GTA5 - 12 year old / Year 7

[SallyTimms]

Dc2 is 12, in comparison to his peers slightly less streetwise but dies have a sensible head on his shoulders.

Left primary really struggling with friendships following a long term bullying is due. At high school and so far, touch wood, fingers crossed etc he is enjoying it.

Had Fortnite a few months but has mentioned some of his friends have GTA5. I have always said no chance to the game. Then he received a message from a closer school friend tonight that he has now got it! Ds has looked fed up and pointed out the cluster of friends at school all have the game except him, and they play with rules and don't play the full game etc.

My gut reaction: tough, it's 18 for a reason, it covers grim themes that aren't needed in life anyway let alone for a year 7 child. But.. He is feeling boosted socially following a rough time at primary (to the point I had the head intervene at the time they were allocated classes to Seperate dc from other pupils involved) and the thought of him not fitting in and being able to feel involved with his peers and shared interests frankly fills me with dread.

Any parents had to tackle this? What did you decide was for the best? I've got do much shit to deal with, as many families will have duri g covid, dc is in 3rd batch of isolation from school due to close contact with a positive case, he's fed up, miss g friends, and they seem to be online on this game, so dc on other games isn't playing with them.

I'm so fed up, there just another piece of shit to deal with after another at the moment and I don't know what I am doing for the best.

Hi, i like going through this forum and seeing what people say about gaming as i feel it gets a negative reputation. I am 17 and i got GTA 5 day of release (I would’ve been 10) and i honestly don’t believe it’s done me any harm whatsoever. There are some quite extreme themes in the game however i don’t remember any of them making me feel uncomfortable or shocked, maybe if was playing with my parents head over my shoulder the whole time that would’ve been different. Murder is obviously in the game however it’s just as present in games like fortnite, you shoot someone and they die. You can pick up hookers if you chose to do so or enter the strip club and have a private lap dance but these are all decisions and are never forced on you throughout the story or online mode, with the fact this is a choice i don’t see it as a reason to not get your child this game, if he wants to watch porn he easily can so i don’t think not buying him this game will protect him from anything. His classmates also will be having all those types of conversations and it will make him curious like all teenagers, the game is a blast and i’ve been playing it on and off for the past 8 years and i’m excited for the new expansion to be released in 2 weeks from now. I would say if you believe your child may be segregated from his peers because he doesn’t own this game i’d just get it for him, it’ll do him more good than harm.

Hi Youngperspective

Thanks for your post, interesting to hear from some one who plays it rather than the overseeing patent.

St

At the moment he is back enjoying skin packs on fortnite so it's fizzled out, but I suspect we will have the same conversation soon!

Hi,

I am a mother to a 4 year old girl and my partner has a 6 year old boy. He has bought GTA for his Christmas which I don't feel comfortable about at all. I said to my partner that I feel he is far too young for the game and he just laughed it off. He said he knows it isn't real and don't worry he won't repeat any of the bad words in front of MY daughter. The swearing isn't my only issue, it's the fact he is too young to see a lot of the content held in the game, from robbing, to fighting. He is also allowed to watch horror movies which really concerns me too. I don't know what to do, am I catastrophising or is my gut right. Thanks in advance for reading, I'm bit sure how to start a new post so had to just comment on this one.