I had pretty strict parents. I wasn't allowed to watch PG-13 movies until I was 15. And I was about 15 or 16 when I was playing Streets of Rage on the Sega system. I had picked up a whip and started whipping the ladies with the red dresses that also had whips. I was playing with my cousins and younger brother when I yelled out, "That's right, I'm going to make you my sex servant!", I didn't notice my mother at the doorway and I was grounded from gaming for about 2 months.

I would guess that my parents believed all games were not suitable for my age. I'm 47 now and they still try to tell me what to do, lol. I live a hundred miles away from them, but momma has a long reach.

When I was 6 years old, i was playing wolfenstein.
At 7 years old I was playing Doom.

I played games like Diablo, Mortal Kombat, Duke Nukem, Quake, Unreal Tournament and more.

...I turned out okay I think. Dark sense of humor though.

My parents just didn't care about anything.

My first rated M game was GTA Vice City for PS2 and I was like 15 or 16 at the time.

Prior to that I was playing a PC demo of Quake 1 when I was like 10.

Yup! My mom just had no idea that games could be that scary/inappropriate. It usually didn't have much of an effect on me but I did play two games as a child that I really shouldn't have: Resident Evil 2 and Nightmare Creatures 2, both on the PS1.

Now, I'm sure most here are familiar with RE2. The scariest scene for me is when Martin becomes a zombie with the close up and everything? I was terrified!

NC2 is a pretty bad game but one thing it does get right is that it has an extremely dark tone that is one of the creepiest in gaming, at least that I've ever played. From the monster designs, to the soundtrack and even the disfigured protagonist. I was way above my league when I played that, though I did get over my fears of the game by beating it using cheats haha.

I never looked at the rating. Wasn’t like I needed proof of age or anything. Just bought what ever I wanted

Large and growing number of teens are inhaling in nicotine and other toxins when vaping (cynical business targeting the young), I'm sure age appropriate gaming isnt their concern

I was a Nintendo kid mainly where I never looked for the higher age rating games but maybe Ocarina that had an age rating of 12 in Europe and I played it when I was 9 I think. Later though I did play Diablo 2 when I was 12-13 and that one had a 16+ rating. My dad didn't like that I played it but he didn't like games at all but he was fine with it. Mom was completely fine with it

Yes, a lot of Mortal Kombat, Resident Evil, Silent Hill, Parasite Eve, Dino Crisis. And a little bit of Fox Hunt 😄

Actually the list would be too long if I'm to count the R rated games I played between the age of 12 and 17. GTA, Duke Nukem, military crap, etc.

sure. I played soldier of fortune. Because I heard its censored in some countries, so I had to play it.
I played counter Strike, half life, resident evil, but was too scary, watched when my brother play, I read the walkthrough all the time though
I played all the tomb raider games on ps1.
GTA 1 and 2
Yeah I think most of the games I played were not for my age, except for Spyro, loved that one

Yeah, I don't think there were many mature games for SNES, aside from Mortal Kombat and Killer Instinct? And I did play those.
And then for N64/PS1 and onward, I never paid attention to the rating label.

I think the whole age rating thing was much more pronounced in the US compared to EU.

It's right there on the front of the US cover.

For the EU version it was on the back.