acts and feeling like they are in the scene.

I don't have an older DS, mine are just little but I have seen the game and certainly wouldn't let a 12 year old play.

I have dealt with a very sad case where a computer games designer developed serious mental health issues connected to the game he was developing so I know the effect they can have (although appreciate that that was an extreme case)

JANEITEluddite · 11/11/2009 18:20

I would say, 'Tough - No. End of.'
I totally fail to understand why anybody would buy an 18 game for a 12 or 13 year old. Why do people want their child 'on the next level' for everything when they should still be CHILDREN doing childish things.

seeker · 11/11/2009 18:50

Go, Janite - right again!

Wilts · 11/11/2009 18:58

I have just had a massive row with Ds2(12) over this. He has just gone up to his room yelling that he is the only one not playing it blah blah.

This is not helped by the fact that his friend has just this second rung to tell him he is currently playing it .

We are standing our ground on this one though. He is given quite a lot of freedom with games so I trust Dh's judgement when he says no to this one.

I actually saw a bit of it when Dh was on it last night and was not impressed, blood splattering all over the screen etc.