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121 Comments
- Pac56, on 10/12/2007, -6/+65It's amazing that some people (Government) seem to make this a bigger problem than selling alcohol or tobacco to minors...
It all comes down to parenting...
If your kid needs a babysitter, hirer a babysitter; don't just buy little Timmy an XBOX 360 and Gears of War and then complain when he starts coming home with other M rated games... - SurrealDream, on 10/12/2007, -1/+57You know, when I was 15, I got ID'd when trying to buy Metal Gear Solid at EB Games, but didn't get ID'd when buying Cigarettes and a Lottery ticket for my Dad.
Strange world. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -1/+47You know, I've always thought that stores forcibly restricting game sales based on age was a bad thing... then I played Gears of War online.
- overbored454, on 10/12/2007, -1/+40Will employees also face instant termination if they recommend Barbie Horse Adventure as an alternative?
- Pac56, on 10/12/2007, -2/+28That should actually result in the entire staff being terminated.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+27How is it being presented as being a bigger problem than alcohol or tobacco? They are treating it the same, at worst.
The only way your statement would make ANY sense would be if they weren't cracking down on selling tobacco or alcohol to minors. But since they are (and being MUCH more strict) your comment is completely baseless.
Then again, you got lots and lots of diggs for it. Whcih shows the mentality of the average Digger.
Squirrel...Oh the HORROR! When I already have my wallet out I now have to show my ID, which, unless you are an idiot, you keep in your wallet anyway. How terrible. Such a pain in the ass. - canti32, on 10/12/2007, -2/+20Followed by execution, cremation of the remains, and a shuttle launch into the sun. Plus all offending copies of said game will be carefully removed, so as not to contaiminate it's surroundings. After removal, the all copies of the "game" will be used in the USA's devestating new WMD, the Barbie Horse Adventure bomb. It is belived to be forty time deadlier than even the Q bomb.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+16It's not. On either count.
A private store can do anything it wants. As long as it is not discrimination. It can set up any policy it wants.
It is also not unconstitutional. - hove, on 10/12/2007, -2/+15I work in a games shop in the UK and the only difference here is it's not a company policy it's the law. My attitude it that i have not played every game and don't know the content but someone in the bbfc, pegi or elspa has and has rated the game. who am i to decide that a game is suitable for a child? In the end it's up to the parents with the help of the rating board.
on a side note i am constantly having to inform parent that games are rated on content rather than difficulty. - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14And yet life goes on for GameStop. Why? Because Digg doesn't matter in the world.
- deetank, on 10/12/2007, -2/+14Yeah my friend was asked to show an ID when trying to buy Half-Life 2, then I bought a used season of The Sopranos and wasn't asked for an ID.
I think we can all agree that Half-Life 2 shouldn't be sold to kids, but The Sopranos is no big deal. - NSMike, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10And here, D3koy hits on the real problem - the ignorant parent who couldn't take two seconds to learn the ESRB ratings who ends up buying it for their child anyway just to shut them up. Then they see what their child is playing, wonder why he's got access to it, bitch and moan about how their child shouldn't be exposed to it, and the cycle repeats.
- Four20, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9funny, that's how it should be. It's bad enough that the parents just go and buy anything their 10 year old asks for. Adult Employees should not be selling GTA and such games to minors.
- lazyman0, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10The id system is crazy. I got ID'd at walmart for buying whiteout at the main cash register but I sent my 14 year old brother to buy Gears and they didn't I'D him.
- pagit, on 10/12/2007, -1/+10"if an hourly employee sells an M-rated game to a minor, not only will he or she lose their job, but the salaried store manager will be terminated as well, even if they were not present in the store at the time of the sale".
that would be illegal here, but what a good way to get back at your boss if you were a cashier and wanted to leave your crappy min wage job at GameStop - saska, on 10/12/2007, -2/+11What an ignorant comment. If the goverment thought it was a bigger deal, they'd be mandating the step that GameStop is taking voluntarily.
