I’m worried how GTA 6 is going to affect my children – Reader’s Feature

With GTA 6 featuring the most realistic graphics ever seen in a video game, a reader is concerned about how to keep it out of the hands of his kids.

They say becoming a parent changes you, but until it happens, you don’t really understand how. I used to be really into horror movies and games, and a big Call Of Duty player, but I just don’t have the time anymore. It’s not just that though, somehow the idea of watching people being dismembered and shot doesn’t seem quite so appealing as it used to, not when I’ve got little ones I’m looking after.

It’s not like I’ve given up on that stuff completely – I still watch and play when I get a spare night alone – but it’s definitely something I do less than I did. And to get to my point, after the Netflix show I am looking forward to GTA 6. I’ll buy it and play it, but I will be very careful to make sure my boys, who are seven and eight, will never see it.

I’ve seen some people complain about the lack of gore in the game, but I don’t think that’s really relevant. You’ve got tons of violence even without that, constant swearing, and what looks like far more nudity than you’d ever normally get in a video game. It’s adult entertainment but my worry is that it’s not just adults that are going to play it.

You can probably see where this is going but I’m worried that while my boys certainly won’t be seeing or playing the game at my house, they’re going to be seeing it online and at their friends’. And yes, I know it’s mature rated and only meant for adults, and all the rest of it, but talking to parents I am always shocked how little some of them care about what films and games their kids are watching.

The phrase ‘It didn’t do me any harm’ usually comes up whenever I question them about it and, let me tell you, I rarely think that’s true. But you know that if you’re reading this. You know parents like that and you know that they’ve never taken any notice of age ratings, even though they’ll happily complain about violent films and games – as if they’re not the ones that are supposed to keep their kids away from them.

So I don’t really know what to do. I don’t want games like GTA 6 to be banned, but I also definitely don’t want impressionable children playing them. The whole point of GTA is being able to do whatever you want, and when you’re a kid that’s being as violent and antisocial as possible. Yes, it’s just a game, but if you think games have no effect on you… you know that’s not true. If games didn’t have any effect on our emotions and thoughts we wouldn’t play them.

The thing is, I’ve been a parent for a while now and this sort of thing has never bothered me until now. In part because my boys were too young for proper video games until now but also because graphics have never been as good as GTA 6. So now all that violence and nudity is ultra realistic and even more likely to have a negative effect.

And before someone says, ‘But they can get porn and much worse already’, how does that make the situation better?! That’s awful as well, although at least it’s not interactive. I’m not surprised there’s no gore in GTA 6 because if it was realistic it’d be making Mortal Kombat look like a Mario game.

I’ve got no answers here, but I do think these problems are real and it’s something that’s slowly been creeping up on us. When graphics were low tech it didn’t really matter how violent a game was because it never looked real and it never felt like you were harming real people. But like so many things in the games industry, the problem has been getting worse and worse over this generation and nothing has been done about it.

When a game looks almost completely like real-life when do you start putting limits on what you can do with it? There’s no point saying it’s only meant for adults when we all know fine well that this sort of thing is like catnip to teenagers and younger. I really don’t know what to suggest but it worries me, for not just GTA 6 but everything that comes after.

By reader Carlton

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