Gta Iv

[Hatsumi]

For all the GTA releases prior to IV, my son was still a "little kid" and had no interest in playing them. GTA IV looks like it's going to be awesome. I suck at GTA games and have no delusions that I will be able to play it, but my son most definitely has the skills. Action, adventure, shooting...

He's 14 now and is showing interest in the game. I let him play M rated games that don't blur the line between reality and fantasy. You know, like DMC4, Ninja Gaiden, Halo... It's also a collaborative effort. He plays, I watch, we talk about what's going on. I help him solve puzzles, etc.

He is also allowed to watch R rated movies with us. Not alone or with just his friends. It HAS to be with his parents.

While GTA IV is fantasy. It doesn't have demons, space aliens, or other totally fictional things. It has humans with guns in a realistic underground setting.

I trust my son. But I've never allowed him to even TRY GTA. I don't particularly want to play it myself. Not because I think it won't be good. But because I really can't play those games. I die in 5 seconds. So trying it out first isn't really an option.

So my question is: Should I let him play it?

I realize that the game isn't out yet so no one can tell me from experience what kind of content is in it. But I'm curious what people think.

[Jobocan]

I say why not. When i was a kid(younger than 14) I played stuff like Mortal Kombat, and i'm not THAT screwed up now >_> I never got any violent behavior from video games when i was young.

But really, as long as you teach your kid the difference between video games and real life(like my parents did... but like a lot of parents don't do now), it shouldn't affect him, and at 14 he should be mature enough for that.

I say it's okay as long as he's not like those idiotic 12 year olds i see at game stores saying "This game is hilarious, you can have sex with hookers and beat them up afterwards".

[Hatsumi]

My husband and I discussed this for the entire drive into work this morning and we decided that we'd let him play it. M-Rated gaming rules in my house are not going to change, so I'll still be involved while he actually plays the thing. If I think he's old enough to watch A Clockwork Orange supervised, then he's old enough to play GTA supervised.

I saw the results of some informal poll today about what people think is the worst thing for video games to show. Sex was the number one thing, while saying "fuck" repeatedly was the least. Blowing someone's head off or something like that was number two and two men kissing was number three. To me, this looks like people think it's more acceptable to shoot and kill someone than it is to have sex with someone. WTF is wrong with people today? I'd rather have my son tell me that he's sexually active than have police bust down my door and drag him away because he killed someone... Hellloooooo?

[MasterCheese087]

I grew up playing Resident evil and listen to KoRn, and I am not violent. My nephew has played GTA IV and he doesn't act violent either.

[Hatsumi]

Yup, my son and I are having a great time with GTA IV. I think the weirdest part about it, though, is that my son's nickname is Nico, so when he plays, it seems even more than normal that the other characters are actually talking to him...lol.