17% of GTA 4 Owners Between Age 7 and 16
Seven? Yes seven. According to new Nielsen survey info, 17% of Grand Theft Auto 4 owners are minors between the ages of 7 and 16: http://www.gamedaily.com/articles/ne...sers-underage/. Even more disturbing is the fact that 39% of the underage gamers had relatives and friends purchase the game for them. Why is that disturbing? Because those same parents that purchased this game will be the first to blame it once their underage kids do something stupid. Such is the American way
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
Originally Posted by THE 1 2 P
When I start getting emails from second graders asking me how to beat "Three Leaf Clover" at least I'll know why.
(BTW, Version 1 of my just completed GTA IV guide is now up at GameFAQs for those interested)
I'm still not sure what all the brouhaha about kids playing "mature" games is about. Who cares if some kid plays GTA? I mean, if I had a 7 year old, I certainly wouldn't buy him/her GTA4, but it's not the end of the world if it happens. It just seems so trivial to me.
For all the crap DP members give GameStop I must admit they do ask for age verfication and inform parents of the contents of the game.
Yeah I agree, this isn't much of a surprise. I still do a little double-take, though, when I hear an obviously pre-pubescent voice on COD4 or some such game. Very strange.
Next thing you know, kids aged 7-16 will start watching R-rated movies!
If a parent deems a child mature enough to play an M-Rated game, it's really nobody elses business but the parents.
This of course is coming from someone who serves a small glass of ale or wine to a 7 year old with dinner, so take it as you will.
Mangar
http://www.lucid-vision.org
what makes me mad the most, is now all of a sudden gamestop is so worried about the M rated games. Also that parents / grandparents say when the news asks, them did you know your child was playing this; they respond by saying "OMG I had NO idea, what kind of game it was." Amazing
What percentage of those are 7 versus 16 - any idea?
I wonder if they would have put an "M" rating on D&D back in my high school days, and if my parents would have let me play it or not...
Time will be when the broadest river dries
And the great cities wane and last descend
Into the dust, for all things have an end
My parents don't care if my little brother (15) and little sister (14) play violent games. They know they've raised us well enough that we won't be so stupid to repeat the things we see. I think that if my siblings used to get 2 or 3 beatings per day they should know by now.
They actually are more concerned about what movies they watch, which usually have more blood and nudity than any video game.
"Tell her you want to slide a hot throbbing cartridge in her warm tight console port. And if it starts blinking and flashing to just slide it back out and blow on it a little."--Sothy
Parents are morons. I used to work at Gamestop (when it was EB) when GTA III first came out and we were required to start asking for ID. So a kid who is 11 years old comes in one day and tries to buy the game, and of course I tell him no.
About twenty minutes later he comes back in with his mom, who says she'll buy the game for him. I figure she doesn't actually realize what's in the game (does an 11 year old even know what a hooker is?), so I tell her, at which point she responds with one of the most ignorant statements I've ever heard from another human being: "Well, if he gets a chance to play with hookers in the game and gets it out of his system, then maybe it will stop him from going to real hookers in the future."
I'm now an ardent supporter of requiring licenses to become a parent.
Remember this story?:
http://www.smh.com.au/articles/2007/...366282250.html
"Tell her you want to slide a hot throbbing cartridge in her warm tight console port. And if it starts blinking and flashing to just slide it back out and blow on it a little."--Sothy
This is a VERY good question. You hit the nail on its head.
One of the oldest cheap tricks by guys with a political agenda using statistics is to conveniently reduce or expand sections in order to make their biased point. (income brackets, sales numbers among many others; expect a myriad of those dumb statistical quotes in election campaigns; look at global warming statistics about greenhouse gases and temperature shown from 1970 on but not including 1940 or earlier because it just wont fit the core of the theory)
In this case: young children are put in one bracket with younger teenagers so that the sensational "does no one think about our children" can be screamed by the over-concerned educational dictators like David Walsh.
Research shows that the effect of 'violent' media (including games) on behavior is dramatically reduced by the age of 11 while 5 to 10 year olds playfully imitate behavior observed. (I rely here on the findings by one of David Walsh's research papers, certainly not a lobbyist for the game industry)
That means it is very important to distinguish between a 14 year old and an 8 year old when we talk about those sensationalist headlines.
I bet that the percentage of owners 11 and younger is dramatically low, and 13 and up represent the vast majority of the 17 percent.
...but I guess a headline "Two percent of GTA4 owners between age 7 and 10" isn't just newsworthy enough.
Last edited by lendelin; 08-12-2008 at 03:23 PM.
Wow, I'm guessing people don't pay attention to the rating system.
For some unknown reason, I thought this was hilarious. Then, I had the idea that parents should start rubbing copies of the PS3 version of GTA IV on the gums of teething babies to soothe them.
It's been a weird night.
Currently catching up on PSN, WiiWare, Wii U E-Shop and Xbox Live Arcade exclusives I missed.
That's just all types of discombobulated (spellcheck)! Kids are really impressionable and to see them playing a game of this nature is ridiculous. If I saw a mere child playing a M rated game I would surely call out the parents and ask why. Why would you allow your child to play such a game. This is why kids are growing up de-sensitized to the world around them.
What.....the......fuck??????????????????
ALL HAIL THE 1 2 P
Because I'm intelligent enough to make the call for my child, rather than allowing some 3rd party who has never met him dictate what he should or shouldn't see or do or experience.
You know, like what everybody who likes to harp about parents *wants* a parent to do - be involved and make the appropriate decisions.
Here's a better question: why do people without kids think they can understand what it's like to raise a child? And I'm not talking about the people behind the ratings system (they're a useful guideline that I have no issues with whatsoever).
Time will be when the broadest river dries
And the great cities wane and last descend
Into the dust, for all things have an end
You know, I think people should be allowed to parent the way they feel is best, and in the end they get what they deserve. I don't tell you how to raise your kid, you don't tell me how to train my dog.
That said--when I bought GTA IV (back in late June--I haven't played it in awhile) it was right at the time of year when all the kids are out of school. Regardless of the time of day, every time I went to play multiplayer in GTA IV, it was me and 3 prepubescent boys in the lobby. And they were yelling "faggot faggot faggot fuck shit fuck fuck faggot fuck" the whole time. I kicked one of them from the lobby because I got so tired of hearing it.
We have friends that have a daughter who just turned 12. Mom and dad are pretty cool, and they let her come over and spend the night, and we play video games until 4 in the morning sometimes. And they don't care what she plays--her favorite is Bioshock (I think that's going to be our costume for Halloween). But the one game we won't let her touch is GTA IV, and it's only because of the sex. That just seems to be one thing in American culture that people freak out over, so we just avoid it. She's still at that age where she asks a lot of questions and doesn't really filter out the things mom and dad shouldn't know about, and I don't need her going home talking about hookers.
I remember once we were playing Castlevania Symphony of the Night. Inspired by an enemy in the game, she asked her extremely superstisious Moroccan father (who has trinkets around the house to protect them from the evil eye) if she could have a Ouija board. It wasn't pretty.
Right, sure you would
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