Is TSTO appropriate for a 9 year old?

moxxee wrote:
Interesting. Well, for starters, if she is anything like me and has serious attention issues, she will likely just skip through the dialogue. She would probably find the dialogue boring and not understand half of the jokes anyway.

Besides the whole MrBurns/Clockwork Orange thing, may I ask which characters you find to be inappropriate for youngsters?
I ask because you should be able to control which characters she is able to get, with limited donuts. If she doesn't have donuts, she can't buy the character. Unless she has the password for the mobile device, (in which case you should be prepared to start seeing charges on the credit card).

And she may get bored with it, too. These kind of games may appear flashy, but aren't for everyone.

Well, off the top of my head the Strippers come to mind... And I realize one is premium, but I don't think Mrs. Muntz was premium, and some of the dialogue is slightly PG...

rosesgirlnz wrote:
I voted not sure, because I think it depends on the child.

My 10 y/o son plays tapped out (sporadically at best). He was the one who initially introduced the game to me.

However he has much older siblings (like he is younger by 9 yrs than the next up one) so is pretty grown up in attitude and what he's exposed to.
To be honest a lot of the stuff that raises my eyebrow, in terms of dialogue, seems to go completely over his head. He just enjoys building and buying new things and taps through the story lines so fast, he doesn't even seem to really read them.

I won't let him advertise for friends though, or read the forum.

She is a smart one for her age and would definitely notice the dialogue - she is an avid reader, and an advanced one for her age. This is part of my issue. If I thought the dialogue would go over her head I might not be so worried.

efin98 wrote:
I wouldn't let anyone under the age of 11 or 12 play it...some of the content and jokes are a bit too mature for a 9 year old but not so much for an 11 or 12 year old.

This is sort of what I was thinking too... I guess I would like to get different perspectives to see how others feel too, and why. I want to try to make as an informed decision as possible (within reason) as I realize I might be a little too over protective where both my neices and my nephew are concerned. As always, thank you for your input, efin!

Wow - some really interesting discussion going on! Thank you - I hope more people add to the discussion as it is interesting to see what people think and feel about this. So far, it's given me a lot to think about, so a big thanks to those who have voted and those who have participated in the discussion thus far :D

My niece, Liz, is now 40, and has an 8-year old of her own. Driving on Los Angeles freeways is horrifying at best. Driving to Disneyland, the news channel was on -- traffic reports every 10 minutes, news on the rest of the time, local crime coverage included. Liz said to me later: "Here I was, just trying to avoid getting stuck in a traffic jam, and I spent the rest of the drive trying to decide how to answer " mommy, what does sodomy mean?" To an 8-year old.

Life is coming at these kids at warp speed. This game is, in my opinion, a gentle way to introduce issues that a 9-year old is going to hear about, with or without you around. I agree with those above. I'd rather that someone is around to answer those questions who cares about the kid. Aunts are one great option. :)

The one thing that really bothers me so far in this game is Todd (or is it Rod?) Flanders saying "I'll do anything. And I mean ANYthing." My interpretation of that is a child apparently asking to be molested. DoublePlusUngood.

I would like to thank everyone again who have participated in this thread so far! It will be interesting to see what the final results turn out to be. And the discussion has been really fantastic - a lot of different points of views, and many very valid points!

I have set the poll to end in 30 days from the original post, and will try to remember to let all of you know what the triumvirate (aka my sister, bro-in-law and I) have decided!

Themanisbacknick wrote:
Just one question sue have they seen the simpsons if so then there is no problem in letting them play the game.

She has seen some of the older episodes, but even this has been limited. It's not because she is not allowed to watch them, though.

Themanisbacknick wrote:

almightyathena wrote:
My 11 and 12 year olds play this game. For my kids they don't get the really bad dialogue (in fact I'm not even sure how much they read it). They also don't play that much. They go though times where they play, then don't touch anything for a bit. My advice is to trust your gut as we don't know her. Each child is different and if you feel like it's ok go for it, if not don't. 9 times out of 10 your gut feeling is right.

I do the exact thing in not reading so am sure the kids will do the same.

She will pick up on every single word. Trust me.
And there are phrases that we hear over and over again (one mentioned above stands out - "I will do anything, and I mean anything.")

Themanisbacknick wrote:
But I don't think shell understand properly she'll be just wanting to play the game

She'll understand. Trust me. The stuff she picks up on amazes me.

If it helps, if you google "tapped out level quests", the top listing is a site called simpsonswiki. On the page that comes up is a list of all the levels, which then take you to a list of the quests for that level ... clicking on each quest, takes you to the full dialogue.

Just in case you wanted to pre-screen a level (?) ... if you find one that you'd like her to skip, you can just complete that level yourself when she's not around, and then when she starts playing again, that dialogue is no longer available to her.

Might be a little cumbersome, but ... what the heck. :)

SnarkTheCat wrote:
This is an interesting discussion.

I voted no in the poll. I would have given a yes vote a few months ago, but it seems like the game has become a bit more risqu? lately. Part of it is Nelson's mom and the strip club, but there have also been dialogue that has been on the adult level.

If it were my nephew or niece, I would ask their parent if they think it is ok. I wouldn't want to do things that the parent wouldn't like or approve of.

I definitely agree with you about some of the dialogue and characters being risqu?. My concern is that I may be over reacting and that its not as risqu? as I'm perceiving it (and as a result I may be acting too over protective).

As stated earlier in this thread, the parents are aware of this poll and we are all going to discuss the results at it's conclusion (so it's not my decision but theirs in the end - see quote from earlier below). They look to me because I am much more in to gaming then they are, and I play the game and know the content. In the end, all apps downloaded for this child have to be approved by her mom

suetopia wrote:
I would like to thank everyone again who have participated in this thread so far! It will be interesting to see what the final results turn out to be. And the discussion has been really fantastic - a lot of different points of views, and many very valid points!

I have set the poll to end in 30 days from the original post, and will try to remember to let all of you know what the triumvirate (aka my sister, bro-in-law and I) have decided!