Hehe, the funniest thing I can remember recently was an 8 year old kid playing Left 4 Dead (M rated) online. He said it was his favorite game!

This Thompson guy really isn't going to quit. It's not like keeping minors from buying the games will keep the games out of their hands; I was playing HaloCE at age 7( [those of you who don't no halo that well probably won't get it]).

You know what all this moral crusading reminds me of? Kyle's Mom from South Park. She gets into a moral outrage about something and rather than doing the most rational thing, talking to Kyle about it, she goes on some massive quest to vanquish the "evil" company, industry ect... that caused the outrage in the first place. Meanwhile Kyle and his friends and just looking at all this going on and saying WTF. So in conclusion WTF.

I wish I could remember enough about an old Bill Maher rant about afternoon talks shows and 'security moms' to find a YouTube clip. It was something about our national delusion that we could somehow make everything safe. I'm old enough to remember when pools at apartment complexes had diving boards...

Benjamin Franklin had much to say on the issue... There are various quotes from him such as

He who is willing to trade freedom for safety deserves neither.

I guess some people realize that the kids can't just walk in and buy the game...

Whenever there's an M rated game I want, I give my mom the money for it and I don't even have to go with her. Most stores require an ID to buy a game.

Lucky you.  I'm 17, and my mom still won't let me get M rated games.  My dad is on my side and says they should decide whether or not I can get a game based on whyit's rated M (so, I could get a violent game, but not a real sexy game), but my mom can't seem to see anything but the big "M"

Very good reference. And an awesome song came out of all that.

[sarcasm]Well, you have to remember that next year you get the magical brain/personality upgrade that instantly and fully moves you from the "can't handle this" to the "can handle this" part of humanity. Also, it is important to know that every person and every game is identical to all others, in all respects.[/sarcasm]

Yeah, arbitrary age limits are arbitrary.

Fortunately my parents were more of the opinion that both people and games should be judged by their indivual maturity/merits. (Then again, at the time I was mostly interested in turn-based strategy games, so I doubt they felt a great need for concern. )

Just tell her the M stands for Mature. Then ask her flat out if she thinks you are mature.

But then he gets the answer he doesn't want to hear!

I'm a big fan of the voluntary rating systems.  I like knowing what I'm getting.  I don't want to sit down to my new video game/movie, start it up, and find hardcore porn five minutes in.  It's not that I give a shit what's in it, it's that freaking someone else out as they walk past my computer isn't on my list of things to do.  If I know it's in there, I'll know to play through when no one that doesn't share my ambivalence is around, or skip the purchase.  If I get surprised by something wholly inappropriate for public disclosure as some eight year old second cousin walks past, I have a serious problem.

Unfortunately, the ratings police end their usefulness there.  Now if they could just stop reaming themselves and help keep government out of the way, instead of trying to cause interference only where they want it at that particular time...

General, what about Singapore?  Go look at the bottom of your toaster, hair dryer, bleach container, pretzel bag...

To protect themselves from lawsuits, companies are legally required to warn you that putting your hand on a hot stove will burn you, that sticking a fork in an electrical outlet is a bad idea, taking your tv in the bathtub with you...

Even a nanny would never obsess over safety so as to warn someone not to iron their clothes while they were wearing them, but you can sue a company that doesn't.  You do have to iron yourself first though, so I wouldn't recommend it if yours is lacking that particular warning.

I was simply trying to give an example of a nanny state. But let's get back on topic.

I am shocked that anyone  listens to that crackpot.

"Anyone' includes total idiots and people who are easily led.

Ugh... Let's bash Ol' Jack... There's very minimal discussion here about this bill. For those that want to get caught up:

http://www.joystiq.com/2009/03/09/thompson-responds-to-esrb-letter-on-utah-legislation/

http://kotaku.com/5185169/utah-governor-smacks-down-thompson-bill

Basically, it's all about a law to ensure that retailers are not selling games to the wrong people. It's probably one of the few things that I can agree with on this subject. Of course, Jack isn't really responsible for this, he's just behind it. The bill was moving along pretty well and got shot down. It's not totally ridiculous, it basically says that retailers should be fined for selling the game to someone under age of the rating.

However, I do think that the ESRB rating system needs some adjusting (more ratings).