flip_hop9

I tried to buy Prince of Persia: Warrior Within at two Targets and a Gamestop, but the clerks all wanted to see my ID. I'm only sixteen, but people always mistake me for a college student.

Is this check new? I bought Tenchu Wrath of Heaven and GTA: San Andreas, both mature titles, and they never asked for ID. Maybe cuz i bought em at best buy, but when did they start checking id's for games?

cheapskate

Maybe you shouldn't have shaved your sideburns?

TOYSRUS are pretty hardcore about ID checks; not a bad thing really - just a little embarassing when the nice lady behind the counter tells me that I'm buying a SCARY GAME! (Fatal Frame II). I have 2 kids for chrissakes!

I don't mind them being strict about game ratings; good to see they're actually enforcing it for a change.

OT: Much worse is when I was in Circuit City a while ago buying "Day After Tomorrow" and the woman warned me "Now you do realise this is in WIDESCREEN, right?". "Yes, that's why I'm buying it." I doubt they give you the same warning on FULL SCREEN movies! Laaaame.

Josh H

I like seeing this enforced. Lessens the chances of censorship and gives the politicians less to gripe about.

Sucks for you, but you only have another year to put up with it.

flip_hop9

But I grew out my moustache and beard for two weeks! Got as hairy as i could for those clerks.
Oh well, at least i have somethin to show off at school

glassdragon

just have your parents buy it for you, if they won't then you probably shouldn't have it anyways.. Sorry but it's a sad truth

jaeufraser

I had a person at Blockbuster tell me that. I was like "um, if it wasn't widescreen I wouldn't be buying it." She said she agreed but some people get angry about that. Guess I can't blame herfor warning me.

Of course, this was the same blockbuster where I saw one of the employees cautiously warning people not to rent Lost in Translation because it was an awful boring film.

zero

Well when GTA: San Andreas came out we (my store) got a warning that there was a rep from the ESRB board making sure we were carding kids trying to buy the game. The rep never came to my store but it usually went something like this...

Me: "Hi, what I do for you today?"
Kid:"Yeah I wanna get Sandreas"
Me:"What?"
Kid(taking deep breath): I want GTA!"
Me:"Part 3? Vice City?"
Kid (growing impatient): NO! The new GTA."
Me:"Ok San Andreas?"
Kid (getting annoyed): Yeah Sandreas"
Me:"Well how old are you? and do you have an ID?"
Kid:"My parents dont care"
Me:"Ok, that doesnt answer my question but If you are under 17 I need to get permission from a parent."
Kid:"Oh, ok ill be right back."
30 minutes later

Irate Parent:"Why are you giving my child a hard time?"
Me:"Oh theres no malice here he is just underage and I cant sell him this game."
Irate Parent now concerned:"Oh, then please tell me what is it about this game that makes it mature."

At this point the conversation goes differently heres an example of what I feel a smart parents choice is baed on what I've told them about the content.

Smart Parent:" (childs name here) We're leaving, you cant have that game its bad for you."
Kid:"I HATE YOU, WHY DID YOU TELL HER? YOUR A MORON!!"
Me: (smiling) Have a nice day."

Next a bad parent...

Bad Parent:"So they say *********** a few times? Big deal I use that word all the time.
Me:"What about the sex, and drug use?"
Bad Parent:"Oh they see that on TV. Its out there (pointing outside to the local Circle K) too its life right?"
Me:"So you're telling me sex and drug use are common practices of the staff at Cricle K?"
Bad Parent now embarassed:"Who cares? give me the f*****g game."

Next a parent who loves abuse

Victum Parent:"Oh...listen we cant get this game."
Kid:"Just buy it, god your so stupid."
Me:"Excuse me, dont talk to your mom that way."
Kid:"who the hell do you.."
Me:"Im the manager on duty, and if you talk to her like that one more time I'll kick you out without a second thought."
Kid (now trying to give me THE LOOK)
Me:"Dont stare at me, and behave yourself, the game afterall is rated MATURE, and you're acting like a childish brat. Want that game? Either wait a few years or show your mom your a responsible person and act a little grown up."
Kid (storms off)
Parent: "Thank you so much and Im sorry for his behavior."
Me:"Have a good night."

For the record noe of this is made up, and I've even had parents come back and thank me for setting a few of their kids straight. And sometimes they get mad and dont grasp that their 8 yr old shouldnt be playing GTA, but all in the end it was the parent who paid for it.

Schooling kids left, and right.
-zero

asianxcore

I work in the R-zone at TRU and we have to check ID's for games. Sure it's policy but I myself wouldn't want some 9 year old kid playing GTA: San Andreas. When it was first released I had tons of kids around the 8-10 year old range wanting to buy it with money they saved up, sure it's a great game but I don't think kids that young need to be playing games like that. Also during X-mas parents would come in not knowing what GTA is and wanting to get it for their 8-10 year old kids. Geez.

Usually when I card, I don't bust out with the "oh my this is a scary game", just that it is rated mature for so and so, and if it's ok. If someone is with a parent, all the parent has to do is ok it, and I can sell it.

Thing is if I were to sell a mature rated game to someone underage I would be fired on the spot, no lie. It's store policy. Also the cashier's name is at the bottom of the receipt so if a kid gets a copy of GTA and a parent hates it, it's not hard to find who sold it them in the first place. Also I heard of several K-Marts that had undercover cops going in to buy mature rated games checking to see if they would ask for ID or mention the rating at all.

KJB2

Zero,
Thanks. That was one of the best posts I've ever read; it's great to hear from someone who takes their job seriously (a rare commodity nowadays).

Having previously worked in retail (independent record store) for 7+ years, I'm all too familiar with those kinds of scenarios. Your combination of polite intelligence and logic is exactly the kind of tack I used to take - smart people appreciate it, and it rubs jerks the wrong way. A win-win situation, in my opinion.

