Can I see some ID Please?

[Ilovevicecity324]

Hey guys, I found this article online. It said that now that with the release of "GTA IV"- that they are thinking about passing a bill where retailers are now going to have to "ID" you in order to buy "M Rated" games. Here's the article right here for more information about it.

 

 

http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...-game-buys.html

Edited July 17, 2008 by Ilovevicecity324

[HomoUniversalis]

I don't see the problem. As long as no sales records are kept involuntarily of who bought what game. There are of course questions whether it will work or not. I think it is much more a question of good parenting and convincing your children that GTA IV is bad for them. Of course, considering that there is no scientific evidence or rational arguments for it, that might be difficult, which may indicate that good parenting means "Let your kids play GTA if they want to".

 

Parents: "Hug your children, don't infringe their sexual development and have wholesome family dinners. Don't blame a video game for your complete absence in your child's life."

[Tony Mozzarelli 80]

I don't see the problem. As long as no sales records are kept involuntarily of who bought what game. There are of course questions whether it will work or not. I think it is much more a question of good parenting and convincing your children that GTA IV is bad for them. Of course, considering that there is no scientific evidence or rational arguments for it, that might be difficult, which may indicate that good parenting means "Let your kids play GTA if they want to".

 

Parents: "Hug your children, don't infringe their sexual development and have wholesome family dinners. Don't blame a video game for your complete absence in your child's life."

I second that. Don't have children if you are too self obsessed to bother raising them

[Stefan.]

I think there's no problem with this, but of course people can get around that by getting their parents to buy it for them. I'm nearly 15, so I've only got a couple of months to go before I can legally play the game (in Australia, it's rated at MA 15+), but I've played GTA games since I was 10. It has to do with the level of maturity of the child; I don't want to brag, but I'm probably the most mature under-18 year-old I know. Do I deserve to not play this game? No, because I'm not stupid enough to let GTA destroy my life. I'm top of the class at the school, I'm in fine health, and I play two musical intruments. How is my life a failure and how has it been destroyed by GTA? If anything, it's actually helped me.

[Struff Bunstridge]

Well, it is the law. One could argue that as a minor, you are less capable of deciding what's good for you than those who make the laws in the first place. However, I can't practice what I'm preaching, as I smoked, drank alcohol, gambled, and used entertainment media with an age limit, all before being legally old enough to do so.

 

As for that article, it's not just pubs and bars that ID people over here. I've seen kids being turned down trying to buy Parental Advisory records because the cashier reckoned they looked too young; same with games and films rated 15 and 18. I even saw one kid getting turned away from Saw III at the cinema because he couldn't prove his age.

[Mainland Marauder]

Well, if they have to check IDs so as to keep government meddlers from directly taking Rockstar and other game makers to task for games that really are intended for adult audiences, then all the better. If you're underage and you're mature enough to play that, and your parents agree, they can buy it for you. Don't mean to sound like an old fuddy-duddy or some JT-type blowhard, but I have seen some kids playing GTA who probably don't have the maturity or proper guidance to be playing stuff like that. I'm not going to be hypocritical - I was playing Mortal Kombat when I was in fifth grade - but I was brought up to know that you don't go re-enacting video game things in real life.

 

Government tends to take a one-size-fits-all approach and do it by age, but it's really the maturity level that is the difference. I've met plenty of adults who have the mentalities of children, or simply of mentally unstable individuals. They could theoretically be influenced by video games, but not more than they could be by movies, television or simply the violence that gets played out on the news every day. Video games get a worse rap because there is still a popular misconception that only children/teenagers play video games. They forget that the kids who were playing MK-type stuff in the '90s are grown adults now, who didn't necessarily stop playing video games.

 

As for me - at a still fairly-young age 26 and rarely getting ID'd even to buy beer or cigarettes anymore - I've come to where I take it as a compliment to get "carded."

[Seachmall]

I got served drink at 16 in a pub, ciggerettes at 13 (although the shop is the 'go too shop' for buying ciggs underage), I've never been able to buy a GTA on my own. I was never able to buy a 15 games, get into a 15 movie or even buy parentel adivsory cd till I was actually 15.

 

Its pretty f'ed up when that happens.

[lloydo]

I'm 17 and go to a pub to drink, i drink sensibly though. Well sometimes.

 

I'm not old enough to play GTA but if i didn't, let say i wouldnt have any friends. Theres no stopping underage unlawful activites.

 

Also, if i am not allowed to live like an adult, why do i have to pay as an adult for a bus fare?

[Seachmall]

 

I'm 17 and go to a pub to drink, i drink sensibly though. Well sometimes.

 

I'm not old enough to play GTA but if i didn't, let say i wouldnt have any friends. Theres no stopping underage unlawful activites.

 

Also, if i am not allowed to live like an adult, why do i have to pay as an adult for a bus fare?

They'll let you join the army and send you on peacekeaping missions in some of the most dangerous places in the world at 17 but won't let you buy ciggerettes or alcohol because you're not mature enough to make that desicion

[Struff Bunstridge]

Also, you can legally have sex before you can legally buy pornography. Never understood that one.

[lloydo]

Common sense is rare these days.

[Lazlow Chatterbox]

At my local game store (EB Games) they let me get MA15+ games even though I am 13 (Might be that they see me in the shop all the time).

[Seachmall]

At my local game store (EB Games) they let me get MA15+ games even though I am 13 (Might be that they see me in the shop all the time).

Perhaps you look 15, its difficult to say someone isn't 15 because you can't disprove it so shops usually go on whether or not you look old enough, unfortunatly I never looked 15 when i wasn't.

[Chickstick]

Perhaps you look 15, its difficult to say someone isn't 15 because you can't disprove it so shops usually go on whether or not you look old enough, unfortunatly I never looked 15 when i wasn't.

That happens to me a lot, which is odd as really I don't think I look that much older than 15. A lot of the time a little white lie is enough for people in shops like that; just tell them you are older than you look and you're all set.

 

Really though I disagree with practically all forms of age restrictions. Games are rated 18 due to the excessive swearing, when the majority of kids under that age hear, and use, far worse language every day. I've heard the word "c*nt" in a game about six or so times. In "real life" I've heard it over a dozen times in the last two days. I really don't see why a word should be censored; after all it's just a collection of letters that when put together give us negative associations. But I digress. Back to ID and the like.