Age restrictions on titles

Do you adhere to FPB or PEGI ratings?

  • I strictly follow these guidelines

    Votes: 0 0.0%

  • I loosely follow these guidelines

    Votes: 7 24.1%

  • I decide what content minors see

    Votes: 10 34.5%

  • I don't care about ratings

    Votes: 9 31.0%

  • Ratings? It's just games man.

    Votes: 3 10.3%
  • Total voters
    29
PsychoFish

PsychoFish

New member
Do you pay attention to the FPB (Film and Publication Board) or PEGI (Pan European Game Information) ratings for titles when buying or advocating games for people under the age of 18?

I'm a bit of a stickler when it comes to adhering to these ratings and will for the most part not allow kids (my own and visiting children) play or even watch someone play a title that is outside their age range.
 
I'm not really in the situation where I need to worry about them, but one of my co-workers is always asking about games for his kids, so I tell him to use them.

If I had kids, I'd use them as a guide. Just because a game says 'all ages' or its nearest equivalent also doesn't mean I'd let them play it.
 
I declare what gets seen in my household. Whether it be my son, girlfriend or her kids. I will decide what is appropriate and what is not. I will also be the deciding factor for recommended age for learning material, where they recommend 7+ my son is quite capable of comprehending some of the mechanics and content.
 
I answered idc, simply because I don't have the responsibility of having offspring. (I see a poll, i enter, even if it doesn't concern me :D)

But were I in that situation, it would likely be on a case by case basis. That's how i was brought up. Parents would say "can watch movie X, but not movie Y" even if they had same age restriction. Same for games, although I guess it was alot easier to control games back then, what with the internet not existing yet.
 
I'll decide for myself what is appropriate. I'll see what the rating is for a guideline, but at the end of the day, it's your own responsibility to raise your child as you see fit.

BeoTeK said:
I declare what gets seen in my household. Whether it be my son, girlfriend or her kids. I will decide what is appropriate and what is not. I will also be the deciding factor for recommended age for learning material, where they recommend 7+ my son is quite capable of comprehending some of the mechanics and content.
Click to expand...

Too true! Lots of toys say 3+ because they have small parts, which is fair enough because it's a safety issue, but my kid has been doing 3+ puzzles probably since about when he turned 2, mostly because the smaller puzzles were getting too easy for him so we had to keep getting bigger ones so that it would stay a challenge. His teacher was all impressed last year that he could do a 12 piece puzzle, and we're like ya he's doing 36 piece ones at home. I think that in those cases, the age rating is not a restriction, but more of an indication where most kids on average are able to manage them, but if your kid is doing well at something, there's no reason to hold them back.
 
What is important though is to play video games with your children, watch over them when they play and talk with them about the games they play. Explain why certain games are not suitable. Set the limits by using the parental control tools of the game console or pc.
 
PsychoFish said:
What is important though is to play video games with your children, watch over them when they play and talk with them about the games they play. Explain why certain games are not suitable. Set the limits by using the parental control tools of the game console or pc.
Click to expand...
This, so much this! But extend it to include all media - television, books, internet sites, etc. Parents can't use games and television as self-parenting tools. The abdication of parental responsibility in favour of an electronic babysitter irritates the heck out of me personally. The FPB and PEGI shouldn't determine what your kid does or doesn't watch, read, and play - you, the parent/s, together with your kid, should be the only ones deciding that.

The Missus and I have guided our daughter to the point where she is now: fully able to judge things for herself and mature enough to know and understand why somethings are just not cool to watch, share, play, read. I respect the kid who is able to watch an episode of Dexter and then play The Sims 4 for an hour, and get equal measures of entertainment and enjoyment out of both.
 
GregRedd said:
This, so much this! But extend it to include all media - television, books, internet sites, etc. Parents can't use games and television as self-parenting tools. The abdication of parental responsibility in favour of an electronic babysitter irritates the heck out of me personally. The FPB and PEGI shouldn't determine what your kid does or doesn't watch, read, and play - you, the parent/s, together with your kid, should be the only ones deciding that.

