Should I Let My 13 Year Old Play Borderlands?

As an avid gamer and content creator focused on the latest releases and trends in gaming, one of the most common questions I receive from parents is whether popular shooter games like Borderlands are appropriate for their young teens.

This is an incredibly important question without a one-size-fits-all answer. Every child‘s sensitivity and maturity level is different, so as parents you’ll need to carefully weigh your individual child’s abilities against the specific elements and intensity of the game.

After reviewing all the content and parental control options available, my recommendation would be to wait before allowing solo access to Borderlands. However, playing cooperatively with your teen can be a fun way to experience it together, while monitoring their reactions and having ongoing discussions around the mature themes depicted.

Now let’s dive deeper into some key areas for consideration:

Borderlands Series Content Breakdown

The Borderlands series is often highlighted for its over-the-top violence and raunchy humor. But it’s important to understand that the majority of inappropriate content is delivered through cutscenes, dialogue boxes and environmental text.

During actual multiplayer gameplay, the focus is on comical, cartoonish shooting and looting actions more than shock value mature themes. Still, here’s an overview of what to expect in terms of content:

Violence & Gore

• Highly frequent combat against both human and mutant enemies
• Enemies burst into over-exaggerated bloody gibs when killed
• Some more intense scenes involve torture, dismemberment or immolation
• Dark humor references inflicting pain or killing innocents

Sexuality Themes & Nudity

• Occasional sexual innuendos and crude references in dialogue
• Some female characters wear revealing clothing with exaggerated features
• No actual nudity outside of basic anatomical diagrams in environments

Language

• Regular strong profanity including F-words in dialogue and text
• Some misogynistic, homophobic or otherwise offensive slurs

Again most of these elements come through in dialogue versus during action sequences. But their frequency can vastly outnumber actual time spent in combat scenarios.

ESRB Breakdown and Parental Controls

As mentioned up front, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) has assigned an consistent Mature 17+ rating to every Borderlands game. This means the content is recommended only for players ages 17 and older.

The specific descriptors flagged which contribute to the Mature rating across the series include:

Fortunately, Borderlands does provide decent parental control options that allow toggling on or off certain types of mature content. These include:

• Gore Filter: Removes blood, guts and gibs depicted during combat
• Language Filter: Mutes the stronger profanity, sexual and discriminatory language in dialogue

When enabled, these filters can reduce the intensity and make content more appropriate for younger gamers. Though do note that violence and crude humor elements still remain even with filters active.

83% of parents impose some level of parental controls over the games their teens play, with 52% enabling content filters specifically. So taking advantage of built-in customization options is extremely common and wise.

Maturity Level Varies Among 13-14 Year Olds

As teenagers begin to claim independence, it can be tempting as parents to make media decisions based primarily on age or ratings. However, mental and emotional maturity varies greatly among 13-14 year olds, meaning age alone shouldn‘t determine readiness.

According to recent surveys, only 17% of parents believe game ratings alone provide enough information to determine if appropriate for their child. Instead, 64% use ratings merely as content indicators. The remaining 19% disregard ratings entirely in favor of their own discretion.

That tells us the appropriate gaming content for a 13 year old depends first and foremost on knowing our own child and their ability to handle certain themes responsibly.

Here are some self-evaluation questions to reflect on:

• Are they disturbed by gory visuals? Exposure to graphic violence may be processed differently between kids.
• Can they separate dark humor from reality? Off-color jokes could negatively influence behavior if taken literally
• Will they mimic inappropriate language? Unfiltered vocabulary can creep into their speech if heard repeatedly
• Can they self-regulate multiplayer chat? Online interactions with random strangers expands risk.

None of these are yes/no questions per se. But gauging where your particular 13 year old lands across these spectra is crucial to determining preparadeness.

Ongoing conversations around the game and their reactions is vital as well. Maintaining an open, judgement-free dialog allows your teen to process challenging content with emotional maturity rather than bottle up feelings long-term.

The Social Allure of Cooperative Play

As young teens increasingly bond with friends through online gameplay, the social connections enabled by multiplayer games understandably heightens their appeal and addictiveness.

This motivates teens to want access to popular online titles like Borderlands specifically for the cooperative missions, character interactions and team chat aspects. They may see filtered gameplay itself as the primary draw rather than the series’ humor or narratives layered on top.

That’s why for many 13 year olds, the actual moment-to-moment run-and-gunning alongside classmates likely overshadows exposure to objectionable cutscenes dialog in terms of sheer game time.

This social stickiness can be positive is managed appropriately:

• Multiplayer encourages communication, collaboration and problem solving
• Team chat teaches relationship building skills
• Sharing quest achievements builds confidence

But if you have concerns around interactions with random online players, then delaying open access is wise. Instead, play cooperatively with your teen first before allowing independent online play.

This lets you model mature gaming habits firsthand and gives them a trusted partner as they build key social skills. You also can directly gauge their reactions to dicey content depicted during quests.

Over time as you feel they’ve demonstrated responsible behaviors, you can gradually provide more freedom.

Carefully Evaluating Access on an Ongoing Basis

Determining age 13 readiness for a game like Borderlands is tough. How you disect the decision for your child may differ drastically from other parents.

My key advice is to start supervising their gameplay directly rather than rely solely on filters if you allow access. This gives you visiblity into exactly what they are experiencing and how they process scenes.

Revisit conversations around mature themes frequently and give space for them to ask questions without judgement. Monitor their behavior online and in person for signs of mimicry of inappropriate content.

And if at anytime you feel the game is negatively impacting language, attitudes or emotional state, don’t hesitate to pull back access until demonstrating further maturity.

There are fantastic teen gaming options available with milder content to suit their level today. Re-approaching Borderlands in a year or 18 months is a very reasonable plan if unsure.

As gaming enthusiasts and parents, we want share our passion for interactive worlds. But we also carry responsibility in ensuring what we expose them to aligns with their social and cognitive development stage.

My advice is to start conservatively, customize filters to limit exposure, play cooperatively at first and continually reevaluate their reactions. An amazing game today could be an even richer experience once your teen develops fuller maturity and perspective.