Board 8 > Video game/Movie ratings. Do you abide by them or would you make your kids?

(+) Yeah! (+)

M games limited to 17+
R movies to Adults

And so on down the line. Did you follow these as a kid and would you make your kids today?

Thoughts on the systems?
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My parents never had any concern for ratings and I don't think I would either.
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I ask this because my fiancee has literally just gone fucking nuts over them. Her 10 year old son has been playing call of duty for like 4-5 years and plays GTA5 all the time at his father's house for a year or two.

She saw the games I was getting him for Xmas and lost her shit. She now no longer allows him to play any M or T games. Watch any movies PG13 or higher. Read any Harry Potter books. Play anything with "Evil, Satan, Witches, or Wizards". And, yes, I asked... That includes Zelda cuz it has wizards and witches.

She is taking away birthday and xmas presents from previous years off of him and not allowing him to have his games for Xmas this year.

Wondering how many people actually go by this stuff.
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Theyre meant as guidelines, not strict rules (except NC-17/AO ratings of course)

Anyone that follows them to the letter isnt doing it right.
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Like, what does she think the PG in PG-13 stands for?
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Jakyl25 posted...

Like, what does she think the PG in PG-13 stands for?

She means he can't have the movie as he might watch it without Parental Guidance.
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Silly Corrik-fiance. Parental Guidance SUGGESTED, not required!
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Lots of links lead to ppl agreeing with the ratings or close to them. Though, I know most people ignore them. Hell every Halo besides 5 was a M rating.

She says I just can't handle the truth and she is just being a good parent. Lol
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https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/7/79/Magikoopa_Artwork_-_Super_Mario_3D_World.png/220px-Magikoopa_Artwork_-_Super_Mario_3D_World.png

Uh oh

Dark magick
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Jakyl25 posted...

https://www.mariowiki.com/images/thumb/7/79/Magikoopa_Artwork_-_Super_Mario_3D_World.png/220px-Magikoopa_Artwork_-_Super_Mario_3D_World.png

Uh oh

Dark magick

Yeah, she said no Mario either alrdy. Haha.
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Corrik posted...

She says I just can't handle the truth and she is just being a good parent. Lol

I mean, I think part of being a good parent is not letting your kids watch/play age-rated content above their level until youve personally vetted it and decided whether or not your child is gonna handle it well.

But to just skip that step and blanket ban T-rated games until his 13th birthday is a little off
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Your fiancee is fucking nuts, dude. She does realize who she's about to marry, right? You post on an ancient video game forum ffs.

Anyway, I agree that they are guidelines, but I'd probably stick to those guidelines, at least a bit. My kid sure as hell won't be playing GTA until they're in high school at least (until they do so with their friends behind my back like I know they will).
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Well, every game I got him for Xmas was M rated so haha.
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Does she also not watch anything with magic or wizards personally?

I saw a thread on Stormfront once when I was researching how racism spreads on the internet that was a FIERCE DEBATE about whether Harry Potter was okay for the souls of Christian families or not.

I will admit it is kind of odd that they celebrate Christmas
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I'd probably play it first, and then determine for myself rather than going by what the ratings say.
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(And yes, most were oblivious to the idea that the HP series is basically about confronting and destroying ethnic purity as a fetish)
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Jakyl25 posted...

Does she also not watch anything with magic or wizards personally?

I saw a thread on Stormfront once when I was researching how racism spreads on the internet that was a FIERCE DEBATE about whether Harry Potter was okay for the souls of Christian families or not.

I will admit it is kind of odd that they celebrate Christmas

She doesn't like Harry Potter so wants it not to be liked by her kids. She uses the anti-religion angle for the wizards and witches part. Says it is not Christian.
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good thing you discovered this early

now you don't need to marry her
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I think it should be up to the kid, if they feel comfortable with the rating and subjecting themselves to things they might not be ready for, then let them.

As a kid I knew what I was comfortable seeing, I didn't watch some R rated movies because I knew they were too graphic for me. As I got older I went back and watched the popular ones I missed out on.

Either way, no parent should ever restrict their child that much. That's just asking for the kid to rebel and that parental relationship will end up really strained.
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AquaArcane posted...

