My 4yr old likes D3

[Razorice]

Very bad parenting.

That is a rated M game. A teenager, okay, fine, there is so much that can be done to control those. But a 4 year old???? Too bad I can't, otherwise I would call social services; if the kid is being exposed to that, who knows what else. And people wonder why kids grow up to enjoy blood, gore in general and violent activities.

http://www.esrb.org/ratings/synopsis...tificate=31460

Wow. Chill the F out.

[Amnasty]

Violet video games being bad for children is a lecture for stupid people... so long as you the parent let your child know KILLING IS BAD, ZOMBIES ARE FAKE, AND ALL THE HE SEES IN DIABLO IS MAKE BELIEVE/PRETEND AND FANTASY, your child will not grow to some sociopath.

Parenting doesnt end where video games begin.

However it is your child and its up to YOU to groom them as YOU wish.

He might oneday develop the next big dungeon crawler because of his old time love of diablo... to toss that chance away because you feel him killing monsters might make him violent i wouldnt personally agree with.

[unholytestament]

Skyrim is a decent choice too. Even though it directly mimics violent acts by placing it in a first person view, it's still a kid friendly game at it's base. It takes some specific mods to make it not so kid friendly.

What? No. Skyrim is not a kid-friendly game. It's not as bad as Diablo 3 but it's still pretty bad. On top of there being an assassins' guild and several of the daedric quests having really dark themes (such as CANNIBALISM) there's also the completely random chance of coming across burned corpses (or the guaranteed chance of doing so on your first encounter with a dragon) and other assorted nasties.

Plus I don't think a game where the vast majority of enemies are shouting that they're going to kill you is a good idea for a young child.

[Reclaimer]

Violet video games being bad for children is a lecture for stupid people... so long as you the parent let your child know KILLING IS BAD, ZOMBIES ARE FAKE, AND ALL THE HE SEES IN DIABLO IS MAKE BELIEVE/PRETEND AND FANTASY, your child will not grow to some sociopath.

Parenting doesnt end where video games begin.

However it is your child and its up to YOU to groom them as YOU wish.

He might oneday develop the next big dungeon crawler because of his old time love of diablo... to toss that chance away because you feel him killing monsters might make him violent i wouldnt personally agree with.

Have to go with this. Quite fed up with idiots calling games to blame for people's actions. I grew up on SoR's, Shinobi, Double dragon Final fight and Street fighter. Based on wrong gaming logic I must have became a punk fighting all the time right? Nope, I became a Chef. Fuck stupid logic.

[zealo]

Skyrim is a decent choice too. Even though it directly mimics violent acts by placing it in a first person view, it's still a kid friendly game at it's base. It takes some specific mods to make it not so kid friendly.

Skyrim is not a kid friendly game, it have the exact same problem the OP is trying to get away from when wondering if he should play D3.

About needing mods to make it not kid friendly, you see a man get executed with heads rolling in the opening scene without mods for crying out loud, and that's not even mentioning some of the special death animations you can get when meleeing enemies.

[Deleted]

Back to the original post - most games have learning benefits. I'd say from playing games such as Guildwars when I was younger that I've learnt more words in that way than I have from being taught english in primary school. It definitely helped my reading anyways.

Pretty much that, I don't even remember how old I was playing GTA3 and that sort of stuff, and it never caused me to kill anyone. :P
On the other hand, my English vocabulary exploded thanks to video games, learned all sorts of stuff, from slang i wouldn't hear anywhere else to historic terms I shouldn't know at my age so on.
Hell, playing WoW from release helped my English the most, where I happened to interact with strangers over the internet, the horror.

I'm 23 now and #1. haven't killed anyone and #2 I've been fluent in English since like 16 years old without needing to really lift a finger, apart from using the keyboard. :P

[Bathory]

I'd stick to stuff more creative and less violent for a little longer.

^^^^Well said

[Djuntas]

Age of Empires 2. Every child should be brought up with that game.

This! Trough If he enjoys RPG's, or inn general ARPG's like Diablo, Id also suggest Torchlight - So cartoony and bright.

- - - Updated - - -

Have to go with this. Quite fed up with idiots calling games to blame for people's actions. I grew up on SoR's, Shinobi, Double dragon Final fight and Street fighter. Based on wrong gaming logic I must have became a punk fighting all the time right? Nope, I became a Chef. Fuck stupid logic.

Idd. Was playing GTA on my gameboy coulor back when I was like 8-10 years old hehe.

[DEATHETERNAL]

Honestly, just let him continue playing D3. If you're worried about the "gore/violence" just do what a parent is suppose to do, talk to him about it and tell him that it is just fantasy and if he tries things that he sees in the game he or someone else can get hurt and/or in serious trouble. Plus violent games can be good for kids(actually for all people) as it can help release stress, frustration, and pent up anger so they don't have the urge to take it out on other people.

Kind of this.

Can't you also turn off blood and gore or lessen greatly it in the options? As for violence, if you are raising the kid in an even half way decent manner (which I would assume you are since you obviously care about his mental wellbeing), then it won't make him love hurting people or anything. Raise him knowing right from wrong and exposure to violence (whether it be the news or video games or whatever) isn’t going to scar him or make him bad.

