Other friends knowingly let their Pre Teen play 18+ games and are proud of how well the kid plays. While its great to be proud of your kids I think there is good reason for the restriction levels marked on the box.

The government would not have to step in if it was not an issue and the parents would not have to worry about the government parenting if the parents did it themselves. so where is the actual middle ground?

Yes, sometimes the ESRB gives ratings that tend to be leaner than they should be. For instance, Castlevania Bloodlines (which is an old school example) received a GA rating despite it being fairly violent because the nature of the violence was fantasy. However, a young child can’t always depict that so I believe that violence should be violence and not variations that are forced to decide between fantasy and reality – all video games, in essence, are fantasy.

The only way the law needs to be changed is to first, adopt the Videogame Rating Council’s rating system that proceeded the ESRB that was: General Audiences (GA), K-A (Kids to Adults), MA-13 (Mature, thirteen and up), MA-17 (Mature, seventeen and up) and Adult (no one younger eighteen). This way, parents have an “easier” time gauging the ages without actually having to think. The second item is to actually start rating games “A.” Games that are extremely violent or depict acts that could be considered “real life” should have this rating (GTA is a prime example) if people are up in arms about video game violence. All the ESRB has to do is send a letter to Game Stop telling them to start checking IDs on any Mature/Adult rated games. It’s done for tobacco and alcohol so why not here? If you implemented more “A” ratings you could even drop the age level for “M” games down to sixteen (the age where most kids start driving, getting jobs, etc.)

This law is just a typical government action: “we have an issue but instead of trying to figure out how to logically change it, let’s just prevent anyone under eighteen from buying video games and that will solve the problem.” As already noted by various DT readers, this isn’t going to prevent anything because some parents just don’t give a damn and anyone with older friends, cousins, siblings can get around this.

@Kim: “Kids don’t use their money to buy video games, they use their parents.” That’s an absurd statement. When I was sixteen, I worked at Game Stop and used the money I earned there to buy video games – this law would prevent me from doing so. Why should I not be allowed to buy video games because I’m a minor – I can sell them but not buy them? Also, I know plenty of kids that trade in their old games to acquire new ones – should they not be allowed to? I rode my bike down to the local Game Crazy and traded in games for new ones and I think getting rid of that system would hurt the industry more than anything.

My biggest problem with this law is that it is attempting defeat the need for personal responsibility. I’ve been gaming since I stood knee-high to a duck and I’ve played every violent game out there, including ones that I doubt any of you have ever heard of but are far more violent than what we have today (though the graphics weren’t nearly as good). I’m not running around committing illegal acts because I was taught better. All these acts of violence that are video games are blamed for is perhaps the stupidest argument I’ve ever heard. Everyone remember Columbine? Yeah, it was easy for the media and the government to blame the video game “Doom” for Eric Harris and Dylan Klebold’s actions. However, what the media didn’t tell you is that both of these kids had been arrested prior to the attack and without putting too fine of a point on it, were psychopaths. What they were planning on doing had no coloration to anything you could do in “Doom.”

@Trip: Do you really believe what you wrote? Do think that being able to buy video games can be put on the same level as driving a car, buying tobacco or drinking alcohol? The three items I just mentioned have dire consequences if abused: a young child driving a car could easily crash into someone, killing them; abusing tobacco and alcohol at a young age can cause irreparable damage to one’s self. While there have been deaths “caused by video game” I don’t think they were purely caused by playing. Most of the games that people have “died from” were MMOs and/or games that can be played online which to me means they were being cyber-bullied or the kids were mentally unstable to begin with. I once sat down and played Final Fantasy IV from start to finish and I felt fine afterwards. I’m going to assume your statement was out to troll and I bit, I award you 8/10.

I could keep going but I’ve said my bit on this article.