I’ve heard of kids making compromises and pitches to their parents before, trading and bartering off so they could get the things they wanted.
But I’ve never, ever heard of a kid making a Shark Tank-esque business pitch with Powerpoint. This kid has class.
Reddit user michaelseimsen this afternoon posted a series of slides produced by their 13-year-old son, slides designed to convince them that it was OK for a 13-year-old to play GTA 5.
Parents are understandably wary about games like GTA, and the coverage around the game’s content can occasionally put mums and dads on edge. But what michaelseimsen’s little one had in mind was so classy and so inventive that they were sold “like three slides in”.
His mission — interesting choice of word, that — was to convince. Nothing else would do.
The risks were clearly understood. He’s a bit weak on the grammar, but he’s got an eye for minimalist presentation slides. The green’s a nice choice, too. Soft, soothing colour.
His solution was to avoid the campaign and, supposedly, the game’s more objectionable content. Plus, he’d have offered to pay enough money for it all.
You can view the rest of the slides over at imgur. As you can imagine most would, the parents happily accepted his compromise. “If he’d just said, ‘Can I get GTA? I won’t play the campaign,” it’d probably be a no,” michaelseimsen wrote. “Initiative and creativity go a long way. And the fact that he’s never even asked us for the game until now.”
Kid saved up to make his case in a single push; smart little bugger.
[r/gaming]
Comments
33 responses to “One Kid Uses Powerpoint To Convince His Parents To Let Him Buy GTA 5”
Little shit will probably be asking for porn and alcohol next. Sad thing is his idiot parents will probably give it to him too.
You like porn and alcohol too what’s your point?
What’s my point? I would’ve thought it was pretty obvious. He’s a 13 year old kid.
If I was leaning towards a “yes” as a parent, I’d ask him to go back through all of his slides and correct all of the grammatical errors first….. just a little hoop to jump through 🙂
Exactly. As a 13 year old he shouldn’t be making that many errors.
“kid”
R18+
…..
EDIT: Parent’s just need to say NO sometimes. Stop giving in to there kids and say no. I wanted Left 4 Dead 2 when it came out. I think I was 14. They said no. (To be fair the trailer was pretty gruesome)
And then that was it…..The world didn’t end. I got over it, played other games. I didn’t hate them for it.
So much this!
He’ll only play it when he goes to JT’s anyway… That’s why i was allowed to play doom as a kid lol because everyone else had it! Didnt destroy me.
I missed Perfect Dark. By the time I picked it up again* we were into the Wii generation and it had just aged terribly. Still pretty miffed about it.
*Yes, I bought it and got up late at night to play it. They found out and took it.
Would the world have ended if you got it?
I guess we will never know! OooOOOoOOoOOOooooo Now that’s spooky.
I did end up getting it later and we are all here so I guess not actually.
I’d say no – inappropriate is inappropriate, doesn’t matter how much they beg and plead. Saying they will beg if you say no is probably a red light as well.
Because the online community isn’t toxic at all.
While in JB Hifi recently, I came across what looked like 2 grand parents about to buy a game for the 10-12yo boy taggin along with them. I passed them as they stood in front of GTA 5. Kid was real quiet. The man clearly saw the 18+ label and queried it, his wife was looking kinda confused as if it was possible a game could be 18+.
I told them straight out that I play that game and I did not think it appropriate for a child to play it. Needless to say, that kid went home without GTA 5. Kid probably hates me.
I’m sure if an adult enlightened those parents above about the game from an educated source, no amount of Powerpoint presentations would have gotten him that game.
I’d still tell my kid no because of the games rating.
R18+ rated game… Sorry kid, but no powerpoint presentation in the world would convince me that I should allow you to play that game. Ratings are there for a reason and should not be bargained away.
I bet $20 that the kids parents got sucked into this and got him the game in the end as a “reward for being so mature about it”
You know how mature I am. If it’s a no after this I’ll beg non stop. Ahhh kids. 🙂
Still more mature than some 18+’s I know.
I bet he could have had them by the second if he had a pie chart.