Unfortunately, the only way the rating system will have teeth is if people start paying attention to it. I think all too often parents don't look at what their kids are buying or playing because they think the store wouldn't sell the game if their kid couldn't play it. Note that this makes them stupid parents, and that I don't think the law should decide who can buy or play what.
My kid is screwed. I'm a gamer. He's not going to put anything over on me. - theshazcat, on 10/12/2007, -0/+9Don't you guys carry your licence in your wallet?
Which I am guessing is also where you would be carrying your money to buy this game... - hansblix, on 10/12/2007, -2/+10I find it funny that I was never ID'd until I was old enough to buy M-rated games.
The first time i was asked I literally laughed at the lady because i thought she was joking. - Asianwaste, on 10/12/2007, -1/+9I was at a Gamestop over the Holidays and this kid was trying to swindle her mom into getting Grand Theft Auto III. She was ready to just pick whatever game her son pointed out. The Gamestop employee picks out the game and before giving it to the mom he points out that the game is rated M. The mom says, "I understand, but a lot of those games are sometimes not as bad as they are rated." The Gamestop employee continues to tell her, "Yes, I agree with that, but these games are pretty violent."
The mom asks, "How bad?"
"The worst."
During that exchange, the kid's face went from excited smile to a droopy disappointed frown. I got a guilty laugh out of that. My mom got me Mortal Kombat 2 from the same store when it was called Funcoland and I turned out to not be a bloodthirsty ninja who can freeze you and rip your head off. Still it was good to see someone doing their job right. Hopefully anecdotes like this will shut Jack Thompson up. - harmonica, on 10/12/2007, -2/+9I live in NZ, and I went to go see an R16 (over 16 only) movie with a friend. As I had no ID, I didn't expect to be allowed in. However, when I attempted to purchase a child ticket (under 16) for another movie, they wanted to make me pay for a adult ticket, as they didn't think I was under 16. They didn't let me see the R16 movie, and they weren't going to let me buy a child's ticket to a different movie. Eventually, with much argument, they let me buy the child's ticket.
- musicmantrs, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Yeah because it is Gamestop's responsibility to do all those things....
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -5/+12I think you're the *exact* kind of kid that gets denied the ability to buy GTA, then goes on the internets complaining about it, then finally gets his hands on it, and then goes into school the next day with an Uzi and kills everyone who ever made fun of him. Which, given the fact that you are underage and online complaining about your inability to buy video games, means everyone except that really geeky kid in the corner who knows what BSD stands for. He lives.
- Inverno, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7Thank god! I was in GameStop the other day (reserving Crackdown and trying to find a wiimote) and I saw a kid, couldn't be older than ten, purchasing the last GTA. I'm not the kids parent or anything, but I'm not sure I'd let my offspring play GTA. Shouldn't that demographic be more interested in Viva Pinata, Pokemon, or something?
Carding minors on video games is a good thing, imo. We want our hobby to be comparable to mainstream media (movies in particular)? Then we have to play by the big boy rules. - unununium, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7How is GameStop getting "owned" by this? Because they are fairly enforcing ratings guidelines on games?
- TheElectricMonk, on 10/12/2007, -0/+7thats not good enough for my tastes, im not big on censorship, but i dont see this as censorship at all, this is a means to stop people demanding censorship, anyway back to what i was actually saying, this isnt enough for my tastes, i think that stores should be able to refuse to sell m-rated games to anyone who shows that they are buying it for a minor, just like smokes and alcohol, i believe if a parents comes up to the counter and says "my son wants this game really bad" and the ten year old standing beside them says "yeah, i do" and the game is GTA, or another m-rated game, the clerk should be allowed to refuse to sell the game to that person
(and broomett, youre a douche) - sztuka, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Gamestop can impliment any darn policy they want.
- badfrog, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6Sadly, I'm old enough to have been able to buy cigarettes and go to rated R movies without being carded. No wonder kids huff paint now.
- dustinl4m3, on 10/12/2007, -0/+6@avalontor:
which is which? - whiteguysamurai, on 10/12/2007, -1/+7This cracks me up, i went to buy a game at EB, and they carded me.
