11 Plus Exams Forum

Here's my problem.... my 11yr old son wants to play 18 PS3 game, help! there are three key issues

1) gore.... not a problem for him
2) language... not a problem, you can switch off the bad language in settings
3) glorification of war.... here is my problem, I don't want my son to think killing is fun, is ok.... now the games are clearly animated, but there is still realism....

he's so upset that I've said no (we're talking about Call Of Duty), he's the only one not allowed to play it, but that's not a reason to say yes...so, do I

a) stick to my guns, he's too young
b) give in and stop over thinking
c) let him play occasionally, but for all the time he spends on it, he spends the same about reading about WW1 and 2 ?

HELP? what do you think?

I have asked Miss Magwich - she says NO and she would have reservations about an 18 year old playing it.
No need or point to it at all.

No, absolutely not. My son also claims that he is the only boy not allowed to play 18 games. I don't believe him and I also explained to him the reasons why we don't let him play.

We've said no, but I know that they have played it at friends' and cousins' homes. It's easy to enforce at home as we only have a wii and that rarely sees the light of day.

My DS did not play 18 games until he was 18 and even then there are some he doesn't choose to play.

No. There are numerous studies that show the more children play violent on-screen games the more desensitised they become with real life violence which has disturbing implications. Research shows that by the time they are 18 the average game player has viewed 200,000 plus acts of violence, 10% of which are murders. I believe this figure includes TV. Why would you want an 11 year old exposed to that?

I won't let my two 13 year olds play 15 games even though their younger friends claim to have it at home and many of their friends play 18 games, or so they claim!

If all parents stuck to their guns, we wouldn't have peer pressure to follow suit. My DC don't raise the subject anymore. Have told them why they cant have certain items and if they ask again there will be consequences. They haven't asked for a while! Getting upset because they can't have something should be nipped in the bud!

Koala (not always a popular Mum!)

Another no, we don't have any 18 rated games in the house. You can't really control what they play at others' houses but that's not a reason to allow it at home. (DS is 15)

i am surprised you would even be considering this. As other posters have mentioned, there are psychological consequences of watching violent games full of gore. You might think this is not a problem, but in his undeveloped brain, he is 'normalising' what he sees. I was listening to the Moral Maze on Radio 4 yesterday and this was also mentioned in relation to ***********. We have a duty to our children, to keep them safe until their brains are old enough to process what they see and they can make their own decisions.

The boys who murdered 2 year old James Bulger were only a year younger than your DS. Violence had clearly been normalised in their brains too, no doubt.

(Word taken out by filter: begins with p and ends with graphy. You know what I mean).

Another vote for 'no', even though we have had frequent requests for COD from my 11 year and 13 year olds.

Nope. My 12 year old ds has loved playing video games for about a decade now, and we don't have any 18s. One 15 that I can see (Fable 2). Fortunately he's never asked, but no, there's no way I would have those hyper-realistic war/crime games in my front room!