As people have said though, sad to see parents ignoring the R18+ rating. Although I did like that one parent who said his boy could play COD if he followed the Geneva Convention.
I struggle with this stuff. As an adult, I play these games and would not give them to kids. But as a kid, I put so many hours into GTA2/3/Vice City that it’s mind boggling. And honestly, the story meant nothing to me and I didn’t understand the inappropriate stuff enough for it to have any affect. It was all about just sandboxing and having fun. I do remember I’d turn the monitor off every time the loading screen for ‘The Whore’ chapter in Mafia came up, so obviously I didn’t want my parents to see it, and I knew that Max Payne was pretty dark and my mum was really not fond of Soldier of Fortune, but it was the same stuff she’d say now if she came over and saw me blowing people up. So long as kids could communicate an understanding of what it is, I think I would be okay with it. Maybe at fourteen though.
I was like 12 when I had to get my Mum to accompany me at the video shop so I could rent Mortal Kombat 2 on SNES 🙁
I would say gta/gta 2 are a lot less violence impact than GTA V.
I also grew up playing games way over my age. My parents had no idea what I was playing though.
Funny how I enjoyed the cartoony top down GTA’s more than the bad arse in your face High Fidelity versions.
Big time – I agree completely I have played all sorts of games growing up now its games i could only have dreamt of! I just have the view that these days the content is so realistic that the actual impact it can have is greater for influential minds. Like these days some shit is a little too raw for me like the WatchDogs surveillence when the chick is playing with a gun having sex and saying “Fucking kill me come on fucking do it!”
“I’m Mature!”
misspells half the Powerpoint to prove his point…
Maturity has nothing to do with grammar and good spellin’ of words an stuff.
Im interested – of all the people commenting here judging the parents involved, I wonder how many have kids?!
And all those ripping on his grammatical errors, I work with adults… And some of their presentations suck compared to this. I think weighing up pros and cons, he’s a clever dude if he’s able to do that and all so obviously is a bit mature beyond his years. Having said that i dont think id get games like this for my child when they’re 13 because the impact they have on me as an adult now is way more than what Doom could do lol
Trevor… Just… Trevor…
I guess my main point is the parents know the kid. Try not to judge people too much.
I love all the pc comments here of rules are rules, its r18 plus how dare you let a kid play it.
While I do not agree with a lot of kids playing this, I would say the same about a lot of games in general, if a parent is going to allow their kids to play this, end of story, call it bad parenting all you want.
You got two sides of the argument here, you’ve got the I grew up on violent games and turned out fine, and you’ve got the I was not allowed to have them I learned.
Same argument you hear with smacking, you have one side going hey society is crumbling because we don’t punish kids and have a sociopaths society now, I got smacked and it taught me well, you then have the other camp who are dead against it and see it as emotionally scarring and traumatic.
You’ve all got an opinion and it’s always right and too many social justice warriors, lets take all that context out.
I would not liken this to alcohol or cigarettes, like a lot of things it should be looked at on a case by case basis, the R18 system was only introduced because special interest groups for years wanted games banned and believed R18 would allow games classified as MA15 to be rated R and kept away from kids fair enough, but this is the same groups that also enforced the law of R rating sections in shops.
Based of how the system is being played, one would think that it’s going to come down to the kids guardian.
Why did I bring up smacking? because certain people will never change their stance on things involving children, its their way and if you challenge them on it they will drag them to hell.
I don’t like my nephew playing inifinity, after seeing how he plays, I started playing it with him, his parents see it as safe family friendly fun / wasting time and screen time has to be extremely limited, you can guess which parent is on which side.
Neither parent sits down with the kid and sees how he plays, one half just views it as an annoyance they have to allow to avoid tantrums, the other sees it as easy daycare / them having fun.
His behavior in it changes to antisocial in the extreme, he’s learned how to force players out to kick out his brother and sisters, hates sharing, thinks its funny to inflict violence on npc’s, that his actions don’t have consequences.
So i’ve sat down and played it with him, had to explain consequence, had to work with him on how he plays the game.
Ever played a game where you are given multiple choices? good ones? bad ones?
How many people here love picking the bad ones to be wicked?
