Have you ever bought a game that was adult rated for your kids? It might be ignorant on your part if you did, but it would not worry you since it is just another video game.  However, if you live in New Zealand and Bill Hasting have his way then this will put you in a lot of trouble with the law officials.

New Zealand government chief censor Bill Hastings wants to prosecute these parents that buy adult rated games to their children. Hastings has this to say:

“They might think the offence is silly, but it ain’t… That’s what the law says, but… you’re not going to have police officers in every bedroom… There would certainly be some shock value to prosecuting a parent who gives their under-18 child access to a restricted game. It would send out a message that the enforcement agency means business.”

Hasting also makes a point on digital divide between parents and their kids.

“I think the word ‘game’ can mislead people for sure. It’s not checkers. For the first time in history, kids are more savvy with technology than parents… parents need to get up to speed on the digital divide. They need to look at what their kids are playing and doing…”

In my opinion, I doubt this will work here in the States since you are wasting tax dollars to prosecute these parents. If you do this to video-games, then you have to do this to movies, music, and other entertainments out there. Sooner or later parents ain’t going to buy nothing for their kids since they are all scared of getting fined or arrested . Then the kids will resort to stealing the games, movies, music, etc.

I guess the only options for parents is not to buy adult rated games and deal with their kids crying and whining or buy the game and do some jail time. (I’ll pick the latter) Your kids might be playing Grand Theft Auto, but you will be living in it.