The UK's Trading Standards Institute says that children are easily able to obtain violent, adult-rated videogames through online auction websites.
According to the BBC, almost 90 percent of retailers tested by the association sold adult-rated titles to minors.
The Welsh Heads of Trading Standards carried out the investigation, in which six local authorities enlisted volunteers aged between 12 and 16 to attempt to buy 18-rated games online using postal orders as currency.
Of the 44 purchases attempted, 38 traders accepted the transactions for games including Grand Theft Auto IV, Godfather and Hitman.
"This survey shows how easily children can gain access to age-restricted, violent video games," said Lee Jones, acting head of trading standards at Bridgend County Borough Council.
"If traders cannot be sure the person they are selling to is over 18, then they should not be selling," added Brandon Cook, the institute's head officer for age-restricted sales.
The Trading Standards Institute said that online traders needed to comply with existing laws - the penalty for supplying games to an under-age consumers can be a fine or up to six months in jail - and that parents had "an important role" to play in ensuring that children aren't playing unsuitable games.
GOOD! Now hopefully the powers that be will ensure that this sort of thing ceases. I'm tired of gamers being used as scapegoats for all the worlds wrongs, and tighter laws on their distribution (i.e. enforcing age ratings) is a giant leap in the right direction.
As is drumming it into the heads of dumb parents that 18 rated games are not suitable for 9 year olds...
Ha ha ha! force online traders to undergo the sort of 'stringent' laws applicable in the high street? do me a favour, your average trader has to exercise a bit of faith in the buyer with regards to age or they would'nt make penny one.
Ha ha ha! force online traders to undergo the sort of 'stringent' laws applicable in the high street? do me a favour, your average trader has to exercise a bit of faith in the buyer with regards to age or they would'nt make penny one.
Having been an 'average trader' both in a store and an online capacity, I think there's a little truth in that.
In the store I worked in if you were even slightly unsure about someone's age, and they had no ID, then you said no. One of my friends made the mistake of excersising a little faith, ended up losing his job after it turned out it was all a news story by the Daily Mail.
Online is another matter. The 1 time I have sold an age restricted item on ebay (manhunt no less), had me very worried. I rang the person, spoke to someone who certainly sounded old enough. Problem is to 'casual' online traders, there's no real way of verifying a buyers age that I can think of.
Anyway, all this is moot, cos it's the bloody ignorant parents buying games for little billy just to keep him quiet. They then march back into the store furious after catching him paying a hooker for a quick bit of executive relief (in game of course). Maybe they should make that big red and white '18 symbol a bit more visible, maybe put it on all sides of a game's packaging...
I think it's all a load of crap anyway. I remember growing up watching 18 films such as Terminator, Alien, Godfather and it didn't have an effect on me or loads of my friends who were similar. From what I understand it's part of childhood and I was the same with video games. I got my parents to buy me stuff like Goldeneye, Grand Theft Auto 3 and Perfect Dark when I wasn't old enough to play them and as a kid I understood the difference between violence on the television and that in real life. Sure I understand some kids are stupid but I have faith that most children understand the difference and the whole media pinning violence in the street to a stupid computer game like GTA is ridiculous, its the morals of the community and the people around them that do this.
I'm not sure what the answer is on one hand inforcing age restricitions will help to stop games being blasted in the media (although that doesn't really hurt sales I imagine) and also won't stop all kids getting their hands on them. On the other hand I know that games and movies that have high ratings are a big part of childhood. I suppose its on the maturity of the child and it should be the choice of the parent if they think theirs could handle this kind of age restricted material.
I'm pretty sure that most of us who are well past 18 watched movies and played games that were rated well above our ages, and it didn't do us any harm.
Just like high-rated games don't do any harm either.
It's society looking for something to blame for the way kids are turning out these days. Not one to be controversial (ROFL), I think I have to point out that kids having kids is generally a bad idea, and kids growing up with parents who never wanted them is going to screw them up far more than any game ever could.
Oh well, I bought GTA San Andreas when I was 12 in a high street store in Belgium; they don't even care about age limits there, the only thing I couldn't do was buy booze but now I'm 16 it's legal
I'm just going to reiterate what 75% of the other people who have posted here have said - it's the fault of the parents. They shouldn't blame their lack of responsibility on video games that aren't even suitable for their kids. If they don't understand the age ratings then they should be blamed, not the people who make the games.
Having said that - the online retailers should find some way of being strict on the way they check ages and make sure kids aren't getting these games online. I mean I managed to play a fair few 18 rated games as a kid and saw some 18 rated movies, and whether it did harm to me as a person is a completely different argument. From a business and law-keeping standpoint - If high streets can't get away with selling 18 rated games to kids, then why should online retailers get away with it? I work in a cinema and you can be fired on the spot for letting a kid under the age of 18 into an 18 rated film, if a manager catches you. If employees are getting fired for this kind of stuff on the high street then why are online retailers so relaxed about it?
Oh well, I bought GTA San Andreas when I was 12 in a high street store in Belgium; they don't even care about age limits there, the only thing I couldn't do was buy booze but now I'm 16 it's legal
And were your parents aware of the material that was in San Andreas ?
I am pretty sure you need to be 18 to sign up for eBay at least, it used to be 16 but they raised it a while back I think. This means the seller shouldn't need to worry about the person being under age. It is, of course, easy enough to put in a false date of birth. I know I have sold stuff on eBay that was 18 rating, but I didn't worry about selling to minors as I know you need to be 18 to have an eBay account.
Who needs postal orders? I got my first switch card aged 12. All you then need to do is pop down the bank with your birthday money and voila a bank card with money which is accepted by every online retailer going. I could buy anything i wanted that way.
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