Alright so I just bought my Xbox 360 and I am downloading games before I rent or buy them. I put in my age on the **** setup so it made me make an adult thing....blah blah blah. I am 16 years old and now when i go to the marketplace and try to download a mature game it will not let me. I have went through all the family settings on the console and it still pops up on the right side of the screen "This account does not have access to this rating". It is really frusterating because I play mature just like everyone else.
Mature Content Download
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Silverlord
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Nice to see Microsoft doing something right..ahh to be over 18 
atomic tofu
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so you wouldn't think those people who don't sell alcohol and cigarettes aren't doing the right thing either? nice
maybe you'll see what's what when you grow up
just because you buy things, doesn't mean there shouldn't be any rules associated with it
maybe you'll see what's what when you grow up
just because you buy things, doesn't mean there shouldn't be any rules associated with it
that is true but mature content isn't going to hurt anything if you have parents permission. Cigarettes and alcohol can actually hurt people wile mature games won't hurt anything and if a child's parent is OK with their kid playing mature (along with the kid of coarse) content there is nothing wrong with it.
CalcProgrammer1
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Video games = 1's and 0's. Harmless 1's and 0's provided for ENTERTAINMENT PURPOSES. Super Mario Bros and GTA4 are the same, just pixels on a screen. In theory, Super Mario Bros is actually more dangerous because the only physical object associated with it (NES cartridge) could hurt more than a CD (though you could break the CD in half and make razor sharp edge to cut people with, so...). Other than that, it's simply information. Those who can distinguish reality from fiction will know that games aren't real.
However, cigarettes and alcohol (and drugs, guns, weapons, knives, strong chemicals, etc) are real. They can do real damage to real people. It is much easier to hurt yourself or someone else with these than games, so yes, they have a reason to be restricted.
I'm 18 and I still disapprove of that stupid law. I disapprove of all the stupid politicians and clueless parents who put down games that they've never even played, on systems they probably couldn't even figure out how to turn on or set up. I doubt any of those stupid parents and politicians who continually protest GTA4 have ever even played it, let alone set their hands on an Xbox 360 or even a game controller. They don't get the fact that it is A GAME, they apply their real-world thinking to something that ISN'T REAL and mess up logic and common sense because they are so overly concerned that they take out their anger on something unrelated. I have a friend who is 2 years younger than me and he has been playing M rated games for years now. As long as you distinguish game from reality there's no problem in playing them.
However, cigarettes and alcohol (and drugs, guns, weapons, knives, strong chemicals, etc) are real. They can do real damage to real people. It is much easier to hurt yourself or someone else with these than games, so yes, they have a reason to be restricted.
I'm 18 and I still disapprove of that stupid law. I disapprove of all the stupid politicians and clueless parents who put down games that they've never even played, on systems they probably couldn't even figure out how to turn on or set up. I doubt any of those stupid parents and politicians who continually protest GTA4 have ever even played it, let alone set their hands on an Xbox 360 or even a game controller. They don't get the fact that it is A GAME, they apply their real-world thinking to something that ISN'T REAL and mess up logic and common sense because they are so overly concerned that they take out their anger on something unrelated. I have a friend who is 2 years younger than me and he has been playing M rated games for years now. As long as you distinguish game from reality there's no problem in playing them.
No but you agreed to their TOS which states that a M game can only be used by 18+ when it is rated by the ESRB. So techincally they do have the right. Since you agreed to their terms of service. They have every right to not allow you to download the content.
Like it or not the ESRB serves a good purpose. Kids under 18 should not play GTA games. Even if you call them pixels or not. The stuff they portrait can be taken well beyond a gaming level if kids do not understand the difference between game and real life. How many news articles were out and about of kids who got GTA only to go out and do those things for real?
Till kids can distinguish the difference i say good on the ESRB for trying to make a difference. The ratings are there for a reason. To be followed. Not to be worked around.