Be honest, many of you are adult gamers who pick sick twisted choices, you’ve nuked megaton, you’ve screwed whats her name etc.
Some of you get its just a game, some of you just see it as blowing off steam, playing a story etc.
To my nephew he has no context on it, he wants a game where he smashes things and hurts people.
I’m also a firearms instructor, I teach many professions, groups etc in safety, and my specialty area is going to schools, clubs etc and teaching firearm safety to kids, the goal of the program is to ignore politics and accept if a child is in a situation where a firearm could come into contact with them, they need to know how to be safe.
If you hate guns and you swear black and blue your child will never touch one, good on you, your child still needs to learn these things, because trusted parents who know the kid, they’re walking home from school with a mate, they find a gun in a gutter tossed there by a crim, next thing you know they are playing with it / posing for selfies with it on their phones and could shoot each other. Illegal firearm so hey all the tight laws are gonna do nothing here, you’ve told your kid to never touch one but hey balls to what you know about their maturity.
Part of the course reinforces the psychological effect of firearms, while this is a device you’ve seen romanticized and notarized in media you have to drive the reality to them, like a car, like a knife mishandled it will hurt and cause death.
A reality has to be enforced behind this, we also explain that while we are happy for parents to take either side of the politics behind this, they need to learn these things and how to be safe, physically and mentally, parents ask me why mentally and think we just mean on the shock effect of what it is, and we have to explain it’s like video games.
It can give you a window in to what they are like, you can have the nicest person on earth who you think is normal, fine and well adjusted, put them behind a car, a firearm, a knife, a videogame and sometimes you see things out of them that just make you think, they need to not be in this setting and we need to work on how they are in this setting or completely remove them from it.
I would put my nephew in this category for certain video games, even disney infinity is bad for him, his parents have no idea and don’t understand this explanation and just think he’s a kid he plays how he plays, but the game unsettles him. Normally if we teach firearm safety to a kid, if their parent goes I grew up with guns etc, want my kid to learn, and we see that sadistic smile, that just unsettling vibe that they need to mature or get help psychologically.
Most cases the child is just extremely mature or there is something else going on.
Games fall into the same basket, everyone knows that kid back in school who used to worship horror movies or who loved to play shooter games and see them as more than they were, most of the time the parents were not involved, or thought it was harmless.
Again it’s not the games fault, and the rating system should be there to help but its extremely limited, it goes to show it comes down to how well the kids guardian knows them.
I’d never allow at this point in time for my nephew to play GTAV, but i’ve allowed him to play it with me in a few small snippets, explained things, broken it down for him, after seeing how he was with inifinity I wanted to show him a world where actions have consequences. I’m hoping he needs to mature more and we are seeing him develop, but what concerns me most here is the kid saying they dont care about the campaign they just want to play online.
I’d not allow him to see the torture scenes, driving around los santos and seeing that hey you crash into police cars they arrest you, has been good for my nephew, him going online and not understanding that everything you say and do on there is with people who could be anyone?
Extremely unsettling. If the parents do decide they know this kid, and get it for him they need to know the game and play it with them and be parents.
If they just hand it to this kid and say we know our child he can handle it etc, it’s irresponsible but calling them out on it in the shop in the hopes the kid doesnt go home with it, you don’t get to make that call.
I’d agree with you…
But it’s quite clear from numerous stories here and elsewhere that lots of parents simply don’t understand the effect that games can have on children and the kind of content and behaviour that it is exposing them to and/or causing them to exhibit. Hell, from your story alone, you’ve demonstrated that your nephew’s parents DON’T GET IT.
Parents need to take some responsibility for understanding and making an educated decision on what their kids are allowed to play. Lots of them are not doing that, and are simply buying it because “they said they friends had it”, “games are just for kids”, “Billy won’t stop nagging us about this game”, etc, etc. We fought hard to get an R18+ video game in this country, dammit, we have a right to get annoyed when people ignore it and abuse it in the way that all the “WON’T SOMEONE THINK OF THE CHILDREN” naysayers cried about and we told them they were stupid. If we don’t tell these parents to pull their heads in and tell the parents to be responsible, we’re just proving them right.
