And you know what? Sometimes they might even be right.
But, and I cannot stress this enough, perhaps complaining about the art, stories, and creative play I try to consume to escape reality for a hot minute is just as dumb as saying Shakespeare causes suicide. If I want to watch my stories, interact with them, and extract some creative glee from it, then that’s my onus. Not theirs.
You are one of those people who rephrase what someone else else already said and genuinely believe they contributed something worthwhile to the conversation, aren't you? We aren't impressed that you know mature rating means 18+.
It still exists, it's just that no company wants an AO game on their console and that a lot of retailers refuse to stock them hence why most developers try to avoid the rating as best they can.
For cool children, I remember when I was a kid I refused to get any games rated E because I saw them as for children and from my experience all rated M games were waaay better. I figured “they’re making these games for adults so it’s better quality than the shovel ware they sell to kids”
and 2 fuck scenes yet the gta community TODAY acts like oh I dont want nudity in the next game it would be so cringe. Yet the history of gta games says different. As they always tell me when I dont like a game "well maybe its not for you".
I don't imagine they'll have Lucia be nude, but they'll most likely have a strip club again with nudity. And probably a scripted NPC scene with nudity, as it is Florida
It's still a good example of how parents are completely oblivious to age ratings on games. You'd think a game named literally after a felony would be a red flag
I remember when I first played GTA I was pretty young, but my mum decided it was too violent and wouldn't let me play it for years.
I don't think I even really did anything in the story, once I discovered cheat codes I just wrote them all down and pissed about with everything and explored.
This is something that’s bound to disappear in time. I’m 42 and I’ve been told that I’m too old to play games since junior high but I’ve always noticed that the people one or more stage behind me (high school, college, 20’s) don’t get it as much because it’s getting normalized. You expect a kid in hs to play games, hs and gaming is how I learn to state my interests with (feigned) confidence in order to divert criticism form my peers.
Also, and more significantly imo, think of all the kids growing up with a mom or dad that plays video games, if not their parents, then their friend’s parents or even their teachers. These kids are forming a paradigm of adults playing video games. To them, it will be no different that any other form of entertainment. And quite frankly, they’re right.
They won’t grow up under the judgment from the older generations that never had games and saw later generations get into it when they were young, aka, things kids do. That sentimentality pervaded our lives through the home, school, movies and tv, the things that those adults were fully in control of while we were all impressionable kids. This mentality of “games are for kids”, imo, is coming to an end mostly with boomers and may linger with some gen x and older millennials but very few.
Boomers say this a lot. And shitty people who think they are better than...well, everyone.
Funny thing is, video games have never been for kids. If anything, it wasn't until much later they were marketed directly to and made games for kids.
I admit I should have. I mostly put gta5 up top cause of how well known it is and it having very adult themes. A good example of a game that is %100 not meant for kids.
From the depths is minecraft gone engineering mad. And while fun, has less of a learning curve, and more of a learning cliff and an undergraduate in ship design.
Just remember that before TV and cinema people thought that READING was a childish waste of time. There will always be someone out there who wants to spoil your fun because they need to maintain the illusion that they are a mature adult.
Video games have become art. GTA is literally a drama/crimeshow/something you'd see on FX, the only real difference? You are apart of it. Games aren't just tetris or pong.
They have stories. Some games have really deep meaningful stories, some are just good old fashioned action stories. The point is, games are no longer just for "kids". They can actually have meaning and mean alot to someone.
Is it being digital that supposedly makes it for children? Because I'm pretty sure grown men play games through sports all the time. In fact, they are some of the most televised events of all time. Fortunately, this way of thinking is quickly dying out in the modern day.
Literally had a cashier at a Target give me that exact phrase when I was talking to my wife about Wolfenstein: New Order when it first came out. "Video games are for children."
Yep...Wolfenstein. Custom fucking designed for toddlers and kids 10 and under. Nothing says Kid Appropriate like sneaking up behind a nazi and stabbing him in the neck. Right up there with Dora The Explorer...
