Where Politics And Video Games Collide

@rammsoldat, kurisu, and others

"there was an american kid hurling abuse at me on gears of war the other day and i kept thinking to myself “how has he gotten a M rated game”. "

Well, since we don't know the kid, I don't think either of us will ever find out. However, the most likely explaination is that his parents bought it for them, as is the case for most minors who own M-rated games. These stats from the ESA's website seems to confirm this:

"Ninety-three percent of people who make the actual purchase of computer games and 83% of people who make the actual purchase of video games are 18 years of age or older. The average age of the game buyer is 40 years old."



Considering that, I don't think the example you cited makes a very good case for outlawing the sale of M-rated games to minors. The parents will likely buy the games for their children anyway, either out of laziness or a lack of understanding of the games rating system. As has been said over and over again, education, not legislation, is the key to helping parents decide which games are and are not appropiate for THEIR children.

Now, rammsoldat, if the "penalty on retailers" you want entails a voluntary set of guidlines for the retail industry, I'd be okay with that (thought it would probably never work, considering how competitive retailers are these days). But if you're talking about getting the government and the force of law involved, then that won't fly in the U.S., as you can tell from the string of defeats that such bills have suffered. This is because these laws violate the 1st Amendment, which does apply to minors, as established by the courts in the famous Indianapolis bill. I don't want the government regulating content just to shut up one or two trolls on Live.

And that brings me to Iliad's point: What the eff does the behavior of certain 12-year-olds on Live have to do with game legislation? I know it's an issue that affects many of us, and one we like the complain about. Really, though, what would any of this legislation BS do to deter them? As I pointed out above, it's not these kids getting the games, it's their parents. Besides, for every one 12-year old punk I have to deal with on XBL, I've had to deal with five who sound in their late teens or early adulthood ;).