Gamefaqs polls are usually useless, but...

[Gamereviewgod]

... this one says something. If you ever wondered how many parents don't really know what's going on with regards to games, this is a nice, unscientific poll (cut and pasted):

Yes, and they play along too 13.5% 3440
Yes, they monitor what I play 13.92% 3546
Sometimes, I have to hide the more violent games 7.75% 1973
Not really, they don't show much interest 52.19% 13294
No, they have no idea what I play 12.64% 3221

Is it just a sad state when over 50% of kids parents don't care?

[shaggy]

Man, you would think parents would care and be more involved with there kids but nowadays parents just don't seem to give a shit. And people wonder why we have problem nowadays? Because of BAD parenting!! Not video games or music!!

[dieourumov]

Parents really do suck, they don't care but that's because they were brought up when their parents were at war, or their parents were hippies. and now we are starting to get into the generation where the children of the 80s are starting to become parents, which is even worse.

[MegaManFan]

On the other hand, if you have a glass half full mindset, you could view it as the parents being concerned about the REAL problems in their kid's life and therefore not putting video games at the top of the list. I'd much rather know if my kid was hanging out with the wrong crowd, why he/she wasn't home before curfew, and if they took us seriously as parents about not smoking and drinking. If my kid's in the house playing Grand Theft Auto, it's probably going to get a *shrug* from me. GTA3 and up, well we might have a talk first, or maybe I'd just play it too. Either way it couldn't be much worse than me watching the A*Team and playing Castle Wolfenstein. I didn't grow up to do driveby shootings or sell drugs. I think the other thing that matters is that video games be part of a healthy diet, by that I mean as long as they have books and music in their life too it's hard to imagine they won't turn out right no matter WHAT they play.

[Neil Koch]

It is sad, but not an unexpected result.

Back when I worked the electronics dept. at Target, a lot of parents just didn't care what their kids watched, played or listened to...

I would have parents buying GTA for their kids and I would try to tell them that it wasn't really a kids name... a few of them appreciated the heads-up, but quite a few of them got snotty with me and were disgusted that I would suggest to tell them how to raise their child.

Of course, a lot of those same parents would eventually come back and try and return the game after they actually watched their "little precious" running over peds and killing cops and would be incensed that I sold them such "trash"...

[PDorr3]

maybe most parnts dont care because they are smart enough to know ITS JUST A GAME.

[ig88vsbobafett]

maybe most parnts dont care because they are smart enough to know ITS JUST A GAME.

Yes but do you want your 9,10,11 years olds playing GTA or other games like that ?

[Snapple]

I don't know about y'all, but when I was young, my parents wouldn't exactly let me go see every R movie. There were boundaries that had to only be rolled back as I got older.

I think most kids go through that, so I don't see why it should be any different with video games.

There is some positivity to this. Our generation actually plays video games, so it's going to be very different by the time most of us have kids (and some of you probably already have some), and better yet, when people like us get elected to positions of power instead of the Joe Liebermans of the world.

I can see the ESRB ratings. I can be mindful of what my kids will have to play, because I understand video games.

Honestly, I don't think if more parents played video games, the world would be a better place.

[Milk]

Is it really surprising that over 50% of parents of GameFAQs users don't care?

[MegaDrive20XX]

Bottom line, "If it gets my kids to get off my back, then I'll pay the damn $50" Which is a statement I have heard too many times

[Cmosfm]

Parents really do suck, they don't care but that's because they were brought up when their parents were at war, or their parents were hippies. and now we are starting to get into the generation where the children of the 80s are starting to become parents, which is even worse.

Parent's Really do suck?



You know, the more I read these asinine replies from users here, the more I want to throw myself off a fucking bridge.

DP is getting too much of a "GameFAQs" feel to it lately.

[Slimedog]

Speak up if your parents monitored or influenced your gaming habits as a kid. I know my mom kept an eye on what I was playing. She generally didn't ban particular games outright, but she had a way of offering alternatives. Like I could get Mortal Kombat for my birthday, or two less violent games. I had to choose. The only game she ever actually said I couldn't play was Smash TV. Naturally, I adore Smash TV to this day, but even then I could see where she was coming from.

[slownerveaction]

There's an important part of this poll that's being ignored in this discussion:

Are (or were) your parents aware of the kinds of video games you play?

I know GameFAQs is crawlin' with 13-year-olds, but how many of these voters are of age... and possibly come from an era when games weren't to explicit? When I was growing up during the 8-bit era, nothing in a game was anything worse than G.I. Joe. There wasn't a great need for parents to monitor game content back then. It's a different story now, of course, but we can't tell how many voters are basing this on their current experiences, since it has "or were" in there in lieu of something like, "I'm over 18 and free to choose to play what I want."