mhg83

So today at Target I was approached by a Teenager wanting me to buy him Halo ODST. It was kind of weird since It was a complete stranger asking me to buy him something. I didn't buy him it since i wasn't sure if i would get in trouble if caught purchasing him the game.

But now that I think about it, I dont think I would've gotten arrested for it or anything. Does anyone here that works in Retail knows what would happen if an adult is caught buying an M rated game to a Minor that isn't his/her parent or guardian? Has anyone here ever been approached by a kid wanting you to get him an M rated game? What did you do in that situation? Would you consider it morally wrong?

And Why the hell is this series still getting an M rating? You go around shooting aliens that have green blood . It should really be a Teen rated game

Boba Fett

Considering the ESRB rating is not legally enforceable, I can't imagine anything happening to you. That's not to say the parent could complain and press charges; besides, the big issue is, that it looks just plain creepy.

Decker

At my Target last week, I went to buy Wanted on clearance. It's M rated. Not only did they ask for my ID (which is kind of odd since I'm 42 and could hardly pass for 17 even to a blind man), but they insisted I take my driver's license out so that they could scan it. I complained to the manager, telling her that this new policy was a egregious violation of privacy, but I don't think she cared much.

And I've started a thread before about Halo. It's absurd that it's rated M while other much more realistic FPS games like CoD 3 and Battlefield Bad Company and 1943 are rated T. I think the ruling is any FPS with blood (even green alien blood) rates an M, while shooting Nazis in the face is okay as long as there isn't blood or viscera as a result. I think that's a stupid policy and I tell parents who ask me that I think Halo is the one M rated game that I think it okay for pre-teens to play. In my book, green alien blood is no more offensive than the bolts that the robots in Ratchet and Clank hemorrhage or the deli meats that the scientists in Splosion Man spew forth.

Boba Fett

I had a Target employee try to pull that one on me a few years back, so I told them to forget it. I talked to a manager and got an apology, but I still refused to buy the game there.

Deftones

i wouldn't do it unless it was for my own kid.

edstein

If he gave me the cash I would have done it, for Halo anyways. The language isn't that bad and the violence is cartoony. GTA IV no way.

Supermallet

I don't know about the state you live in, but in CA that is outright illegal. They can use the ID to verify your age, but are not allowed to gather or record more information beyond that.

As for the OP, it is not illegal to buy M-rated games for minors. The ESRB ratings are guidelines.

juanmgonzalez

My 8 year old son plays COD, Halo and Gears of War. He's an A-Student and plays on a travel hockey team - he's turned out OK playing these games. The ESRB ratings are worthless to me....

foxdvd

depends on how old he was...was he like 16 or something? If he young, like 10-13, I would not do it...his parents might be religious, and it would be unfair to overstep their decisions.

WMAangel

You will be immediately apprehended and thrown in jail!
Because obviously you would be helping the kid out for a certain "favor" in return...the kind that involves unmarked vans and lots of molestation....
M-rated video games are the new substitute for "candy" from strangers, beware!!

Tarantino

How hard is it to pull your ID out so they can scan it?

Seriously. Some people complain about the stupidest fucking things.

Decker

You ever been asked to give your name and address at Radio Shack when you were trying to buy some AAs? It's like that; it's just unnecessary. Suddenly Target has my name, address and perhaps my DL# simply because I wanted to buy a semi-crappy M rated game cheap. If they needed to see I was indeed 18, then ask for my ID, but more than that is unreasonable. If they don't scan my driver's licence when I buy beer or visit a legal brothel casino, why would they need that to buy a video game?

Jeremy517

My ID doesn't scan properly, so they have to call a manger to override it in order to sell me the game, even though I'm obviously old enough. So yeah, it is a pain.

fumanstan

Letting a store scan my ID doesn't bother me, especially for something trivial like an age verification. There are worse things to whine to a manager about, let alone not make a purchase because of it.

It's probably the same system that flags alcohol or certain medication for age verification at Target.

Supermallet

Why should I provide Target with a copy of my ID? If it's for certain restricted medications where they limit how much you can have in a month, I can at least see some reasoning behind that. But if it's for a video game, or alcohol, or other items that are unrestricted to people over a certain age, I'm not going to let a retail store copy down anything beyond my date of birth. It's not an issue of convenience.

mhg83

He looked like he was 13 or 14. I did recomend Batman: A.A. which i would actually consider more deserving of an M rating than Halo

orangecrush

This. Generally speaking, I need a good reason to give my personal information to a store. The onus is on them to provide a reason why they need it, not on me to provide a reason not to give it.

sniper308

Are they just scanning the barcode on the ID? Or were they literally scanning a copy of the ID itself into their system? If they were just scanning teh barcode, its entirely possible that its just a validation check against the state's DMV database or the barcode itself contains the encoded info, and that they are not actually storing any info from your ID itself. That would be legit.

It would be interesting to see how they handle an out of state ID, unless the state's have a standard way of barcoding them, etc.

fumanstan

Sure, but that's assuming they're even copying anything down. I understand the concern over privacy that people have these days, but Target says they're not reading any of your other info other then your birth date.

http://www.informationweek.com/blog/...OSKHWATMY32JVN

Now a blurb from their PR isn't concrete and they could be collecting info for marketing, but honestly i've had my license scanned at bars, buying alcohol at grocery stores, making returns or exchanges, whatever that it doesn't bug me.

DRG

I wouldn't do it. Not because it's illegal or wrong or anything like that, but because I don't like doing favors for strangers.

Tarantino

You people crack me up. I'm really sure TARGET is stealing your information to sell on the black market.

I laugh at the fact that some of you would rather leave the store without your purchase than have them scan your fucking drivers license.

Kelkee

So tell me why they cant just read it and type it in then if all they are doing is pulling your date of birth?

You think this data just goes into the ether never to be seen again you are really fooling yourself.

Tarantino

It's information from your drivers license. What's the worst they're going to do with it? Send you mail?



Give me a break.

Kelkee

You don't have to do this at a gas station when buying cigarettes or at the liquor store, yet Target wants to scan your DL for some reason they aren't being very clear about, and that they can get this data without scanning it.

Something is not right about that. Plus how do they only scan and record the DOB and NOT scan in and record the other data? Nope. Don't like it one bit.

pinata242

Computers can read. Your average retail employee cannot. Let alone compare a DOB with today's date and do mathematical computations with that information.