What games were you not allowed to play/do you not let your kids play?

[Tleprie]

DomsBeard started a thread last month here discussing people's earliest gaming memories. This got me to thinking not only about the games that I played, but also the ones that I wasn't allowed to play. I'm curious what other people's parents forbade them from playing, or if you are a parent, what you don't let your kids play or watch you play.



My earliest memories of not being able to play a game are on the N64. Goldeneye and WWF being two that stand out. I played Smash Bros and Mario Party with my brother and his friends, but if they decided to switch to either of those games, I'd have to leave the room and find something else to do. Similarly, Mortal Kombat on the Genesis. I think my parents were somewhat okay with it if the blood was turned off, but I still remember leaving the room at times when this came on.

Now a lot of this was seemingly thrown out the window when a few small game called Grand Theft Auto III and Halo: Combat Evolved were released. I don't know if my cousins got them at launch, but it was sometime within the 2001-2002 timeframe. It was probably around this time (at the age of 7 or 8) that my parents were okay with me playing most 'T' rated games. Medal of Honor and Twisted Metal come to mind as some of the first games I played rated higher than E.

But back to Halo and GTA. For the most part I just watched these games being played, and I think it was a little while before I played them or my brother or I owned them ourselves. The last instance that I can think of my parents (mostly my mom) being concerned with what I was playing was in 2006 with Gears of War. I would've been 11 at the time; my brother got it at launch and I wanted to watch him play the story. I believe she asked him if he thought it was okay for me to watch or play, and since we always played games together when possible, he said yes.

After this I played most games without restrictions, and could have potentially been one of the annoying 12 year-olds on Modern Warfare 1, if I'd had any interest in online multiplayer outside of the occasional game of Halo.

[gallo_pinto]

Mine were GTA and God of War. I was pretty big into the PS2 at the time, but I missed out on those. I've since gone back to the God of War games and I played GTA IV and V, but I've never been back to 3, Vice City or San Andreas. Related to that, as a middle school teacher I was amazed how many of my 12 year old students were playing GTA V right when it came out. I wish more parents would put some rules in place in terms of what kids can play.

[KissMammal]

I distinctly remember my dad (a complete softy when it came to violent movies and the like) refusing to let me buy the original Resident Evil because he read the review in Official Playstation magazine that described shotgunning zombies heads off in graphic detail (and which also incorrectly stated the game had a BBFC 18 certificate - pretty sure it was released as a 15). I think I eventually managed to get the Platinum rerelease, long after he'd forgotten all about it.

[Tleprie]

as a middle school teacher I was amazed how many of my 12 year old students were playing GTA V right when it came out. I wish more parents would put some rules in place in terms of what kids can play.

I think when/if I have kids, I'll probably have some rules for this. I played GTA and Call of Duty probably far too young, but I don't think it affected me negatively, and I doubt it affects most kids negatively. This being said, there are so many great non-violent games, that I don't think kids need to be playing them. It's totally different from a kids perspective though.

I also think it is just as important to talk with kids about the games they're playing, especially in regards to online games.


Some of the rules I'll probably implement:

• No 'T' games before 10. No 'M' games before 13
• They won't be allowed their own online gamertag until at least 13
• Definitely won't have access to buy games on their own until 14 or 15 (this is mostly in regards to online marketplaces or app stores. If physical games are still a thing by then, I'd have little problem with them going to the store and picking something out.)

[KSubzero1000]

I don't recall my parents ever introducing any strict rules in regards to what I could and could not play. My mom did however have a bit of a tinfoil hat phase going on during which she would ban the use of electrical devices attached to power outlets (on account of it being a leading cause of death in teenagers, obviously), which meant that I mostly grew up in a TV-free household. As a result thereof, most of my early introduction to video games consisted of handhelds and squatting friends' living rooms. And so she never really understood what exactly it was I was doing and why I was so absorbed in it. I did get lots of passive aggressive comments regarding the length of time I spent playing, however. She still hasn't figured out any of it, so now I have this sweet setup ready where I first lure her in with by telling her about some interesting narrative elements from MGS or Bloodborne, or making her listen to a nice piece of music from Halo, or showing her some cool design works from Õkami, etc... only for her to go "Wow, this is so nice, very cultural! What movie is this from?", and I'm like "Gotcha! It's from a VIDEO GAME! Ha!", and she's like "Whoooooot how can this beeee?!". Priceless. Works every time. My dad's a lovable luddite who hasn't even seen a movie in decades, so no luck on that front.

