Online games and the pre-teen killers

I have been playing online with my Xbox lately and while regularly coming last in any game I am playing, I do enjoy the unpredictable nature of playing against real people. Now, most of the games I've been playing have adult ratings due to the general killing theme of the best games online. The one I've been playing the most is Call Of Duty 4, which has a 16+ rating.

I wonder about the whole age rating thing. The Xbox has a plug-in headphone/microphone set, so if you wish, you can communicate with other players, either to plan an assault or just 'trash talk' the person you wasted. I tend to listen in to what's going on with the microphone switched off as I can generally either play, or talk, but not both. Many of the players I have heard online appear to be boys who can't even be into their teenage years. This can be really irritating.

I would love to get on my moral high horse and complain that the parents of these children are obviously neglecting these young folk, that they should stop them playing violent games, that age restrictions are there for a reason etc, etc... but the reality is that while I'm sure that playing these games does have some effect on you, I'm not convinced we are raising a world of killers that can fit through a cat flap.

What we do have is loads of kids that have a huge amount of free time, getting really good at these games with their little hands and quick reflexes. In the real world, if a pre-teen child insulted me in the way these kids do online I would be tempted to go down the 1960s 'clip round the back of the head' route, but they are sometimes thousands of miles away and there's nothing I can do about it.

This is the real reason I want parents to enforce game restriction ages, so I can enjoy an evening gaming and even if I still come last, at least it will be last among my peers. As one adult American gamer put it at the end of a rather brutal game where most of the players were shouting insults in their pre-adolesent high pitches. "F***ing 12 year olds".

Comments

[Andrew]

"In the real world if a preteen child insulted me in the way these kids do online I would be tempted to go down the 1960s 'clip round the back of the head' route ..."
- In the real world you would go to jail for assult. In the online world feel free to machine gun the little bastard.

[BC M109]

yes it is frustrating to have those "too young" nailing me before i can even aim at them. being over 50 and gaming, has helped reflexes but not the conscience, hearing those young ones online. hope they can come up with a better filter or controls soon.
stay sharp or get nailed.

[KYS]

LOL yeah the same is true with some older games like quake3. Except its an influx of Mexican or Russian preteens and teens.
Theres no voice chat but plenty of text insults in Spanish or what i believe is Russian.
I wont let my kids near a FPS. They get plenty of violence on t.v.

But i have recently installed COD4 on my pc, maybe ill be lucky enough to frag a few preteens tonight.

[Gordon]

At the risk of being a killjoy (no pun intended), please see the book:

On Killing: The Psychological Cost of Learning to Kill in War and Society by David Grossman.

It is quite fascinating reading. We need to rethink the value of our killing games.

[zman]

I like to play servers where the admin kicks players that use foul language. I dont mind the trash talk, but that can be done without string together multiple four letter words.

[Adam]

I agree almost wholeheartedly, My son however will be allowed to play all the fps games he wants, but i will still be involved. I don't think theres anything wrong with a bunch of 12 y/o playing COD4. There is however a problem with the parents in the sense that they apparently don't care that their 12 y/o child is online screaming "Suck my B***s!" and the like at the top of their prepubescent lungs.

[Bad mommy no timeout]

I am the mom to three sons who love video games, two of which are grown. The third son (14) is an avid COD4 player, and quite good at it, I might add. He enjoys the game immensely online, and I understand.

I am a great sniper myself, though I do not play as often as I used to. It is a great stress reliever, to blow up a few things and shoot a powerful weapon. I do not believe playing these games are any more harmful than holding up a finger and shouting 'bang! bang!' as we did when I was a child, playing war, or secret agents or cowboys and indians.Yes, they are more graphic, but I believe the active imagination can conjure up things more vivid than any game can produce.

If they are talking rudely to you online and you do not like it, change servers, as I have told my son to do.....if you hear it from another room with your child playing( all people push the envelope, just to see how far their limits are), as I have, put an end to it. Nothing like a little power surge (or decrease, hehehe) by way of verbal warnings: if I hear than again, you are unplugged.....it works, it really does.

Parental control is a good thing, but one must exercise it for it to be useful.I do not want others to take over my responsibility as a parent. Teach your child well in the ways they should go, and they will not depart from them as they get older. No need to legislate entertainment if this is done correctly in the first place, where it can be done, by the parents.

Fantasy and reality are not the same and should not be treated as such. If that is not true in your home, there are other pressing issues that need to be addressed.

[Bob]

LOL, funny piece.

[Paul]

Ted Bundy,Lee Harvey Oswald, Jeffery Dahmer and Charlie Manson didn't have video games. It doesn't matter if you play XBOX or play basketball for a hobby. If you want to you are going to slaughter people.

[Dave B.]

Amen Brother, Amen.

[Suliben Poorat III]

I think it's time to roll out voice depth technology. If your pitch is too high, you can't play. There is no greater shame than being headshot by a whining 13 year old. Or a woman. Let's make technology work for those of us who deserve dignity.

