Hi Dark, Definitely agree with you on the morality issue. I've already told my son, who is by the way 8, under no circumstances are we buying him GTA because his mother and I do not agree with the theft, gang wars, prostitution, and other content in that game. It is fine for an adult to play that kind of game if they want, but it is not suitable for an 8 year old child, and I question its suitability strictly on moral grounds.
However, I still have my NES and I let him play a lot of the same games I had as a kid like Mario, Double Dragon, Legend of Kage, Ninja Turtles, etc. I'm not so worried about cartoon violence in such games as I don't think it influences people as much as some people think. It would be games like GTA that allows you to carry out crimes that I find unsuitable for a child. There are some games that might be unsuitable because of the scare factor. The game Silent Hill is very creepy and some of the gory stuff like blood dripping from the ceiling and walls could give a child nightmares. Every child is different of course, but as a general rule I would not give my son or any 8 year old a creepy game like that until he was maybe 13 just because some of the stuff is disturbing in that game, and a person has to be fairly mature to handle it properly.. I know my son was over at a cousin's house a couple of months ago, and he started getting nightmares. Turned out they were playing a game about demons and monsters that really scared him, and when my wife looked the game up on the Internet found out the game was for 16 and older and my son who is 8 was playing it and was terrified by it. So a parent has to really consider if the content will frighten a child or not. Fortunately, we don't really have any audio games that quite compares in terms of scare factor. About the only games I can think of that would be completely off limits to a child would be the adult oriented games like Dungeon Master, Triple J Shooter, and Coupling which are of a sexual nature. Plus there are a number of adult text adventures that can get pretty descriptive and also would be off limits. Beyond that most audio games could be rated E for everyone or T for teen for all practical purposes since they dont have the gore or the nudity found in mainstream games. Cheers! On 4/16/13, dark <[email protected]> wrote: > Hi Tom. > > Yes, your right about sarah, particularly with it's harry potter > connections, though i do wonder about the action content since one thing > that often grabs kids interest is fast action sequences, by which i don't > mean violence, just things to overcome in a game. > > Monkey business might work too, though i do confess I am not keen on that > game due to the navaid and lack of precision in the audio, and would worry > that kids could become frustrated given that kids don't generaly have as > much patience as adults. > > As to violence, i agree that there's nothing wrong with zapping robots or > ghosts just as mega man and castlevania did, however one issue I do have > with games like gta is that of morality more than violence. > > In mortal kombat, (a game slammed for it's violence though actually pretty > cartoony), you at base line were in a martial arts tournament to decide the > > fate of the world, and though some characters like cano had less than viable > > motives, the main heroes of the game like Liukang and sonia were essentially > > out to be heroic. > > A game like gta is heavily based on actually committing crimes, breaking the > > law, engaging in theft, prostitution, gang war etc, and it's that! sort of > aspect more than the violence which really would be the reason i'd suggest > kids not play it. > > It's rather like the current thinking on showing graphic violence in films. > > I find it quite disturbing that an enemy leader can zap someone to death, or > > still worse, torture someone to the point they become broken and completely > > helpless even in a kid's cartoon, just so long as there is no red stuff. > What scared me as a child wasn't so much blood and guts, heck, i watched > nightmare on elmstreet when I was 9 and the alien films when i was ten, but > > seeing someone in actual painreally bothered me, indeed I'd often find > scenes in cartoons and films such as the action force (gi jo as it is in > america), film when cobra commander is hit with mutation spaws. > > indeed, there was a really fascinating and terrifying doctor who audio on > this point called the cannibalists which i wrote a review of, in which all > the principle characters are robots, but where some really! nasty things > happen to some of them, so you don't even get audio violence, but still! get > > a lot of pain and suffering, which to me at least was just as bad. > > So, to bring this back to games, it's not the gore in a game like shades > that I'd be concerned a child would be bothered buy, so much as the painfull > > character deaths, dark atmosphere etc. indeed, I'd probably guess a game > like hunter, which features grusome but fairly quick death sounds would be > less traumatic, at least I'd have likely found it so as a child. > > Beware the grue! > > > dark. > > > --- > Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] > If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to > [email protected]. > You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at > http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. > All messages are archived and can be searched and read at > http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. > If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, > please send E-mail to [email protected]. > --- Gamers mailing list __ [email protected] If you want to leave the list, send E-mail to [email protected]. You can make changes or update your subscription via the web, at http://audyssey.org/mailman/listinfo/gamers_audyssey.org. All messages are archived and can be searched and read at http://www.mail-archive.com/[email protected]. If you have any questions or concerns regarding the management of the list, please send E-mail to [email protected].