But the point is you agreed to the TOS of XBOX Live and therefor they have every right to say what you can and can not download. Dont like it. Dont agree to the TOS. Of course you cant use the service then but at least you can get the stuff you want.
Cheers,
Mak
Technically M rated games are 17+ .
I disagree partially with you, Mak. It's up to the parents entirely, not just the ESRB. The ESRB just sets up guidelines for games. I remember playing Mortal Kombat on my Genesis, with my mom/dad in teh same room watching me, when I was 6. I played GTA when I was around 10 for the first time. Am I going around killing people? No, because my parents knew I was able to handle it at that young of an age. And as kids get older, they SHOULD be able to distinguish between reality and fiction. Why are restrictions set up on movies/games/music, when authors are free to put whatever they wish in books? Both my middle school/high school libraris have/had Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and the like, books. Have any of you read their books? There's killing, rape, drug use, and sexual reference ALL OVER in those books. And yet they're in the schools. So its ok if we imagine it, but not if we actually see it on the big screens, or hear it in music, or play a fake video game about it? That makes total sense... Don't get me wrong, the ESRB is trying to do good, they're guiding parents as to what their kids should/shouldn't be exposed to, but in the end, its entirely up to the parents to decide whats right for their kids.
. I disagree partially with you, Mak. It's up to the parents entirely, not just the ESRB. The ESRB just sets up guidelines for games. I remember playing Mortal Kombat on my Genesis, with my mom/dad in teh same room watching me, when I was 6. I played GTA when I was around 10 for the first time. Am I going around killing people? No, because my parents knew I was able to handle it at that young of an age. And as kids get older, they SHOULD be able to distinguish between reality and fiction. Why are restrictions set up on movies/games/music, when authors are free to put whatever they wish in books? Both my middle school/high school libraris have/had Stephen King, Dean Koontz, and the like, books. Have any of you read their books? There's killing, rape, drug use, and sexual reference ALL OVER in those books. And yet they're in the schools. So its ok if we imagine it, but not if we actually see it on the big screens, or hear it in music, or play a fake video game about it? That makes total sense
... Don't get me wrong, the ESRB is trying to do good, they're guiding parents as to what their kids should/shouldn't be exposed to, but in the end, its entirely up to the parents to decide whats right for their kids.CalcProgrammer1
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I do agree that games like GTA4 and other games with strong references or violence should be allowed only to those who understand the difference, but the government's concept of those people is way underestimated. If 16 year olds are intelligent enough to be in high school, reading books about violence, emotions, killing, etc and reporting on what they read, they most certainly should know the difference between a game and reality. Before 16 I had seem many violent movies and had to write papers on controversial topics IN SCHOOL, FOR A GRADE. If the government thinks it's OK to FORCE high school kids to take in this violence and "mature content" through books and films shown in class, why do they feel the need to restrict its out of school access? Consider the Holocaust, it was a horrible event that killed millions of innocent people, wasted all of those lives for no real reason. However, as early as 7th or 8th grade you are exposed to it and shown violent pictures of it. Senior year (as in, just a few months ago) we watched Schindler's List, a movie about the Holocaust filled with graphic violent shootings, gore, blood, guns, all kinds of horrors that are "too mature for you school kids" and banned from games. Also, the people in the movies are real, even if they're actors, they're real people. They look real, act realistically, etc. The characters in games look like models in a virtual world. Maybe come the Xbox 1080 or the PS5 or whatever we'll have photo-realistic graphics, but as of now we don't, being all the more distinguishable from real life. The main difference is the control portion, where watching a movie you're just an observer while in a game you participate, but either way, you're still exposed to it and it can still affect you. So, to the government/ESRB/censorship board, I ask, if violence is so bad that we must restrict its use in video games to only people over 17, why do you insist that we teach the horrors of history (which include a lot of violence by the way) to our innocent, "unintelligent", "irresponsible" children?
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