# Gamestop ID checking (very mild) **URL:** \ **Category:** The Game Room\ **Created:** [December 17, 2009, 10:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676 "2009-12-17T22:13:05Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 6\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Shot\_From\_Guns](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/ccd318/32.png) [@Shot\_From\_Guns](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Shot_From_Guns)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 3:20pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676/21 "2009-12-18T15:20:58Z")
> [@Lynn\_Bodoni](#): > > My baby brother had a very full beard by the time he was 15 or 16, shaved every day, and had to shave again in the evening if he didn’t want to look like our cousin Vinnie. You actually have a cousin Vinnie? That’s awesome. > [@](#): > > On the other hand, I know that some guys NEVER get a really full beard, even well into their 20s and beyond. My younger brother (23, almost to his Master’s, and married) inherited our dad’s scraggly facial hair. It’s sparse, at best, so neither of them ever even tries to grow so much at a goatee. > [@Mindfield](#): > > I saw a 12 year old kind trying to buy GTA4 at another gaming store that asked either for ID or to go get his parents to agree to buy it, which I think is good. They’d let the parents know what the game contains and let them decide if their kid can handle it, which is cool. [It’s rated M for Monkeys!](http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2001/5/16/) > [@](#): > > Not that I think video games make killers, but I do think there’s certain content in many of these games kids shouldn’t be exposed to. Bioshock, not so much, Have you played _Bioshock_? It’s a great game, but it’s actually pretty violent–even just the ambient corpses. (Not to mention scary–you spend so much time skulking around, listening to shrieking voices of insanity and the moans and thumps of Big Daddies, waiting for things to jump out and attack you… It’s not unusual for me to start freaking out at the sound of my own footsteps.) ---
**Author:** ![Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/e8c25b/32.png) [@Really\_Not\_All\_That\_Bright](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Really_Not_All_That_Bright)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 4:44pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676/22 "2009-12-18T16:44:18Z")
Somebody made you take an extra six seconds to flash your driver’s license? You’ll forgive me if I don’t shed more than a couple of tears, I’m sure. Plus, your bar makes you swear in? What the hell are _they_ serving? _listens to earpiece_ Oh, _the_ bar. Congratulations! ---
**Author:** ![Lynn\_Bodoni](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/e47c2d/32.png) [@Lynn\_Bodoni](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Lynn_Bodoni)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 4:48pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676/23 "2009-12-18T16:48:11Z")
> [@Shot\_From\_Guns](#): > > You actually have a cousin Vinnie? That’s awesome. I probably DO have a cousin named Vinnie. I used to also have a screen name, Cousin Vinnie, here at the SDMB, as a joke. This was before people abused having more than one name. I also used to refer to Cousin Vinnie a lot. The thing is, my grandfather and a couple of my older uncles were low-level Mafia members…Grandpa had a rum-running operation during the Prohibition, when making booze runs was far more profitable than being a commercial fisherman. So references to my Cousin Vinnie are mostly just old, stale jokes about my heritage. And sometimes a bit of a threat. 😉 I actually do have an aunt named Vincenza, who is usually called Vinnie. And a (deceased) Uncle Salvy, whose name was Salvatore. ---
**Author:** ![muldoonthief](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/muldoonthief/32/3188_2.png) [@muldoonthief](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/muldoonthief)\ **Post date:** [December 18, 2009, 5:16pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676/24 "2009-12-18T17:16:26Z")
**Mr. Excellent** you’re missing the point completely. You were buying Bioshock. Sure, you look 26, but it’s just possible you’re only 4. So would you kindly just open this package during your flight to Europe. ---
**Author:** ![1GothMama](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/1/90ced4/32.png) [@1GothMama](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/1GothMama)\ **Post date:** [December 19, 2009, 4:39am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676/25 "2009-12-19T04:39:52Z")
My husband and I are gamers. Neither of us has ever been carded for an M game. He buys most of his online and I swear I give off this “mom” vibe that soothes the teenage-to-early-twenties cashiers. As for why they do it, there has been major crackdowns on selling M games to minors. No laws have been passed, based on First Amendment Rights, but the FTC does secret shopper stings often. A store could get into serious trouble for not checking. Fines, bad press, angry parents suing. Not to mention that the cashier would get fired and his/her manager might get into trouble with corporate. So yeah, they aren’t just being hardasses when they ask. Also, I know **Obsidian** and her husband off board. He does give off a cop vibe, but mostly he’s just baby faced with eyelashes a mile long. I’d card him, too. ---
**Author:** ![Robin\_Goodfellow](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/b9e5f3/32.png) [@Robin\_Goodfellow](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Robin_Goodfellow)\ **Post date:** [December 20, 2009, 6:44am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676/26 "2009-12-20T06:44:58Z")
> [@Mr.Excellent](#): > > But videogames aren’t tobacco, or alcohol - they aren’t regulated, and **you won’t face fines if you accidentally sell to a minor**. I donno if anyone’s pointed it out yet, but this is false. Granted, the ESRB is basically an industry-mandated ratings system and all the fines it levies for showing M-rated gameplay or selling M-rated games to minors are technically voluntary, but pretty much every retailer sticks to them. Places that don’t train (like Wal-Mart) are consistently rated the worst at actually checking little Billy’s ID when he comes in for Grand Theft Auto, whereas Gamestop is usually rated the best, cuz they’ve got nothing better to do and they advertise everywhere that they adhere to ESRB ratings. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/gamestop-id-checking-very-mild/521676.md?page=1)