Illinois has all but passed a bill that makes stores selling sexual or violent games ID customers so insure that they are 18 or older. I buy games from any store that carries the game I want. I have bought games from Wal-Mart, Best Buy, Sears, GameStop, EB, Target, CompUSA, and a number of others stores across a few states. When I went to get a second copy of Halo I was asked for ID and I am older than 18. The same thing happened to me when I went to buy Halo 2 and Resident Evil 4 and I am now well away from being 18. This is a policy that most stores have for buying games without any law in place forcing them to do so. I agree that video game sellers should make sure the target demographic for the game is appropriate to who is actually buying the game.

Now one time when I was in Target around the holiday season and I was looking at some of the games that were on sale I overheard a couple talking about what game to get their son and after talking for about five minutes they decided that they would get him the game that he really wanted, which was one in the Grand Theft Auto series. It was at this time that the last doubts I had about the ESRB and laws like this one proposed in Illinois was finally cast from my mind. The parents are the ones that buy the games for their kids. This begs the question of what else can game developers do besides a rating system to educate parents about the games their kids play.

I think in the future as consoles start to offer full games via download (it is coming, don't deny it) that having a sample video, maybe of the worst stuff in the game, would be a great way for parents to see if the game will be suitable for their child. Also having clerks ask who the intended player of a game is when a customer goes to check out is a good way to inform parents. Really the best way is for the parent to know about their child's interest in games and therefore know what games are appropriate for them.

It is very important for the industry to have the trust of younger games parents while not compromising the games they wish to make.

-Mark (26-June-2005)

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