Video Game Question

[GAC]

I got my son an XBox for Christmas. He's 17, yet I still try to show some parental constraint in what kind of games he is allowed to play. I do allow him to play Halo on the computer, and bought him Halo/Halo 2 for the XBox. And I have done so with great apprehension.

I simply refuse to allow Grand Theft Auto in my house. I have several co-workers that play it, and after listening to some of the "stuff" one can do, I told my son... "only over my dead body!"

Call me an old fuddyduddy, but I don't see it as a healthy form of "entertainment", especially for minors, to be running around stealing cars, blowing away innocent people, shooting police, picking up prostitutes, etc.

My kids have always played various Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, and auto racing games, and have for years. Pretty tame and mild, yet entertaining.

My oldest boy now wants this game called Doom 3.

Gamers - give me your honest reviews/opinions of this game, and what it involves? As a parent I would appreciate it.

[KronoRed]

Doom 3 is a basic run around shoot aliens game, pretty tame compared to other games.

I don't blame you for not guying GTA games, I don't think anyone under 24 should be playing those

[Johnny Footstool]

Doom is very similar to Halo -- a first-person shoot-'em-up.

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by GAC

I got my son an XBox for Christmas. He's 17, yet I still try to show some parental constraint in what kind of games he is allowed to play. I do allow him to play Halo on the computer, and bought him Halo/Halo 2 for the XBox. And I have done so with great apprehension.

I simply refuse to allow Grand Theft Auto in my house. I have several co-workers that play it, and after listening to some of the "stuff" one can do, I told my son... "only over my dead body!"

Call me an old fuddyduddy, but I don't see it as a healthy form of "entertainment", especially for minors, to be running around stealing cars, blowing away innocent people, shooting police, picking up prostitutes, etc.

My kids have always played various Sonic the Hedgehog, Mario, and auto racing games, and have for years. Pretty tame and mild, yet entertaining.

My oldest boy now wants this game called Doom 3.

Gamers - give me your honest reviews/opinions of this game, and what it involves? As a parent I would appreciate it.

If he's 17, I think Doom 3 is okay. I wouldn't recommend it for someone under 15, but there's a big difference between 15 and 17. And obviously, you know your son much better than I do, but I don't think you will have a big problem with it.

[Johnny Footstool]

If he's 17, I think Doom 3 is okay. I wouldn't recommend it for someone under 15, but there's a big difference between 15 and 17. And obviously, you know your son much better than I do, but I don't think you will have a big problem with it.

I don't know GAC personally, but based on the content of his posts, I'd say he's given his kids a solid moral center and equipped them with a great sense of right and wrong. I think they'd be fine playing pretty much any game out there -- it'll take more than a game to shake their foundations.

[Sean_CaseyRules]

Doom 3, as a gamer, is a great 1st person shooter, if not the best, for the PC, i think that Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 are tied, but there is a lot of gore in it, but if Johnny Footstool is right about GAC's kids having a great sense of right and wrong, this game will make him very VERY happy

[paintmered]

Originally Posted by Sean_CaseyRules

Doom 3, as a gamer, is a great 1st person shooter, if not the best, for the PC, i think that Doom 3 and Half-Life 2 are tied, but there is a lot of gore in it, but if Johnny Footstool is right about GAC's kids having a great sense of right and wrong, this game will make him very VERY happy

If I'm not mistaken, you are considering the game for XBox and not PC, right?

If you are planning on buying it for the PC, realize you are going to need one powerhouse of a system to run a demanding game like Doom 3.

[Sean_CaseyRules]

Originally Posted by paintmered

If I'm not mistaken, you are considering the game for XBox and not PC, right?

If you are planning on buying it for the PC, realize you are going to need one powerhouse of a system to run a demanding game like Doom 3.

Is Doom 3 even out for the XBOX?
I had no idea, and if it is then im sorry for my post earlier

[Caveat Emperor]

I'd say, on the whole, if you'd feel comfortable letting your kid watch the horror/violence aspects of a "PG-13" / light "R" rated horror/zombie/slasher movie (stripping away the problems of language and sexual content inherent with the genre), then I wouldn't have any hesitations about letting him play Doom 3.

It's not that bad, compared to a lot of the other stuff on the market.

[KronoRed]

Probably don't want to get this game

http://www.destroyallhumansgame.com/

[GAC]

Originally Posted by Sean_CaseyRules

Is Doom 3 even out for the XBOX?
I had no idea, and if it is then im sorry for my post earlier

My son came up to me yesterday and said that it was now out on XBox.