In this example, the kid first says “I don’t want to play the story”, then one or two slides later says “If I’m allowed to play the story”. If he doesn’t want to play the story, then why would he even bother with the point? It also seems like there is another younger child in the house who isn’t allowed to hear the swearing because he’ll wear headphones, but that would also indicate that said younger child also won’t be able to see it, implying he won’t be playing it in a public space – i.e. where his parents could also say. Putting all this together, you get: He’s going to play the story.
I would be surprised if anyone could go “yep, sure, happy for my 13 year to play all GTAV has to offer” knowing what is in store.
my concern here is with these bad parents, the kid playing lego (actual bricks) and disney infinity…… can be just as bad.
One of the aspects of my job is in teaching firearm safety sometimes we involve a practical if the kids are mature enough for it, and the amount of times you get parents who think if their child touches a gun someone will die, you explain to them the goal of the course is not politics it’s to make a reality set in, that if they are in a situation, they act how they would act without knowing the consequences nothing good can come of it, it’s better then telling them hey your in the situation don’t do anything and expecting to follow through with it.
We get parents who go hey little jimmy will be extremely good with this course, he’s mature enough we let him play call of duty. When this normally happens we get a parent who’s extremely confident they’ve raised their child right and they are so sure they are well adjusted.
That already is a sign of things to come, most of the time when we get that theres two outcomes, little jimmy sits the safety practical, he then goes to seeing a gun demonstrated and starts to get second thoughts, if he then follows through after the prac and is offered a chance to be surpervised and handle the firearm to the point of firing an assisted shot down range, most of the time the kid will either go quiet or even start crying as the reality hits them.
For those of you studying psychology, this is the moment of reality where it goes from being something romanticized to something that clicks in their head and they go omg, this is serious this is real, this can be scary.
The other side of it the kid handles it with complete impunity, they tell you guns they know from games, preferences etc, the loudness may spook them but overall they are good with it.
Now you can get kids who are at a maturity level and handle it like this, but it’s pretty rare most of the time with the parents backing them up like this, you are like they’re handling this extremely well, and then you hear how they play the games, they then start talking about how they could be a good sniper etc, trying to act macho etc, and you start suggesting to the parents maybe they need to see a Councillor and we as professionals actually have to be extremely careful saying this.
It’s one thing saying this in a shop or telling the grand parents you shouldnt buy that R18 game, but in a professional setting like this… we’ve just seen sides of the kid the guardians might be blinded or numb to, or just flatout ignoring.
I honestly think this situation requires the parents being more hands on with their kids and getting to know them.
My point of view as an adult is it’s not appropriate for a child to play this game. But it’s not really black and white.
As a 13 year old, I was not allowed to have mortal kombat. I played it anyway. It didn’t corrupt me. These things corrupt kids who are already mentally unwell. Kids will rebel and teenage boys will always seek out provocative media whether it be a violent game or a rap album.
I don’t have kids so shouldn’t really say how parent’s should behave when buying appropriate entertainment for their children.
That said, hearing children (and some people over 18 but not yet adults) talk about raping my mum or random racist and bigoted comments isn’t what I’m looking for in GTA Online.
Parents and a lot of people in general need to realise that an age rating is an age rating. If it says R18+ then it is restricted to people aged 18 and over.
Just because games previously only had an MA15+ as the max rating doesn’t mean that they’re the same thing now that they have R18+. The ratings changed and the content allowed in that higher rating has changed. Kids should not play it. Simple.
Other things that are 18+ include porn and alcohol. Do you go out and buy porn and alcohol for your 13 year old kid?
I often question my parents’ decision on topics like this.
I wasn’t allowed to play Wolfenstein, but Doom was okay.
I wasn’t allowed to play Duke Nukem 3D, but Quake was okay.
I wasn’t allowed to play Caesars Palace, but Hoyle Volume 1 was okay.
Edit: My partner’s little brother is also limited to a weird selection of games. He’s allowed to see demons tearing apart heads and drinking human blood, but anything with a girl in a bikini is a big no no.