Do you think players under 18 should play TWD?
Blind Sniper brought up a good point in a joke post on the discussion thread--there are Walking Dead players who are younger than the rating label. I personally think it's a good idea, as (from an anecdote I read about a teacher on tumblr) the games that delve into topics on growing up and facing interpersonal hardships are usually mature-rated (Life is Strange, Persona 4, Tales from the Borderlands), but is that just me or what? (For reference, I'm 23, so this has no bearing on me.)
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A majority of the money telltale recieves for their games comes from people under 18.
As long as they're mature then I don't see the problem.
...okay, okay, I'll set a good example as a moderator and offer a serious response as well: I don't necessarily see the harm in younger players playing as long as they are at a close enough age to where they are able to handle playing the game (and of course, not be scared by walkers, offended by cursing and gore, etc). At this point, it's common knowledge that kids and young teens nowadays are exposed to media of a higher intensity in general. It can vary for different people, but the story told is earnest in its artistic expression and it is not excessive just for the sake of gratuity, unlike other mature rated stories or media. That doesn't necessitate younger players appreciating all of the nuances of the story in Walking Dead's case, but as long as they are able to handle it, I don't entirely see the harm in doing so.
That being said, on a tangential note as I look back on the posting history throughout the Walking Dead forums and my experiences as a volunteer mod since late 2013, I do wish that people would make more of an effort to have a posting style that fits the maturity of the game. I see a lot of posts from a vocal minority of people taking pride in their beliefs that the Walking Dead community is the most mature here, and that fans from other series such as Minecraft come along and ruin discussion. Well, Walking Dead fans are not without skeletons in their own closet (or, should I say undead walkers - har har har har) - in several cases, it seems that same vocal minority of posters in the Walking Dead community could stand to take the advice they give to posters in Minecraft about growing up, and try applying that to themselves.
That's not towards everyone, and it's not towards the poster of this thread - it's just something I wanted to say as, on occasion when new series like Game of Thrones, Borderlands, Minecraft, etc have been announced in the past, some small but vocal portion of the posters from the Walking Dead community are first in line and front-and-center to act hostile, snooty, and sometimes condescending towards the incoming fan bases they expect those other franchises to bring. As I said, the Walking Dead community is not some gold standard that other fan bases should ~strive to reach for~. Each fan base has its own pros and cons, and when I see a vocal minority of people (mostly from the Walking Dead forums) act insecure and resort to making comparisons, it kind of kills the good vibes that other sides of the community can bring - and honestly, past Telltale series prior to Walking Dead had communities that were more mature back before Telltale became popular because of Season 1.
I mean, its obviously not for children, but Im sure someone whos like 15 would be fine if they played it, maybe even 14.
Honestly I feel like Tales from the Borderlands M rating is kinda weird, its really not that bad, if it were to be a movie it would easily be PG-13. The only R thing about that game was that they said "Fuck" twice and there was alot of gore and dismemberment.
I think that could be more due to movies and game ratings having different standards. Movies have been around longer, and people typically view cinema as having more artistic merit than video games. Various indie studios including Telltale like to try and come up with atypical game formats to try and take the gaming medium in new directions, but the video game industry is in its infancy and several people still view video games more so as a shallow entertainment commodity than an artistic medium similar to cinema.
Because Cinema has been around longer, I'm sure that different standards are at play. And, well, Borderlands does have some pretty shocking material at time. I would not exactly describe scooping out an eyeball from a man who is unconscious (but still alive) as PG-13 material.
I'd say something like The Walking Dead is okay, depending on the maturity and empathy of the player. I wouldn't give it to a ten year old because of the coarse language, gore, and the fact that they're likely not going to understand or be interested in the drama and suffering the characters face. That's a totally different story for a thirteen or fourteen year old, again depending on their maturity.
The Walking Dead doesn't promote violence or glorify zombie apocalypses, nor does Tales from the Borderlands glorify weaponry and greed, nor does Life Is Strange promote mental problems and drug use. If someone can understand that, I'd say they're fit to play these games.
(Personally, I watched The Last of Us, The Wolf Among Us and The Walking Dead all on YouTube when I was maybe thirteen or fourteen, and I could understand how unappealing the scenarios would be for the characters. When I watch/play GTA V and Tales from the Borderlands, I can still identify the difference between comedy and violence, despite being younger than the given rating for the former game. I was also thirteen or fourteen when I watched Watch_Dogs on YouTube, and although I didn't really comprehend how boring Aiden was or how dumb the plot/dialogue could be, it didn't make me want to get a whacky-hacky phone, do parkour on city buildings, or run around sneak-attacking people with a baton.)
It depends on maturity. P.S I'm 14.
I suppose it varies between people, but I'd say yes.
If someone's old enough to understand the nuances and themes and stuff, then I don't see why they can't play it.
Besides, I think a lot of people are a bit out of touch with kids and gaming these days; kids are introduced to quite a lot of stuff at younger ages from what I've seen. I've seen kids only breaking into 11-12 that are already swearing like sailors and watching violent shit on TV, and it only gets worse once they are introduced to the wonderful world of drugs and alcohol. And when hormones kick in and the idea of sex starts to cross their minds. I mean shit, I was already getting exposed to quite a lot when I was 11. And I've heard more than enough when I was still in high school. I heard quite a lot of stuff in middle school, even. And let's not even talk about all the sex-related stories I've heard as soon as I got into high school. Especially stuff regarding the freshmen... eueueueuggh oh god kill me
Seriously. Kids/youth these days aren't all that precious and/or innocent. Most of them are already acting like they're in their late teens. If you disguised yourself as a freshman and slipped into a high school, I'd bet you'd see and hear all sorts of shit.
