Call of Duty-Black Ops - 18 certificate needed?

[Smowball]

I know nothing about my son's Xbox and the games he has, but only realised recently that one of the games his dad bought him when he last saw him was COD Black Ops. My son is 12,almost 13. My husband(his step-dad) immediately took the game off him and said he wasnt allowed it back at all. Son got very very annoyed and said that he had spent a firtune on new maps etc(??) for it and that it wasnt that bad a game and he wasnt going to copy anything on it, as he isnt stupid. Hubby is having none of it and seeing as I know nothing about games I wanted some opinions as to whether it really is that bad or not?TIA

[sinderella]

it is a game.you kill people and blow stuff up.
my opinion is children who go around doing bad things will do them whatever they watch.
i use mine as a reward/punishment tool
your son has bought the game and upgraded the game by buying add ons

[Smowball]

I agree, but hubbie does not and I am stuck in the middle. Sooo would you say a 12/13 year old could play it??

[sinderella]

i am sure some people will comment.i can only give you my opinion.what do you think about it?

[Smowball]

Well he is a sensible kid - he knows its just a game! And to make matters worse, all of his friends have it and now think its very funny that he isnt allowed on it anymore. He has just had a friend come over and he asked hubbie if he could please play it just today and was told no, in front of friend , so he is fuming!

[hedgehog68]

not sure abot this one but my son (then aged 14) got hold of one of the other COD games and if it was like that it i wouldn't let a 12 year old play it. It had a lot of strong swearing and extreme violence. Also i work in a supermarket and i'm sure that Black Ops IS an 18 cert. Hope this helps.

[ChuckFickens]

It's definitely an 18...

Only you know your children and if they are "adult" enough to play it.... why not either have a go yourself to see what it's like, or let him play it while you watch if you can't play it yourself..

although it is pretty graphic and there is quite a lot of gore in it I'd consider 12/13 very borderline.

(also I think that to a certain extent you and your husband should try and present a unified front on this and shouldn't overrule each other, otherwise the kids will try and play you off against each other in future)

[jno]

there's a lot to be said for stepdads (or ordinary dads) who actively take an interest in what children are doing rather than just shrugging their shoulders and letting them do anything they want.

[Smowball]

I can see both sides of the argument. I have backed hubbie up in front of son, but have just come on here to get other views. Wish he had never been bought the game in the first place!

[JackDanielsU]

So what are you going to do? You cant keep the game another 5 years..it will be well out of date by then? Id advise taking it into GAME etc to part exchange it..but as you say your son has spent a bit on the online maps etc. Downloaded via the Xbox marketplace.

My younger brother is 14 and he has this game. Hes only allowed to play it every now and then, and only online against his friends.. Hes trusted by his parents, and knows if he abuses that trust the game goes.

If your son has that game, its likely he has other games that are age specific.

And not wanting to tell you how to be a parent, but this is a game his Dad has bought him. This may be a case of Dad being hey - Im cool??

The pair of you should know what age relevant items he has, esp as he gets older hes going to come into contact with more 18+ items (videos, magazines etc), and set ground rules.

And imo no its not that bad. Its a game where you shoot people.Yes its violent, but unless your son is a psychopath in the making, its not going to affect him adversely

[annie0000]

My eldest is a year younger than your son smowball and my younger is coming up 11, and I know that the day that they want these games is probably fast approaching. My view is that whilst I will allow mine to have games that are slightly over their age group, I don't like shooting games that involve actual human like targets. They have Lord of the rings games and those where you are shooting or killing fantasy figures. I live very close to Dunblane so I guess that colours my judgement about guns.

[sherrardk]

I let himself make these judgement calls (because I find it all too confusing). Boy #1 is allowed games that are far too old for him but he knows they are just games. He's not allowed anything that is too like reality (ie Grand Theft Auto). I trust himslef's judgement on this as he is quite old school and quite proper. It has become his job to police x-box games. Boy #2 also plays games above his age but, again, it's himself that decides. Both boys know that they are games and neither of them are in the least violent or nasty (probably they are a bit too soft for their own good).

[MASS1961]

The game has an 18 certificate for a reason......End of

[Smowball]

Yes his dad bought it for him because he asked for it when staying at his dads, probably knowing that if he had asked his step dad(my hubbie) then he would have been told no. I didnt realise that you could turn off specific setting on this game ie the gore etc and that you can mute it so that you dont hear the swearing, but tbh after hearing half of the language spoken by the pupils coming out of his school it probably isnt much worse. i thin k I will ask to see him playing the game and then make a judgement. Hubbie is dead set against it so will get him to have a look as well.feel bad that he has spent so much money on the game upgrades though

[ronnietoon]

funny story on cod i read a while back in the Yorkshire evening post i think.A man about 40 after being beaten several times by a lad your age on cod on xbox live, and being taunted by it,took it upon him self to physically assault the kid. look it up i think it was also in the sun

i dont mean funny as in the assault too add

[scrummyyummy]

Smow: My 13 year old has this game and we are aware it's an 18 when hubby agreed he could have it. It's the reverse in our family because I wasn't happy about him having it but hubby saw it differently. We were initially very strict with the ages of games when he was younger and he wasn't allowed to have them and to be honest, he wasn't at all interested in war games before he went round to various friends' houses and they all had the game! I remember when he was in year 6 and he was round a mate's house and they played the first COD game out at the time (which I think was a 15 but they were 10/11 years old). After that, my son was desperate to have the game and wanted it for his birthday or Christmas present. I wasn't happy about this but hubby is more relaxed and said he's been exposed to it by various mates of his age, he knows it's a game and he knows we don't like swearing, etc, so he did end up buying it for his birthday from GAME gift cards he had received from friends for his birthday. There have been various updates of the game since and all his friends have a good old banter about the games (like women talk about shopping!). We have spoken to him about the violence in it and he says he knows it's a game and he wouldn't do things like that.

I'm still not 100% happy about it but then again, I'm not happy he has the Xbox! He loves playing with his friends and that seems like what they do when they go round each other's houses these days. However, I do monitor it and he doesn't have it on a school day and it is limited when he does play. With regards to bad language, they hear it all the time at school. I was very shocked at how much he had learnt since starting secondary school!

This is a difficult one because although I don't like him having these games, I have seen the friendship group he has and they all play the games and have a good old natter and discussion about it.

[Bev79]

The game rating are there or a reason, ask yourself if you would let our child see a 18 film. It is no different. There is often bad language, sexual references and gratuitous blood and violence. Although I don't believe watching things like that will make children go and do it, it does de sensitise them to violence and make them not perceive things as "so bad". From quite a bit of experience of these types of games I also found young boys come off these games and are quite aggressive until they "come down" I will not like my children play any of these games and would advise you actually sit and watch them play as they slit men's throats and blow them up "which shows body part in graphic detail" before you make your choice. The certificate are on these game for a very good reason.