I don't have any kids of my own, so I'm not sure I should even contribute to the rest of the topic. But if I did have kids, I think that I would follow two specific rules:

1) Games are not toys, and they're not babysitters either. I see a great many parents out there being completely disinterested in what their children are doing and just plant them in front of the TV playing whatever they want to keep them quiet. I think it's the completely wrong approach. A good parent should at least try and understand what exactly it is their child likes and why they want to spend time doing it. Invest time into it. Ask questions. Participate. Observe. And then you're in a position where you can make informed decisions. Because there are a lot of games that don't belong in the hands of children, that much is certain. But uninformed blanket snap decisions like "My kid can play whatever they want" or "Ban this sick filth!" are not doing anybody any good.

2) Ratings are oversimplified and can be misleading. I'm going to be using three different games to illustrate this: The original God of War, Call of Duty 4 and Metal Gear Solid 3. All three have received an M rating from the ESRB, so you could forgive an uninformed buyer for considering them to be interchangeable. But the way they handle and present their mature content could not be any more different: The first one revels in its visual depiction of graphic violence as a part of the world its trying to portray; the second one, while much more tame in regards to gory effects and such, has a... let's call it "potentially influencing" and biased pro-war ideological perspective on the type of real-life combat scenarios you see on the news; and the last one is the complete antithesis of the second one and has an underlying but clear pacifistic message running throughout both its gameplay and narrative. To assume that these three games would have the same effect on a young child's mind and worldview is completely asinine. These are just examples, btw. You could just as easily swap them for Gears of War, Battlefield and Deus Ex. So again, knowledge is key.

Edit: Now that I see Tleprie mention it, I think that online interactions and the like are a completely different can of worm that needs to be considered even more carefully. Especially for safety reasons.

[Todinho]

Diablo,growing up I never had much restrictions on video games mainly because my dad played them regularly so I just piggybacked on that even stuff like Resident Evil and Silent hill he would let me play mainly because if I didnt play it I would go and watch him play it anyway(in hindsight this is probably why I like proper let's plays so much) my mom on the other hand used to be very religious so you can kinda see where stuff like Diablo would be a problem, she also didnt want me to be able to play GTA so my dad never got that and straying a bit from games she forbade me from watching DragonBall Z because it was "too violent",didnt stop my uncle from raising me with Saint Seya,Yu Yu Hakusho though XD.
Thinking back on it my childhood on videogames was kinda weird it was essencially RTS's on pc and Survival Horror on console.

[Craig]

I never really experienced any restrictions as a kid, but I remember my dad not letting me take over the PC game Kingpin to a friend's house when I was a teen. Looking back that seems completely fair; just because he was okay with me playing back doesn't mean every parent would be.

As games have got more advanced I wish that more parents would take note of the ratings systems. What you can see in games now is little different to film (with probably stricter rules about nudity) but because it's a medium for kids, it's not taken so seriously. I think that'll change with this generation being more aware of what actually happens in a game though.

When I have a kid it'll be a fairly simple rule of thumb; would I let my kid watch a movie with these themes and content? If no, the game is out.

[ThirdDrawing]

Everything for me was fair game - but I was playing on the C64 so there was nothing particularly salacious back then, other than my copy of a Breakout clone that had a naughty picture revealed behind it as you played - but they didn't know I had that!

As for my kids, it's definitely a matter of paying attention to the ratings - that's just good parenting. I remember visiting my parents one Xmas and the neighbours had people over on Xmas Eve. One dad was complaining because he had bought his ten year old son a copy of GTA VIce City and had no idea there were prostitutes in it. In my head I was thinking "that was your fault for not doing your job".

It's also a matter of maturity. If I think my child can handle something a little more advanced, then there's no reason not to let them try it - within reason.

For example, I wouldn't have a problem with a twelve year old playing FF 7, even though there's a few curse words in it.

[Craig]

I think the ratings board giving explanations over why they've rated content they way they have is really important and for the most part what I've seen has been well done. As you said, you might not care if the game has its share of fucks and shits but decapitation may be too far.

[Flabyo]

This is where I show my age.

By the time games reached a point where ones existed you wouldn't let a kid play...

I wasn't a kid anymore.

(I needed ID to buy Perfect Dark. To this day I have no idea how that got a BBFC 18 rating)

[Alex79]

When I was a kid there was never really any question of there being games I wasn't allowed to play, because outside of tiny little niche 'adult' games, they didn't really exist.

