Can Ratings save our children? Nope!

A lot of the press lately has focused around legislation for games. GamePolitics.com has been a good read as well. There was that bill in NY about labelling all games sold in the state with clear ratings, and the teens who were arrested while purportedly acting out a real-life Grand Theft Auto scenario (and the stir that's caused). And let's not forget my previously mentioned Conn. Senator Gayle Slossberg's accusation and backpedal about a rape scene in GTA.

...looking at it like that nearly all the news in the past week has probably been based around GTAIV in some way.

To my point: The ESRB. EC for Early Childhood, E for Everyone, E +10 for Everyone but probably better for people over 10, T for Teen, M for Mature, AO for Adults Only. These ratings seem like they cover good ground. Something for everyone. M rated games, in most states are illegal to sell to anyone under the age of 17. Strict store policy at Game Stop. M rated game? Check their ID no matter their age. Obviously this can't keep them out of the hands of misinformed parents, so I propose a second set of impositions on poor store clerks:

1. Tell the parents what's in the games. If you let them know of the games actual content, they may feel more informed themselves about buying the game for themselve or as a gift.
2. Actively help them find a game in the store from the time they walk in. 9/10 people will shrug you off, but at least you will have tried to avoid a case of "You let me buy my son this game, and it's full of tripe and offal!"

The ratings board is there for a reason, obviously, but no amount of marking a box of cigarettes has ever stopped humanity from smoking them. I'm not a fan of censorship, by any reasoning, but I think kids under the age of 17 should not be playing M rated games. Logging into Xbox Live and squaring off against an 8 year old in GTAIV speaks volumes to the quality of parenting in today's shopping world.

The legislation that NY just passed seems like a great idea to me. I just hope that it doesn't swing around and somehow turn into a seven headed hydra.

Let's see...if I was a gaming law what would I be?

Any persons looking to purchase an M rated title must be a) able to operate a motor vehicle and b) pass a basic intellectual apptitude test. Any persons found buying M rated titles for younger persons will be flogged about the head with rolled up newspapers while the enforcer chants "Bad! You were very bad today!"

Ahhhh...to dream.

Storytime. I was working one day at GameStop and on my way into work I passed a one-legged homeless man in the parking lot. This is kind of status quo for Chicago. He was asleep, so I quietly let him be. At work, a kid comes in looking about 15, wants to buy a copy of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. I ask for id, he has none, he leaves. He comes back in, closely followed by the one-legged homeless guy. They start browsing. My right eyebrow draws slowly upward. They walk to the counter, and my manager Chris steps forwards. The one-legged man tries to buy GTA for "his nephew." Chris says that he just saw the man sleeping in the woodchips next to Walgreens, and that the kid was not his nephew. The man insists he was just waiting in the car for the kid to buy the game. Chris doesn't buy it. The kid gives up and leaves the store, one-legged man in tow.

Good times.

-Joe