I have a full beard,and are starting to get wrinkles and thinning hair.
Still, they carded me. - scootinger, on 10/12/2007, -2/+7Okay, so I thought that you only need to be 17 to buy M-rated games? (I'm 17 and I've bought M-rated games from GameStop and other stores with no problem - they carded me and everything was fine)
17-year-olds are still considered to be minors, so is GameStop changing this age to 18, or are they just making sure that their age rules get enforced? - inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4You know, I've never had a problem with this. Maybe it's 'cause I'm old enough to buy those games myself, but frankly, I've never thought that kids should be playing M-rated games anyway. However, what really bothers me is the idiot parents who buy these games for their kids. I'm so sick and tired of Mommy buying the 10-year-old a copy of GTA3 because he whines and lies, and then they get home and suddenly the mom is all up in arms about violent video games. YOU BOUGHT THE DAMN GAME FOR HIM, IDIOT! READ THE FREAKIN' LABEL! I swear, what do we need, someone at the counter explaining the label to people when they buy games. "By the way, were you aware that is says right here that this game contains blood, gore, sex, nudity, and adult language, and probably isn't appropriate for your 10-year-old?" God, people these days...
- ChillHomie, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5I bought half-life 2 last night and im 15...
- s0nicfreak, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4I have been carded more times when buying video games than I have when buying tobacco. And a lot of people don't keep their money in their wallet, because they're worried about getting pick-pocketed. So I can understand what people like pac56 are saying.
If you don't want your kids playing M rated games, it's pretty easy to NOT give them $50 and drop them off at the store. If they're mature enough to make their own $50 and take their self to the store they're mature enough to play M rated games, IMO (and therefore I think the M rated game age should be lowered to 16, but that's another discussion).
But we all know most people aren't going to actually parent their children, so just maybe (probably not though) requiring ID will cut down on the bitching of "how easy it is to get your hands on" M rated games, and maybe (again probably not though) people will stop listening to parents who claim it's everyone's fault but their own that their kid obtained M rated games. - Mizu, on 10/12/2007, -1/+5Wait what? It IS the parents fault for not checking the game. They don't need to sit down and play the game with their child, all they need to do is look at that box that says rated M for MATURE. Its not a matter of being in the loop, its looking at what the age rating for the game is.
- inactive, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Good, kids have no business with this stuff.
- bokchoi, on 10/12/2007, -0/+4Well at least if this precaution is taken, parents have no one to blame but themselves.
- Merrick178, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Well duh! If it's M they shouldn't be allowed to order it themselves. I'm sure they could just get their parents to order it for them. In my opinion a lot of M ratings are stupid because any child 13+ has most likely seen anything that could be in one of these games, Not that I'm saying every kid with the cash should be able to waltz in and buy a Grand Theft Auto game... But I think the system needs to be readjusted.
- czimmerman, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3You know, after reading all of the commnets, it got me thinking of one time when I was in high school and I was working at a Hollywood Video, and it was right after Vice City came out, and this little kid, couldn't have been older than 8, and he was in with his mom. Ran right back to the PS2 section, grabbed the last copy, and when they were up at the register, he started jumping up and down and saying "I get to kill cops now!" I kid you not, I sat there and was shocked. I explained to his mom the content in the game and said "Seriously, its not kid friendly. At all."
I mean, when I was a kid, I remember my parents being upset when I was playing Mortal Kombat 2 on the SNES (considering they were fine with the original Mortal Kombat and its full-on 16-bit sweat-effect), but at that point, besides that and Doom, what was more violent? And it was a cartoony violence on both fronts (well Doom was graphic, but I mean, come on, look at it, its not real looking at all, even at its time, no demon I ever met looked like those in Doom). I always thought in junior high, when I had kids, I would let them play whatever, but as I get older, especially after the first time I heard the N-word in San Andreas (to me, hearing something like that is worse than the violence), there's no way in hell I would let my kids go out and get a M-rated game. - Weenis, on 10/12/2007, -0/+3Frankly I'm glad to hear this. The responsibility should lie with the retailer. We don't need to gov't involved, we don't need laws, we don't need to ban certain types of games. We just need retailers to be responsible enough to not ruin gaming for the rest of us.
