How Ignorant Indian Parents are when it comes to Video Games

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neoronin

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This incident happened about a week back when I was in Landmark, Jayanagar, Bangalore. I was casually browsing the Console Games rack when a teenager [Should be around 13 or 14] was picking up GTA4 along with Dead Space. Now I'm no prude by any chance. But I was genuinely surprised by what happened next. The kid took the games to his mom and said that these are the two he wants to buy. The mom just had a look and said OK and pocketed them.

I should have remained quiet. But I turned towards the women and asked her whether she approves of her son violently cutting monsters and shooting cops and pimping in real life [I know, somewhat melodramatic] She was shocked and said no. Then I asked her why does she approve of her son doing the same in games. She asked me to explain what I was talking about.

I showed her the ratings on the game labels and explained her the content. She gave her son a dirty look [her son gave me a dirty look :)]. But her response was shocking.

She simply said, anyway these days kids will learn about these sooner or later, so I guess there is no harm in him playing these games.

I was kicking myself in my a** for trying to play good samaritan and left with a sheepish look on my face.
 
To find an educated clan,Chances are slim,
these same mommies get glued to the TV watching Ekta Kapoor Dole out Adultery, Drama *sic, Cheques of 500 crs changing hands, wives getting changed, exchanged and fooled, then some crappy contest watching Sambhavana Seth's histronics, Anu Malik Judging Music, and Arjun Rampal Judging Dance
Do you think our game are gory, hell no, I know , My home Laptop gets hijacked by my Kid for his games and Wifey actually uses that time to watch the star TV and Colors and Sony.........That when she is a PG in ECO and a Lecturer to boot
Mera Bharat Kahan.......
 
For u the phrase fits in perfectly...

"Neki kar Dariya mein Daal"

for the people with english ancestors it means do the right thing n forget the result.. or something like that...
 
Nowdays usually this happens

"Neki karnewale ko dariya mein daal"

kick the guy in the butt who does something good...
 
The Mom was definitely well educated [Impeccable NRI US Accent] so my guess why she let her son buy those games are

1. The Boy must be a real pain in the a** who will whine & throw a temper tantrum

2. She doesn't mind her Son becoming a "Young Adult" [Damn, I hate that term] sooner than later

3. This is all a part of puberty. It will go away soon. And then he'll get interested in Girls & Sex [In any order ;)]

4. Dad is a wimp

I mean I can keep making lot of reasons on why she did what she did. But then it becomes politically incorrect.
 
hmmm.....you sound like the politicians who would like to ban games since they promote violence and ditch good old morality....I guess if we judge by that stick then why only that kid, it shouldnt be allowed for even adults, would you "violently cutting monsters and shooting cops and pimping in real life", if not then why approve it in games that you play????

IMHO it was stupidity on your part to stop the mom from buying the game, hell its just a game which children as well as adults enjoy....
 
Werent you guys ever of his age?

What you sed was good and nobel:P, but just atleast think of the possibility that the lady might have actually talked sense?
 
neoronin said:
This incident happened about a week back when I was in Landmark, Jayanagar, Bangalore. I was casually browsing the Console Games rack when a teenager [Should be around 13 or 14] was picking up GTA4 along with Dead Space. Now I'm no prude by any chance. But I was genuinely surprised by what happened next. The kid took the games to his mom and said that these are the two he wants to buy. The mom just had a look and said OK and pocketed them.

I should have remained quiet. But I turned towards the women and asked her whether she approves of her son violently cutting monsters and shooting cops and pimping in real life [I know, somewhat melodramatic] She was shocked and said no. Then I asked her why does she approve of her son doing the same in games. She asked me to explain what I was talking about.

I showed her the ratings on the game labels and explained her the content. She gave her son a dirty look [her son gave me a dirty look :)]. But her response was shocking.

She simply said, anyway these days kids will learn about these sooner or later, so I guess there is no harm in him playing these games.

I was kicking myself in my a** for trying to play good samaritan and left with a sheepish look on my face.
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When will people stop interfering in the lives of other:hap5: , get over it man you were 13 or 14 some years ago and you would have also got pissed off if someone tried to interfere in yours.
 
neoronin said:
This incident happened about a week back when I was in Landmark, Jayanagar, Bangalore. I was casually browsing the Console Games rack when a teenager [Should be around 13 or 14] was picking up GTA4 along with Dead Space. Now I'm no prude by any chance. But I was genuinely surprised by what happened next. The kid took the games to his mom and said that these are the two he wants to buy. The mom just had a look and said OK and pocketed them.

I should have remained quiet. But I turned towards the women and asked her whether she approves of her son violently cutting monsters and shooting cops and pimping in real life [I know, somewhat melodramatic] She was shocked and said no. Then I asked her why does she approve of her son doing the same in games. She asked me to explain what I was talking about.

I showed her the ratings on the game labels and explained her the content. She gave her son a dirty look [her son gave me a dirty look :)]. But her response was shocking.

She simply said, anyway these days kids will learn about these sooner or later, so I guess there is no harm in him playing these games.

