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On 11/05/2013 at 08:20 PM by ThatKidOverThere

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People are irresponsible

So the other day I was at the mall with my sister and mom and I went into the Gamestop to browse. As I was looking at the ds games, I see a little boy, probably no more than 7 come in with what seemed to be his father. The boy goes and takes GTA 5 and goes to the counter. The cashier reads off the ESRB rating and all of the descriptions, blood, nudity, etc. And the kid just says, "Oh, I won't do any of that stuff, I just want to go to the military base, steal a tank and cause mayhem!". That's not what I'm knocking them for though, even I would have said something like that at that age. What I'm pissed off about though, is that the dad didn't even react to that. He just stood there and nodded and gave his credit card! 

Now I may be wrong and not be the right person to judge, this kid might be the most mature and responsible 7 year old I've ever met, but does their parent really want this kid to lose his innocence at that young an age? I mean, seriously, even if the all the kid does is just use a tank and nothing else, that is kinda messed up. This game is like the video game equivalent of Pulp Fiction, do you really want your kid playing that? And think about the stories that this kid will tell at school about the game, "Oh, yesterday playing GTA 5 I jacked a guys car and ran over a bunch of hookers!" Hell, at that age I didn't even know what a hooker was! I was playing, like, Mario, Pokemon and Kingdom Hearts! 

I may not know the whole story here, but that parent is kinda irresponsible, at least from what I've seen. He probably didn't even know what was in the game that he was buying. I applaud the ESRB for doing things like this and changing the label even be a little more visible so that parents can make informed decisions about what they were buying. 

Now, this may seem a bit hypocritical when I remember pointing out the esrb rating on the first game I got and saying that since I wasn't 10, I couldn't play e10+ games (I was and still am a goody two shoes lol) and then regretting teaching my parents about the rating system when I wanted to get Final Fantasy 10 which was rated T. But now I realize that it was probably for the better. Speaking from experience, little kids are extremely impressionable. But that doesn't mean that the blame has to be put on the game or the child, this has everything to do with the person buying and letting the kid play the game.

I think my position on M games in the hands of little kids is that they should only be allowed if the kid is shown to easily discern reality from the in game fantasy. But even then, I wouldn't let a kid play a lot of games. Case in point, Call of Duty. All things considered, Cod multiplayer isn't that horrbly innapropriate (I'm assuming the player doesn't have a mic) so I would say the cutoff age for that would be 10 years old, and only if the kid is a decent person, (admit it, we all know some little kids we think are horrible). 

I talked to the cashier afterwards and asked him if he felt bad selling games like that to young kids. He said, and I qoute,

"Yeah, we try to do everyhting we can do to get parents to realize what's in the game, but even then the parent's the one with the credit card and we can't do anything about that. This is what's making me lose faith in this industry and this community" 

/endrant

Anyways,

When I went to gamestop I picked up Chrono Trigger ds for $20. In one word its: FAN-TUCKING-FASTIC. Seriously, This game does gameplay-affecting-story better than any game I've ever seen. The scene where Crono is put on trial is legitimately one of my favorite moments in gaming. I know I've said that I would review a lot of games but  I haven't really followed through on that (or finished any of them lol, Ni No Kuni I'm looking at you) But this is the first game I've really been determined to finish in a while. I've been in sort of a gaming slump lately and hopefully this will pull me out of it. 

See y'all when I finish Chrono Trigger.


 

Comments

Matt Snee Staff Writer

11/05/2013 at 08:29 PM

Chronotrigger is indeed great. 

Yeah, little kids playing GTA is a little weird.  I'm 36 and I've realized I don't even have the stomach for it anymore. 

Alex-C25

11/05/2013 at 09:39 PM

I played Chrono Trigger (but never finished it) on a emulator. Really great game.

As for the rating dilema, I would lie if I say I actually played some mature games like Prince of Persia and Halo at a young age, but at the same time I actually knew at that time how to diferenciate reality from fantasy and my dad was also fine with that, so it's also the thing you said, that maybe some grew up and mature fast, but if I ever get a kid, I would actually follow the ESRB ratings and only allow games with higher ratings, only if my kid is prepared for that.