The abusive child scenario is particularly odd to me - if I would have spoken that way to one of my parents (or to anyone else in the presence of my parents) it would have been all over. And rightfully so.

Groucho

I try to stay out of gaming stores, but it's always funny to see. You see the 12-year-olds lining up trying to buy the "mature" games, and the full grown adults buying things like "Mario Party" and other E-rated games.

kakihara1

Yeah man, I don't mean to sound like a real ass but I think it's pretty cool that people are enforcing the mature rating, who the hell wants a bunch of 10 year olds stealing cars and shooting people? Whether or not we want to admit it, we need to start taking some responsibility for the horrific behavior of the youth today, you hear about grade school kids shooting their friends with daddy's gun all too often and for me the personal low is little boys sexually assaulting little girls!! what the hell is wrong with these kids............we've all heard about the jelly bracelet thing where little girls were wearing different colored bracelets that symolize different sexual favors, and if a little boy breaks one that's what he gets. The shit is messed up man and they wouldn't do it if they weren't exposed to this type of behavior in society everyday, whether it be on tv, a movie, or video games. Deviant actions are glorified in all media these days, and while someone who is an adult can seperate real life from fiction, I know there are many children who cannot.

I know of people who allow there children to play games like Halo2 as long as they are at least in the room and they put in the effort to make sure they know it's just a game, but I don't know of these same parents sitting there watching little johnny picking up hookers and shooting old ladies in GTA. So where do you draw the line?? I can't honestly say because I haven't had the misfortune to have to deal with this yet, as I am not a parent. But I will be someday and I have to say this will only get worse and I will have to be pretty particular about what I let my child watch/play.

DARTH GAMER

Hey Zero, you wouldn't be related to "the Gord" would you. Your post is awesome. if anyone doesn't know who the gord is, go to google and type in Gord. It's the first website listed. Pretty funny stuff.

tonyc3742

Kids grow up all too fast nowadays, and this fad of 'show them the worst so they can deal with it' is entirely flawed, imho. There's no reason an 8 year old needs to be exposed to the stuff in the GTA games. I don't think video games or movies or music 'cause' violence or bad attitudes, but they can certainly make them more likely. If you like the gameplay style, try Simpsons Hit and Run.
I wouldn't mind my child/ren playing video games, depending on how much time he spent on them and what they were. But I would certainly limit which games he is playing, and make sure he varies his entertainment.

zero: Good for you. If that question gets even one parent more involved into what their kids are playing/being exposed to, that's good. But if my child ever talked to me like the kid who talked to the Victim Parent, I tell you what, he wouldn't ever be getting that game, or many others. That dialog right there exemplifies, to me, most of what is wrong with the world today. Maybe I'm old fashioned, but a child should *never* speak to his parent like that, no matter how old, and a parent shouldn't let his kid walk over him like that.

If you're underage, and your parents won't buy it for you, you shouldn't be playing it anyway.

Joe Molotov

Before I turned 17, carding for Mature games was never a big deal. But now after I've actually turned 17, it seems like I'll get carded all the time for Mature games and R rated movies as well. Wal*Mart was the worst, I could be trying to buy Psycho or something they'd need to see some identification. Even after I'd turned 20, I'd still have to show my ID every once in a while.

kakihara1

I was like 22 and I got carded trying to go see "Stigmata" in the theater by some girl who couldn't have been older than 16

joeblow69

Man, I wish that they let us card kids for mature games back when I was working at a toy store. The only fun I had was carding for buying modeling glue. I LOVED refusing to sell them that crap!

glassdragon

You carded the cards? wow you were strict

boredsilly

Is there anything in Prince of Persia Twice that is that questionable? Or is it the same old over the top game violence?

joeblow69

Doh! you know what I meant!

Corvin

About three years ago, when I was a senior in high school, I bought Grand Theft Auto 2 for PS at Target. That's the only time I've been carded for a video game.

flip_hop9

Yeah, remember the sand bursting from the enemies in Sands of Time? Replace all that with blood. Oh yeah, add decapitations, scantily clad females and clever lines such as "You B!tch!"

Yeah my mom said she'd get it for me if i wanted, or i could wait 11 months to buy it legally. I wasn't gonna buy it for the above-mentioned things, but i love the PoP series' platforming and puzzles, maybe i should stick with Zelda?

Zero and everyone, i agree with carding now that you all mentioned 8 and 10-year olds buying GTA games; you all made good points. If it were up to me, driving age would be mature-gaming age

Xander

Yup, I pretty much have the same story. Worked at TRU in the R Zone. We've always had to card kids. And yes, I had TONS of parents going to buy Vice City for their 8-year-olds. I usually would just say "now you know this an M-rated game, right?" If they asked why it was "bad", I told them. If they said "yeah, whatever", I just sold them the game. But a lot of parents were shocked and didn't end up buying the game.

zero

No the Gord is in an entirely different category than me, I mena I havent had to beat anyone up...yet

Michael Corvin

Ain't that the truth. I love a good platformer.

To all the above posters enforcing the rules. Especially informing the parents to the content of the game, not just pulling the "it's M-rated" cop-out so you don't lose your job. I've never worked retail, but I am the resident go to guy for any family/friends of family, that has a question about these type things. I have gotten the GTA question before, and after I told the parent the content, they didn't buy either.

Molotov, don't feel bad, I'm 29 and got carded last summer for buying Wall Street out of the $5 bin at Wal-Mart. Also received the "you know this is M-rated, right?" at TRU a couple months ago. I've been told I look 23, but 16? I assume they ask anyway, because the parent won't always have the child with them. I don't mind if it helps the system.

Michael Corvin

Oh, and the above is only available to those of legal drinking age.