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News Parents ignoring game age ratings, survey finds

Discussion in 'Article Discussion' started by bit-tech, 16 Jul 2018.

  1. bit-tech

    bit-tech Supreme Overlord Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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  2. DbD

    DbD Minimodder

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    To say parents ignore age ratings is untrue, they just don't stick to them. So yes they might let their 10 year old play fortnite (a 12) but not GTA (an 18). As a parent that's what I do - look at the game, see why it's rated.
    To be honest the most evil explicit things you get in most games (whatever rating) is other teenagers online. Xbox online is a cesspit, and I kept my kids away from that as long as possible.
     
  3. l3v1ck

    l3v1ck Fueling the world, one oil well at a time.

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    I think the problem is partly that parents are of an age meaning that computer graphics were very poor (by modern standards) when they played computer games as children. There was nothing like the graphics and violent game play you get today. With that in mind, it's kind of hard for them to imagine any games being unsuitable. Films on the other hand were realistically bloody and scary even when current parents were young.
    It's a mental block that needs to be solved with parents educating themselves about modern gaming.
     
  4. Gareth Halfacree

    Gareth Halfacree WIIGII! Lover of bit-tech Administrator Super Moderator Moderator

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    Except if you follow the link through to the survey results page, it states: 'without supervision or knowledge of the game beforehand' - which is very much not what you're describing, which requires knowledge of the game (or at least the understanding that a PEGI-18 game might be a little more violent than Fortnite.)
    Oh, this, absolutely this. I haven't played an online game in years, and my life is better for it. (As is my wallet, now that all three console makers charge you for the privilege of having your parentage, sexuality, and racial make-up questioned by 12-year-olds.)
     
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  5. Wakka

    Wakka Yo, eat this, ya?

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    I don't think parents ignoring game (or film) age ratings is the issue - parents ignoring the signs that their children are mentally unstable/easily influenced/an asshole is the issue.

    I played plenty of R-rated/18 games as a kid, I pretty much raised myself on gory horror films of the 80's and early 90's (and every Van Damme straight to video movie!), but i've never felt the urge to hijack a car and try and get 5 stars on my tail, or roundhouse kick a stranger for insulting my honour.

    This is a bit like the "video games are addictive" argument - video games aren't the problem, people with addictive personalities are.
     
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  6. Paradigm Shifter

    Paradigm Shifter de nihilo nihil fit

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    Agree 100% with Wakka's statement. I played the original Soldier of Fortune before I was 18. Hell, a friend at school gave me his copy of Duke Nukem 3D for the summer one year. It's not the games that are the problem, or even the age rating... it's a massive problem with parents using the TV/console/PC/tablet/whatever as a babysitter and have no involvement or even interest in their children.

    Ohfercryin'outloud. Stick to your guns! If you're going to take something away, don't back down or [whoever it is, because I've seen adults pull this too!] it will be a problem forever.
     
  7. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    I'm not sure "video games are addictive" is the issue, I'm not saying they're not as they defiantly can be, as you rightly pointed out it's not so much the media being consumed but the environment, family structure, or as you put it mentally unstable/easily influenced/an asshole.

    There's fairly strong evidence that 'normal' children, just like 'normal' adults, know the difference between make believe and real life.
     
  8. Brijac

    Brijac What's a Dremel?

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    That was always an issue. Same thing was with the parents of my generation, but still my generation had the smarts to limit time spent and not reinact 18+ games irl...
     
  9. Zak33

    Zak33 Staff Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    it's such a tightrope to walk.

    My boy hit his 11th and I finally agreed to allow Fortnite, along with his own mobile. I've pointed out that his mates are stil lsohwing as playing at 11pm while he's in bed just so he knows, though in a few cases it's likely older siblings on the same account. For him to not know in the playground would be worse. But in reality, he's asleep. Mobile downstairs in my possession.

    And I feel for all parents on this subject, choosing when is right to allow something....... right up to , but stopping at this point:
    "though 62 percent reported they had tried to take the games away from their children only to give them back in the face of tantrums."