I was kicking myself in my a** for trying to play good samaritan and left with a sheepish look on my face.
Click to expand...

Haha... i liked that story of urs

My 6 year old cuzin is crazy after GTA :S

whenever he comes my home, he asks for my PSP and plays GTA VC and LCS.

i told his parent and said "sab chalta hai let him play" i didnt like that so i told them that i sold my PSP.

and hiding my PSP from him since 2 months :rofl:
 
thebanik said:
hmmm.....you sound like the politicians who would like to ban games since they promote violence and ditch good old morality....I guess if we judge by that stick then why only that kid, it shouldnt be allowed for even adults, would you "violently cutting monsters and shooting cops and pimping in real life", if not then why approve it in games that you play????
IMHO it was stupidity on your part to stop the mom from buying the game, hell its just a game which children as well as adults enjoy....
Click to expand...

Damn, I hate that breed of politicians and self-righteous people. I am definitely trying not to sound like one. But personally, the sort of violence that was available when I played games as a kid [early 90's] was in no way similar to what is available now.

But coming to the point, do you mean to say that you whole heartedly approve of your offspring to play M rated games at an age when they are better of playing Ratchet and Clank or similar games?

Yeah I love to have violence and gore and adult themes in my games, because [unfortunately ;)] Im considered legally one. But shouldn't kids [Teens, pre-teens] enjoy their childhood a little bit more before learning stuff that are fundamentally unsuited for their age?

What is the reason then ratings exist?
 
neoronin said:
Damn, I hate that breed of politicians and self-righteous people. I am definitely trying not to sound like one. But personally, the sort of violence that was available when I played games as a kid [early 90's] was in no way similar to what is available now.

But coming to the point, do you mean to say that you whole heartedly approve of your offspring to play M rated games at an age when they are better of playing Ratchet and Clank or similar games?

Yeah I love to have violence and gore and adult themes in my games, because [unfortunately ;)] Im considered legally one. But shouldn't kids [Teens, pre-teens] enjoy their childhood a little bit more before learning stuff that are fundamentally unsuited for their age?

What is the reason then ratings exist?
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hmmm....thinking from that perspective, though dont have a kid but maybe yeah wont like the adult theme in GTA4 for any kid, apart from that when i was that age, even wolf3d/doom looked gore to my parents, ofcourse they couldnt stop me from playing it but they always used to complain and I used to think, thats foolish, its just a game. :D
 
I dont understand this generalisation. Just because of one or two examples doesnt mean you go about branding every "Indian parent" as ignorant.
 
Really appreciate what you did. Not many have the guts to tell something good these days. But unfortunately, times have changed and so have kids, and their parents. When I was a kid, I used to play outdoors for 3 hours a day. And this continued till I was about 16 or 17. I did switch over to computer gaming later, but at least I knew what I was getting into.

Hopefully the kid won't run around shooting his classmates
 
^^ actually i agree with the OP.

Noone actually cares about stuff like Game Ratings and all in India. The ESRB has already laid out the ground work and assigned ratings. All that is required from parents/shopkeepers is a little sense. To take a look at the title and its ratings. but that doesnt happen
 
I remember playing Undying among other games when I was pretty young but really games are never as scary as movies etc.
 
wow a teenager cant play violent games ... what next , he cannot see adult movies ,because it is "illegal" ...let the person who stuck to his age and did things that was legal cast the first stone :)

and if someone did throw the first stone , call him a loser and walk on :P
 
chiron said:
I remember playing Undying among other games when I was pretty young but really games are never as scary as movies etc.
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I get spooked pretty easily by Horror Games [Thank you, Silent Hill] But man, I can't stop playing them. Undying still ranks as one of the [if not "The"] best in horror games. I remember the first time I played, when I used the scrye spell on one of the paintings, I just dropped the mouse and recoiled immediately so fast that I actually lost balance and fell to the grund. :ashamed:
 
kippu said:
wow a teenager cant play violent games ... what next , he cannot see adult movies ,because it is "illegal" ...let the person who stuck to his age and did things that was legal cast the first stone :)
and if someone did throw the first stone , call him a loser and walk on :P
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"Come here son, let's watch some prOn."

I don't expect to see this statement being said by any Indian parent at least for some more generations. Dude, i'm not talking about Kids or teenagers doing stuff secretively. Damn everyone does what they want to do, irrespective of how young they are. I'm voicing my concern about parental endorsements of the same.

tifosi said:
I dont understand this generalisation. Just because of one or two examples doesnt mean you go about branding every "Indian parent" as ignorant.
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The problem is you cannot talk about these sort of topics without generalisation. Yeah, may be the topic shouldn't have been. But I firmly believe that the current generation of parents turn a blind eye or remain to be ignorant to something that they can control.
 
Another incident from my side but about movies. A guy brought a kid for Resident Evil Extinction. That is a movie with decent amount of gore and the kid was howling and crying all the time. Eventually one of my friends shouted "kaun hai woh gadha jo ek bacche ko yeh movie dekhnae le aaya hai?"

I dont understand why it is so hard for some parents to understand what ratings mean.
 
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