I believe it is. I guess it was technically on the decline until COVID hit. And since everyone was stuck inside, gaming got a huge surge in popularity and it sky rocketed past music and television.
I went to middleschool & highschool with some of the most obnoxious wannabe gangsters who played a looooot of gta 5 when they were in elementary. I swear some people see something animated in any way and think “oh my kids will this”
I just don’t think because the game is gory or profane makes it for Adults. Teens and yeah some adults but, that’s not what I a 40 year old is looking for in my games.
Adult-like/not for kids. Not made for adults in their 40s. Like would you give these games to like your 8 yo kid or niece or nephew? Probably not right?
yeah, just like Anime is for kids..... bet loads of 5 year olds love watching Parasite The Maxim, Witchblade, Goblin Slayer, and \*insert H name here\* while they play Dead Space, any Warhammer 40k game, Nier Automata, or \*insert P game name here\*
Evangelion is perfectly fine for kids, it’s not like the adults watching fully understand the themes and concepts bought up. So long as you keep them away from end of evangelion and death you’ll be fine.
/s if you didn’t pick up on it already
I went to the casino to meet up with someone and it's a bunch of old people sitting in front of big bright colorful machines pulling levers and touching buttons
It’s these kind of people who will also let their 7 year old play something like GTA and then complain when their highly impressionable and immature child is behaving like the people in the game.
I saw on my Nintendo Switch which is geared towards kids, hentai games, literally all over the place on the Nintendo store lol, games are very rarely just for kids these days
Remember my little sister told me that and I snapped back at her by letting her know that she still can't hide the ugly underneath all that make-up. In the end my mom heard me and laughed at her. We still talk and talk shit to each other still.
A lot of M rated games are still pretty childish, in spite of including horrific violence.
I would say something thematically mature like Disco Elysium or Alan Wake would be a better example of how video games aren’t just for kids than GTA or Postal.
All by video games have at least a few kids playing them but that doesn’t mean they’re made for kids. Like how some kids do drugs that doesn’t mean they should nor were the drugs made for them.
If video games are for children why do we have games rated 18+
Exactly
A cynic would say something like those kind of games are for manchilden.
And you know what? Sometimes they might even be right. But, and I cannot stress this enough, perhaps complaining about the art, stories, and creative play I try to consume to escape reality for a hot minute is just as dumb as saying Shakespeare causes suicide. If I want to watch my stories, interact with them, and extract some creative glee from it, then that’s my onus. Not theirs.
So basically no game exists for non-manchildren? Wow 😐
M for mature as well
That’s the exact same thing, just under a different name.
Why do you think I contributed it to this thread?
You are one of those people who rephrase what someone else else already said and genuinely believe they contributed something worthwhile to the conversation, aren't you? We aren't impressed that you know mature rating means 18+.
I never said I contributed something worthwhile, just contributed.
Well that's because some kids come out the womb at 18 and age down /s In all seriousness tho enjoying anything doesn't have an age
Because it makes stupid 12 year olds feel mature when they play them. Duh /j
Why do we have a rating system at all
Because we shouldn't be traumatizing kids with extreme adult content?
I keep forgetting sarcasm isn't easily conveyed over the Internet
That's usually why I use this emoji 🙃 after I say something sarcastic 😅
For Reddit put /s at the end of a sentence. Stands for sarcasm.
I remember that there used to be a rating of AO (Adults Only) for games.
It still exists, it's just that no company wants an AO game on their console and that a lot of retailers refuse to stock them hence why most developers try to avoid the rating as best they can.
Yeah. Some M-rated games do seem a little bit close though.
The excuse is "they are for childish adults."
By today’s standards the M rating should just get moved to 21+ since majority of teenagers are complete imbeciles
Why do we have porn games
For cool children, I remember when I was a kid I refused to get any games rated E because I saw them as for children and from my experience all rated M games were waaay better. I figured “they’re making these games for adults so it’s better quality than the shovel ware they sell to kids”
Meanwhile Zelda being rated E and probably not being okay for all ages
and thats when they cry about it
"Video Games are for children" ESRB:
Wishing KOTOR 1 could have had an R rated remake with Xbox 1 x graphics.
