<mark>This post has been edited by a moderator. Please do not repost locked content.</mark>
*Original post. Click at your own discretion.
someone started a thread that got locked. the theme was kids shouldn’t play Halo MP, and blah blah.
I wanted to share this because I think kids, as well as clueless adults (I had a guy last night playing his first game of Warzone with his kinect on, talk to his friends to hilarious effect) they have the right to play the game. As a community you should take this innocence in good humour and help them become the kind of players you want play with.
The following is what I had started to write before the thread got locked;
I make friends with kids.
I’m a Youth Worker and I have nephews who enjoy gaming. So when a 12 or even 8 year old comes in, as long as they are polite (which actually they all have been) I’ll talk to them as if they are just another human being, because they are another human being. One of my peeves as a child, was being spoken to like a child, like I was different or wrong for being who I was. It’s important for children to interact with others and socialise. It’s important for them to be given good examples. The reason why so many kids gaming act the way they do is because that is the example the “grown ups” have been setting. Do your part, go be nice.
> 2533274879979815;5:
> As a parent it’s your job to provide context to what your children experience.
Exactly. It’s nice to see other sensible people.
As much as we all want an innocent world, especially for kids. That isn’t the case. Let them experience the bad stuff in safe settings with proper context so they can handle it appropriately and maturely in other parts of their lives.
Glad to see some people on these forums have a bit of human decency. I started playing Halo back in 2001 at the launch of CE and was gaming for a few years before that. Now at the time I would have been about 9 or 10 and if it wasn’t for playing beack then I probably wouldn’t have an interest now.
Halo is a very tame game and there is no reason teens shouldn’t be allowed to play. Parents need to be parents though and be aware of what goes on in online gaming and communications. I don’t hear much profanity and what not in Halo. Most don’t even use mics any more. In fact I am betting the majority of Halo players are older. That is why halo isn’t in the top 12 of most played until peak times when older people are off work or kids are in bed that type of thing.
when i was a kid socializing meant going out to the park on your bike and play on the swings not hauling childish abuse down the mic. im not saying all kids do this and thus all shouldn’t play, but h5 brings new rules for leaving matches and not playing so there should be a similar rule regarding under 16’s and their behavior whilst in game.
plus to some extent me being 31 and talking to a 9 year old as innocent as it may seem is wrong if anything there should be dedicated playlists for the younger generation. and online gaming should have more restrictions in place and age verification.
> 2533274852584231;5:
> when i was a kid socializing meant going out to the park on your bike and play on the swings not hauling childish abuse down the mic. im not saying all kids do this and thus all shouldn’t play, but h5 brings new rules for leaving matches and not playing so there should be a similar rule regarding under 16’s and their behavior whilst in game.
>
> plus to some extent me being 31 and talking to a 9 year old as innocent as it may seem is wrong if anything there should be dedicated playlists for the younger generation. and online gaming should have more restrictions in place and age verification.
I disagree, children should be able to mingle with adults in video games. Yes sometimes they are -Yoinks!- but so are a lot of the elder players. I have been called every name under the sun by various “adults” over a video game. A lot of the time children don’t know any better and it is up to us to set a good example. I have many 12yr- friends and not one of them are disrespectful, yes you get exeptions but segregating all children is not fair.
> 2533274852584231;5:
> when i was a kid socializing meant going out to the park on your bike and play on the swings not hauling childish abuse down the mic. im not saying all kids do this and thus all shouldn’t play, but h5 brings new rules for leaving matches and not playing so there should be a similar rule regarding under 16’s and their behavior whilst in game.
>
> plus to some extent me being 31 and talking to a 9 year old as innocent as it may seem is wrong if anything there should be dedicated playlists for the younger generation. and online gaming should have more restrictions in place and age verification.
I did both. I played through the SNES and Mega Drives, to the N64’s and Gamecubes, as well as going out to the park. My nephew loves his xbone, and he plays in a football league (English football AKA, Soccer) on the weekends. The only difference really between him and me is that my consoles didn’t have online so I got all my friends to come round to my house.
Dude I’m 31 too (well in 9 days I will be, counting down like an adult). I get that it can seem creepy. But I’m not asking for their real names or where they live. I’m not hanging around schools and places I have no business. As real as the dangers are of those kinds of people, it’s wrong to treat all adults (especially males) as uncontrollable monsters. It’s a stigma that needs addressing.
