I never thought I would say this, but...

We need stronger legislation on video games.

I am now of the belief that we need to apply the same legislation to video games as we do to alcohol and tobacco. If the game is rated Mature or Adult, I propose it should be illegal to sell this game to anyone under the age of 17. Furthermore, it should be illegal for someone to purchase this with the intent of giving it to someone under the approved age.

I fully support game developers rights to create a game with whatever content they feel will sell, so long as that content doesn't violate established laws. However, I don't feel it is appropriate to sell certain games to minors. Let me fill you in on why I am suddenly convinced we need this legislation.

Over the past weekend I was doing some game trading/buying and I spent a fair amount of time at our local game vendors. During my time in these stores I witnessed a couple of incidents that led me to this decision.

The first was a mother who was looking to pre-order the new Call of Duty Modern Warfare II for her son. I couldn't help but overhear the conversation between her and the store clerk as she was very concerned that her twelve year old son would not be able to come in and pick the game up on the day it arrives. Since it carries a rating of 17 or older, he would need a parent with him. She was clearly upset about this. The store clerk held his ground and said that he could not sell the game to someone under 17. Now for those of you who are unfamiliar, the Call of Duty series fairly accurately recreates war as a video game and puts you right in the action. Much like you would expect, this game is violent, bloody and probably not appropriate for a 12 year old boy, but that decision is up to the parent right? If she wants to buy it for him, that's her call to make. But wait...

The second incident was the next day, when I was at the counter making a trade and a lady around my age came in to trade in 3 games in exchange for Grand Theft Auto Episodes from Liberty City. The clerk made some small talk and she mentioned that the game wasn't for her but for her son. She went on to say that he's only FOUR YEARS OLD but he has a Playstation 3, an X-BOX 360 and a PSP and he really wanted this game so he was willing to trade these 3 for it. This sickened me and convinced me that we need to do something about enforcing the game ratings. The GTA series has worked hard to set the standard for overuse of violence, gore, sex, nudity and overall morally questionable content. Isn't it great that four year olds will get to benefit from that?

So perhaps you argue that she has no idea what the content is...I would argue that with a name like Grand Theft Auto and a large Adult rating logo on the package that perhaps she would have a clue. Either way, it seems clear that some parents simply aren't smart enough to keep this type of content from their pre-schoolers. The game store clerk can only do so much. There is no law against him selling to the moms even if they are giving it to a four year old. Don't you think there should be?

Ultimately it would be great if we could just assume everyone is a good enough parent to protect their children, but I have seen enough proof to know this isn't always the case. I am sure that 4 year old had a great weekend of game playing, killing prostitutes and stealing cars.

Anyone have any thoughts? Please share in the comments.