My fifteen-year-old son has been asking for some new Xbox games for months. He has his own money, but that isn’t the issue. The issue is that he wants games that are rated M for Mature (age 17+), and up to this point Matt and I have only permitted him to buy games rated T for Teen.
I’m not naive. I know James is exposed to the Big Three (violence, language and sex) to some extent already. But when I have the control, I’m going to wield it carefully and wisely. I do feel that he is old enough to play some of these games, but not without scoping them out first.
And so I stand in the middle of Gamestop, looking up games on my phone. Common Sense Media is a website I’ve been using for years; the site reviews all types of media for parents and families, and I find it invaluable in helping me decide what I’m comfortable letting my kids see and play.
So. James wants three games, and I want to know how horribly they will scar him. First up:
Assassins Creed IV
What parent doesn’t want their kid to role-play being an assassin? Common Sense Media describes this game as an “…adult-oriented historical adventure filled with pirate warfare and melee fights.” I’m thinking a violent Pirates of the Caribbean without Johnny Depp and Kiera Knightly. Interestingly, parents and kids rate this game at 12+, not the official 17+ rating. I look at the category ratings, which are on a scale of 0 to 5, and find it rated:
5 for violence and language
3 for sex (It is implied to have taken place.)
The language is no worse than what James has heard in the halls of high school (or in the movie Deadpool, which I watched with him). We’ve watched the entire series of Friends as a family, so implied sex is nothing new. The violence is historically accurate sword fighting and cannons, and this sits with me better than guns and machetes. I know that sounds absolutely ridiculous, but don’t try to make sense of my logic here. Next up is:
Rise of the Tomb Raider
I’m vaguely familiar with the Lara Croft movies (RIP, Brangelina), and I already like this game better because the hero is a strong woman. She is kind of like Indiana Jones with a potty mouth and a mean streak. Common Sense Media ratings are:
4 for violence and language
0 for sex
I find it refreshing that media involving a central female character features no sex, and I decide I’m okay with this game, especially compared to:
Far Cry Primal
Based on the covers of the three games, I thought this one would be the least offensive. There’s a wooly mammoth on the cover and the game is set in prehistoric times, so how bad can it be? Pretty bad. Common Sense Media ratings are:
5 for violence and sex
2 for language
The language rating surprised me; did cavemen invent cursing? Maybe the grunts and hand motions are risqué. The violence includes graphic torture scenes and burning people alive. While Fred Flintstone threw back a beer or two, players in this Stone Age game drink bloody cocktails that send them on drug-induced trips. There is female frontal nudity, and just for fun, a character urinates on the player and calls him Piss Man.
Me: (hands James my phone) Read these ratings.
James: (reads the ratings, looks at me, hands me my phone, and puts the game back on the shelf)
Me: There’s so much violence in these games!
James: (looking exasperated) It’s not like I’m going to go out and do what I see on the screen!
This is his sweet but misguided attempt to make me feel better about my decision to let him buy the first two games.
I launch into a lecture about desensitization to violence, and he pretends to listen. He volunteers to play with the sound muted, and that illogically makes me feel a little better. Because a sword in the gut hurts so much less when it’s silent, right?
James has been playing these rated M for mature games for a few weeks, alternating with his football and soccer Xbox games. He doesn’t mute the sound but he does lower the volume, and he is showing no propensity towards becoming a pirate or a tomb raider. #ParentingWin
Have you had to wade in the murky waters of violence, sex and language in media with your kids? What do you consider the biggest threat?
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