Would Call Of Duty 4 be appropriate for a thirteen year old boy?

[kayanat]

Would Call Of Duty 4 be appropriate for a thirteen year old boy?
My mom seems convinced that it is not appropriate do to the rating of 'M' and is not concerned about anything else. Would this game be appropriate for me? I am a thirteen and I own most Medal of Honor games.

[rjacks21]

Re: Would Call Of Duty 4 be appropriate for a thirteen year old boy?

I personally wouldn't have a problem with a 13 year old playing the game. As far as M rated titles go, Call of Duty 4 is pretty tame. There's not much harsh language (if any, it's been a while since I've played) or gore in the game.

The one thing I would caution against would be on-line play just because the other players on-line tend to be a little vulgar with their comments. You have the ability to turn off communication though so you don't have to listen.

[JimmyJack]

Re: Would Call Of Duty 4 be appropriate for a thirteen year old boy?

I just read an interesting article about video games and boys. It suggested that for almost all boys the play-acting of video game violence is not harmful and is in fact a useful release for natural, aggressive tendencies that are wired into adolescents. The negative impacts of video gaming that are thrown around all the time were detected only for a very small minority who either had other mental problems or were prone to video game addiction.

I've read a great many other studies on the topic of violence in movies and games and violence in reality. Most of them conclude that the vast majority of young people understand the difference and obvious separation between reality and virtual reality. That is, they know that actions in the real world have consequences and that actions in the virtual world are not "real" and don't translate to reality. Most of the assertions suggesting otherwise come not from scientific study, but from anecdotal media reports of "trench coat mafia" and other pop psychology.

My take on all of this for my own son is that like anything else, video gaming in moderation is probably not at all harmful. I figure that if I'm raising him right, he'll know the obvious difference between virtual reality and "real" reality.

I've played Call of Duty 3, and at least with the CofD series, you're fighting battles in context of WWII, not just pointlessly blowing away prostitutes on urban streets like the Grand Theft Auto series.