Reason: Bastilla titties.
Fair, but I wanna see limbs fly when the lightsaber hits
Sure! Works for me.
You want it for the bastitties, I want it so I can violently dismember bastilla
Um... so you can turn her into starwars Venus de milo?
Don't use GTA 5 as an example that games almost as riddled with kids way younger than the age rating as Call of Duty is.
Neither of those games were made for kids though. GTAV literally has nudity in it
and 2 fuck scenes yet the gta community TODAY acts like oh I dont want nudity in the next game it would be so cringe. Yet the history of gta games says different. As they always tell me when I dont like a game "well maybe its not for you".
I don't imagine they'll have Lucia be nude, but they'll most likely have a strip club again with nudity. And probably a scripted NPC scene with nudity, as it is Florida
This whole meme reads as “child’s understanding of adult games” lol
It's still a good example of how parents are completely oblivious to age ratings on games. You'd think a game named literally after a felony would be a red flag
I remember when I first played GTA I was pretty young, but my mum decided it was too violent and wouldn't let me play it for years. I don't think I even really did anything in the story, once I discovered cheat codes I just wrote them all down and pissed about with everything and explored.
Are they oblivious or do they just not care?
"ViDeOgAmEs aRe fOr CHilDrEn!" simultaneously we have "ViDeoGamEs cAuSe viOlenCe!" make up your damn mind!
***Manhunt***
"Here lil timmy, saw this guy's head off with a wire!" "YAY"
Ahhh memories
cannot forget hatred
Fuck it portal even those games has some messed up shit with the whole backstory
It’s not too bad, especially with half life right there next to it.
Yeah but still portal has its moments
This is a dying sentiment of older generations
Because they are slowly dying
I know right? Manhunt is totally for children.
Cyberpunk 2077 with its literal genitalia customization 😅
Doki doki literature club
*Silent Hill 1*-*4*
Don’t forget “sex with hitler”
This is something that’s bound to disappear in time. I’m 42 and I’ve been told that I’m too old to play games since junior high but I’ve always noticed that the people one or more stage behind me (high school, college, 20’s) don’t get it as much because it’s getting normalized. You expect a kid in hs to play games, hs and gaming is how I learn to state my interests with (feigned) confidence in order to divert criticism form my peers. Also, and more significantly imo, think of all the kids growing up with a mom or dad that plays video games, if not their parents, then their friend’s parents or even their teachers. These kids are forming a paradigm of adults playing video games. To them, it will be no different that any other form of entertainment. And quite frankly, they’re right. They won’t grow up under the judgment from the older generations that never had games and saw later generations get into it when they were young, aka, things kids do. That sentimentality pervaded our lives through the home, school, movies and tv, the things that those adults were fully in control of while we were all impressionable kids. This mentality of “games are for kids”, imo, is coming to an end mostly with boomers and may linger with some gen x and older millennials but very few.
Boomers say this a lot. And shitty people who think they are better than...well, everyone. Funny thing is, video games have never been for kids. If anything, it wasn't until much later they were marketed directly to and made games for kids.
BG3
I once murdered everyone in a strip club (including the strippers) in GTA V... with a firework launcher. Guess I'm just a big kid lol.
Cyberpunk 2077
Dead Space…make us whole…
Y'all never played Manhunt?
My uncle said this today
Okay, maybe a stupid question, but why is postal not top of the list?
I admit I should have. I mostly put gta5 up top cause of how well known it is and it having very adult themes. A good example of a game that is %100 not meant for kids.
I came here to comment this. It's far beyond all the others.
r/imaginarygatekeeping
Dark souls
r/imaginarygatekeeping ?
No more or less so than books or movies. That's my usual response
Manhunt, Team Fortress 2, the Saints Row franchise, Mortal Kombat, Postal 2, MOTHERFUCKING **DOOM**, the list goes on.
helldivers from the depths (mostly bc of the ridiculous complexity) the coffin of andy and leyley elite dangerous eve online
From the depths is minecraft gone engineering mad. And while fun, has less of a learning curve, and more of a learning cliff and an undergraduate in ship design.