If you are emotionally ready and mature enough to understand and enjoy the game then go for it. There are some games/movies that kids just aren't gonna appreciate as much as adults because of the themes and what not. I don't think really think that Walking Dead is one of them.
That sounds worse than TWD, And that has a higher rating than TFTBL... (At least in my country. And no, I've only played episode one of TFTBL)
I played it when I was under 18 and games with maturity like TWDG have helped me mature earlier I think.
Its easy to tell a good chunk of the walking dead community is underage and a smaller chunk of that section lack the maturity to even step into these forums based on their obnoxious posts and their annoying overuse of emoticons. No one's stopping anyone underage from playing the game and I don't see a problem with pre-teens, and younger teens playing the game, but if you come here to discuss, and you make threads like "ARvo is Dumb AS FUCK XD XD XD XD". I'm not going to ever take any of your opinions seriously.
In my opinion, excessive violence in itself isn't enough to warrant too steep of stringent restrictions. Tough or difficult to digest subject matter (such as the way mental effects of said violence is shown, limiting the audiences involvement in processing an event, unlikely or strange cruelty, etc.) is always more strenuous for a younger mind to process.
You can have zombies devouring people 'till the sun comes up, but it pales in comparison to a meticulously structured 5-minute scene of a mockumentary film following a serial killer callously murdering a family in their home and then joking to the audience (Man Bites Dog).
Shit like that still sticks with me as a 22-year old viewing it for the first time rather than watching the directors cut of Dawn of the Dead as a 15-year old.
It's really about how the violence is filtered and dramatized.
I played the first game back when I was 14 and the second game when I was 15 and 16. As long as they're mature about it, it shouldn't really matter.
No, Lee, you are 34.
Isn't Lee 37 years old?
It's not as graphic as it sounds. I'd say the saltlick incident in the Walking Dead, or any occasion where you smack a walker repeatedly in the face, is a lot more brutal than the eye-scooping.
Bitch please, I've played TWD Season 1 when I haven't even turned twelve and nothing bad happened to me. I don't think it's much of a problem. Everybody should have equal rights on this forum, there's no reason to discriminate people under 18, considering that they're are the majority of the users.
Actually, Lee's 37
No no walking dead for who under 18
I don't see much wrong with anyone under 18 playing this game. Of course there is a cut-off age, but it's not exactly concrete. Some teenagers and pre-teens display more maturity than what's to be expected.
Younger people are already exposed to so much garbage as it is, and I don't think the swearing and gore of this game would leave a teenager or pre-teen scarred for life. A younger kid could potentially be perturbed or freaked out by something in this game, sure. It also would not be ideal to expose someone especially young to some of the game's language. I would never give this game to say, an 8 year old, because of the aforementioned reasons. Still, someone older could handle it just fine, even if they are under 18. It really just depends on the kid.
The only other issue I can think of is that some of the themes would be lost on a younger audience, but I don't believe so. Once again, this is dependent on the maturity of the individual. I believe picking up on and learning some of these themes could do a lot of good for a younger person. In fact, you could argue that some of the morals in this game could help in the building of maturity.
This kid came into my work, couldn't have been any older than 7, wearing a GTAV shirt...
Parents these days!
XATCTY!
I was 12 when I played walking dead Season 1, when I came to know what ttg and by that time twau was out as well, so I played twau and twd1 in the same year, twau when i was 13th and twd when i was 12th (both in 2014)
Been their fan ever since, played and loved Got tftb mcsm and twd2/michonne
If a boy/girl who is mature enough to understand intense emotion and feelings (a sense of maturity) that ttg uses, he is fit to play any game even if its rated 18+
15 now and still loving every bit of ttg. and waiting for more and more of twd
tsssk... Will twau ever happen? xD an unanswerable qts i guess
Well, I'm under 18, and I love TWD
So, yeah.
(AND YOU CAN'T DO ANYTHING ABOUT IT :P!)
Really?
Keep in mind, the Terms of Service and the Privacy Policy have the final say on that.
I remember there was a video of a kid asking TT staff a question/complaint about the 400 day characters at some convention promoting Michonne (I think). They just looked at the kid and asked "where are you're parents?", as in you should not be playing this kind of game kiddo. I'm sure they know kids play their games, especially TWD, but I don't think they intended it to be for them.
I've played M rated games when I was a kid and I didn't grasp the concept of what i was doing until later in life (precious memories), I was just having fun. Games have evolved so much since I was a child and have tackled tough topics in better detail. So I'm a bit conflicted on this kind of topic. I think I'm leaning more towards mature rated games should be sold to the 18 older crowd. As an adult, I can't really take a child seriously (just like TT staff) understanding what's really going on in these games.
wut?
"Bitch please" is usually a common saying and not meant to be taken seriously...
double wut?
I was 14 when Season 1 came out/when I played it, so it all honestly depends on the person I guess.
It would ultimately come down to whether or not they would be able to understand what goes on in the game.
But if you think that a large amount of the people who play the game are 18 and above, I've got news for you...
Special how?
I did
You might wanna watch the way you word that...
As @Dont_Look_Back said, I didn't try to offend the OP. It's just a common saying. I'm sorry if it bothered you, I can delete it if you want.
Oops, sorry, I didn't see the comment below me... I thought TWD started in 2011?
The kid asking the question was at Minecon 2015, you can see him asking the question in the video at 56:00.