Video Games without the Law

Another dose of egg salad all over the governments face. I wonder what Keith Vaz is doing right now? It seems while the faux practice of selling rated games, might have worked to calm the nerves of the non game playing doom mongers, there was no need for it in the first place.

I remember very well, the day the government first decided upon ratings for video games. I was still in my teens and getting into games as a hobby. From what I recall, it was really that fear, that as visuals improved, they children would be corrupted. This has yet to really be proven conclusive and absolute. At the same time, I would not want to push RE5 in front 5-10 year olds to play.

Fast forward to the present. Society hasn't fallen, or rather its tripped over itself quite well on its own, without the influence of games, and what possible examples many give as such are blown way out of proportion, that they aren't valid (Mass Effect, GTA Hot Coffee, etc). Perhaps my view might be slightly biased in that I play and enjoy games. I do agree with game ratings after all this long term exposure to them, though, as they stop such moaning politicians from bitching, until they find something else negative about them, that is.

But there's a valid point many have missed. This non law, while it works with real retail outlets, is it actually effective in a 21st century internet connected world? It's kind of like, how porn magazine are on a top shelf, but you can easily find porn a plenty for free on the net. Games can be purchased from Ebay etc, and bypass age restrictions local shops impose, and all it takes is a Paypal account and bank account.

The masses will ignore this rating news and buy within their habits still, IMO.