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This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/15/2010 8:07:57 PM
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ZiranTheTester
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Ok, so we have all read the posts by posters (I am a poet...) complaining about underage kids playing Rated M games. A thought occured to me today at Walmart whilst I observed a parent buying her 9 year old a copy of MOW2. I pointed out to Mother that he was technically not allowed to play that game, but she just said,
"I don't care what he plays..."
So, why can't MS update the console so that when a person puts in the birthdate on their Live account, if the date fails to indicate the account holder is 18>, then the console just simply will not play the disc. And just ignore all family and parental ****...if Jr ain't 18, then the disc won't spin!
Would that be a problem?
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/15/2010 8:57:30 PM
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nuclear_sidewalk
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I don't know of any a system or OS that automatically enforces age restrictions. They're always voluntary or off by default, as far as I know. I foresee a stupid lawsuits being the reason why this isn't enforced. Well, that... and the console developers aren't married to the ESRB. One console does it, and they might lose sales... You know how that goes.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/16/2010 1:06:21 AM
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iluvatar
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quote:
ORIGINAL: EsonTheSearcher
Ok, so we have all read the posts by posters (I am a poet...) complaining about underage kids playing Rated M games. A thought occured to me today at Walmart whilst I observed a parent buying her 9 year old a copy of MOW2. I pointed out to Mother that he was technically not allowed to play that game
You're incorrect. He is allowed to play it. ESRB ratings are voluntary, not legally binding, and up to the stores to choose how to enforce. Many stores treat 'M' games the same as 'R' rated movies, i.e. no kids without an adult present. If Mom's paying for the game, Jr can play whatever he wants. No kids at all under 17 would be equivalent to an NC17 rating for movies or AO for games.
quote:
So, why can't MS update the console so that when a person puts in the birthdate on their Live account, if the date fails to indicate the account holder is 18>, then the console just simply will not play the disc. And just ignore all family and parental ****...if Jr ain't 18, then the disc won't spin!
Would that be a problem?
Probably. First, MS is not a parent or a baby sitter; it's not their job to police people's homes.
Second, as I just stated, 'M' does not mean "no kids at all;" it means "no kids w/o adult permission." The console has no way of knowing if mom & dad are ok w/ Jr playing MW2. So that only leaves AO-rated games, which are legitimately off-limits to kids. According to wikipedia, there have only been about 25 of those, about 20 of them being straight up porn. It's not economically feasible for a console manufacturer to change it's firmware to accommodate such a small handful of games that are mostly going to have a very limited run and only be sold through adults-only portals anyway. For the most part, non-porn developers try to avoid the AO rating since many stores automatically won't carry it.
-Dan.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/16/2010 6:57:32 AM
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car2nist
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I also suspect that if a parent is truly callous about the game Jr or Sissy picks up, they have more problems than input from a game.
I find that my favorite game, which is online multi-player, has an issue. It is not with the content that the developers put into the game but some of the dumbest, stupid remarks players bring to the game.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/16/2010 2:27:07 PM
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ZiranTheTester
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quote:
ORIGINAL: nuclear_sidewalk
I don't know of any a system or OS that automatically enforces age restrictions. They're always voluntary or off by default, as far as I know. I foresee a stupid lawsuits being the reason why this isn't enforced. Well, that... and the console developers aren't married to the ESRB. One console does it, and they might lose sales... You know how that goes.
In the UK it is a law...if you purchase an adult-rated game for a minor, it is a prosecutable crime. I was told that just today on another site I posted this on.
And there are age restrictions on tobacco, alochol, and driver's licenses in the US. Why not vidoe games? There are parents who think their child in mature enough to smoke, drink, and drive at 13. But the law disagrees. No one complains about that much. Why should games be any different.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/20/2010 10:09:37 AM
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nuclear_sidewalk
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quote:
ORIGINAL: EsonTheSearcher
quote:
ORIGINAL: nuclear_sidewalk
I don't know of any a system or OS that automatically enforces age restrictions. They're always voluntary or off by default, as far as I know. I foresee a stupid lawsuits being the reason why this isn't enforced. Well, that... and the console developers aren't married to the ESRB. One console does it, and they might lose sales... You know how that goes.