I think it should be up to the kid, if they feel comfortable with the rating and subjecting themselves to things they might not be ready for, then let them.

As a kid I knew what I was comfortable seeing, I didn't watch some R rated movies because I knew they were too graphic for me. As I got older I went back and watched the popular ones I missed out on.

Either way, no parent should ever restrict their child that much. That's just asking for the kid to rebel and that parental relationship will end up really strained.

When I was a kid, I used to love going to my grandmother's so I could watch scary movies with her. I can't imagine at being subjected to the rating system. But, it isn't my kid I guess.
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trdl23 posted...

Your fiancee is fucking nuts, dude.

Seconded.

I wouldn't care about ratings and generally wouldn't restrict my kid's media unless a specific problem arose. Like if he got nightmares from scary movies/etc. then I would restrict that kind of content (and use ratings as a guide if it wasn't something I'm personally familiar with).

When I was a kid, my mom was pretty particular about the types of games I could play. No fighting games or games with guns because they were "too violent." I don't think the restrictions had much effect. Most of my imagination was still about being a great general/swordsman, fighting bad guys, etc. Although I was allowed to read anything I liked, which probably contributed a lot.
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Drakeryn posted...

trdl23 posted...

Your fiancee is fucking nuts, dude.

Seconded.

I wouldn't care about ratings and generally wouldn't restrict my kid's media unless a specific problem arose. Like if he got nightmares from scary movies/etc. then I would restrict that kind of content (and use ratings as a guide if it wasn't something I'm personally familiar with).

When I was a kid, my mom was pretty particular about the types of games I could play. No fighting games or games with guns because they were "too violent." I don't think the restrictions had much effect. Most of my imagination was still about being a great general/swordsman, fighting bad guys, etc. Although I was allowed to read anything I liked, which probably contributed a lot.

Isn't the whole point of scary movies to scare you and make you have nightmares and afraid? Like that is half the fun of them. It is why horror movies suck now. Because we are relatively too old to be scared.
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Corrik posted...

But, it isn't my kid I guess.

If you're marrying this crazy lady, he will be your kid in some way. You should have a say in it.

Although your say should be "I'm leaving you"
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Corrik posted...

Isn't the whole point of scary movies to scare you and make you have nightmares and afraid? Like that is half the fun of them. It is why horror movies suck now. Because we are relatively too old to be scared.

It depends on the kid. If he's scared and loves it, that's cool. If he can't handle it then I would want to step in.
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More than anything, I generally restrict how much R-rated movies/M-Rated games my kids play, rather than saying no altogether. I mean with my youngest kids -- they definitely aren't ready for an R rated movie. I think PG-13 is too much for them at this point. But with my oldest.. I'll take her to see an R rated movie once in a while as a treat. Like we went to see Logan. She really liked it. (Some of her friends were really jealous) And around Halloween we'll do a horror movie marathon.

I don't think I'd let my kids play GTAV until they're about 15. Something like Fallout though I'd say is okay for 12.
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I think the best way is definitely to keep yourself informed as to what the games/movies contain and what's actually appropriate for them

Like there's a family that's friends with my family and the one year they bought their like 13-year-old a GTA game (they generally let him play M games) but when they saw him like killing cops and stuff they went back and were furious with the game store for selling it to him (they didn't actually sell it to him; they sold it to the parents). That's just wrong for a whole handful of reasons.
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i kinda think E/T/M ratings in gaming is a bit broad. like honestly most M rated games really can pass for teen games. like Halo isn't super violent at all. The worst is the boring space mutants, but that's also the worst part of the games anyway. so really its a guideline. if you trust your kid to be able to understand that wars happen and people die, then call of duty isn't a big deal. the actual good parenting tactic is to remove their headsets!
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Bump
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I sure didn't. I can remember playing Mortal Kombat in Kindergarten. I watched South Park when I was like 7. Then again, video games look a lot more realistic now than they did then.

Anyway, I think the important thing is just making sure your kids know what's appropriate and what isn't, and that just because they saw it in a game/movie doesn't make it acceptable to mimic. Basically I think good discipline is more important than restricting what media they can consume (I'm not a parent though so I could be wrong)
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