How games are not just for kids anymore. - Age Ratings

(Norsk versjon finner dere her)

I remember my childhood with great fondness when i see old 8 bit games. There was something magical and revolutionary to be able to control the image on your television with the little gray controller. And your parents had very little to worry about when it came to the little red plumber. Therefor i get that it can be hard for my parents generation to look at videogames as anything else then childish play. But for us who have grown up with videogames, we know that the games industry reached its adulthood a long time ago.



As you can see, i rebranded the channel to a grownup geek blog. Which plays on the fact that it's ok to be a grownup and still get excited about pop culture and videogames. But that does not mean that all videogames are meant for kids. On the contrary i would insist that most triple A titles made today are aimed at a mature audience.

Don’t get me wrong. A tone of games are made for all ages every year. In 2016 over 50% of all games was rated E for everyone.

But if we look at last month list over the top 10 grossing games, over half of them were rated M for mature. Actually only one game was actively aimed at children. The rest of the games rated E where in fact sports games which generally is considered to have an older audience.


Age rating on games is something a lot of people ignore when buying games to their kids. And that tells me that they might not have any experience with modern games. Why have not seen how games has gone from pixelated graphics, to graphical depiction.
Yes i know, graphical violence in entertainment is nothing new, and we were subjected to it a lot ourselves as kids. Hell i saw Nightmare on elmstreet as a nine year old, and to be honest this is not the thing i'm most worried about when it comes to kids. We all loved getting scared and grossed out as kids, but many games had a lot more mature dilemmas and themes that im not sure a lot of adults consider.


The most obvious game that has been the center of controversy for some time is GTAV. It’s pulp action over the top mayhem, with is the hallmark of GTA games is pretty fun and harmless in my opinion. But some of the themes and moral choices you make in the game is not. This is a game meant to give you a world without consequence, where you can set your own morals to the test. The most controversial is probably when you, as Trevor, is put in a situation where you have to torture another man. This is quite uncomfortable for us grownups, so then you can just imagine how a child would find it.

Another example is Call of Duty Modern Warfare. CoD has long has the tradition of shoving you war from several sides. Therefor a lot of people got taken aback when they were put in the shoes of a terrorist, forced to kill all civilians in an airport. A powerful tool to show the ugliness of terrorism for adults, but not a moral dilemma a child should have to consider.

Shooting pirated and bad guys as Nathan Drake in Uncharted is pure adventure set to action music. But if you play the more mature game, which happens to be one of my favorites, “The Last of Us”. Then the people you kill will beg for their lives. Something that really leaves a lump in your stomach as you break their skull with a nailed board. You literally have to justify every murder with a you or me mentality. This is powerful storytelling with moral undertones that gives the story a lot of weight. I love it, but i don’t think a child would grasp it the same way.

Then there are just games with deep grownup themes about life, existence and a sense of belonging.

Tragical tales of loss, sorrow,

Depression, anxiety and other themes so strong and profane that kids really should get to way to experience until they are a bit older.

Thing is that games, like any other narrative medium, like film and books, has the opportunity to speak to several age groups. And even though many of the older generation sort of missed it. Games at one point became just as big of a narrative medium as all the others.

Some games can be cute and exciting for kids, while other games can be experiences tailored for an adult audience.

Nobody can tell you what you kids can and can't experience. That your job alone as a parent. And every child has different ways of relation of distancing themself from games and other mediums. But just keep in mind that the age rating on the box is there for a reason.

As a child i remember being allowed to view content one age group over my own as long as it was with an adult. And when it comes to games i would probably encourage parents to do the same.

And when timmy age 10 ask for an adult games for his birthday, just take 5 min on google to figure out what the game is about. You might be glad that you did.

Let kids play video games, it’s a great way for kids to experience and learn through play. And it’s a medium that encourages them to solve problems with the mechanics given to them. And at the same time they are transported to a magical world filled with adventure and beautiful stories, which probably is a bit deeper then you would think.

I just have one request. Keep the console in the livingroom, and pay attention to what they are playing. Or better yet, pick up a controller and play with them.

This week nintendo launched their new nintendo switch. And as before, with the little red plumber, nintendo had more quality family friendly games then most.

But did you know that the Playstation has great parental control that you can use to block mature content? And that the playstation network has a ton of family friendly games?

I’ll make a separate video with my recommendation of great family friendly games.

As soon a parent myself, this is an issue that often haunts me. Especially when i have several older acquaintances that often expresses a big lack of knowledge when it comes to modern video games. These are often the same people who understand how a grown ass man can still be playing video games. So if you know someone like this i hope you'll share this video with them.

And if you are one of these people i hope you’ll give modern games a chance. It might be something you’ve dismissed for a while, but you might be surprised at how much you'll like it.

We’ll continue discussing down in the comment section. Remember to give this video a thumbs up, subscribe if you want to. And I guess I’ll talk you later.