If we had something stronger than volunteer parental ratings for an ignorant parental populous, just maybe we wouldn't have to listen to Jack Thompson's tripe any longer. After all, the generation that up until very recently has been buying games for their kids has had NO way of understanding the medium - it's been foreign to parents, and therefore parents have made dubious purchasing decisions.
Why not make retailers check ID as a liquor store does? Some games are simply inappropriate for little kids and should be limited to adult consumption. They shouldn't be "banned" or limited in the production, but the sales should be limited to those who are old enough to have learned what boundaries are.
I can't speak for the whole EU but we certainly have such a system here in the UK. Many games on sale here have legally binding age restrictions on them (e.g. mininum age 15 or 18) and retailers can be prosecuted for selling such games to minors. These are on top of, and independent to, the recommended ratings from people like ESRB which aren't legally binding.
Whilst they may not use electric off the grid, they are still consuming the same amount of energy. My headlights are around 55W and my tail lights are 15W giving a total of 140W. Where the energy for that 140W comes from is kind of irrelevant.
Slashdot Mirror
If we had something stronger than volunteer parental ratings for an ignorant parental populous, just maybe we wouldn't have to listen to Jack Thompson's tripe any longer. After all, the generation that up until very recently has been buying games for their kids has had NO way of understanding the medium - it's been foreign to parents, and therefore parents have made dubious purchasing decisions.
Why not make retailers check ID as a liquor store does? Some games are simply inappropriate for little kids and should be limited to adult consumption. They shouldn't be "banned" or limited in the production, but the sales should be limited to those who are old enough to have learned what boundaries are.
I can't speak for the whole EU but we certainly have such a system here in the UK. Many games on sale here have legally binding age restrictions on them (e.g. mininum age 15 or 18) and retailers can be prosecuted for selling such games to minors. These are on top of, and independent to, the recommended ratings from people like ESRB which aren't legally binding.
All the rating descisions are carried out by the British Board of Film Classification - the same group that rates films and DVDs etc.
Whilst they may not use electric off the grid, they are still consuming the same amount of energy. My headlights are around 55W and my tail lights are 15W giving a total of 140W. Where the energy for that 140W comes from is kind of irrelevant.