I work in retail, and it's staggering how many adults have no clue about the ratings system.

I try to inform people as best as I can and most are appreciative (particularly the grandparents who realize that their grandkid tried to use their naivety to score GTA), but there are some parents who just don't care as long as it'll keep the kid quiet.

Though, in the end, it really all depends on the kid. Some have the emotional maturity to handle the stuff, others do not. If a kid likes GTA because of how it's a challenging game with an interesting cast of characters and a good story, I'd say he's emotionally mature; If he likes it because he can have sex with hookers then beat them to death with sex toys, I'd say he's not.

you would be amazed how it affects kids at school and with friends...makes them what you would call "irritable" b/c not only do they cuss/profane more, but also all they talk about is "hey, did you see that C4 (or whatever it is...im a smart enough adult to not play video games [excessivly] still) explode" or "ha ha, i jsut nuked that guy!"

seriously, it may sounds interesting to those who have the game and play it, but to others whose lives dont revolve around XBox 360's or PS3's or whatever, it gets REALLY boring, REALLy fast.

also, in ressponse to carnorjax1's response on R rated movies. i must (respectfully) disagree. R-Rated movies could have as much an impact on kids as M-games...but then again, it depends on what the "R" is about. for ex. "Glory", an R rated movie, (i know, i know, its a relaly old movie...im old fashioned that way ;) ) i thought IMO was a great movie...while on the other hand, "Orphan" isnt what youd call a "family movie".

You say that as if video games don't have a plot. Some of the games out there have stories that can rival most movies, this includes M-Rated titles like Mass Effect and Metal Gear.

Because of the interactive factor, video games wind up being a scapegoat for kids behaving violently, which is complete bunk when you look at the research. I'd suggest watching the Penn & Teller's B.S. episode covering video game violence as it presents a good case of how the the games generally aren't to blame. Here's a low-quality link (Note: NSFW language).

im a christian and my whole family are to. if your just playing games to kill things and watching movies just to see the parts that you should know that are wrong then you got something wrong with you if your playing the game for the storie line then its good and the movies if you watch them and you arnt affected about the language then its okay just don't start doing those thing and sayinmg those things.
like defiance its violent and has lots of language but realy good movie
my mom lets me watch thosew movies that just have language and violence the other stuff it stupid how the would now trhat happen they should just allude to it
May God bless those parent and people how actualy watch over ther children like it tells us to do that in the bible

I go thru my son's friend list regularly on X-box live. Check up on who he has there. I check out games before I let him play them. Halo games I allow. But I also sit and play with him and talk to him and do my Job as a parent. There are some games where I've been like "no dude, I don't think so, put it back" The Call of duty game's I use as a learning tool to teach him about the military and about our history. But again, I'm an active parent and I have a military back round. So there are certain game's I'll let him play and the one's I deem are garbage I just give him a look like. *Nice try* Any GTA game IMO garbage. Their lawsuit they lost proved that!

*Note, his lack of getting his homework turned in on time. Caused the X-box to be taken away for the rest of the school year. I'm still debating on if he will get it back in under a years time. And yes I do mean 364 day's *

Ahh, hope for the next generation.

I have to wonder when I finally figured out what the commotion was during the Wolfman. Some parents had brought their 5-7 year old kids to it.

Well i have to be honest. The rating system means nothing to me.

My youngers kids (10 and 7) only get to see something after I have had another parent I trust tell me it is ok or I have seen it.

Seriously there have been G rated movie i dont want them watching. Sometimes there are PG-13 movies I am ok with them watching. It should be a case by case scenario for a parent. I am never going to let an agency (the rating system ) take over the job of teaching morals to my children. I will decide what they can watch and wont watch.

I remember a few years ago when every show on regular TV felt it necessary to show a homosexual couple on it. Generally it was to make fun and get a laugh. I would not let my kids watch that because it is a distortion of reality. Life is hard enough without youngsters getting a very unreal view of reality as it is.

Funny enough that is one of the reasons I cannot stand most police type movies. They are so far from reality of law enforcment that i cannot sotmach them (I am retired LE).

though, also note that the ratings are getting more "lenient" now...movies such as Beowolf shouldnt be rated what they are currently at (in this case, PG-13)

dnemiller wrote
"Seriously there have been G rated movie i dont want them watching. Sometimes there are PG-13 movies I am ok with them watching. It should be a case by case scenario for a parent. I am never going to let an agency (the rating system ) take over the job of teaching morals to my children. I will decide what they can watch and wont watch."

I agree with you completely Dean. We as a family love all the Disney/Pixar movie's with the exception of one. "The Incredibles." I took my son to the movie's to watch it. We get to the scene where the Father saves the character that is trying to hurt them self jumping from a building. Then wants to sue Mr Incredible for saving him/her. And I'm sitting there thinking great! Attempted suicide in a kids movie. And in my mind I'm thinking of how am I going to explain this to my young son. It also didn't help that as a youngster, I myself had to deal with the reality of that happening more than once.
My problem was I had made the assumption that this movie would be ok, and in my opinion it wasn't. I shouldn't have assumed anything. Lesson learned for me! After this experience I started waiting for kids movies to come to Video/DVD. That way I could watch them myself before making the choice if I would let my children watch them.