sides
I’ve posted on this issue before (see end of this post for links) but now I have a 10 year old in my house. I’ve been talking with one of my friends who has a son about the same age as Cooper. We’ve decided that the hardest age group to determine what is appropriate for them is the 10-12 group. Lots of developmental things go on during this time…hints of maturity and then hints of “this child can’t be human.”
Then the largest game of the decade gets released and “everybody” is playing it. To Cooper’s credit – he doesn’t use that argument anymore. It doesn’t work in the English house. But Halo 3 is in my house, it’s rated M and I have a 4th grader who wants to play it.
I’ll be the first one to admit that the ratings board puzzles me. For example, I’m a huge Splinter Cell fan. Then SC, Double Agent came out. First, the game wasn’t near as good as Chaos Theory but the M rating was because of violence and language. Like intense language. Language to the extent, I’ve quit playing it (and will never play it with kids awake in the house. Why game makers think that is necessary to a game is a whole other topic.)
Halo 3 (and it’s precursors) on the other hand does have its d’s and h’s (as well as some hilarious one liners – Sgt Johnson on a .50 cal saying ‘Oh I know what the ladies like.’) but (at least to this point and from what I have heard) doesn’t have any of intense language that SC, DA has.
Halo is violent…and man there is nothing like lighting a Brute up with a rocket launcher…but it’s not anymore so than Call of Duty 1,2, or 3, or Star Wars Battlefront…which by the way were all rated T. (COD 4 has been projected to be M…which again, makes me scratch my head.) It could be argued (but not by me!) that COD is more intense of a game because you’re shooting at humans and it’s real battles.
I don’t fully understand the nuances of rating a game but I do know this concerning the ratings board…
1. It’s not a legal board but a self-governing entity of the game industry. They exist to help companies sell games.
2. Companies submit their games with their recommendation as to what they think the game should be rated. Almost 9 times out of 10 this will be the rating they get.
3. The age group that spends the most money on games – 18-34 males.
So one explanation COULD be that Bungie wanted the M rating to market to the group that buys the most games.
As for me and my house…I’m a hypocrite/schizophrenic parent when it comes to video games. I will allow Cooper to play Madden and College Football but not the latest editions of the NBA Street or NFL Street (all rated E to T). The trash talking in the Street games – I don’t want Cooper learning or repeating. Not good. I don’t care what the rating boards say how appropriate it is.
I have allowed Cooper to play Star Wars: Battlefront and Halo 3. I will NOT allow him to play SC, Double Agent and I’m in debate on Call of Duty (the answer is “Not now” at this moment).
As he gets older and how he handles the games he currently plays will determine what games we play together in the future. Which brings up one more issue – I try to play the games with Cooper. Yeah, partly because I love playing Xbox myself. But mainly because it’s something we can do together and it allows me the opportunity to talk through stuff.
Another issue is time. He doesn’t get to play Xbox during the week. That time is for school, reading, playing outside and the like. He only gets a couple of hours to play on the weekends. I want him to have a life, not addicted to the Xbox.
It just goes back to what I’ve told parents for years and now I actually have to live it out – you know your kid best. Experience the game/movie first yourself then decide if it’s appropriate. Don’t be afraid to be the “bad guy†and say “No” or at the least “Not now.” It’s not good enough reason that every kid in the neighborhood is playing the game. Or in our household – “Dad gets to play it, why not me?”
For the same reason dad can drive, have a credit card, buy alcohol, and vote and you can’t. You’re not old enough or mature enough.
Related Links:
Video Game Ratings, Part 1
Video Game Ratings, Part 2
Is Halo a Game Christians Should Play?
[tags]Halo 3, Xbox, Video Game Ratings[/tags]
20 responses so far ↓
1 Derek // Sep 26, 2007 at 1:47 pm
how does halo 3 compare to the previous ones?
2 John Nelson // Sep 26, 2007 at 1:51 pm
I’m of the same like-mind with the killing difference between COD and Halo…COD is shooting a human in the face in High Definition. Halo is shooting floating pink bullets at weird creatures. Even the mind of a 10 year old could see the difference.
Either way, I love both games. And I’m not allowed to play them while the girls are awake and impressionable.
3 Grant // Sep 26, 2007 at 1:57 pm
Derek – it doesn’t.
I thought Halo 1 was the best game ever to come out on Xbox. Halo 2 was slightly better on the campaign level but didn’t enjoy it as much as Halo 1 concerning multiplayer/system link/xbox live.
Halo 3 is a gigantic leap in terms of gameplay, graphics, sound, and multiplayer – especially in HD. I was thinking about getting rid of the 360 to get a Wii…until I played Halo 3…which rhymes.
Gotta busta move now.
4 Grant // Sep 26, 2007 at 1:58 pm
NELLIE!!!!!
What’s up man…and yeah I like both games but I can play Halo with my son and not worry too much about it. Can’t say the same for COD.
Tell your fam hi!
5 John Nelson // Sep 26, 2007 at 6:49 pm
We need to hook up and play some on-line co-op. Grim Reaper 77 is my formal name. Death is what they call me.
6 Turner // Sep 26, 2007 at 9:32 pm
We’re able to system link through dorms just by plugging into the wall. It’s our own little live community. Pretty awesome. Just finished the campaign, pretty fun, much better than 2nd.
7 Valerie // Sep 26, 2007 at 11:00 pm
Grant.I feel your pain. I do think that the parenting thing in this area might be a little bit more of a challenge at age 13-15 when you are allowing them to enter new areas. I think it is just harder on me to know how far to open the door. The lines of “appropriateness” become more fuzzy. You know they can handle things and you get this fine line between their desire to be grown up and your desire to keep them naive. Moving to a foreign country helps!!
