So I was in Best Buy a couple weeks ago to buy Call of Duty 4 because one of my friends said it was really good. If my friends say that a game is good, I’ll ask a couple follow up questions and if those answers appease me, I’ll usually go pick up the game.

Friend: “Mass Effect is awesome.”
Me: “In what ways?”
Friend: “I’m playing it my 3rd time through.”
/me goes to pick up the game.

Was Mass Effect fun? Eh. I didn’t like the combat system, there’s a glitch in the game that will get you all the money that you really want, but it was passable. My game of 2007 is still Bioshock. I had a lot of fun playing the game and it really did scare the crap out of me during certain levels. Every Extend Extreme is a lot of fun too, even though I only have the trial version of the game. I really should pony up the 800 points to unlock it.

Anyways, diverging from my original point, I picked up COD4 at Best Buy when it went on sale for 40 bucks. When I get to the register with my purchase, I was posed a question.

Cashier: “You do realize this is a Rated M For Mature Game right? Are you 18?”
Me: “Um yes.”
Cashier: “You’re not buying it for anyone under 18 are you?”
Me: “Nope. It’s for me. But thank you for asking and checking.”

Through all the time I’ve been buying games, this is the first time a Cashier has even bothered asking or posing that question. And guess what?

I was happy.

That’s right. I was happy that a Cashier asked me that question. It’s an important question to ask and something that needs to be brought up. I am not going to be one of those irresponsible parents that lets my kid just play anything. I actually will use the game rating system. If I want my kid to play something that might be challenging for them, I will introduce them to chess and collectible card games or logic puzzles.

Remember, you have the responsibility to control what you child can watch and play at home.