Yesterday at work a young girl came up to the counter with her father. She handed me a game, BMX XXX. It's a BMX biking game, but crude, rude, and outright crass. As you beat levels you unlock video footage of strippers.
I looked at her. She was maybe seven. Maybe. I looked at her father. “Who is this for?” I asked.
He indicated her with a quick nod of his head.
“Sir,” I said, “this is a Mature-rated game, and this is the reason why according to the ESRB.” I flipped over the case, and indicated the content discriptor on the game rating on the back. Comic mischief. Nudity. Strong language. Strong sexual content.
He read over the the game rating. “It's fine,” he said.
“Sir,” I said, “the game has strippers.” Not sure what I'd said had sunk in, I repeated myself. “Strippers, sir.”
“She plays anything.”
I nodded grimly, and rang up the game. Perhaps I could have done more, made a better argument to dissuade him from purchasing a game that outright wasn't appropriate for a seven year-old girl.