In the UK it is a law...if you purchase an adult-rated game for a minor, it is a prosecutable crime. I was told that just today on another site I posted this on.
And there are age restrictions on tobacco, alochol, and driver's licenses in the US. Why not vidoe games? There are parents who think their child in mature enough to smoke, drink, and drive at 13. But the law disagrees. No one complains about that much. Why should games be any different.
I think you can get in trouble for doing it here, too. This seems on the verge of Nanny State laws, though, to me. Video games and media are a behavioral issue, not a substance that can kill you. (unless you're that WoW kid from China)
Either way, no game console manufacturer will enforce a hard, system-locked age requirement as long as it's rated by the ESRB. If companies themselves start caring, then perhaps... but they're too concerned with making money to ever do that. Besides, there's nothing but integrity keeping people from faking their ages online or on a console, just like those 'verify your age' prompts before violent videos, etc. The same parents who let their kids buy/play any ol' M-rated game will do the same lousy parenting with further restrictions.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 6/21/2010 3:43:37 PM
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neuronstatic
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The original premise given in the OP requires that the child's age be correct on the live account. If a parent consents to allowing a child to play particular games, there is nothing to stop them from giving a false age for the kid.
From my perspective, you cannot use technology alone to solve child behavioral problems. When someone comes up with a technology to limit kids' access to something, someone else finds a way around it. It has to start and end with parental involvement.
Trusting technology as a baby-sitter for your child is the same as handing your child over to a person with severe mental illness to be the caretaker. Stop looking for someone else to blame when they turn out bad. It is the parent's responsibility.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 7/1/2010 12:56:35 PM
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Brandy
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Microsoft, Sony and Nintendo are not parents. Parents need to step up and be parents. If they are allowing their kids to play whatever games they want, that's their call. Not yours or any company's place to step in.
If the govt tried to regulate the US the way the UK does you'd have a major backlash.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 7/9/2010 2:31:03 PM
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neuronstatic
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Personally, I don't want ANY more government regulation on what I do, play, read, or write. And all too often people would rather have their liberty regulated rather than take personal responsibility for their own children. Stop leaning on others to raise your own children.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 7/11/2010 1:18:25 AM
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henny
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In defense of stores, they do seem to be much better about carding for video games nowadays. I always get carded when I by "M" rated video games, wheres 5 years ago that certainly wasn't the case.
But yeah, if the parent if buying an "M" rated game for their kid, there's no way that the manufacturers or the stores can stop them from buying it and allowing their kid to play.
In terms of game ratings, though, "M" tends to be kind of vague. Like the MPAA they tend to have a double standard when it comes to sex vs violence, although they are much harder on sex than the MPAA is and much more lenient on violence. So there are tons of games that have levels of violence and gore which would easily translate to an NC-17 rating if they were films, whereas if a game has even the mildest form of sex in it it (like the "Masseffect" games, whose sex scenes are very PG-13 material) it gets slapped with an "M" rating. It's kind of schizophrenic and vague, so the only way for a parent to actually know what a game contains is for them to play it themselves first (which obviously would take way more time than viewing a movie would, so it's kind of problematic for most parents who are non-gamers).
< Message edited by henny -- 7/11/2010 1:26:48 AM >
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 7/27/2010 9:33:08 PM
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nealmorsefan
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Parental ratings on video games are only enforced at time of purchase in my experience. It may prevent a few kids from accessing content on rated M games initially, but kids will talk to their friends and figure a way around it. Most commonly, I would just expect them to lie about their age at registration. Hmm...does that mean video games make people sin? I guess maybe they ARE of the Devil after all. My mom will feel quite vindicated to hear this.
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RE: This Would Solve Some Problems... - 7/11/2011 2:02:45 PM
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SuperSonicFan
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If parents want to be careless and let their kids play those games, they can't be stopped by legal allegations (in the US). The only law is that kids under age can't buy M or AO games themselves, but a parent (or anyone that they know that's older than them for that matter) can buy such games for them. The ESRB ratings are practically warnings, not commands. However, the PS2, PS3, PSP, XBox 360, Wii, Nintendo DSi (XL), and Nintendo 3DS all have parental controls that can stop games of a set rating from being played. That still leaves someone responsible for setting such controls up.
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