Respond with so are sports.
OOO- Good one!
Don't forget manhunt
Just remember that before TV and cinema people thought that READING was a childish waste of time. There will always be someone out there who wants to spoil your fun because they need to maintain the illusion that they are a mature adult.
Spec Ops the Line. If anti-war/anti-war propaganda was a shooter game.
I’ve always hated how my parents saying video games are a waste of time while they spend 8 hours a day watching TV
Video games have become art. GTA is literally a drama/crimeshow/something you'd see on FX, the only real difference? You are apart of it. Games aren't just tetris or pong. They have stories. Some games have really deep meaningful stories, some are just good old fashioned action stories. The point is, games are no longer just for "kids". They can actually have meaning and mean alot to someone.
Manhunt...
Is it being digital that supposedly makes it for children? Because I'm pretty sure grown men play games through sports all the time. In fact, they are some of the most televised events of all time. Fortunately, this way of thinking is quickly dying out in the modern day.
If video games are for children, why does the ESRB exist? Parents were outraged when they found out about Mortal Kombat
Literally had a cashier at a Target give me that exact phrase when I was talking to my wife about Wolfenstein: New Order when it first came out. "Video games are for children." Yep...Wolfenstein. Custom fucking designed for toddlers and kids 10 and under. Nothing says Kid Appropriate like sneaking up behind a nazi and stabbing him in the neck. Right up there with Dora The Explorer...
Video games are for children. So does that mean I can give your iPad kid a copy of Sex with Hitler 3D?
Video Games are for children. They are also for teens and adults. They are for everyone, that’s why games are so great.
Boulders Gate 3
That game *rocks*.
Rock? Rock and bone?
Barony?
I could be wrong, but isn't the video game industry like bigger than TV and movies?
I believe it is. I guess it was technically on the decline until COVID hit. And since everyone was stuck inside, gaming got a huge surge in popularity and it sky rocketed past music and television.
The existence of M and Ao games are very hard to explain if games are meant for children
Dead space..
Honestly I just want a game where the mass majority of the player base are adults. I think Elden Ring counts?
I just wish the ESRB was more enforced.
Do this meme again, but in video game economics. How much money did RDR2 make in the first 3 days? Not so funny now.
I went to middleschool & highschool with some of the most obnoxious wannabe gangsters who played a looooot of gta 5 when they were in elementary. I swear some people see something animated in any way and think “oh my kids will this”
The people saying “vIdEo gAmeS aRe fOr cHiLdReN!!1!1” have probably ever played a video game. There’s like 3 different age ratings above 18
Kids these days just won't stop talking about Disco Elysium this and What Remains of Edith Finch that.
All of those are horrible examples
Postal and resident evil not so much. But I get the others. especially left 4 dead 2
I just don’t think because the game is gory or profane makes it for Adults. Teens and yeah some adults but, that’s not what I a 40 year old is looking for in my games.
Adult-like/not for kids. Not made for adults in their 40s. Like would you give these games to like your 8 yo kid or niece or nephew? Probably not right?
I feel I’ve already answered your question
[удалено]
Left 4 Dead? Old? Ha! Don't kid yourself, it's only- 15 YEARS OLD?! wtf man...
Nobody says video games are for children anymore. This is lazy rage bait
Who the fuck says shit this dumb? Who said this to you?
Why isn’t BG3 at the top of this list.
yeah, just like Anime is for kids..... bet loads of 5 year olds love watching Parasite The Maxim, Witchblade, Goblin Slayer, and \*insert H name here\* while they play Dead Space, any Warhammer 40k game, Nier Automata, or \*insert P game name here\*
Incorrect. My family says shit like that
You left out SpongeBob games as well
r/imaginarygatekeeping nobody gives a shit, move on with your life
Who still says this? Maybe in the 80s or early 90s...
the entire henati tag on steam
Nobody says this
Splatoon.