BrokenH

11/05/2013 at 10:32 PM

It is kind of "wrong" in my opinion. If the dad's kid was 12-14? Yeah, I'd be somewhat okay with it. But 7 or 8? You're right. It's a bit young to be exposed to that kind of mayhem.

Homelessrook

11/05/2013 at 10:35 PM

I was raised on Metal and Horror movies, but I could seperate what was real and what wasn't. Now as for the age of the kid, 7 is way to young for a GTA game.

avidacridjam

11/06/2013 at 07:40 AM

What a little liar. I agree: he's gonna do all sorts of shit so he can talk about it with his friends and not feel excluded. 

That dad is completely irresponsible. My parents wouldn't let me near R-rated films until I was 12 and they either watched them before I did or watched them with me. You really think that'll happen here?

Ranger1

11/06/2013 at 10:32 AM

When my nephew was that age, we went into Game Stop and he wanted some game that had an M rating (GTA III, maybe?). I told him that he was too young to be playing M rated games and he threw a tantrum and told me that his daddy let him play GTA games. He then got to watch his aunt have a cow over that statement ("Your father does what?!"), but once I'd had said cow, we had a discussion about why some games aren't for little kids, and that was the last time he asked me to get him a game with an M rating. Now that he's 17, he makes his own decisions about what to play, and there's a lot of CoD and Battlefield, but he also likes RPGs and Journey, so I think maybe I had some good influence there.

One thing I have noticed is that gamer parents tend to be a bit stricter about what they let their kids play. I think it has to do with being knowledgeable about games and gaming and knowing that games aren't all kid-friendly. My nephew refers to me as the strict but cool one in the family, and one of the only family members he can talk to about games, anime, and books with. I'm also the only serious gamer of my generation or older in the family.

As for Chrono Trigger, good choice, Sidd. One of my favorite RPGs of all time. I even tried for all of the endings at one point. Good luck with the final boss, that may be one of the most brutal battles I've ever made it through.

daftman

11/06/2013 at 11:19 AM

Sounds like that guy just wants to get his kid whatever will make him shut up so dad can have some peace. That's speculation but getting your kid GTAV is bad parenting no matter how you slice it. My son is only 15 months old, so he's not playing games yet (though he does know how to turn on all the systems lol) but once he does in a couple years, there will be a lot of games we already own that he won't be allowed to play for a long time. The ESRB does what it can but it all comes down to parents knowing their kids. Maybe my son will be ready for CoD at 10, maybe not. We'll decide as we go. But he certainly won't be lacking games to play, whatever his age at the time Smile

And good choice on Chrono Trigger. Awesome game. And unlike so many RPGs, CT doesn't have pointless content to pad out the experience, so you should be able to finish without too much trouble.

goaztecs

11/06/2013 at 11:59 AM

Man oh man, I'm glad my younger cousins are caught up in Minecraft and Club Penguin. I'm glad some folks selling these games tell their customers what's to be expected, and the ratings mean. You can only do so much, and it's up to the parent, to actually do their job of being a parent. 

NSonic79

11/12/2013 at 01:26 PM

it's one of those odd things we want to consider but you never know depending on the shoes that are being filled. For all we know that dad might not consider it that bad given that it's not real life or look like "the movies". There are some out that despite the fact that games are looking more and more realisitc, they still don't see it as such. So to them it's just as harmless as a paper bag.

Though at the same time it does make you wonder eactly how they process such things when it comes to these types of video games.

For myself when it comes to my "Little One" i do keep in mind what the esrb has for a game's rating, but in the end I decide what my "little one" can or can't play.

It's why she's able to play Halo 4 and not be able to play COD4: modern warfare at her tender age of 10.

Plus the more familiar she is with alien weaponry the better she'll be able to help defend the planet from alien invasion. I think that's a public service if you ask me =)

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