Also the online space is a public space. I’ve had kids stop me and tell me their chain has come off their bike. I don’t know this kid, he doesn’t know me. But he’s in a public space, he’s going to see strangers. I fixed his chain, even showed him how to do it and went on my way. His parents would know that letting him be alone in that space runs the risk of him meeting people he doesn’t know. You can either teach kids that all adults are dangerous and they shouldn’t be around any of them or you can teach them about ‘unwanted attention’ and the signs of real danger.
yer every point is valid, and i dont believe in discriminating children from playing. and actually it doesnt effect me much as i play as part of a community now and you have to be over 16 to join so it eliminates that problem for me personally.
i guess there is no real right or wrong answer. but again i strongly believe in age verification to dictate where you can and cant play or at the very least have playlists for over 18’s this wont stop kids from playing but more allow players to chose what kind of crowd they wish to play with.
my son is 7 he has asked to play halo for some time and personally i have said no for now as i think thats 2 young for him to be mixing with adults. but he is 8 in june so i may allow him to play campaign on h4
> 2533274852584231;9:
> yer every point is valid, and i dont believe in discriminating children from playing. and actually it doesnt effect me much as i play as part of a community now and you have to be over 16 to join so it eliminates that problem for me personally.
>
> i guess there is no real right or wrong answer. but again i strongly believe in age verification to dictate where you can and cant play or at the very least have playlists for over 18’s this wont stop kids from playing but more allow players to chose what kind of crowd they wish to play with.
>
> my son is 7 he has asked to play halo for some time and personally i have said no for now as i think thats 2 young for him to be mixing with adults. but he is 8 in june so i may allow him to play campaign on h4
I mean yeah. Your child your rules. And it’s not like I’m saying you are doing any damage to your child’s development by denying him the chance to play online. Plenty of people, for thousands of years have lived and grown up without playing xbox as a child. lol.
If you haven’t already, remember Halo MCC has 4 campaigns and they can all be played 2 player split screen. So you and your son can still enjoy plenty of Halo.
And again, you are more than welcomed to your opinions and beliefs. Nintendo themselves shied away from voice chat in their consoles to allow children to play safely online. Even though the Wii and Wii U do support chat now, Nintendo games rarely do. So there’s never going to be one great answer, even between the big three. But that is why I made the thread. The other thread was poorly set up and I wanted the views to be expressed openly and maturely so people could read them and take away a bit more understanding on the subject.
> 2547348539238747;10:
> > 2533274852584231;9:
> > yer every point is valid, and i dont believe in discriminating children from playing. and actually it doesnt effect me much as i play as part of a community now and you have to be over 16 to join so it eliminates that problem for me personally.
> >
> > i guess there is no real right or wrong answer. but again i strongly believe in age verification to dictate where you can and cant play or at the very least have playlists for over 18’s this wont stop kids from playing but more allow players to chose what kind of crowd they wish to play with.
> >
> > my son is 7 he has asked to play halo for some time and personally i have said no for now as i think thats 2 young for him to be mixing with adults. but he is 8 in june so i may allow him to play campaign on h4
>
>
> I mean yeah. Your child your rules. And it’s not like I’m saying you are doing any damage to your child’s development by denying him the chance to play online. Plenty of people, for thousands of years have lived and grown up without playing xbox as a child. lol.
>
> If you haven’t already, remember Halo MCC has 4 campaigns and they can all be played 2 player split screen. So you and your son can still enjoy plenty of Halo.
>
> And again, you are more than welcomed to your opinions and beliefs. Nintendo themselves shied away from voice chat in their consoles to allow children to play safely online. Even though the Wii and Wii U do support chat now, Nintendo games rarely do. So there’s never going to be one great answer, even between the big three. But that is why I made the thread. The other thread was poorly set up and I wanted the views to expressed openly and maturely so people could read them and take away a bit more understanding on the subject.
whattt let my son play on my xb1… ha no chance lol he has a 360 he can keep playing that… but yes there are plenty of options available to allow us both to play together, he is at that age where i want him to go out and be active, and he does like 3 different activities a week including indoor climbing, which i believe are very rewarding for a child. plus he really likes lego dimensions and skylanders right now and halo is a totally different kettle of fish and requires a very different maturity level which i dont think he is ready for just yet.
> 2533274852584231;11:
> > 2547348539238747;10:
> > > 2533274852584231;9:
> > > yer every point is valid, and i dont believe in discriminating children from playing. and actually it doesnt effect me much as i play as part of a community now and you have to be over 16 to join so it eliminates that problem for me personally.