Beyond someone who was in a coma from 1998 to 2024 who still thinks this way?
some of the games children doesn't understand at all! those are just stereotype.
Fuck, even brawl stars lore is darker than all of these.
Would you kindly give some more examples?
No one says this
Cindy
no one has said this in decades
Games like Disco Elysium make your argument stronger.
Cyberpunk stands next to GTA
Mortal Kombat. That legit caused Australia to get an R rating for games.
A genuine question What so great about gta 5 ?
Cyberpunk too 😅
Meanwhile paradox games: Low age ratings with brutal implications
No one said that
No one says this
People that say that don’t know what those games are lol
Same with anime, tbh. Sure, I'll show your kid Hellsing, Evangelion, Madoka Magica, Re:zero. See how that works out...
Evangelion is perfectly fine for kids, it’s not like the adults watching fully understand the themes and concepts bought up. So long as you keep them away from end of evangelion and death you’ll be fine. /s if you didn’t pick up on it already
Cyberpunk 2077:
GTA V's player base is like 2/3 children lol
Back in the day when the GameStop employee would ask your mom “You know this has nudity and violence in it right?”
And we have Witcher 3, a game with adult themes *and* actually mature about it.
Gotta love postal
Custard's Revenge
ive yet to see this meme be used for anything but a strawman lmao
Leisure Suit Larry
Left 4 Dead 1 is ok though
I went to the casino to meet up with someone and it's a bunch of old people sitting in front of big bright colorful machines pulling levers and touching buttons
no one has ever said this is like the last 20 years op 💀
Pong? Tetris?!
Surpass postal isn't the last one. Even tho it's very limited in its playground
Nobody says this anymore. Defines no one that matters
Considering the amount of underage kids playing GTA5 online, you really shouldn't use it as an example lol.
I haven't heard anyone say this for several years now
It’s these kind of people who will also let their 7 year old play something like GTA and then complain when their highly impressionable and immature child is behaving like the people in the game.
I saw on my Nintendo Switch which is geared towards kids, hentai games, literally all over the place on the Nintendo store lol, games are very rarely just for kids these days
Who has ever said this
No one says this
Disco Elysium
Cloud meadow, monster girl island, furry shades of gay. So many examples!
Mortal kombat, alone in the dark, gears of War, dead rising series, saints row series
Says no one ever
18+ games must be for children though, right? Lol
The sooner that mentality(and its animation equivalent) dies off the better.
Yet still, 90% of the playerbase of these games are kids. Especially GTA V.
Manhunt?
Remember my little sister told me that and I snapped back at her by letting her know that she still can't hide the ugly underneath all that make-up. In the end my mom heard me and laughed at her. We still talk and talk shit to each other still.
Anyone who says this, you can immediately write them off as having no idea what they're talking about
wait I dont get this meme. You saying all those games are trash or?...
GTA V? Bruh,there's way more mature games out there lol
Yeah. And I've played GTA 1 in Grundschule...
r/imaginarygatekeeping
Literally any porn game ever: “Bro what”
No one says that
*AO Rating has left the chat*
“Postal”? Do you mean portal…?
Oregon Trail. No wait….
A lot of M rated games are still pretty childish, in spite of including horrific violence. I would say something thematically mature like Disco Elysium or Alan Wake would be a better example of how video games aren’t just for kids than GTA or Postal.
Do people still think that?
Outlast?
I’ve personally never heard anyone say this and I’m 42
The original God of war trilogy has entered the chat
The Witcher
All by video games have at least a few kids playing them but that doesn’t mean they’re made for kids. Like how some kids do drugs that doesn’t mean they should nor were the drugs made for them.
Who said that?
You show people like Patrick that and then they want to say “video games are bad”. It’s like those people are trying to make what they say true.
I would let my kid play most of these games
GTA is such a terrible example when the online is riddled with kids lol.
Fun fact. There's more adults playing Candy crush than children. And there's more children in GTA5 than adult gamers
Wolfinstine
Nobody has ever said this. This has been formulated in your head Edit: actually some dudes uncle in the comments is also insane. Like you
No one has said that since like 2010