[dj]

i agree with everything your saying but it must be better if there at home shooting some fake computer terroist then on the street trying to rob u or kick the hell out of a elderly man/women. another thing is that i think kids of a certain age should be able to go on some violent games such as call of duty(which is not the most bloody of violentgames anyway) come on its not as bad as something of the likes of SAW or another one of these sick horror films. i think as long as the know the diffrence between reality and the cyber world its find and i dont think the press helps normally over reacting in typical press way about things like the rockstar game being called bully when its not even about u being a bully

[FPS MIKE]

Being an over-40 FPS Half-Life player, I find the teen/younger players kids usually can't keep a conversation going with adult players for more than 30 seconds before they leave a particular game or match after being intellectually outmatched. They get frustrated with the adults for not "dumbing down" to their level of conversation and leave...we usually cheer when they do. My teens play along side me in matches and are more than polite while pulling the trigger or throwing a grenade at me or anyone else...its just a game after all. We are able to walk away and go throw a frisbee or eat some ice cream together~

[Dan]

I'm 25 and my favorite games are fps. I can play games that are utterly brutal in their graphic violence and understand the difference between real life and that which I see on my screen. However in my lifetime I have seen the standard of what is acceptable shift from conservatively practical to shoving gore and sex into peoples faces in the hopes of banking on the shock value. Kids who are being brought up in this environment do not have the same platform from which to judge right and wrong, or what is a reasonable social response
from what is not. It is evident in the hundreds of internet videos of preteen to 16-17 year olds FLIPPING OUT over losing, or not being allowed to use the computer. As adults we look at this as humorous, which it totally is, but I think that takes away from the fact that such an emotional reaction to an inanimate device is f***ing nuts, unstable and a little scary.

[rotll]

If you need this technology, you have no dignity left.

--quote--
I think it's time to roll out voice depth technology. If your pitch is too high, you can't play. There is no greater shame than being headshot by a whining 13 year old. Or a woman. Let's make technology work for those of us who deserve dignity.
--end quote--

[seekew]

Oh come on. What did you lot shout at each other in the playground? What do you now call each other when in the pub or bowling?

I have a mate who writes me e-mails that consist of only one word. It's not a polite word. It's simply a way of communicating men (and boys) adopt when alone together.

I think that the vast majority of these kids would not behave like this in any other context. Besides. If they weren't being drowned out by the shrill squeaks you'd be hearing the adults gloating.

The difference is the adults that behave badly online would probably do it to your face too.

Why not create no-minors games. If they behave badly, kick 'em out. If they behave well, you will not know they're minors and they can continue to kill in peace.

Kill in peace. Did I just write that?!

Oh and DJ.

"...more than polite while pulling the trigger or throwing a grenade at me..."

Nice.

[Bsyed]

You could just not suck at the game
Or set up a private match and only invite really old people.

I like playing against ppl 80+ because their partial blindness makes up for my lack of skill

[Shelia'swheels]

There is nothing wrong with being shot by a woman, When men start to accept woman game and are more hardcore than the guys, they will learn to play in harmony, girls rule at gaming full stop.

[Beer&Fags]

get a life

[Geoff]

I'm 16 years old and a huge gamer. I've played almost every shooter out for the 360 and let me tell you theres always little kids screaming. Just mute them and if you find it really insulting just file a complaint. :/

Guitar Hero Doesn't improve Guitar playing,
DDR Doesn't improve dancing,
Sing Star doesn't improve singing,
therefore by simple logic,
Killing games don't make you kill :) :P

[darth_3pio]

I'm 19, and sure I wasn't playing those games at 13 and 14, but I don't have a problem with kids that age playing these games, what concerns me more is the swearing that was mentioned, and these can be fixed through server rules, put a ban on swearing in servers and across type for PC games and teamspeak for PC and console games and that way if any swearing is heard then that player can be booted from the server by the host.

[darth_3pio]

"no greater shame than being headshot by a whining 13 year old. Or a woman."

and yes I don't think there is a problem with female gamers they have as much right to play as us men, and there are more and more of them playing. why don't gamers among other people put away there prejudices, it is just not needed

[slayer shunt]

To be honest i dont mind the 9 year olds playing, they make for easy kills only irritating thing is their pre-pubescent voices whining down the headset grinding down my brain functionality. Thank god for the mute button thats all i can say

[Belial]

Play a game that requires thinking, instead of reflexes, and revel in the absence of annoying (usually American) kids.

:)

[Tango Down]

Some kids outside the local gamestop tried to give me 5 quid to buy them Grand Theft Auto. I told them no. I would'nt buy whisky for them either.

The difference is, if I had bought them whisky they wouldnt drink it at home. You can bet that they would be happily beating pixelated prostitutes to death in front of the folks had I scored them Rockstars latest game though.

Some stuff is not appropriate for kids. By allowing them to do it/see it/drink it without much of a fight, we give tacit approval to these things.

I was playing COD4 on a server which banned "foul language" because there were "kids here too".

Well there shouldnt be! Its illegal! Its a game where you kill people for thrills - as a society we've decided that thats not on for kiddies! or have we?