Gaming and Youths (What's Not Appropriate?)

[Umbran]

I think specifying 13 when people said 'teens' is tilting the field a little. I mean I agree completely, but I don't think the 13-year-old example makes for a convincing argument contra. Just my two cents.

Then specify late teens or early teens, or something.

If the audience is mixed, the most sensitive concerns win.

 

[Fenris-77]

Then specify late teens or early teens, or something.

If the audience is mixed, the most sensitive concerns win.

Sure, but I also think it's true that when people use 'teen' generically they don't really mean 13 year olds specifically at all. Some room for common usage is a fine thing. I don't disagree about the issue with kids that age at all of course, but I think the objection there on your part is possibly more technically correct than broadly useful. Not something we need to go back and forth about though, so I'll take you're point as given.

 

[Umbran]

Sure, but I also think it's true that when people use 'teen' generically they don't really mean 13 year olds specifically at all. Some room for common usage is a fine thing. I don't disagree about the issue with kids that age at all of course, but I think the objection there on your part is possibly more technically correct than broadly useful.

And I think you are waaaay too focused on my using a particular age, rather than noting the general issue.

I said 13, because that made the point clear. The issue doesn't just evaporate the day after their 14th birthday, though.

So keep it real, rather than try to dismiss based on technicalities, hm?

Think of it this way - at what age is it appropriate for you, an adult, to present this material to minor children who are not yours?

 

[Gradine]

 

[Gradine]

More specifically, if you are the one running the game you have the ability to determine the content of the game, so they aren't really any games that are, by themselves, inappropriate for teenagers. I would only really make the exception for games in which drug use and/or sexual content are mechanics expressed within the game, like Apocalypse World (a game that is probably only appropriate for adults), Monsterhearts (a game ostensibly about teenagers but more on the YA end of that range), or FATAL (a game that is probably definitely not appropriate for anybody)

 

[MGibster]

I would only really make the exception for games in which drug use and/or sexual content are mechanics expressed within the game, like Apocalypse World (a game that is probably only appropriate for adults), Monsterhearts (a game ostensibly about teenagers but more on the YA end of that range), or FATAL (a game that is probably definitely not appropriate for anybody)

But FATAL has been described as the Necronomicon of roleplaying games, fundamentally broken in its attitude towards sexuality, and characterized by bitter misogyny. How can you say it's not appro---oh, I see it now.

 

[eudyptes]

For context, I got the Monster Manual when I was 8. It contained female nudity. Was it an appropriate purchase? Probably not? If my parents had read the book first and seen the depiction of the Succubus perhaps they would not have indulged my desire to get it.

It's funny for how many dudes Of A Certain Age that Monster Manual succubus is indelibly inscribed on our brains.

 

[GreyLord]

Not having read the rest of the thread...

Who is stating or asking this?

My impression would be someone who is also into video games (could be wrong). Cyberpunk 2077 is not really a game for kids or minors (same with other games by the company such as the Witcher Series).

If their exposure to Cyberpunk has been via Cyberpunk 2077, it is completely understandable why they may feel that Cyberpunk is not an appropriate RPG/game for youth. The Violence does not just pertain to graphic violence, but other things in relation to it that probably would not be appropriate for those who are younger.

If they are a parent and that's been their entire exposure to Cyberpunk, I could see them strictly forbidding their child from participating in the game!

I would be guessing (and you know what they say about assumptions) that it is in some way related to the game Cyberpunk 2077 and what they've seen in that regards.

This would be a sticky area to address and could be best just to avoid Cyberpunk if dealing with it in this way, as trying to explain that the RPG you run will be different than the Videogame may be more difficult to explain than simply just switching to another similar RPG (such as Shadowrun, though ironically I think Shadowrun's more current books have more offensive stuff in them such as cursing and foul language than Cyberpunk).

 

[Professor Murder]

It's funny for how many dudes Of A Certain Age that Monster Manual succubus is indelibly inscribed on our brains.

I mean, her pose is definitely sexualized I would argue, while the other cases of full frontal female nudity in the book was less so, but I could be overlooking another pic.

 

[GreyLord]

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.

I've been opted into helping out with the D&D club at the local High School last year. It's continuing into this year. I did run public games at public locations so that's part of the reason why they probably felt it was good to ask me to be the second adult and assistant for the club.

We haven't had any problems with troublesome stuff so far, but now that you mention it, it could be a good idea to put that rule into place (when I ran the games, I had control, but at the club it's more of a supervisory role and the kids run the games). How did you present it without getting...awkward?