Meh i don't get this whole thing. Over here video games have a rating and they can only be sold to people old enough to meet that rating. Surely it's the same as with DVD's they can only be sold to people old enough, otherwise what's the point of a rating system? IMO it would help the image of the video game industry in the states if everyone just accepted that selling games that deserve an 18 rating to people under that age is really just a bit thick. If that legally can't happen anymore it's a fairly major string from the bow of the anti-game campainers.
Unfortunately, the US rating system is just an advisory, a suggestion, unlike ours which is set in law. This is what people have been trying to change in the US, including the jackass Jack Thompson, but unfortunately no judge seems to want to take a stand on the issue and protect young kids from violent video games by restricting them by law. Personally I can't see why there isn't more outrage and protesting going on. Surely it's sensible to ban an 11 year old from buying a game like GTA which is rated 18 over here.
It makes absolutely no sense. American's take the 'First Amendment' way too literally. They cannot legally age-restrict movies or games without some idiot screaming "unconstitutional! unconstitutional!" They need to really rethink their entire rating system and then put some laws in place to enforce it. How can a game such as Half Life 2 or Halo 2 be put into the same category with the likes of GTA and Manhunt (all 'Mature' rated)? Isn't it obvious that morally they're completely different? It's not just games either. Their movie classification system makes zero sense. Gladiator and Saw both given 'R'? huh? As the entertainment capital of the world, the US really needs to sort it out.
Random american: "ZOMG my kid took a gun to school and shot people because of computer games its a bloody outrage" Well maybe if they enforced a system where the age is law rather than advisory........
A lot of places won't sell rated M games to kids under 16, at least where I live. However, I think it's more of a parenting thing. If you don't want your kinds buying games that you don't approve of, then don't let them. You don't need a law to stop kids from buying violent video games.
From all of the press and negative publicity coming from the other side of the pond, apparently you do. I really don't get the point of rating anything if you don't enforce that rating.
What about cigarettes, or alcohol? You don't let the parents decide whether it's ok for little Timmy to buy a pack of cancer sticks do you? You have laws against buying and selling those. Why are video games treated so differently? Why are movies treated so differently? Over here, it's illegal to sell a video game or movie rated 18 to anyone under 18, it's also illegal to buy a product rated 18 if you're under 18. If the parents decide to buy whatever and give it to their under-age kid, that's their lookout, and there's nothing the law can do to stop that. Our ratings are clear-cut, and not at all vague, unlike the R rating for movies or M for games. Stores know exactly what can and can't (or should or shouldn't) be sold to their customers; and parents know exactly what their kids shouldn't be playing/watching.
^^^^ This ^^^^ There are plenty of things that you think it constitutional to restrict access for minors. Why is this any different. It does seem that anything a group doesn't like suddenly there are screams of "this is un-constitutional"
I really don't see this as a good comparison. My view is that games can't harm you, unlike alcohol and cigarettes. Games won't give you cancer, or alcohol poisoning. You won't go to the hospital if you buy a game(unless you get an adverse reaction and have a siezure, but thats irrelevent). My parents let me watch R rated movies(and rules on movies are clear cut) when I was young, and never had an objection to the type of games I play, but if they did I wouldn't be alowed to play/watch it. If a parent doesn't want little timmy to play a violent video game, then don't let him. If a parent thinks it's alright to watch an R rated movie, then they'll get their kid in or rent it.
But the problem is that M and R rated products cover a huge range. Like NuTech said, should something like Saw have the same rating as Dogma? (Saw = 18, Dogma = 15, both rated R in the US). I certainly don't think so.
Well like I said, I think with games the advisory system works. Parents can stop their kids from playing violent vidoe games. However with movies, I can see a better rating system being implemented. But living here, I never thought about it. I just accepted that any movie that had the 'F' word in it, I had to be 17 to see. But like I said, if a parent thinks it's alright for their kid to see a movie, rating is really a nonissue. All a different rating system would do is save the kid from having their parents get them in or buy it for them.
The problem with video games is that they are fine. Untill you mix them with drugs. With the current rate of drug use increasing dramatically (even *lite* drugs) they alter the perception of reality and virtual reality making things confusing. I will admit that when I play a game for hours on end without a significant break, i.e. around 1-2hours involving some form of physical exercise, I can get grumpy and find when people ask me things I can snap. Now I know this because of the way my parents bought me up. They bought me up to self regulate myself. I am a strong advocate that the best method to stop people doing things wrong is to educate them correctly. By showing them all their choices, I know people that lived one town across from me but had the same education exactly from birth and yet they fell into bad situations. They admit that it was because they didn't know any different. Unfortunately one of these people did get affected by games when he was high and threw himself through a window and tragically bled to death on the street. The rating system in the US needs to be more explicit. If I remember right the difference between M and R rated games is M == 17 and R == 18. Thats not a significant enough difference to me. We have a similar difference here (18 and X, X being hardcore pornography) but the 3 year age gap between 15 and 18 allows for a lot of personal development in the mind of that person.
Games aren't rated R, you're thinking of AO (adult only). M = 17, AO = 18. There is no X certificate in the UK, I believe the 18 rating replaced it years ago, pornography however is rated R18 which means it can only be sold in a licensed sex shop or shown in a specially licensed cinema.