    This...... has never happened. Dad's tantrums are far superior to son's tantrums. Mothers should be similarly rageful compared to daughters.....Parents can..... and do remove...... and destroy items.
    Any parent who caves to a tantrum is ruining not just their own child, but the rest of the future of the world.

    Parents are parents ..... Kids are kids ....... Step up and ensure the two positions stay correct. Then the issue goes away.

    If only 38% stick to their conviction, while 62% cave in, this country is royally screwed in 10 years time.

    Step up.....
     
  10. Zak33

    Zak33 Staff Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    as an aside, yesterday I arranged an outdoor afternoon/evening for my son, two of his class mates (same age) and two of their siblings (slightly younger) with parents along for the ride. There were no rules apart from calling an adult if they got hurt. 5 hours, outdoor woodland area, no electronics and we had zero hassle. A wooden branch for a rocket launcher and an improptu game of capture the flag with rules of engagement that I have'nt understood since I myself was 11. Gallons of water drunk (note... no squash, no juice, no cans) ... hassle free afternoon. NO Fortnite, no PS4 war, no Youtube..... just grass and trees. Kids can still manage to "play" if given the chance. That's what parks are for I reckon.
     
  11. Brijac

    Brijac What's a Dremel?

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    Nice Zak. Feels good to see people have still a proper sense of how to raise a child. The part with caving in when they make fuss when you take the device is so pinpoint on what the main problem is. When people cave in it's a really bad habit that they are programming their child with. As we can see on a lot of millenials today and even more younger ones... You should always be a friend to your child, but there is that limit where you need to firm up and be a parent.
     
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  12. Zak33

    Zak33 Staff Lover of bit-tech Administrator

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    Thank you Brijac. Kids with parameters that they understand are , on the whole happy kids, so long as the parameters are well founded.
     
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  13. lacuna

    lacuna Minimodder

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    I'm not sure if I am desensitised but it seems to me that games are generally more mild than what they were for a while. I remember getting GTA San Andreas when I was 18 and thinking it was brutal. Despite the greater realism I think games of that type are generally lighter now, notwithstanding the gratuitous torture scene in GTA5.

    My parents let me have Robocop vs Terminator when I was 9 and I think I turned out alright.
     
  14. Corky42

    Corky42 Where's walle?

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    Does it come with zombies, it has to come with zombies, right? ;)
     
  15. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Game age ratings are mostly invalid in the world we live in today.

    If they turn on the news there is a lot worse things going on outside than there is in the game they are playing.

    There has only ever been one game that deserved a 18 rating it was so bad it got banned.

    Plenty of young players play call of duty games if you have ever connected to the online voice servers on those games as I did once, it’s filled with young people.

    Ban children from online gaming would be more helpful than the age ratings on games is a feeling

    As the abuse and stuff that goes on in them is huge.
     
  16. edzieba

    edzieba Virtual Realist

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    Easy option: play the damn game with your kid. If you accept that reading a book or watching TV or a film with them is fine, why should gaming be exempt from participation?
     
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  17. Wakka

    Wakka Yo, eat this, ya?

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    Because, as others have alluded to, the whole draw of video games to a lot of parents is that they do allow them to distance themselves from the kids. It starts as a way to distract them long enough to do the housework or make dinner, then it becomes a crutch for whenever they are mis-behaving or want something else.

    My sister is a shining example of this - her boy is 8-9 years old, very obvious issues that she can't be bothered to pursue a diagnosis for, moans that he spends hours and hours every day only playing Xbox or Switch and kicks off royally when he has to have dinner/bath/bed, but doesn't have the patience or stones to get out of that cycle she put him in.
     
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  18. edzieba

    edzieba Virtual Realist

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    So basically occupying the same responsibility-abdication role that TV of yesteryear did.
     
  19. rollo

    rollo Modder

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    Kids get electronics shoved at them from a young age. Be it tablets phones or other gadgets.

    Don’t be shocked if they want to play games lol.
     
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