On an off note, I don't see why the game was rated M at all. It doesn’t seem bad enough violence, blood, and gore wise to deserve it.

[freedrom]

Have to go with this. Quite fed up with idiots calling games to blame for people's actions. I grew up on SoR's, Shinobi, Double dragon Final fight and Street fighter. Based on wrong gaming logic I must have became a punk fighting all the time right? Nope, I became a Chef. Fuck stupid logic.

Dude.... I spent hours when I was 6 or 7 at the local Pizza Hut elbowing fools in the face in Double Dragon. Because that was the best move!!! Great times.

[Nohzuko]

Find him an NES and let it play Super Mario Bros. 3.

[Deleted]

... when i was young i always roleplayed with my friends with us playing with swords (sticks) and killing eachother or some fantasy monster we made up in our head. and kids have always been doing this

kids have also always been running around playing cops and robbers.

4 year old might be a bit too young for a game like diablo 3, but people today have become waaaay to overprotective
because playing video games / acting like you're a robber or a cop, has ben proven again and again that it has no effect on what they will do in the future

anyway, Torchlight is a bit more friendly with the style and game itself

also it can be that he is not sure about what is even going on in the game but just thinks it's fun

[Smokinya]

Oh the fail of people in this thread saying he is to young. When I was five I was playing Turok 2 Seeds of Evil, Half-Life and started Halo when I was six. I've been playing WoWcsince third grade which was 9 years ago. Trust me when I say I turned out totally fine and have yet to kill anyone let your son play D3 and play it with him like my dad did with me it's a great bonding experience and your son won't kiLl anyone as long as you teach him killing is wrong. Anyone else saying different is being a troll.

[TirielWoW]

The only thing I'd be worried about is that kids that age have a very difficult time distinguishing fantasy from reality. What they see is simply "real" to them, and they can't really make the connection between what is in a game or movie, and what is in the actual world, which can cause them to have nightmares/night terrors/stress.

The fact that he likes it doesn't surprise me, tho, because it's a visually interesting game and it's pretty easy to handle the controls. Other people have suggested Torchlight, and that might be a good alternative. Another idea would be to perhaps get him interested in some of the older Nintendo games like Zelda, Mario, etc. Then again, part of the reason he likes D3 is probably because he sees you playing it, and he wants to be just like his daddy.

[Wildmoon]

D3 is a bit too soft. You should buy your son the Witcher2. To be serious, I think if he enjoys it then you should play with him.

[Migey]

Let him play D3 and give him more of the same.

I'd draw the line at, you know, actual gore. Blood spattering in a game is fine, but games which actually have high levels of genuine gore with semi-photorealistic graphics are okay. However, just about anything with a stylised aesthetic is fine.

TL2 is good, as people have suggested, minecraft, etc, but don't limit him. If he has his eye on something, then I'd only keep it from him in extreme circumstances. If a 4 year old is playing Diablo 3 and actually managing to play and not just mess around with the controls... then wow. That's special and should be encouraged.

Take this from a young and very enthusiastic gamer and reader who was only benefited by being allowed full access to mature content. I was allowed to read Game of Thrones before the age of 10, and devoured books and games which legally I wouldn't be allowed to buy. The result was that throughout school my vocabulary was years ahead of my peers and I excelled at any writing based subject.

Don't limit kids, unless the experience could genuinely traumatise them. Oh, and don't worry about being exposed to sexual reference. Honestly, most of the sex in Game of Thrones just went over my head at that age, and I barely focused on it. It didn't irrevocably damage my precious childhood innocence.

Edit: Watch this.

http://www.penny-arcade.com/patv/epi...t-a-babysitter

If you really want your kid to develop, but want to be careful about it, then just do it all with them. Play with them, play in the same room. Play co-op games. Help and guide them. It can be some really great bonding, as well as fun and helpful for both of you.

[Deleted]

Sly Racoon?

[Gereorth666]

The best you can do about him playing Diablo 3, is to always talk it over with him how all of this is obviously fake, and you can't go chopping people's head off in real life. It sounds incredibly stupid, but I realy think that is the best you can do. 'Guide him through the games.'

Other than that, you can try letting him play games like 'Ratchet And Clank'. Enough action for a child of it's age. Nothing too violent or gorey either. You could also try letting him play Fable: The Lost Chapters. Surely it has it's moment of heads getting chopped off, but it's quite a colorful fantasy game.

[Deleted]

Give them Amniesa Dark descent to play with ^.^

Seriously though, I don't think it matters a rat's ass what your child plays, as long as you teach them the difference between Right and wrong, and waht is real, and what is fantasy.

[Thimagryn]

Dude like that matters i played fighting games at young age shooting games at young age. it doesnt matter it depends on the person if they murder people in the future! let your kid play diablo jeesh

As much as I'm against censoring and bad media saying videogames cause violence, I'm also a major supporter of responsible gaming. Diablo 3 isn't material meant for a 4 yr old.

There are so many alternatives to mature-rated games that kids can play. Like others have mentioned, Minecraft is a great sandbox game that's accessible for children.