Small Kids and Violent Games

• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-06-14 17:34
  Just wondering, how do you guys handle it? I normally let my 4 year old nephew watch everything I play, evne if it includes smashing zombies or running away from huge demon fists, and we just talk about what's going on so he understands. He loves watching me play Dark Souls 2. That's pretty impersonal and it's just monsters and I do a lot of jolly cooperation helping other people.
  
  Only today I wanted to "take a pause" because I came up to the dog scene in TWD S2E1, which is pretty gruesome to watch.
  [video=youtubeold;7GI_4lSzsJc]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7GI_4lSzsJc[/video]
• Hanna wrote on 2014-06-14 18:06
  Children are sponges and for that reason I think it's important for them to play and watch things age appropriate
• Kyishi wrote on 2014-06-14 18:51
  plz protect our darling children from icky gore
• Osayidan wrote on 2014-06-14 18:58
  I don't think "age appropriate" makes any sense in North America at least. Can't speak for the rest of the world since I don't know their standards.
  I find it pretty messed up though that violence is pretty widely accepted (not gore but violence, shooting/fighting/etc), then blood and gore is somewhat as well, but then as soon as you see a boob or non-pornographic sex scene it's the end of the fucking world.
  
  So what we're teaching our kids is that violence is fine, but the human body and sex isn't.
  
  If I had kids I'd much rather they be exposed to mild nudity on the TV screen than people shooting each other full of holes, but I guess that makes me a terrible person because according to our society the TV ratings system doesn't agree with me.
• RicochetOrange wrote on 2014-06-15 04:35

  Quote from Hanna;1225870:

  Children are sponges and for that reason I think it's important for them to play and watch things age appropriate

  
  This. Even though I don't agree that violence outright makes one violent, I believe it would have that effect in children. Especially younger ones.
• Compass wrote on 2014-06-15 07:16
  I let my cousins watch. I don't care, they knows video games are just video games.
  
  For example I talked to him about Fallout 3 and New Vegas and how you can mutilate people, he thought that was pretty cool and we even co-oped some violent games.
  
  But is that all they cares about? No. If you give one of them a choice between any game and a Nintendo title he'll always go for the Nintendo title preferably a Zelda one, hell if you give him a violent game compared to something like Jak and Daxter or Sly he'll pick latter too.
  
  And that was basically me when I was growing up too. I thought violent games were fun to play and I was surrounded with games including violent ones when growing up but I still preferred playing other ones
• Space Pirate Nithiel wrote on 2014-06-15 07:36
  I disagree with the whole 'all children are sponges' thing. Sure some are. Others aren't. My first video game was Blood Omen: Legacy of Kain on Ps1(I was.. 5? when it came out). I have yet to try to drink anyone's blood, murder a god, massacre thousands of people, or sleep in a coffin. My second game was Gex(Around 7-8). I haven't become a beer swilling TV addicted gecko that jumps on strangers heads and licks small animals either. My cousin started playing GTA when he was like, 10. He has yet to murder any hookers or steal a car. I think it varies from child to child and while yes, SOME are sponges and will get fucked up for life by playing Duke Nukem, others aren't and can play whatever they want with no effects on their day-to-day lives. It's the parent's responsibility to know which of the two their child is before getting them the game.
• Fracture wrote on 2014-06-15 07:42

  Quote from Osayidan;1225875:

  I don't think "age appropriate" makes any sense in North America at least. Can't speak for the rest of the world since I don't know their standards.
  I find it pretty messed up though that violence is pretty widely accepted (not gore but violence, shooting/fighting/etc), then blood and gore is somewhat as well, but then as soon as you see a boob or non-pornographic sex scene it's the end of the fucking world.
  
  So what we're teaching our kids is that violence is fine, but the human body and sex isn't.
  
  If I had kids I'd much rather they be exposed to mild nudity on the TV screen than people shooting each other full of holes, but I guess that makes me a terrible person because according to our society the TV ratings system doesn't agree with me.

  
  
  I would agree with you, more or less. I also don't have a problem with violence, but part of that was that my parents made sure, when allowing me to take in violent media as a kid, that I knew the difference between video game/movie violence and real violence. As it is I've grown up seeing shit like Samurai X and playing Halo, but in the real world I've only started two fights in twenty years, both of which were extreme cases.
  
  It's less a matter of what parents show their kids and more a matter of talking to them and making sure they understand what they're viewing, and how it relates to the real world.
• Campylobacter jejuni wrote on 2014-06-15 10:47
  Children are certainly sponges, but not necessarily in the way we think they are. Even children are able to compartmentalise, evident by their ability to play catch without being seriously distressed by someone hunting them down, or by playing soldier and shooting everyone down. They understand it's a game, and certainly when you talk to them about it, i.e. engage them. My nephew already knew you shouldn't kill people before he watched me playing, and in that light he actually commented on it, so he knows it's not good, and it's reaffirmed that you don't do these things in real life when we talk about what I'm playing.
  
  Also "being a sponge" means "able to learn very well", so I'd argue it is best that we show them pretty much everything so they get used to the world they live in and engage their craving and ability to learn new things. I don't think "age approriateness" has any bearing beyond mental or physical challenge, and in taht case they can mostly decide to step down from the challenge on their own. I personally wouldn't interfere if my nephew seriously attempted to do algebra or lifting a RELATIVELY heavy weight. Though I'm wary of letting him cut stuff with big knives. He already can cut bread with the right knife though, because it's very sharp and goes through the bread quite easily (sharp knives are generally safer for that reason, you don't slip nearly as easily - really sharp ones already cut things without you applying any pressure so there's no chance of slipping).
  
  Everyone who witnesses a murder for the first time or is raped up the buttocks is traumatised, irrelevant of age. Either things can be handled by most people with brains throughout all age brackets, or they can't be handled by most people with brains throughout all age brackets. Age is just not a factor really. You just gotta engange them so they understand it and don't draw any false conclusions based on their non-existent experience - like the kid who drowned himself in sand allegedly trying to recreate some Yu-Gi-Oh thing (mabye his friend was just a lying psychopath though, it happens in children too - fuck innocence).
• Username wrote on 2014-06-15 14:28
  Videogame creators are the vultures of kids innocence.
  But, i was not introdudced to violence early like some.