Thanks for your input guys. I have no problem with games where they are shooting zombies (House of the Dead) or even aliens (Doom). The gore bothers me somewhat, but I can deal with it. It's just some of the other very realistic games where you are blowing away people (bystanders, citizenry, etc) that gets to me. Or even committing acts of crime. My son always tells me "Dad, it's just a game and not real" - which I of course realize; but I think it does de-sensitize kids to such violence. Of course my son disagrees with me, but his whole argument kinda blew up in his face last week when he was telling me about some private citizen in California (my son knows his name, I don't recall) who has gotten alot of recognition for his public campaign against violence in video games. I heard my son say that he wishes someone would shut this guy up by doing him bodily harm (polite way of putting it).

Needless to say, we sat down and I had a very lonnnnng talk with him over what he said, and that I was disappointed in him.... "So your answer in addressing someone who starts a public campaign to raise parents awareness to video game violence, and to get better labelling on the packages and to prevent minors from buying them, is violence? What does that say my son?"

[OldRightHander]

I am not a hard core gamer, but I do enjoy them at times. I have some of the sports games, but I recently got a couple shooters based in WWII. There is virtually no gore, but the WWII era weapons are pretty authentic and you're put in real battle locations across Europe. (or the Pacific in one of them) Anyway, my wife doesn't like them one bit because "you're shooting people." My argument is that there is a big difference between military combat and senseless killing that is in other games like GTA. I have learned that in the best interests of marital harmony, the military themed games only come out when my wife is working late. If she's home, I hardly play anything at all, and if I do, I stick to a sports title. I guess my main point is that I see a huge difference between combat simulation and senseless murder while stealing cars. In real life we honor soldiers and lock up car thieves. There's a huge difference.

[GAC]

Originally Posted by OldRightHander

In real life we honor soldiers and lock up car thieves. There's a huge difference.

But in GFA, you are the car thief.

[beb30]

I may catch alot of grief for this, but here i go: I own both GTA 3 and GTA Vice City on Xbox and i see it nothing more as a fun fantasy. Basically your apart of a gang or mob that goes out and does jobs for money (mostly killing bad people) sure their are drugs and stuff, but if you as a parent have raised your kid right you shouldnt have any problem with this. I'm 22 yrs old played the original GTA's when i was younger and i know the difference between right in wrong. I was raised well so playing a violent video game never made me want to go out and shoot someone. People that blame violence on video games for the way kids/teenagers act is ridiculous, teach/raise them well and you shouldn't have a problem........

[Roy Tucker]

(I'm lazy, a cut and paste from a previous thread where we discussed this http://www.redszone.com/forums/showthread.php?t=38259)

Video games are always a tough call for me as a parent.

My son loves video games but my daughters don't really care a lot about them (which is pretty typical I think). I don't have time to screen each and every game that comes along so I rely heavily upon the ESRB ratings to give me a feel for the general tenor of a game. They do a pretty good job of rating games.

My wife and I held the ESRB Everyone and Teen lines with my son for quite a while. Of course, he was never too happy about it and he did get tastes of more mature games at friends houses or when a game got snuck into our house. But, at our house, it had to be rated age-appropriate to get purchased. If it got purchased under the radar and I found out, it got pitched (to much wailing and gnashing of teeth). I think that happened twice and Zach got the message.

Around about the age of 15, the whole Mature-rated game thing came up when he started pressing hard. I started to dig pretty heavily into ESRB ratings and tried very hard to understand all of their content descriptor terminology and what that translated to into games. The ESRB does a thorough job and sometimes goes a little overboard in their ratings. But that's OK, I'd rather they go over than under (like movie ratings are now but that's a whole 'nuther story).

So, about 15, I let an M game into the house (I think it was Halo). I watched Zach and his pals play a rented copy for a while and decided it was "OK". He didn't turn into a homicidal maniac or kill me in my sleep. Over the past couple years (he's 17 now), a few more M games have come into the house. We follow the same drill, rent the game, let Dad watch them play for a while, if he's OK with it, then buy it if you want.

The nice thing is, this path has formed his frame of judgement for his own choosing of video games. He tends to like the cartoony, goofy games and doesn't care much for the heavy gore, adult-themed games. He didn't even consider getting GTA San Andreas and doesn't like it or any games of that ilk.

And I don't give a rats patoot if they've proved a correlation between video violence and real violence. The litmus test is if the game offends me (and I'm pretty broad-minded) or if it portrays core values that I truly don't approve of. I give my kids increasing degrees of freedoms and if they show maturity and good judgement they get more, but underneath it all, our house is a benevolent dictatorship and what I say *goes*. And woe to the child that crosses up Dad. That is a true come-to-Jesus time and they see a side of me that they soon find they don't want to ever see again.

And at one of my son's video game parties I've watched GTA San Andreas (at many of my son's and daughters gatherings, I hang for a few minutes and let my presence in the house be known) and I thought it was garbage. The next day, I told Zach I didn't like it and don't want to see it around again (as I would a hard-R rated movie or if someone brought over a stack of porn magazines). Zach and his friends understood (they are good kids and understand the house rules) and I haven't see it since.