How old should you be to play GTA?

[sefus]

As a person who's played GTA since they were 9 years old, i always find it funny how an 18+ rated game is pretty much every gamer's childhood, so in your opinion, How old 𝘴𝘩𝘰𝘶𝘭𝘥 you be to play GTA?

[Radz]

When vice was released i used to right strategy of it. A lady contacted me that his child is insisting on playing vice city and she wanted to remove every naked lady out of game. I told her that its possible with mods but there are other elements like killing people which are not suitable for kids. 

[nebuc72]

i dont think it matters how old you are provided you've been told that its just a game and that you cant do this stuff irl, if you can disconnect actions in game to actions in real life then who cares if you're like 7 and playing games like GTA - i also disagree with stopping exposure to things like nudity or violence because they're in pretty much every form of media and you will  be exposed to it growing up, so I think it's better to have your child exposed to it in a controlled medium (e.g. video games) where they can understand what it is and be taught about it by the parents.

 

i first learnt to count and do basic maths by playing counter-strike 1.6 in the early 2000s when I was like 4/5 - my dad made sure i understood that what was going on in-game was nothing more than media and cant be done in real life (which considering im in the UK where we aren't so gun-happy, wasnt really something I considered anyway) - he used something I was interested in to teach me basic skills i'll use in the real world (the questrions would be like, if there were 5 enemies left and you killed 3, how many would be left? - this carries over to school where it's the same but with apples or whatever), but also teach me about the world itself, and thats probably the same thing i'll do with my children, i'll teach them that media isnt often representative of real life and use the games to help them understand things that are considered taboo in the real world.

Edited September 8, 2021 by nebuc72

[Algonquin Assassin]

I was 12 when I first played a bootleg copy of GTA 1.

 

I was so rebellious…

[Badman_]

If I remember right GTA games are M-rated. So, in the "ideal" world you should only play the game if you're somewhere around 18, but we all know this isn't how things work. I started playing GTA when I was 10/11 years old.

 

To be honest, I think the age thing depends a lot. Old games like GTA III, VC or SA were all about fun. The graphics were far from realistic and the general plot wasn't that serious. I don't see a problem for younger kids to play them with a little supervision. But nowadays videogames are much more evolved, sometimes with heavy graphical violence and dense/tragic storylines. I wouldn't recommend someone with 12 years old to play The Last of Us 2 for example.

Edited September 8, 2021 by Wolfman_

[bahraini_carguy]

As stupid as it sounds, i honestly never understood the risks of say, a sub 17 year old playing a Mature rated game (i.e 13 playing GTA IV or Mass Effect). Heck, I started playing Vice City since kindergarten age.

 

As for how old you should be to play GTA? While it's officially 16/17/18+ depending on the region, i honestly think it depends on the person's maturity but i would say around 13+ is fine.

Edited September 8, 2021 by FalconKing

[CynicalMexican]

34 minutes ago, FalconKing said:

As stupid as it sounds, i honestly never understood the risks of say, a sub 17 year old playing a Mature rated game (i.e 13 playing GTA IV or Mass Effect). Heck, I started playing Vice City since kindergarten age.

 

As for how old you should be to play GTA? While it's officially 16/17/18+ depending on the region, i honestly think it depends on the person's maturity but i would say around 13+ is fine.

 

In Latin America most people really don't give a sh*t about age ratings for games.

 

I played GTA when I was 6 years old so

[billiejoearmstrong8]

It depends on the kid. If they're old enough to not be scared/disturbed by it and can understand the context I think it's ok. Bonus if they can understand some of the satire too. It depends on the game and game mode as well. Like, GTA V story mode has a lot more potentially disturbing content than GTA Online for example, as long as they don't have access to spending money on microtransactions I think Online is suitable for kids at a younger age than story mode (as unfortunate as the consequences of that are lol). 

 

My nephew was allowed to play it when he was 13 and for him that was the right age because he'd grown up a lot at that time, when he was younger it would've been too much for him as he was more sheltered than my siblings and I were as kids. Whereas my brother started playing when he was like 10 and was fine with it because he had older siblings, was less sheltered and more mature and able to appreciate satirical humour etc. It's like with anything, age rating is a guide but it's better to judge based on the individual.

Edited September 9, 2021 by billiejoearmstrong8

[Zello]

[H-G]

Well, 2 year olds play GTAO and spend their parents' life savings on microtransactions so I can't really see why there should be an age limit on playing GTA now...

[RacWolley]

First time I touched a GTA game was when I was 7 years old with GTA 3. I haven't had any psychopathic tendencies yet, or so I think. By all means, I should be a f*cking terrorist according to what the media has said about GTA. But seriously, you're probably gonna be fine if you play GTA as a kid. You wouldn't get many of the jokes or references of course, but I don't think the games are gonna turn you into a serial killer.

[sabitsuki]

Hell, I played both Manhunt games when I was like 12, and so far, the only nefarious thing I've used plastic bags for was throwing them away and not recycling them.

Edited September 11, 2021 by DownInThePMs

[Lonely-Martin]

As with movies, I've never once given a f*ck about age ratings. I don't need some suit telling me what I should let me kids see, I'm the parent and I decide. 

 

The likes of Mary Whitehouse can kiss my arse.

 

If the kids are well bought up, have good understanding and good communications with their parents/guardians, and the parents/guardians take responsibility buy checking what their kids are up to or what they want, then enjoy your entertainment. Simple as that.

[Ondr4H]

I started with GTA at 8 years.

 

I played every GTA as child, but I never touched hot cofee mod that was big no no and that can actually destroy my life not like exploding head of police officer!

Edited September 11, 2021 by Ondr4H

[SinZer0s]

I must've been around 9 or 10, first one I played was San Andreas. I remember being the weird kid in the classroom since I was the only one who'd actually do missions and play through the story instead of f*cking around with cheat codes (that is until I got stuck in the RC plane mission where you kill Berkley's delivery boys)

 

I could say I was "somewhat" mature for my age so honestly it depends on the way the kid behaves (I was quite retarded until I hit 15 anyway)

[KingAJ032304]

I'll say 8 years old at least but really doesn't matter universally.

[GTA-Biker]

I think those age ratings are there more to calm down the moral guardians than to actually protect kids from stuff like hearing swear words and seeing people getting killed (they see that in movies, TV shows and other media anyway,at least they did back when I was a kid,they probably still do).

I was 10 when I played GTA 2 for the first time,and most of my friends who are around my age also started playing GTA games at around the same time.My 13 year old cousin started playing GTA SA last year,and he loves it too.

[Tacymist]

Been playing Doom and GTA since the 90s, I think I turned out ok. Maybe all the Mario Kart provided a bit of balance though. Maybe.

[SilverRST]

On 9/8/2021 at 11:58 AM, Radz said:

When vice was released i used to right strategy of it. A lady contacted me that his child is insisting on playing vice city and she wanted to remove every naked lady out of game. I told her that its possible with mods but there are other elements like killing people which are not suitable for kids. 

What about naked gentlemen?