8 Paul // Sep 27, 2007 at 6:21 am
So when are we going to hear the sermon from the Halo3 Believe site? It’s the most obvious use of the Christ figure I have seen in any video game. You got the covenant, prophets, then the covenant splits and there is the old covenant and the new covenant. The Halo3 Monument is even called “John 1 17″.
I am willing to admit I might be too immersed in this, but I think there are some big God moments in there.
9 Grant // Sep 27, 2007 at 9:30 am
Lots of good comments…let’s see if I can cover them all.
First – the Christ parallels are eerie and fun and adds a layer I didn’t expect. The Spartan 117 is a cool reference.
I don’t think moving to a foreign country is an option for us right now…although there is always hope!! ha ha.
Grim – I’ll definitely make it a point to hook up with you. I’m Stumin but they just call me road rash….
10 Adwire Guy // Sep 30, 2007 at 6:45 pm
Fresh off the heels of 2 sons passing the 10-12 age group, I can offer up my advise and let you judge it and the outcome (so far) of the boys – Our rule with borderline content has always been to walk the boys through it with them – as long as the content was in reason. (I’m talking reasonable – like PG-13, music, games, etc. – NOT going off the deep end). BUT – if we ever saw (or heard of) repeating the language/behavior, then the material was removed. We actually removed a couple of movies early on (Ace Ventura, etc.) in the 8-10 era, and I think they realized we meant it.
Take the free advice for what it’s worth – you know the outcome pretty well so far!
By the way, watched McFadden play this weekend. He is a man among boys on the gridiron.
11 Zack // Oct 1, 2007 at 5:39 pm
I have always thought it was ironic that Master Chief’s real name is John 117 interesting thought. I agree with the Halo 3 Believe it is a pretty cool site and has some really interesting insights. The marines keep fighting and holding off but the enemy keeps coming, but the marines refuse to to give up even when it looks like Master Chief is done for…………..yet there is still hope.
12 eli // Jan 20, 2009 at 10:55 pm
im not allowed to play halo 3 and im 13 im going to use your article to prove to my mom that halo 3 is alright for me to play god bless you
13 Grant // Jan 21, 2009 at 8:20 am
Eli,
While I appreciate the accolades, I think you missed the big points.
Like at 13 your mom knows a bit more about you than you do. Whether or not you can handle it or not.
Having said that…I still think Halo is the greatest game ever made with Guitar Hero: Aerosmith in second.
14 Fred // Feb 8, 2009 at 10:14 am
Halo 3 is an amazing game. I am 13, and i play Halo 3, CoD 4, and CoD World at War. If you are a parent with kids age 10-12 and you let them play rated T games, Let them play Halo 3. I don’t know what to say about the CoD games, except that you DO see humans lose limbs and sometimes even heads. In WaW, when a human gets killed by a grenade, the amount of blood is practically 10 times worse than the amount in Halo 3. Also, if you look at a post-exploded corpse, you can see organs and guts. CoD 4 multiplayer isn’t bad unless you shoot someone in the head or with a shotgun, in which case their blood splatters on the wall behind them. The campaign does have some brutal levels, where you
Might see bodies sitting in huge pools of blood, and there is a mission where
You blow somepne’s arm off, then kill a helicopter pilot and see his blood splatter all over the glass.
Think about Cod Waw & CoD 4, but Halo 3 is a no brainer- just let them play it. It’s nowhere nearly as bad as other games, and as you read in the article, Bungie probably wanted the M rating to make more money. I don’t think it deserves it, it should be rated T.
15 Cody Dula // Apr 7, 2009 at 8:39 am
I’m 10 my brother is 12, and my mom won’t let me play halo 3 until I’m 14. 4 years!!!! I have already played it when my friend brings it over. But my mom judges the game by the ,”Rating”. My mom goes against M+ game’s until I’m 17. And i have have COD4 in a game trade beat it. But i need to get my mom to see it’s not a bad game just because it’s rated M+.
16 Grant // Apr 7, 2009 at 10:12 am
Cody,
Same sermon three comments up. The point isn’t so much whether or not the game is ‘bad’ or ‘good.’ The point is can you handle the game? Does it take over your life? Does it disturb you? How does it affect your behavior?
I have an 11 year old son and I’m sure I frustrate him like you because some games I let him play and some I don’t and it doesn’t have much to do with the rating of the game.
I’m still the dad and I still have the last word. Because I have his best interests at heart and at this stage in the game – I know more than he does.
I’m guessing your mom is trying to do the same thing.
17 Grant // Apr 7, 2009 at 10:19 am
I want to add one more thing to the under 13 crowd that seems to be using this article as evidence that their parents should let them play Halo 3.
If Cooper did that to me, he’d never play the game. Why? Because it would prove my point – that he’s not mature enough to handle it. The point of this article was not to preach Halo 3 but rather to challenge parents to take the journey of video games with their kids.
The ratings gives a starting point, the kid’s maturity is the end point. And if he couldn’t discern that distinction from this article, it’s just further proof he/she is not quite ready yet.
18 James // May 19, 2009 at 12:44 pm
Im not here to get my mum and dad to let me have Halo Ive already given up there. I am 13 and I am not allowed Halo because my mum takes the ratings so seriously> I expect if Grand Theft auto was a 7+ but contained the same content she would let me buy it.
My advise to parents is to see the game played and don’t judge a game on its rating. Watch videos on you tube or ask other parents then you will get a better idea.
19 kyle // May 31, 2009 at 12:07 am
Halo 3 is a game that should be looked over by parents on the game play not the rating.
20 kyle shattuck // Aug 8, 2009 at 10:30 am
i agree with kyle, you can turn it into a T rated game by turning of the bad stuff in the game.
[read the other kyle's comment].
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