The Missus and I have guided our daughter to the point where she is now: fully able to judge things for herself and mature enough to know and understand why somethings are just not cool to watch, share, play, read. I respect the kid who is able to watch an episode of Dexter and then play The Sims 4 for an hour, and get equal measures of entertainment and enjoyment out of both.
Click to expand...

yeah, the FPB and PEGI should be guidelines and for the most part the parents need to be parents and not allow kids to play say GTA V without supervision. Kids mature at different rates and we should try to shield them from things as much as possible, but if they can handle and understand say violence in the correct context and understand that it's an entertainment medium and not a depiction of real life or real life actions it should be fine.
 
Some of us also play Japanese and US games. They use CERO ratings and ESRB.

I don't look at them because I'm over 21 and can handle my pixels.

Many PC games all over the world however are not rated.


Meh never mind it's for advocating for what's good for brats to watch.
 
I don't care about ratings because I take every game by case.

I would not give a game to a child before I have played it and said experience would heavily influence that decision.

I reckon ratings are there for none gaming parents that use them as a guide as they have no clue what they contain.
 
My son is two years now and lately he likes to sit on my lap when I game. Makes thing a little interesting when he starts pressing buttons.

When I play games like Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 the violence does bother me a little when he's with me. Where possible I tend to "look away" for the finishing moves/kill shots. Think I will probably start playing these games once he's gone to bed.
 
DarkStarZA said:
My son is two years now and lately he likes to sit on my lap when I game. Makes thing a little interesting when he starts pressing buttons.

When I play games like Fallout 4 and Witcher 3 the violence does bother me a little when he's with me. Where possible I tend to "look away" for the finishing moves/kill shots. Think I will probably start playing these games once he's gone to bed.
Click to expand...

That was my approach. I wouldn't really bother when playing things like Destiny around him or during the day. But then I would wait for nightfall to play Bloodborne, or times when he wasn't around.
 
to be honest i wouldnt let my little one play a game i haven't fully played through yet cause i've seen games that are all ages and i'm like wait what then i have seen games that are rated adult and again i'm like wait what
 
There are no minors in our household so age restrictions don't play a role.

I would however adhere to such ratings otherwise; use my discretion as to what I consider harmful to a child's mental upbringing.
While the content I viewed never turned ME homicidal or crazy, I cannot speak for others (aka my or someone else's future children).
 
FarligOpptreden said:
Let your kids play GTA 5... :D
Click to expand...

I once saw a lady in a store insist that she buy GTA 5 for her kid. The assistant asked the kids age and she said 12, the assist then processed to give the detail of the graphic nature and content of the game. She was unfazed. She just wanted the game for the kid.
 
Meteor said:
I once saw a lady in a store insist that she buy GTA 5 for her kid. The assistant asked the kids age and she said 12, the assist then processed to give the detail of the graphic nature and content of the game. She was unfazed. She just wanted the game for the kid.
Click to expand...

That's the problem though, a lot of non gaming parents don't take games (or rather the graphic content of games) seriously, like they think games are for kids, so kids can play anything, but they might be strict about the age restrictions on movies.

Then you get the people who complain about the violence in games and the effect on kids, but that's why they have age restrictions, let your kids play age appropriate games, and there's no problem... Leave the 18+ games for adults to play.
 
don't care for ratings, will let kids play what they like or what I deem is ok.

Meteor said:
I once saw a lady in a store insist that she buy GTA 5 for her kid. The assistant asked the kids age and she said 12, the assist then processed to give the detail of the graphic nature and content of the game. She was unfazed. She just wanted the game for the kid.
Click to expand...

She knows her kid better then that assistant. If she feels he can handle it, I see no problem.
 
Last edited:
You must log in or register to reply here.
Back
Top