I was at my swimming practice and there was this 9 year old in the group after me and I was talking to him and all of a sudden he say's what are your favourite games mine are call of duty modern warfare 2, grand theft auto vice city, call of duty modern warfare, gears of war 2 and saints row 2

I'm thinking WHAT THE HELL? YOUR PARENTS LET YOU PLAY THESE GAMES?

What is your view on this and have you met any kids who really shouldnt be playing certain games like these?

I think it depends on the kid's personality.
Some kids are really influenced by playing any game, so their parents should be more aware and cautious about what their kids are playing.
But, on the other hand, there are some kids, who don't get into the game's world so deeply. So, I don't think that their parents have to be very strict with them.

Well, in lower income places kids were already playing real grand theft auto at 10years old u know sellin drugs stealin cars, even the hookers. So maybe bigger problems than the kids just playin the games.

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Personally if i had any kids i wouldn't let them play games like grand theft auto i think video games have a huge influence on the way kids think, I think letting your 9 year old child play a game with drugs, sex, violence, and theft is just wrong

i also think it depends on the kid your talking about too

If I have a kid, I'm going to make sure they are able to separate good from bad and fantasy from reality at as early of an age as possible. I don't want to tell them don't play a game because of its content. I want them to be able to play the game and understand that it's just a game and that people who are like that in real life are bad people or militant workers or what have you. As far as other people's kids are concerned, it's none of my business to decide if it's right or wrong and I would never presume anything unless I directly saw abuse of the child or sufficient evidence of abuse.

Having said that, my kid is also going to learn that the other kids may take the game too seriously or may live a life similar to it in unfortunate circumstances. But until my child understands the difference between right and wrong and reality and fantasy, he's not going to get to play anything but mario and megaman. And what more do you neeD!?

Maybe God of War because that whole series is just a giant cluster of goodness.

Well, I was once one of those kids that played Grand Theft Auto when I was 6

It depends on how the kid gets into games. If they are really into previous games and pretty much act the same way the characters do, then no. If they play the game just to play it and have fun with it, then yes.

For me it's a combination of the kids personality, age, and the rating of the game. If the kids mature enough to handle a T game at the age of ten but I wouldn't let them play one before the age of ten. Once they hit fifteen/sixteen I really don't care what they play lol

Uhhgg, I really dislike how my little 8 year old brother plays Left 4 Dead, MW2, and GTA. He won't stop, and what's worse, he says things like "Kill all SOBs" and making pistol sounds at everybody. He has problems with violent video games, and whenever I tell him to get off my games, but my mother tells me to share, so I have to give in and let him play them. I grew up with better games like Super Mario 64, Zelda, Donkey Kong, where you just stepped on stuff like bugs, not mutilating people or zombies in a horrible bloodbath that is nicknamed a game so that it could be sold to little influential kids.

Actually, I asked him his age and it turns out he's 7. o_0 (guess I'm crud a judging age )

yea I could see it becoming a problem with my little cousin back in 007 days for N64. He was addicted to the point he would have dreams about it. So I think potential to screw a few kids up might be there.

I knew two young boys who were no older than eight years old, and they played GTA like it was their religion. Both of the boys were COMPLETE misbehaved brats, they both had violent tendencies (beating on others, pretending to stab each other, etc.) and used crude language at such a young age.
They came from a troubled household (which explains why the parents were stupid enough to let them play this game)... but I can't help thinking that the stupid game (and whatever else they played) had something to do with it.

Games dont mess people up. If some of these parents would teach their kids what is right or wrong and punish them when they didn't listen then it wouldnt happen so much. Also people like to say games or movies or even Twinkies (i kid u not) made them act or do something, but i don't believe a word of it and they need to realize that it is their fault and take responsibility for what they did. so i dont think it much matters if kids play it as long as they can handle it and are taught right from wrong. As i have said in another thread from like age 4 i was playing things like doom and heretic and lots of other violent games, and i am not messed up bcus of it.

Violent games do not make a violent person.
Now granted that children should not be playing games that are ment for adults (there are ratings for a reason after all), but if the child is actually raised with a proper sense of right and wrong, that just because grown ups swear doesnt mean they should, and that games are fiction and not something to copy then the child can play these games.
The problem is most parents dont raise their children properly and dont pay attention to the ratings either.
They might mean well, but it isnt the same as proper parenting.
An example is alexs mother, she means well sure, but seems to have no grasp on the reality of the situation, that not all games are for kids.

Games do not make violent children. Dumbass, unfit parents make violent children. Children that age are not able to separate fantasy from reality. Video games should never be used as a substitute for parenting, same as the TV. No those games should not be played by young children. Maybe once they hit 18 or so it would be Ok. Do not think that I am in any way supporting any sort of censorship, but parents have got to do their duty.

I'm somewhat on the fence with T rated games, I played many T rated games (Namely Final Fantasies) before there was a rating system of any kind, Final Fantasy 2/4 came out in what? 1992? I would have been 7 at the time and it now garners a T rating if I'm not mistaken. Not to mention I owned Mortal Kombat 1 practically when it came out, even though it was the censored SNES version, I played the ever loving crap out of it, and never once tried to freeze somebody and punch them causing them to shatter into a million little pieces.

I think it mostly boils down to the maturity of the child. Although when it came to T and M rated games, even if I thought my kid could handle it, I would make them try to buy or rent it themselves. That's what I did growing up, and every so often the clerk wouldn't rent me a game that was M rated if it was especially graphic or crude. I went to a mom and pop sort of game store, so the clerk's had a good sense for that sort of thing.

I'm not going to buy my kids cigarettes, why would I buy them an M rated game? If they want either so badly that they are going to find a means to get them without my assistance then so be it.

I'm not going to lie, but my daughter happens to like Aliens vs Predator, when it first came out(but only playing the Predator levels) other than that she's likes watching some of the games I play. I wouldn't play anything too hardcore for her, like GTA, but she's good with Transformers: War for Cybertron

I say its more on the parents part to stop their kid playing violent and gory video games but after 16 or 18 they should be allowed to watch or purchase whatever video games etc they want

My apologies, but I'm sick of being on Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 and have some brat 11 year old screaming into the microphone and the parents, who are apparently deaf, do absolutely nothing to stop their satan spawn. 16 and up, fine. 15 and under, play something that is made for you, not adults.

I know what you mean. I went in school with one. I can't understand what the parents think when they let there children play that kind of games.