Do I think M rated games hurt kids? Not at all.. However, the fact is that i'm over 18 and I want to be able to buy whatever games I want. If these retailers continue to sell games to minors they should, the stupid gov't is going to step in and ruin it for us all - musicmantrs, on 10/12/2007, -1/+4As shown by the rise in school shootings. Over all the numbers have gone down but the fatality rate in youth crimes has risen tremendously.
- superdrew, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2To all the people who posted saying that this policy will only hurt Gamestop and EBs business I am sorry to tell you that you are wrong. Which demographic of the customers buy more games: The children under the age of 17 or the adult (parents)? I know that the amount of games that I purchased with my own money (not counting gifts) is small compared to the amount of games I buy now as an adult. The company is more concerned about their image to adults than they are about some pissed off 15 year old who can't buy a copy of GTA. The image that they want to portray is that they care about what their (adult and higher paying) customers wants not that they are the "cool" store that lets children but M rated games.
That said I think that the policy that the store manager be fired for the selling of a "M" rated by an hourly employee even if the manager is not on duty is incredibly silly. In fact, I'm going to say that it is not true. This type of policy leads to excessive paranoia by the manager and the job becomes extremely stressful. This combined with the fact that the managers are probably underpaid would lead to a lot of turnover within the company. Also, as mentioned above an employee who is vengeful and doesn't like his/her manager can get them fired. To me this leaves the company and the other employee open to a lawsuit. I think the policy is that if the manager is on duty and does nothing to prevent the sale of the game to the minor will be terminated, which is fine.
Do I think that this policy will keep the M rated games out of the hands of a minor? No. Will it make the company look responsible? Yes. - reed311, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3This is just one of those "feel good" initiatives. Violence among youths has always existed, but it actually has gone down in recent years even though more violent videogames have been released than ever.
- blahtastic, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Kid? Me? I can purchase whatever game I want, thanks. Just because I mentioned that my parents used to play Mario Kart with me doesn't make me a kid (that console is over 10 years old, and I wasn't a toddler when I was playing it). Granted those posts weren't my best thought out statements ever (though the last one wasn't that bad, just differentiated from the popular opinion) you just sound like a guy who just got out of college who already thinks he's wise to the ways of the world. I may be wrong, but you assumed I was a kid, so I'm assuming too.
Actually I wouldn't even have bothered with any of this had you not put shut up at the end. I wasn't being offensive in any way, so that was hardly necessary, except to seem like a tough guy on the internets, woo for you. Oh well, none of this matters, its an old story and most likely no one will see this anyway, lol. - tavisjohn, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3It is about DAMN TIME that the Stores took some respobsibility! Instead of barring the sale of AO and M games the stores should be making sure that they only sell them to people who are OLD ENOUGH to play them!
If a magizine shop can prevent minors from purchasing porn, and a store can prevent a minor from buying boose, then a game store can prevent minors from getting adult games! - jmeerwarth, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2I agree with Weenis; I'm glad a degree of enforcement is being enacted on game ratings. Stores wouldn't sell an X-rated/R-rated movie to a minor, so why should M-rated games be any different? Ratings are there for a reason, and should be followed to some extent. I dunno, maybe I'm just sick of being trash-talked by annoying 12-year-olds in Halo. ;-)
- razrielle, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3No, just Silent Scope
- standalonematt, on 10/12/2007, -1/+3Better firearms maybe.
- bryan4, on 10/12/2007, -6/+8damn digg has been owning GameStop/EBgames lately. With good reason though, keep it up.
- Nobi-Wan, on 10/12/2007, -0/+2Any policy that keeps as many little Timmys away from me in Halo 3 I have no problem with.
- theokandroid, on 10/12/2007, -0/+1Went into gamestop yesterday to sell some old games, and he told me that he had to check my ID just to even sell them back, and if they didnt the manager and the associate who bought back the games would be fired. Lucky for me I'm 19.
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