> > >
> > > i guess there is no real right or wrong answer. but again i strongly believe in age verification to dictate where you can and cant play or at the very least have playlists for over 18’s this wont stop kids from playing but more allow players to chose what kind of crowd they wish to play with.
> > >
> > > my son is 7 he has asked to play halo for some time and personally i have said no for now as i think thats 2 young for him to be mixing with adults. but he is 8 in june so i may allow him to play campaign on h4
> >
> >
> > I mean yeah. Your child your rules. And it’s not like I’m saying you are doing any damage to your child’s development by denying him the chance to play online. Plenty of people, for thousands of years have lived and grown up without playing xbox as a child. lol.
> >
> > If you haven’t already, remember Halo MCC has 4 campaigns and they can all be played 2 player split screen. So you and your son can still enjoy plenty of Halo.
> >
> > And again, you are more than welcomed to your opinions and beliefs. Nintendo themselves shied away from voice chat in their consoles to allow children to play safely online. Even though the Wii and Wii U do support chat now, Nintendo games rarely do. So there’s never going to be one great answer, even between the big three. But that is why I made the thread. The other thread was poorly set up and I wanted the views to expressed openly and maturely so people could read them and take away a bit more understanding on the subject.
>
>
> whattt let my son play on my xb1… ha no chance lol he has a 360 he can keep playing that… but yes there are plenty of options available to allow us both to play together, he is at that age where i want him to go out and be active, and he does like 3 different activities a week including indoor climbing, which i believe are very rewarding for a child. plus he really likes lego dimensions and skylanders right now and halo is a totally different kettle of fish and requires a very different maturity level which i dont think he is ready for just yet.
yeah I would have loved the chance to do activities like that as a child. I mostly did my Kung Fu. There was nothing like wall climbing around where I grow up, when I was doing the growing up.
When he’s ready you can start with cross co-op games like Halo Reach and the Fable titles. So you can play on xbone and he on his 360.
I’m expecting just now and I already know (based on my nephews) that I’ll end up sharing.
If they behave yes but some are too young to be playing a rated (m) game. Why halo 5 is rated (t) I’ll never know.
But aside from that for the few that act mature they are ok. Age didn’t matter.
But when they aren’t and they are making obnoxious random noises, and not helping in the game. I say no they shouldnt
> 2533274983213185;13:
> If they behave yes but some are too young to be playing a rated (m) game. Why halo 5 is rated (t) I’ll never know.
>
> But aside from that for the few that act mature they are ok. Age didn’t matter.
> But when they aren’t and they are making obnoxious random noises, and not helping in the game. I say no they shouldnt
Why previous Halo games was rated Mature I will never know.
> 2533274983213185;13:
> If they behave yes but some are too young to be playing a rated (m) game. Why halo 5 is rated (t) I’ll never know.
>
> But aside from that for the few that act mature they are ok. Age didn’t matter.
> But when they aren’t and they are making obnoxious random noises, and not helping in the game. I say no they shouldnt
i believe it has something to do with no blood or gore which gives it a (T) rating
> 2533274816788253;4:
> I find it more disturbing that I have heard young folks playing GTA. Now that is wrong.
I heard some kid on there call me the n word I told him I was black and knew where he lived he left the game and every one thanked me because he was being a little -Yoink- and killing every one
I don’t get why people complain about online communication. What you hear online is 100% in your control. You can mute all, or just mute the player being a yoink. You can set it so you only hear players when you have your mic plugged in. There is options for you. But people act as if they have to listen to it or hitting a couple of buttons to mute some one is so bothersome they shouldn’t have to do it… the notion of having to hit buttons on a video game I know right… smh…
I agree, I have no problem with kids playing the game. I do have a problem with adults who use the fact that they are anonymous in the lobby to curse at/make -Yoink!- jokes to young kids over their mics, but that’s a different issue that 343 should probably fix
> 2533274816788253;18:
> I don’t get why people complain about online communication. What you hear online is 100% in your control. You can mute all, or just mute the player being a yoink. You can set it so you only hear players when you have your mic plugged in. There is options for you. But people act as if they have to listen to it or hitting a couple of buttons to mute some one is so bothersome they shouldn’t have to do it… the notion of having to hit buttons on a video game I know right… smh…
Agreed, with the notable exception of not being able to identify/mute people in the lobby. I’ve definitely seen yoinkholes use the lack of that feature to intentionally harass children and think 343 should fix that
