Were you allowed to play M rated games growing up?

[lestagio]

The whole age rating debacle has been around since the dawn of man (August 8th, 1992). Mortal Kombat was one of the biggest offenders due to its graphic and seemingly realistic violence at the time. The satanic panic and the trend of blaming DND and music was in full swing and video games certainly got hit with it, thus the introduction of age ratings.

I always thought that age ratings have been pretty arbitrary, especially as games became more widespread— Extreme violence? Eh, that's a T rating. 3 seconds of nudity? M RATING!!! They also are honestly irrelevant to some extent because it seems that a lot of parents would buy games for their kids without a care in the world, and then they would complain that the game literally titled "Grand Theft Auto", complete with bikinis, men with guns, and graphic details on the back wasn't suitable for little Timmy.

My father was pretty nerdy, one of the few adults in the 80s/90s who actually played video games seriously, and he was up to date on a lot of the games of the time, so I was... moderated. I was stuck with a lot of Nintendo until my teenage years, when more of the graphic stuff was coming around. Things opened up a bit more for me, being allowed to play Doom into my teenage years, and by the time I was 15 or so, my dad didn't seem to care what movies I watched and what games I played. Occasionally he'd make a remark of "Maybe you shouldn't be watching this" but he didn't really care that much. My mother cared a little more, but I just hid Doom from her (and later on, GTA and such, although I was nearly in college at that point).

She got pretty mad when I was 13 and found me listening to Rage Against the Machine. Apparently she didn't want her son hearing the lyrics "Fuck you I won't do what you tell me!"

So, growing up, did your parents allow M rated games and R rated movies?

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

No, but we did it anyway.

Once, my older sister and I were looking for "treasure" (i.e shiny trinkets to fight over) and found a stack of adult games on a drawer, including Leisure Suit Larry 7: Love For Sail and some poker porn game.

Keep in mind that we were nine and seven when I tell you that we installed them, played them... and found them hilarious.

We sucked at Larry 7 but thought it was amazingly charming (especially the part when you stick your card on a statue's ass), but it was the poker game we loved.

We got... really good at it, and even had little tournaments while our baby sister crawled around, obliviously playing with her Fisher Price toys and crayons.

At one point, we even pretended to be the women we played against.

It was as fucked up as it was awesome... and, remarkably, we never got busted for it.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

I played mostly hided so i think that they weren't aware

 

[LiberoVulpesLiberoVulpes's icon]

Before I learned to "acquire" games from the internet, I just played whatever my parents got for me, since, a game is a game, and I wasn't one to ask them to buy me specific games, since I have similar taste in games as my mom (my parents are gamers btw), it was never a problem.

My first exposure was sex games on newgrounds, and my parents didn't give a shit about that, "Kid had to learn at some point" they said. Even after I managed to scrounge the really fuck up stuff from the internet (Demonophobia, Maggot Baits, Subahibi, etc.), they kinda didn't care about it.

I turned out alright, could be better, but definitely could have been worse.

 

[Amphineura]

No

My friends were all playing GTA San Andreas and watching MTV in their bedrooms, while I only had access to the family TV and even swears were STRICT no-no's. My parents weren't even religious at all, they just loved being prudish for the love of the game.

 

[lestagio]

No

My friends were all playing GTA San Andreas and watching MTV in their bedrooms, while I only had access to the family TV and even swears were STRICT no-no's. My parents weren't even religious at all, they just loved being prudish for the love of the game.

You had to find a friend with the laid-back parents who didn't care what the hell you did. I believe that was the first time I saw Wolfenstein 3D.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

No, it's a big reason why I have no nostalgia or real interest in Grand Theft Auto. Around high school was when my parents started easing up on the no M-rated games rule, but by then my tastes had evolved to the point where I really didn't care anymore. I do remember what the first M-rated game I got was, though, and it was even one of my Christmas gifts; the God of War HD Collection on PS3.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

No

My friends were all playing GTA San Andreas and watching MTV in their bedrooms, while I only had access to the family TV and even swears were STRICT no-no's. My parents weren't even religious at all, they just loved being prudish for the love of the game.

 

[SamanthaSamantha's icon]

No

My friends were all playing GTA San Andreas and watching MTV in their bedrooms, while I only had access to the family TV and even swears were STRICT no-no's. My parents weren't even religious at all, they just loved being prudish for the love of the game.

I could have used an upbringing like that, honestly.

You'll soon learn that I swear A LOT on these forums — it was the way we rolled in my home.

 

[Amphineura]

I could have used an upbringing like that, honestly.

You'll soon learn that I swear A LOT on these forums — it was the way we rolled in my home.

Oh that doesn't mean it worked at all. Despite their best efforts, I don't tuck my shirt in, I have long hair, and I swear like a sailor too . Ironically though, I do err more on the Nintendo side of things today

 

[lestagio]

I could have used an upbringing like that, honestly.

You'll soon learn that I swear A LOT on these forums — it was the way we rolled in my home.

Yeah, I fucking swear all the fucking time too goddammit, holy shit!

But seriously, my whole family and extended family swore all the time too— I like to think I had a decent upbringing, but no one really cared about language. I also developed a habit of that on the internet a bit more because I (especially in the IRC chatroom days) felt that I could convey emotions and thoughts more clearly, and it just stuck with me.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

Yeah, I fucking swear all the fucking time too goddammit, holy shit!

But seriously, my whole family and extended family swore all the time too— I like to think I had a decent upbringing, but no one really cared about language. I also developed a habit of that on the internet a bit more because I (especially in the IRC chatroom days) felt that I could convey emotions and thoughts more clearly, and it just stuck with me.

My mother swears a lot lol.
I use a more calm and tame language than most of my family since i'm not a big fan of swearing.

 

[TruxtonTatsujin]

yeah despite being strict my parents swore in front of me all the time too.

 

[ArchienineZXAdventArchienineZXAdvent's icon]

yeah despite being strict my parents swore in front of me all the time too.

The world is pretty... interesting

 

[4C374552A1CA2638]

yeah despite being strict my parents swore in front of me all the time too.

"Do as I say, not as I do. ...Wait, maybe not everything I say."

---

I was allowed, and I was even able to buy them without ID because I got lucky enough to pass for older at the time. Did anyone seriously get carded for M-rated games, though?

Nobody really knew what I played, but at the same time, I didn't really seek out the forbidden fruits all that often. I remember playing Dad's copy of Wolfenstein 3D on SNES, and I played Diablo in middle school, too.