Gaming and Youths (What's Not Appropriate?)

[Clint_L]

There's a difference between studying a text with mature themes and subjects, and players roleplaying a story with mature themes. I teach high school language and literature, and I also run the D&D Club.

For D&D, I enforce a strict "PG" rating. No swears, no sex, violence is not graphic. If I didn't, I could lose my job - imagine two 15 year olds RPing a sex scene at a school club! There would be so many boundary issues it beggars the imagination.

But I can teach a film like Get Out or a play like Macbeth no problem. There, the students are engaged at an intellectual level - they are not participants. Even when we read through scenes or act them out, there's a distance. They aren't composing it.

I'm not familiar enough with Cyberpunk Red to comment on it. Would you be comfortable playing it with your principal or their parents in the room? If so, it's probably fine. If not, not.

Edit: if the kids are playing it on their own, that's another issue. Then, assuming the material is legal for them to possess, it really is a family matter.

 

[MGibster]

I teach high school language and literature, and I also run the D&D Club.

No need to flex so hard, Clint! Leave some ladies for the rest of us.

I'm not familiar enough with Cyberpunk Red to comment on it. Would you be comfortable playing it with your principal or their parents in the room? If so, it's probably fine. If not, not.

I'd be just as comfortable playing it as I would D&D.

Edit: if the kids are playing it on their own, that's another issue. Then, assuming the material is legal for them to possess, it really is a family matter.

Like I said, as a kid I didn't game with adults and as an adult I don't game with kids. I'm not against it or anything, but when I was younger we didn't have brave, handsome genius warriors such as yourself running games for us at school.

 

[Tigris]

I dont know cyberpunk red well enough, but for me it matters more how the violence is depicted, especially in the images.


If its just action movie like killing people thats fine. If its bloody torture its different.


I would not want the children to have some disgusting images in their head they have problems getting rid of.


I dont think from the themes itself should be a problem for teens.


When playing with teens I would leave the sex stuff away (and for sure would not play something like Apocalypse world with sex moves), because thats weird when old people play with young people.

 

[Professor Murder]

Side note: I can understand the hesitance of adults to want to play with younger players. But please understand that every gamer has a duty to be a steward of our shared hobby and to nurture new people into it. To be otherwise isn't just selfish, it is short sighted.

 

[Thomas Shey]

I suspect in many cases its not "I have a problem with a 15 year old as a player" but "How will people interpret my doing that?"

 

[MGibster]

Side note: I can understand the hesitance of adults to want to play with younger players. But please understand that every gamer has a duty to be a steward of our shared hobby and to nurture new people into it. To be otherwise isn't just selfish, it is short sighted.

I don't typically game with children because I don't hang out with any children other than my nieces. The last time I gamed with a minor was back when 3.0 was new and someone came to one of our game days with his sixteen or seventeen year old daughter in tow. I've I'm running a game at my local hobby shop during a game day I wouldn't care if a teenager joined in. But mostly I see people in their twenties and up at these events.

I suspect in many cases its not "I have a problem with a 15 year old as a player" but "How will people interpret my doing that?"

When I was 15 I didn't want to hang out with people who were the same age as my parents.

 

[Thomas Shey]

When I was 15 I didn't want to hang out with people who were the same age as my parents.

It wasn't assured that it would work better with older people, but I related poorly enough to, well, pretty much everyone my own age that someone older who had potentially common interests (SF, superheroes) would have seemed much more attractive. Age would have been a minority factor.

 

[LordEntrails]

I consider CPR and similar age appropriate for teens, if presented in an age appropriate manner. In fact, I would consider it near critical for teens to be confronted in a fictional manner with the topics you mention.

Teen years are critical for developing critical thinking and questioning authority. Both of which are presented in cyberpunk settings. If the GM presents the topics appropriately and deals with the discussions, then this is a very important and valuable experience for teens.

 

[aramis erak]

I tend to limit myself to content that would be acceptable in a suitable film rating.
Under 13, parents present (preferably participating) and firm MPAA PG.
13 to 15, parents present, and PG-13. Maybe R for gore if the parents are OK with it.
16+ My usual PG-13 for public games, for private games, R for gore, themes, violence, language
I don't use sex much in games, and never for under-18 players.

 

[Clint_L]

Yeah, TBH my adult campaign is pretty PG. Someone might throw in a raunchy joke or something, but sex is at most alluded to, and the violence is not usually that graphic, unless a player has a particular beef with an opponent. My own character prides herself on having never killed anyone who wasn't already dead.