While most freethinking individuals understand that a child's upbringing is the responsibility of parents and not the media, it's amazing how many other people (known as twats) seem to believe otherwise. Rockstar hasn't minced its words on the subject, going so far as to say that anybody who buys its games for kids is a "terrible parent."
The comments come from Lazlow, recognizable to Grand Theft Auto fans as the franchise's long-suffering radio DJ: "Our games are not designed for young people. If you're a parent and buy one of our games for your child you're a terrible parent. We design games for adults because we're adults.
"There's a lot of kids games out there that we're not interested in playing. Just like you enjoy watching movies and TV shows with adult themes and language and violence that's the kind of thing we seek to produce."
Pretty much.
Red Dead Redemption hoping for 'emotional response' [BBC]
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Contest:
2:20 PM on 05.21.2010 | 
IF you have some crazy psycho kid who stabs the family cat and you but said kid GTA do you REALLY think the kid is going to start petting the cat?
Though as a person who worked customer service in high school and one of the groups I head IT for in my adult life includes a private school I can say most parents are terrible parents and shouldn't buy these games for kids.
If you complain about not knowing what was in the game after you bought it for your child you're just a crap parent.
Just came in from Amazon today, and I can't fucking wait to pop it in my 360.
Anyway, I guess my point is you're not necessarily a terrible parent for letting your kid play GTA. If you're aware of and familiar with the content in a given movie/game/record/book and know your child and feel they are mature/intelligent enough to handle said content then by all means let your 12 year old play Red Dead.
I mean... how do you grow up if you're NEVER exposed to anything? Your age doesn't dictate your wisdom, you could be 40 and if you've been sheltered all your life from everything you're probably no better equipped to deal w interactive violence than a fucking 10 year old.
*does a jig*
Of course, this can be spun pretty easily. "Rockstar games accuses people of being bad parents!" would be the headline.
Personally I'd love to have the option of a true AO rated version, with full HD hot coffee action! I am an adult after all, and I reserve the right to act as immaturely as I want.
Those are the bad parents Rockstar is referring to.
For all intents and purposes, an "M" rating IS an "Adult" rating. The descriptions of the two (on the official ratings site) only differ by ONE year as one says it's suited only for players 17 and older and the other says 18 and older.
But I also wasn't retarded enough to take anything in a game seriously, and if a parent knows their child will understand it's just a goofy little game, I don't necessarily think that makes them a bad parent.
Actually, I think a good parent is the one that does actual parenting and also lets their kid have some freedom to do what they want so long as they're responsible with whatever they're doing. Parents that ban everything that's even mildly "obscene" are just insane and don't know how to properly educate their kid, so they have to pretend those "obscene" things simply don't exist.
Fuck lazy parents. The only worse thing is Gay-aids. Gaids? j/k but seriously I fucking hate irresponsible parents.
This statement holds a massive amount of validity, but when the natural reaction to the assuming of reponsibility is to pass the buck back onto the creators of entertainment marketed toward a mature-mindset audience, it will largely fall on deaf ears or be misquoted/misconstrued/taken far out of context.
The game isn't meant for kids, but you have to ask yourself this: how mature are the people that can't even take the time to read the little reasons why a game carries the rating it does, only to turn around and expose a developing mind to something that could horribly skew their viewpoint well before its time? I bet those are the same people that know all too well how to make children (and most likely don't know how to stop), but yet have no idea how to raise and nurture a developing human mind / brain.
Taking all bets.
I don't think you're a terrible parent if you buy your kids a vidya game. I think you're a terrible parent if you blame their murderous behaviour on a vidya game.
But this game company is just looking out for their own backs. Thats all.
A parent has to take responsibility for what their child/children play and watch, and if they're giving them GTA without a thought then yes, that's bad parenting. But if the parent has seriously considered it and plans to either play it with their child or educate them about how it's not real and doing it all in real life is bad, then I think that's great parenting.
If a parent says "GTA is alright because you know better," but the kid unlocked Hot Coffee, I do think the company should be responsible for it. The box did not say "full nudity and sex." So it made it out that it would be no worse than a rated R film (what it is relative to). Manhunt 2 is the same way with taking off the filter. IMO, Hot Coffee should have not been on the disk and Manhunt 2 should not have been able to take off the filter.
Yes, parents should look at the rating and do their homework on video games. But Rockstar should not write themselves off. If they want their games to be only bought for adults then get an "AO" rating, if not then don't set yourself up for a lawsuit....again.
Well thats my rant. How's your day been?
Last night I was playing Red Dead and I decided to go into a saloon to get a drink, I stepped inside only to see a few gang members, I wasn't going to let that slide (mainly because killings great and you dont get negative points for kiling gang members) I shot two of them in the head and gave the last one a nice smack in the mouth then I lasso'd him. Once he was on the ground I hog tied him and got my drink. I put the dude on my shoulder and proceeded to go head outside. I whistled for my horse only to find a whore on her knees right outside the bar with some drunk ass bastard threatening her life, I shot him right in the neck before he killed the poor girl. after that I put the gang member on my horse and made my way to the sheriffs to get my reward.
I love this game.
Name one on the Playstation 3.
Also, Captain Obvious is obvious.
Parents need to shut the #$@! up and be happy that all they have to do is look for a giant label on the box, they don't even have to preview it themselves.
The content in the "worst" video games(consoles at least) is not even as mature as rated R movies and even some network television shows, and these show real live people!
If a game company(at least in America) wants to release a game with full on hardcore controllable sex and cold blooded, gruesome, senseless killing that should be their right. This is supposed to be a free country, dammit!!
My parents didn't let me. I also wasn't allowed to watch R rated movies (save Braveheart) until I was 17.
Believe it or not, following the ratings works. While I'll agree with what has been said by people who have played them before the "recommended" guidelines, rockstar makes the point that these are recommended for a reason.
Rather than just buy the game because the kid wants it, a good parent should consider the content and the maturity of their child. The parents that don't do that are the terrible ones.
Myself, I don't mind my parents blocked me from M rated games, but it did mean I had one hell of a backlog when I started buying them.
kainsec said it perfectly. I played GTA when I was pretty young, but I knew the difference and I never hurt anyone or was violent in anyway.