Hey gaming industry, stop adding age verification checks to internet videos. It's dumb.
Have you ever read a blog post or gaming preview article that claims to have some awesome gameplay footage for a hot new action game? Of course you have. And more often than not, as soon as you click to play the video, you are immediately interrupted with a stupid ass "age verification" check. They usually ask you to fill out what date you were born, just to make sure that you have the intelligence deep enough to handle putting in January 1st, 1904, which is what I'm sure 99% of us do.
What the fuck is the point of these checks? Does anybody really think that they keep 14-year-olds (who, ironically, are the ones being marketed to in the first place) from seeing any violence or sex? What committee of morons decided that this is how the viewing of VIDEO GAME footage on the internet had to be like?
Whoever decided that this was an effective method to prohibit underage users from seeing fantasy violence in a tiny browser window is a fucking moron.
Please stop doing this bullshit. Or at least make it a button: Over 18? YES or NO. Both buttons should then start playing the video, because who the fuck cares?? It's a fucking video game, you idiots. At a minimum, be honest with your age verification check: "Will you sue us for seeing fake blood and/or virtual titties? YES or NO."
Assholes.
Comments
Jordan Lund said on 10.05.2009 at 4:13 PM
Unfortunately it's required by the Entertainment Software Ratings Board. Any advertisement for a mature rated game has to be behind an age gate.
revcabe said on 10.05.2009 at 4:18 PM
Its pretty sad too, its a requirement and I actually used to fill the whole thing out. Now I Just select a random year over 1980 and I'm good.
Oh now, I just told everyone how to defeat the age check, I must now be sued into oblivion ;P
Sean said on 10.05.2009 at 4:53 PM
This shit drives me insane too but it's just for legal purposes. e.g. you can't sue them for your child viewing the video if the child LIED to you about their age.
At the very fucking least, I wish they'd at least save a cookie for how old you are so you only had to see it once a week or once a month or something. THen I wouldn't care that much. But you literally have to do it for every video and it's so annoying.
smakus said on 10.05.2009 at 5:13 PM
Very good point Sean... why can't they save our data after the first time? It's not like they aren't already tracking us via cookies anyway!
Pete said on 10.05.2009 at 5:43 PM
Cookies are for children though smakus, so maybe they are aiming for underage children :O
Jonathan Biddle said on 10.05.2009 at 7:19 PM
I'm not sure what the specifics of ESRB's regulations are, but I think the UX could at least be improved if the form went Year -> Month -> Day, with the verification being satisfied as soon as an age of 18+ is garunteed.
For example, if I were select the year "1980" in the form, it would would be verified at that moment because it's impossible for me to be born in 1980 and NOT be 18+.
For today (2009-10-06):
A year of 1991 would prompt for the month, and if October were entered as the month, it would prompt for the day, of which only 1-6 would grant access to the video.
no said on 10.05.2009 at 7:33 PM
You ever consider that maybe the age checks are to protect the company developing the game from lawsuits?
Philip Dhingra said on 10.05.2009 at 8:24 PM
"You ever consider that maybe the age checks are to protect the company developing the game from lawsuits?"
You ever consider that maybe the age checks are to keep the lawyers employed?
james said on 10.05.2009 at 11:45 PM
I think a better way to do it would be to have the first page say "are you over 18, yes or no"
Less painful then dropboxes
trgz said on 10.06.2009 at 12:46 AM
Has anyone under 18 ever told the truth on one of these?
An 'are you 18' like the BBC iPlayer check would be far simpler for all.
danjp said on 10.06.2009 at 5:36 AM
I've developed many sites for games and had to put these age gates in. I can tell you that I hate them as much as the next guy, but it is a ratings requirement
Everyone is fail said on 10.06.2009 at 6:25 AM
In the United States you must be at least 18 years old to entire into a legally binding agreement.
So if my 12 year old kid brother says he's 18 for one of these things, while I agree it's on the parent for not monitoring it shouldn't save the website from anything based on his age.
Praz-el said on 10.06.2009 at 8:05 PM
This shit pisses me off so bad, the ESRB is full of a bunch of idiots, dumbing my potentialy amazing future games down.
Hiroe said on 10.06.2009 at 8:23 PM
@trgz
yes, once