You are in line to buy the latest blockbuster M rated game be it Modern Warfare 3, Saint's Row: The Third or Assassin's Creed Revelations. When you get up to pay for the game, you are asked if you are 17 years or older and for ID to prove it, which you are not or have no ID to prove it. So the cashier tells you that he or she cannot sell you the game. You put on a little hissy fit and walk off. Either you have lived this scenario or seen it unfold right in front of your eyes.
In this day and age, video games have exploded in popularity. It is hard to find a young boy or girl that plays games. Also while games have gained huge amounts of popularity, humans as a race have become desensitized. I can clearly remember a time between when I was born to about when I was 12 when I was completely oblivious to all the mature subjects that make up this world. Now with the Internet, social media and other key factors, children these days lose their innocence much much faster. A testament to this lose of innocence is the very fact that kids as young as 5 years of age are playing Call of Duty online and are swearing as bad as a trucker. Games are rated M for Mature for a reason. They are not meant to be played by a kid that cannot help but laugh at the mention of sex. They are meant to be played by people mature enough to understand the adult themes, the dark stories and why you are performing certain tasks.
Back close to 7 years ago, it became illegal in Canada and the United States to sell a M rated game to anybody younger than 17 years of age. If you did, you could be charged. So any store that sells games from EB Games to Walmart has to make sure that they check. It is like being IDed at club or if you buy a drink or try to buy a ticket to a Restricted movie, it is the law. They have to check if they suspect you at younger than the legal age. What I am trying to say is that I am growing ever sick and tired of naive little punks who think they can get away with anything and buy M rated games when they are clearly not old enough. They make other respectable gamers like myself, who might just want to buy a Mature rated game like Mass Effect because I enjoy the more adult story and such, look bad. And for all of you that are over 17 years of age that do not have a piece of ID such as a Driver's License, Health Card, Passport of other piece of government issued identification, sorry but at that age you are expected to have a piece of ID on you at all times so there is no damn excuse. I learned the hard way and now I never leave my house without ever piece of ID I can easily carry with me. There are two big problems. They are that people do not know how to read anymore and that parents rarely take an interest in what their children play or do. If parents took the time to read reviews, the ESRB ratings on the box and watched gameplay footage before blindly buying the newest M rated game for their child, it would not be such a hassle going out to buy Call of Duty each and every year. Also restricting your children from playing, but not buying, Mature games until they are 15 or 16 may help things too. Personally I was not allowed to play Mature games until I was 15 years old and I buy and play more games that are rated E to T than M.
All-in-all, everybody needs to just smarten up and start using your brain and your eyes before mindlessly grabbing a M rated game and walking over to the cashier. Give the ESRB (if you don't know what that stands for google it) the respect it deserves and actually read the ratings and descriptors on the box. It says 17+ on the box so there is no reason that you did not see it. So please do not put on a little hissy fit and try to make people feel sorry for you. It is the law and I am sick and tired of people thinking that it does not apply to them.
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