Photo ID Required To Buy/Rent Games In Canada

securitas writes "Metro International newspapers Toronto edition reports that Canadian gamers must now provide photo identification to buy computer and video games. The restriction is part of the Retail Council of Canada's Commitment to Parents initiative, in cooperation with the Entertainment Software Association of Canada (ESAC) and the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB). The RCC says that it has the support of 90% of game retailers in the voluntary program. Read the RCC video game photo ID press release. There don't seem to be any guidelines for how the program will be implemented - whether it will be a simple flash of a photo ID card (which many teenagers don't have) or a more detailed user database, with its inherent privacy concerns. The Ontario government plans to come up with its own game ratings system after the Ontario Film Review Board gave Manhunt an 'R' rating. More coverage at the CBC and CTV before and after the official announcement."

Comments

I generlally try to buy games.

[Unknown Poltroon]

Oh well. If they want to card me, theres limewire. Fuck em.

Re:Maybe it's for the best...

[Nig Niggington]

now politicians and parents won't be able to pin the blame on video games the next time some brat does something stupid.

Naw, in that event the politicians would just say "See! This game is so warped and evil that it enticed these children to break the law just so that they could play it!" The age restriction won't even factor into it one bit. How long have kids 17 and under been restricted from going to R-rated movies? That didn't stop all of the moralists from blaming Columbine on (among other things) the movie The Basketball Diaries, an R-rated movie.

Re:I live in Canada and..

[Zareste]

-video games causing violence

Yeah, funny how the logic behind that works. "Let's keep kids in a cage, tell them what they can see and regard them as a bunch of animals. That'll make them less violent."

Then they go back home and beat their kids etc. etc. I think the problem with teen violence these days is they're not shooting the right people.