Parents are more afraid of their kids playing Grand Theft Auto than drinking beer or watching porn says an informal poll on video game parenting site.
The poll asked 1,600 parents what they'd be most concerned about their 17-year-old child doing at a sleepover. Grand Theft Auto (19%) was second to smoking marijuana (49%) and closer to watching pornography (16%) and drinking beer (14%).
"Although these findings seem surprising at first, they hint at fears parents have about video games," says Cheryl K. Olson, Sc.D., co-author of Grand Theft Childhood. "To some parents, video games are full of unknowable dangers ... Of course, parents don't want their children drinking alcohol, but that's a more familiar risk."
Grand Theft Auto in particular has been a target for concerned parents and politicians. A hidden sex game in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas kicked off the Hot Coffee scandal in 2005, which was followed by lawsuits, protests, lawmaking attempts and negative press. Three years later, Grand Theft Auto is still one of the best-selling games of all time, but this poll hints that parents remain wary.
Source: WhatTheyPlay.com
Reader Comments (71)
It's sad when parents are afarid that their children are playing violent VIDEO GAMES but they show no fear in beer, sex, peer pressure. Welcome to the decline of parenting. Wanna be a great parent, blame video games for your children's action. Don't teach them about imporant subjects like sex, moral, and life.
My son (age 21) bought Grand Theft Auto with his own money, and plays it on his own Playstation. Unfortunately one day he left it in the machine, and my youngest turned on the machine, thinking Mortal Combat was in there (the jackets got mixed up). Within about 10 minutes the youngest (then six) started screaming "Kill them! Shoot them!" I marched in, turned off the Playstation, and dragged the (then) six year-old out of there. The Playstation is now under lock-and-key, my oldest can play it when the younger ones are asleep, or away. I told him if he didn't like the rules, he was old enough to move out. He still lives at home... and has decided; for now, he likes his mom's cooking a little too much to leave home... I have six boys... for 21 to age 8. I want to see the one who comes in and says to me, "You can't tell me what to do". The older ones know the cheats to get to those scenes, I don't want to hear it, I don't want to know about it - I've seen the scenes and they're disgusting... I also don't like porn, but I can't shut down the industry... there is too large a client base.
TWEEB---GROW UP , QUIT ACTING LIKE A SNOT NOSE MORON, AND GET YOUR BUTT TO BED
tweeb 27 you really NEED A NAP----NITE NITE NOW
I will quote "twebb227 on 8/15/2008 8:31 pm hell no **** no they went to got damn fr now hell no theres nu10 wrong with gta iv no sex no kissing just killing stfu if ur scared ov ur kid killing ****** at erly age get off ur asss and raise them right killinng raise them rigth take them to police convinchons get info so that wont happen and i dnt give a hell if im only 14 i p0lay video games and u *******s ar gonnna stop me u flyfishing s.o.b.s " What the F^$K is that? I don't recognize the language. No slang does not make you look COOL its means you look ignorant...or if it helps you understand ..ingerent
Im 17... My parents know I Drink and play GTA, I can assume they also know I watch porn b/c every 14+ yr old boy (and some girls) watch porn.... I also maintain a 4.0 GPA, have never gotten a ticket or pulled over myself in 1 1/2 yrs of driving and have never had any other trouble at school or with the law. Raise your kids right, teach them about drinking safety and not overdoing it and there will be no threat playing a violent video game, drinking at a young age, or watching pornography.... And marijuana, well thats a touchy subject so ill leave it out of this
Perhaps this is why the game carries an M rating, so no one under 18 who may be very impressionable can play it. Parents need to keep an eye on what kinds of games their children can play.
I've had five kids--keep em busy is what I have to say---be involved. My kids are smart--they are grown-all college educated-minus one Marine--and let me tell you-they all had some sort of issues when they were young. Especially the Marine-but he was smart enough to see that he was going in the wrong direction and enlisted-not listening to my cries not to. It's been damn hard-and it still is -because when they get a little older-the problems get a little bigger. So 17? That was a breeze because they depended on us for most everything-and they knew it.
Also want to add that it's a shame these parents aren't wary enough to stop buying this "best selling" game. What's that say about what we're not teaching our kids?!
How does a comment from an obvious 'I'm going to school but not learning anything' little dweeb even make it into this post?! I can see playing GTA is really enriching his mind. You would think at age 14 they could at least spell the word 'play' correctly (among the other little tiny words misspelled), but obviously 'conventions' was a bit of a stretch for them! Even half decent grammar is completely out of their reach.