[...]LMNOpc » Blog Archive » PSA: When Signing Up for Xbox Live, Lie About Your Kid’s Age[...]…

The fact you can’t by booze or smokes below a certain age doesn’t mean that a place selling either of those products can take the money an under aged person produces and then hand them an empty package stating their under age and can not legally use the products.

How hard would it be for Microsoft to do an age check before finalizing the transaction? If the account is held by someone under age then they get a pop-up stating they can’t purchase the game. Problem solved.

In fact, I just created a new Xbox Live account tonight and I seem to recall the screen where I entered the date of birth saying that that information wasn’t shared … which might be incorrect because it certainly appears that while that information isn’t publicly shared as part of the Xbox Live profile, it certainly appears that it’s being shared with EA when prompting the user to accept their TOS.

And honestly, how strictly is that sort of age gate honestly applied? What I’ve grown used to is a field on a web page that I can enter whatever I have to to get through the page. I’ve told Valve my birthday is 1/1/1900 more times than I can count. Even if I had read that text, I wouldn’t have expected being completely locked out of the game.

Thanks again for your thoughts.

I hold both parties at fault here – EA for not making it clear that <13 *cannot* play the game, and Microsoft because they are the shop-front that sold it. Quincy asks if you would complain to GameStop if you bought a game there and found that EA wouldn't let you play it – well, frankly yes I would – my sales contract is with GameStop and I would have relied on them to ensure that games sold by them had any restrictions made plainly visible. When I bought Half Life 2 many many moons ago, the guy in "Game" went to great lengths to make sure I was aware it wouldn't play without an active internet connection, for example, and that's what I see as the *right* approach here.

In my view, Microsoft should have reviewed the entry on the shop, found that it actually doesn't make it clear that <13 years old will be refused the ability to play the game, refunded the amount (can't expect them to change EA's policy and I can understand why they wouldn't have any processes that permit the age of an account holder to be changed – though that said, what if you got it wrong in the first place and simply called them and said "it says i'm under 13, but i'm 31, I must have typed it in wrong, sorry…) – but then Microsoft should have undergone an internal review to ensure that any games with *actual* limits (as opposed to guidelines) should be flagged as such.

As you say, the markings shown on the game would be seen by the average person as the normal guidance and in my view it is always completely up to the parent if they feel they want to go against those guidelines. Perhaps EA should be making it so that it is possible to ring them up and authorise a childs account some how, or by having it linked with another XBL account that *is* older than the minimum age and have that account grant permission.

Either way, it's obviously wrong at the moment.

Jack – why buy a game like that for a 9 year old? Well gee, let's make sure they don't watch the news or road-runner etc. Sometimes being a parent means actually educating your children, making decisions about whether you feel your child is actually capable of understanding what they're seeing and doing in the right context – ok some parents don't care and would just authorise or just say no so they don't have to be bothered by it, but are we trying to be a nanny state here were we aim for the lowest common denominator in all things? I take an active roll in my kids upbringing, right now I don't even let my kids watch me play certain games, but I already know that my son (7) is very much aware of the difference based on conversations we've had and comments he's made (and indeed other games he plays – i.e. he'll happily crash trains in a train simulator but when he gets on his model railway he treats it like gold), and when he's a bit older I am sure he'll be able to play responsibly, if he so wishes. You're not a bad parent because you say yes, you're a bad parent if you say yes without properly considering it and then keeping a close eye on things – i.e. *being a parent* – not just one of those biologically related babysitters that some parents end up being.

Thom, interested to hear how you get on.

go QQ somewhere else