Age ratings for games become law in UK

I worked in game retail for over six years, until Game closed our Gamestation. But in all that time the PEGI and BBFC were always treated as law anyway. We could lose our job, be fined £5000, get a criminal record and even do prison time. So for any (responsible) retailer, nothings really changed. (All this was by an external group that would randomly test stores. The same that test shops for selling booze.)

Of course the parents would still buy their child an 18 game and think it was all stupid, but if you explained the content of the game to the parent 7/10 times they changes their mind but 9/10 at least they stopped to think about it. The other 1/10 it was some ass that said their son has seen worse stuff than GTA, Manhunt or Doom in his own home...okay o0...

In the end it's the parents responsibility, they should be the ones that insure their kids aren't playing age rated games. But when the parent isn't around, then the retailer has to pick up the slack, and not allow the kid to buy a game above their age.

As for banning/rating games. PEGI is more fair. The rules and people behind it were thought of with games in mind. BBFC is for films (British Board of Film Classification), they often banned games or gave poor ratings simply because they don't understand the difference between the medium. And you do interact differently with a game than a film.

Hope the VSC doesn't ban too many games.

This is ridiculous.  I can understand why a cashier would get in trouble for selling a 16 or 18 game without ID or a parental guardian.  But a 12 game?  That has gone too far.  So now what?  12-year-olds are going to be required to have ID to buy 12 games?  Those games aren't even as harsh as the 16 games.  Also, how about if instead of the government getting involved, the parents and stores make their own rules without restricting 12 games to minors.

Just the other day I was in the express lane at my grocery store when some guy walks in with a full cart of goods. The cashier turned him away because he had way too many items. He should have noticed the 3 large signs clearly stating this was the express lane with an 8 item limit. Does he apologize and move to the next free cashier 5 ft. away? No, he'd rather complain about how the store did a poor job making it clear this was the express lane. He was inconvenienced, so it's THEIR fault, not his.

This is why rating systems are a waste of time and money. There will always be some mom or dad who can't be bothered to actually seek out the symbols and learn what they mean and then point fingers when they realize their mistake.

Good to see, hopefully this means the press can stop using Games as a scapegoat for kids doing stupid stuff. The ratings are there for a reason and if they're ignored then the games shouldn't be the ones taking the brunt of the complaints. That belongs to the parents who let their kids play things they shouldn't be.