Kudos to Game Stop.

Maybe it was just the store I happened to be at but I was pleasently surprised by the employees at Game Stop today.

I was visiting one of the Game Stop stores in Minot, ND today to purchase my copy of GTA-IV. When I asked for the game the store clerk looked at me (I'm 37 btw) and asked me if I was aware of the extremely mature content of the game and asked me to look at the back panel prior to purchase. I then responded, "I've been playing the GTA series from day one, I'm well aware of how graphic the game can be".

He replied, "Are any children going to be playing or have access to this game?"

Note: he had already given the game to me and was ringing up the purchase. He wasn't going to deny my pruchase once I asked for it.

I said, "No, only I play these games and I don't play them when my kids are in the room."

The employee smiled and told me that he felt a lot more comfortable selling the game to older gamers. He said that he hated it when a parent came in and just blindly purchased a game for their kid without fully comprehending what the material was that they were purhasing.

This guy was in his early 20's.

I have to say that I was pleasently surprised. I'm glad that at least the clerks at this store were being responsible enough to at least attempt to educate and possibly prevent the purchase of a game for other than it's intended audience.

I don't like censorship but I don't see an industry's attempt at self-regulation as censorship. The rating systems exists as it does to protect the industry from needless regulation and meddling by a government wh would pass stringent requirements on arbitrary grounds without regards to art.

It's not the rating system that is fucking up the gaming industry. What's fucking it up are ignorant parents who are buying mature rated games for their kids who have no business playing some of them. These same parents are the same ones who get pissed once they realize what the games content is. Instead of slamming their own heads against some hardened object they rave against the industry for making something other than fucking pong.

I don't mind mature games. I find it disturbing that there is defacto censorship from distributors who don't want to produce adult rated games just because they know Walmart or Best Buy won't carry them.

Anyway, kudos to Game Stop. I will continue to frequent their stores with renewed confidence.