http://www.computerandvideogames.com/39 ... r-age-boy/



Not as bad as it sounds, but still something they'll have to consider. Mind you, they'd love to know your DOB, so...

Not really a big deal is it? If the age of consent is 16, then so should all the other laws be.

Is he entering his DOB with the website? And is he entering it correctly?

The guy said his debit card stores his DOB. I call b*ll*cks on that fact.

If he's entering a false DOB (which we're not told) then of course he's getting away with it.

I agree about it not being a big deal. The sale of such games is overly regulated. I do think it should be down to parental controls. In order to keep kids out then they would make it very difficult for adults as well.

The ratings etc were a sop to dickhead parents and an even worse mainstream media, but I agree, parents should be deciding either way. Oh, and if your kid is displaying mental health issues ffs get them help...

Would you consider amnesia as a mental health issue?

Look, if you're planning a killing spree ffs leave X404 out of it

"Enter you fake date of birth here: _"

He was 16, and therefore not a minor. As far as I know, banks don't issue debit cards to minors. Or do they now?

Also, since a 16 year old is an adult, they're surely responsible for their own actions.

If ownership of a valid card isn't proof enough that you're an adult, what exactly are sites supposed to do? You can't demand photo ID because not everyone has it, and how would you check it was real anyway? You could restrict it to credit card only which some porn sites do, but again that creates a problem when not every customer has one - especially in other parts of Europe as BigD is always saying.

The closest I am to a killing spree is wiping out the Aztecs in Civ 5.

I thought you had to be 18 to be classed as an adult.

IIRC some banks will now issue 'limited' debit cards to youngsters with accounts. The cards work exactly the same but have set transaction and spending limits and the accounts don't have overdrafts (and won't allow unauthorised spending over the balance in any case).

They're a not unreasonable thing for a teenager to have IMO - the error is in assuming debit cards have the same security validation implications as credit cards. They don't and they never have.

I got my first debit card at 16. I remember when I was 19, trying to buy some booze in tesco and the woman wouldn't accept that the fact that I was intending to pay by credit card as proof that I was 18. I remember telling her that you had to be eighteen to get a credit card, she wasn't having any of it.

The whole exchange made me feel like a precocious little [LIFTED], but I was right. If a credit card is not enough to prove you're over eighteen, then surely it shouldn't be accepted as payment for anything without a passport as if you have the right to use it you have to be over eighteen.

The debit card chip could store such information. But I didn't see him put his debit card into a card reader attached to the PC in order to complete the transaction. How is the online shop supposed to read the information on the debit card, via telepathy?

This is a storm in a tea cup. How many 12 year olds already play 18 certificate games already? I would imagine that the numbers are immense. Parents buy these for their kids anyway. The warnings should be advisory not mandatory.

EA and others via 'sources' have already admitted the early teens and younger are playing their 18 rated games. I'd like it to be mandatorily enforced for two reasons

1. It'll help with the 'won't anyone think of the children?' morons.

2. Younger muppets on CoD would be less likely. You could stick the boot into some of those kids from now to Xmas.