Legally enforced ratings

[Iceglow]

Funny you should mention that because that's exactly what the UK sounds like to me from your story. The fact there's cameras on the streets everywhere nowadays and the new internet freedom removal act aren't helping things either.

You know that theres a lot of hyperbole over the amount of CCTV in the UK, sure in London it's really hard to leave any building including your home without being picked up on CCTV somewhere within 20 seconds however you need to realize over 90% of this CCTV will be privately owned by shops or even by homeowners who have received harrassment in the past by people/yobs. Orwell's 1984 is still a far cry from the Britain of today and I do note the coincidental irony of the Video Standards Act being introduced in 1984. As for the new act combating internet piracy, that law is a badly made law what is very hard to enforce and seriously needs to be re-thought imho.

@ Steve - they have all this enforcement, but guess what? Kids up and down the country are still playing this stuff. Even if it's not a problem (Though reading all the commentary on this bill I'm increasingly convinced that it is despite it being govt. not ESRB ratings) it's pretty much a waste of resources. Frankly I would rather our legal system stop wasting time on this crap and make room for burglers and muggers and such.

I agree age restriction doesn't stop children nationwide from getting their hands on such games, as I said in my post whilst I am legally obliged to refuse sales to underage persons and actually any person who doesn't appear to be around 3 years older than the age restriction (think 21 it's amazing [/ sarcasm]) I'm also legally obliged to inform parents when they're purchasing items with an age restriction for those under the age I cannot really stop them from doing so. Most parents simply don't care enough to actually listen to the advice we give having exposed their kids to films and such rated 18 since a very young age. I also agree that the imposition of a fine, a criminal record and a prison term is over kill for this kind of thing, the criminal record and prison term do nothing but create someone who is suddenly a dependent of the state since they prevent people from getting a new job when they do get out of the prison. The fine alone suffices and not to mention the loss of job in my opinion both of these are problems enough for someone who makes an honest mistake though they're justified if the person has deliberately and knowingly done so. The problem is determining if an action was an innocent mistake or a knowing and deliberate action.

No it's not the end of the world. Unless a legal rating and enforcement agency starts to abuse it's power and ban whatever they see fit. As an example, take a look at a small list of games banned or censored in some way in Australia:

Censorship in Australia - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In fact, because they refuse to have a rating higher than their MA15+, anything that exceeds the standards for that rating either gets censored or banned. Now I'd like to ask you how the government has any business banning any games; essentially telling grown adults such as myself that what we should or shouldn't play. When I'm a grown adult, I should be able to play whatever the hell I want, and developers should get to make the game they want so long as it gets slapped with the appropriate rating in the end.

It's easy to ask what the big deal is when the ratings enforcement doesn't infringe on our ability to play the games we want. But just ask Australians how awesome it is when the government starts using it as an excuse to censor and ban things.

Austrailia is a special case (SPOILER)because let's face it, they're a country decended from convicts and run by morons and idiots ;P love ya really you damn convicts xD, however I do see your point on how government restrictions is a bad thing, I'm not exactly sure how it worked back prior to 1984 but as far as I know the BBFC (British Broadcast and Film Commission) is independent from the government even though it's ratings are legally binding. Same goes for PEGI, PEGI is a european thing and in most countries it is still considered advisory rather than legally binding.