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  • Re: A short rant (in the form of a letter to Valve)

    From JAB@[email protected] to comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action on Fri Sep 25 10:06:20 2026
    From Newsgroup: comp.sys.ibm.pc.games.action

    On 14/09/2026 16:39, Spalls Hurgenson wrote:
    My initial comment was, of course, tongue-in-cheek.

    Still, they really don't know that the person they age-check is
    showing THEIR own ID either. Little Billy might just be swiping Mom's
    ID and Valve wouldn't know.

    While I certainly agree that there should be some options for keeping
    certain types of games (and media) out of the hands of youngsters, all
    these age-checks are just parent's outsourcing their parental duties
    to corporations. The corpos are thrilled at the idea, of course, since
    it gives them more data and control, but it won't actually solve the
    problem. Little Billy is still going to be playing GTA6 unless Mom and
    Dad themselves put a stop to it themselves.

    I agree with parents do have a responsibility to 'monitor' what their
    children are playing but the publishers also have a responsibility to
    give them both the tools and information to do that.

    So to go back to World of Tanks. Their age verification is when you
    install it there is a tick box to say whether you're 18+ or not. Yep
    that's going to work. Even if a parent realised they had installed the
    game would they even know that it contained lootboxes or indeed what
    lootboxes are and there relationship with gambling?
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