I was talking with a coworker about what games my parents allow me to play, and what they let their kids play. My parents were fine with most things bloody things, like Resident Evil 4, Left 4 Dead and Gears of War, mostly because you were fighting like aliens or zombies. They were fine with military shooters too, and got really interested in the Modern Warfare storylines. The game that they really had a problem with was GTA, of course, but later, when my little sister started playing it, they got invested in GTA 5’s story, so eventually we could just play whatever we really wanted. How bout you all? Did your parents have any weird or strict rules in games or movies?
1H a day. After homework
None
As kids we had a dos 286 pc with some basic vga games. Nearly all of them were educational so my parents let us play those whenever. We got a used SNES for xmas the year the n64 came out, and we played that as much as we could. My parents didn’t know then and still struggle now with computers, so they let me do as I pleased with the PC, within reason.
As a teen I bought my own computer and my own PC games. My parents probably would not have approved of me playing half life, doom, quake, UT, and other graphic games, but I played the hell out of those. I also had stuff like myst that were pretty low key but fun. My PC was my own personal machine, so I did with it what I wanted, when I wanted.
The usual concern with most older gen gamers was having parents telling us video games would rot our brains. As they stared at the TV for hours most nights… Video games sharpen your motor skills, reflex times, logic and reasoning skills, among other things. I find quite the opposite to be true and would advocate that video games are actually very, very good for you in many ways, unlike most television shows. I highly encourage gaming over watching. Our family game night is usually played on a console rather than a table.
I grew up with gaming on a DOS PC, Atari, and original NES. My parents didn’t regulate my use, but refused to spend money on consoles or the games themselves. I supported my gaming interests with summer jobs, skipping lunch and saving the lunch money instead. Both of my parents were also addicts, so I could usually steal 5-10$ once in a while when they were high without being noticed. Not sure when the ESRB rating system rolled out, but it’s something I paid attention to when buying games for myself, and eventually my kids.
When I had my own stepchildren, they were free to game as much as they wanted when chores and homework were done, and adhered to a 10 pm lights out to get 8 hrs of sleep. As my stepson grew more interested in mature titles, I often played those titles to see what the content was like before deciding if I would allow him to play it. His bio mom was clueless about games, and tended to be more restrictive than me. I played OG halo before deciding it was a game he could play as a 14 year old. I played some of the GTA games before deciding he had to be 16 before we would let him play those. (My issue was picking up a prostitute and then being able to beat her after to get the $ back.) I started playing WOW because my stepson wanted to play. After some exploring I thought it was a safe title for him. Gaming was something that brought us closer together, and I spent so much time gaming with him. If I had the chance to give birth to my own kids, I would wish for a biological son like my stepson.
<13 it was pg 13 or less, not that I really cared about anything else tbh.
By about 13-15 it was anything except porn (ex. doom eternal was allowed) this is also when I was allowed unrestricted Internet, so I was being sent photos of decapitated heads on discord anyways lol
at 16 I got a debit card and no rules
I generally wasn’t allowed to play video games because they were a waste of time. Eventually I was allowed to play dexterity-based games like DDR and Guitar Hero, but not often.
Most of the games I’ve played were after I moved out, and I never really got into them.
I must say, great thread for a gamer that is now a parent.
In my childhood I could play anything, but graphics were not good enough to leave much marks.
Now my 11 year old worked his way up from GTA San Andreas to playing GTA5 and RDR2. He was watching the cut scenes anyway on YouTube (crappy moderation for violence there). Trying to avoid sex as much as possible, worried about GTA6 (we’ll probably play it together). Anyway, the greatest shock for him was the choice in GTA4 (kill your friend or the rich guy).
Anyway, the greatest shock for him was the choice in GTA4 (kill your friend or the rich guy).
what did he choose?
I was playing mortal Kombat when I was 9-10. They didn’t do due diligence, and if I thought they’d have a problem with it, I would just lie about it. I’m still playing mortal Kombat but compared to everyone else in the world, I suck ass now. Same with call of duty. From 19- 28 or so, I was awesome. Quit playing when they announced advanced warfare because it was getting too corny and the maps kept getting worse and worse for making plans, and all about chaos and random encounters. Got MW2 with my PS5 for nostalgia, and I again found that I wasn’t as good as I used to be. Oh and all the stupid skins like santa running around in a warzone was fucking stupid. They should’ve left that to fortnight. These days I mostly play racing sims (thankfully I’m still really good at GT7) and RPGs which is funny that as I got older I wound up playing more family friendly stuff.
I had rules until I started getting an allowance and could guy my own games. That was around the time of GameCast.
Rules
- Nothing M rated
- Only 1 new game per year, so choose wisely
- We could rent from blockbuster, but I couldn’t rent the same game more than once, so I better finish that game in 3days, 5 days if they were feeling generous that week.
- I was allowed to borrow games between friends, but since I had like 4 games to trade, they never wanted to let me borrow their games.
My mom was really against cursing and of course anything sexual, but the rest was pretty much fair game.
An exception would be Manhunt, but I even got to play MGS3 as a kid (which ended up being my favorite game of all time.)
They tried, but I don’t think they did a great job.
I was limited by time and duration. I wasn’t allowed to start playing games until like 3pm, and wasn’t allowed to play after dinner. (If I went to someone else’s house, the rule didn’t apply. If someone came to my place, video games were also allowed, but my parents didn’t like people coming over). I also had to finish all my homework first. I remember just watching the clock on the weekends waiting for it to tick over to 3pm, then dashing up the stairs to the games.
For some reason, I was allowed to watch as my TV as I wanted. I’m old and tv was limited, and we didn’t have all the channels.
What ended up happening is I would lie. I would say I had finished my homework when I hadn’t to get that sweet, limited video game time. I would say I was watching TV in the basement but I was playing games with the sound down.
This trashed my school habits. I was doing all my homework the morning it was due. I was a smart kid so everything was still getting done well enough for me to get B’s, but this wasn’t great. When I got to college I had no study habits or learning stamina.
To this day I kind of find tv and other passive watching unsatisfying. I never watch anything on my own. Only with someone else.
I don’t know what would have worked better. The clock based limit felt terrible though. Really hated that. Maybe if they had explained “if you put all your stat points in video games now, when skill ups are cheap, you’re going to be underpowered later” it would have landed.
RELATABLE, I destroyed my study habits for the same reason, though, I’m much better at studying now.
As long as I was above the age limit on the box, I was fine. Some games rated 12 got an exemption if my older sibling was consulted.
My parents let me play whatever I wanted, even Mortal Kombat and Resident Evil, but first they taught me the difference between fiction and reality and said I could play for a limited amount of hours per day, and only after doing my homework or after studying. Except on weekends, on weekends they let me play for longer, but also made sure I was playing offline too and going outside. It was pretty good.
The funny thing to me is that my dad would sometimes say it frustrated him that I liked video games because he thought they were “for boys” and yet he was the one who bought my (jailbroken) console and (pirated physical copies of) games until I turned 18 lol
I loved video games as a kid. They didn’t limit the content. I just wasn’t able to play video games during the week and I could only play an hour each day. I think that mindset backfired. Also, it didn’t stop me from going over to my friends house to play video games. By the time I could afford my own, they gave up.
My parents said NO GAMES WITH BLOOD IN THEM!
But when it comes to anime, it’s cartoons, so anything goes. My first anime movie was Ninja Scroll. I was like “Ooo ninjas!” And my dad said “just a cartoon? Okay”