Nowadays I'm not that strict either. Anything containing a lot of swearing is out, I don't let my eldest (age 10) play GTA, but Just Cause 2 with its ridiculous cartoon violence is fine I think. I don't see it as any different as him watching The A Team, which he also loves. Call Of Duty has never come up simply because I don't own any, but we have played Halo together plenty of times. I'm not overly concerned to be honest what he plays, I find it very hard to believe there is any link between playing certain video games and displaying anti-social behaviour in real life. He seems to like driving games best though, and there is very little danger when playing those.

Having said this, I'm quite happy for him to listen to music with profanity in, because it's music, and he's mature enough to know that even if he listens to sweary songs, it's not ok to use that language himself.

So yeah, I'm a man of contradictory morals, I guess.

>_<

[chase210]

I don't think I was banned from anything, my brother wasn't much older than me and he had a PS2 with all the GTA games when we were growing up. I played almost entirely nintendo consoles to a certain age, and Nintendo certainly isn't known for pushing the age barrier on games, so it wasn't an issue.

[Joshihatsumitsu]

I was born in 1980, so when I was underaged games certainly didn't have the sort of graphics they had when I was in my 20's/30's.

In fact, my local video store, when it was VHS and not DVD, also leased out the store next door, and that store was basically an arcade. And while the adults were off looking for movies that weren't appropriate for minors, I was in the arcade, playing games like Robocop and Aliens (which I tracked down a PCB and now own... nostalgia...), so even with licenses like that games were still treated as "kids toys". Kinda funny in retrospect!

My parents were strict with me on movies, but not games. I was playing the Aliens arcade game long before I watched the movie: a strange youth where psychosexual-Giger designs were only around 60 cents to engage with...

[macstat]

My parents never strictly forbid me to play any game, but i did get a bunch of loud "TURN OFF THIS STUPID THING" from my father . Two instances i can remember were Mortal Kombat and Dungeon Keeper . Funnily enough it was less about me seeing gruesome things like ripped head of tortured minions but more about screaming and yelling my father kept hearing

I probably wouldnt let my hypothetical kid watch more gruesome, gory things But its very general statement, and when that kid finaly pops up im gonna assess what content is he/she mature enough to handle and what not.

[JaySevenZero]

Similar to Flabyo, my age meant that I never encountered any games that I couldn't play. In fact, the only media I distinctly remember being told I couldn't watch was a VHS copy of the 1979 Tinto Brass film Caligula back in the early 80's. Which at the time just meant that I went around to one of my older friends houses and watched it there instead!

But I digress...

[Joshihatsumitsu]

It's odd that when I was underaged it was more about being at the mercy of my parents financial situation than censorship. Now as an adult, living in Australia, I have the independence and financial means to get whatever games I want, though now instead of my parents it's the government and the ratings board that dictate what's appropriate for me! Thank goodness for importing and loopholes.

[MagicianArcana]

I think it was just GTA that my parents had a hard time letting me play. GTA IV came out before I was old enough to buy M rated games on my own, and it took a lot of effort to convince my parents to let me buy it. They really bought into the negative stories on the news.

When I was younger I wanted to play GTA 3 on the PS2, but they strictly forbade it at the time. Yet somehow they were ok with God of War and Resident Evil. Probably because they didn't hear anything about those games on the news.

[Suits]

Similar to a few others, being 32 now, things only really started to pick up age ratings when I was about at the age to get away with it.

Although I vividly remember trying to buy Eternal Champions on the Mega Drive and being worried about the age cert on.


On topic, if anyone is interested I highly recommend watching this by the Gaming Historian.

Its the background and case relating to the implementation of the ESRB and PEGI ratings.

It's great, narrated excellently, researched very well and is fascinating to see Sega and Nintendo battle it out in the courtroom.

[eastmcduck]

Only game I specifically remember my parents saying no to was Duke Nukem. The good thing about my parents, though, is they were naive and didn't really pay attention to the games we were playing anyway, so of course we played it even though we were told no. I even eventually talked mom into buying me Duke Nukem: Time To Kill on Playstation when it came out. Sheesh... It just dawned on me that it's been 18 years since that game released...

[stvnorman]

Wasn't Jack the Ripper on the Spectrum X-rated? Sam Fox's Strip Poker would probably have been a step too far for me too, but like others, I was well over 18 before anything got more fruity than that. I've got a 9-year old who's only interested in FIFA, albeit only when he can't be playing for real. But should that ever change, I'll follow the ratings. They offer good content descriptions on top of the age, saving me the responsibility of formulating a grown up decision by myself! There's a couple of kids in his class that have the new CoD. I'm fairly sure the parents wouldn't dump a copy of Cannibal Holocaust on them, but this is just a game...