The Sun has reported that four year-old Riley Brown of West Sussex found a little something extra in the used copy of Fight Night Round 4 his father bought from him from a local Blockbuster Video: A tiny bag of cannibis tucked behind the instruction manual. Has outrage ensued?
That was a rhetorical question.
What's so funny to me about this story is the reaction of the father when the boy brought him the baggie: "I checked and realised. I was horrified and took it off him straight away. But what if he'd thought it was sweets, and started munching away? It doesn't bear thinking about," said the boy's dad.
Really? Okay, I might not know a ton about kids, but I do know something about the smell of marijuana. I think the odds of a child putting that in their mouth thinking it was a tasty snack are pretty low. I'd be more concerned about encouraging a child that age to mercilessly pummel someone with their fists, but I'm not a boxing fan.
That said, I'd just like to express how deeply, deeply disappointed I am in the employees at that Blockbuster Video. There's absolutely no excuse for that product to have made it's way out to the sales floor with the marijuana still in the box. Where I come from, that stuff would have disappeared instantly, right into the pocket of a cheerful staffer.
Boy of 4 in Xbox game drugs find [The Sun]
Conrad Zimmerman is Destructoid's News Editor and home to the busiest mustache in the gaming press. An amateur historian and pop culture fanatic, Conrad possesses a nearly limitless wealth of videogame factoids and a passion for the power of games to teach, inspire and entertain. He enjoys reading, writing and turning things which should be fun into work.
Likes
Mega Man 2, Arcade Games, Books about games, Board games, Having cultural interests that aren't games
Meet the rest of the team
| BBcode help |
| [b]Bold text[/b] |
Bold text |
| [i]Italic text[/i] |
Italic text |
| [url]http://www.dtoid.com/[/url] |
http://www.dtoid.com |
| [url=http://www.dtoid.com/]Web link[/url] |
Web link |
|
| [img]http://www.example.com/robot.jpg[/img] |
 |
Post a comment! You can also post a photo below:
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
66 comments | showing # 1 to 50
|
Comment with Facebook
Click connect and comment instantly!
|
Comment with Dtoid
New? SIGN UP - it takes 5 seconds
|
Comments policy
Destructoid is an open discussion community. You don't need to "audition" to post a comment - just speak your mind. We respect differing opinions on the site, so have at it. Be smart, funny, insightful, clueless, or cute -- but back it up with substance. Keep your cool, keep it fun. We only ask that you act respectfully and above all: don't be a troll and ruin it for everyone else. Don't bring down gamers or we'll, you know, gently shoot you in the face and stuff you into a flaming mailbox. Each comment is your opportuntity to make this community awesomer. Is that even a word?
Avoiding the banhammer only requires common sense: spamming, trolling, racism, NSFW stuff, and other forms of sucking will not be tolerated. If anyone is griefing please report abuse. Be good. Don't suck!
Contest:
6:00 AM on 04.16.2010 | 
Although if this father thinks his son is likely to mistake marijuana for sweets, maybe the whole family's a bit thick/entirely made up.
It's like that story about Germany wanting to ban Kinder Surprise because kids might eats the toys. I know kid's are stupid, but COME ON.
Also, rated: T for TEEN is obviously a game suitable for a 4 year old. This parent should be facing legal charges, such as those he would face if he bought that kid a pack of cigarettes, a beer or watched porn with him - In my eye's this is tantamount to mild child abuse.
Age ratings should be fucking legally enforcable. Not optional based on parents decisions. Parents buying age rated games for their underage kids should be charged with child abuse and fined. It makes a mockery out of our ratings system and the new mature direction our hobby has taken.
Bad parents are bad parents.
-Side note, when our weed growing caravan was raided, the police didn't find the 28 seperate grams of MDMA in a selection of obscure DVD cases in the DVD collection, despite having put a DVD on while tearing the place apart.
It's an excellent hiding place. Just make sure you take it out before you trade em in!!!
My local Blockbuster keeps the manual and disk in a seperate wallet and the case on display. It would be really lucky/unlucky to seperate the parts, store the disc and manual, put them back together at point of sale and still miss the weed hidden in there!
In the UK, at least, ratings are legally enforceable. Games have either PEGI or BBFC classifications but only BBFC ever seems to be enforced, at least in non-video game dedicated stores (e.g. Blockbuster).
You can't blame the Blockbuster assistant (for the sale of the game; ignoring the weed) without knowing exactly what happened in that store. If he saw the kid saying "Daddy, I want *insert game here*" then yes, he can refuse. If not, then he'd assume that it's for the parent.
But as for the weed? Jebus. That stuff stinks, either adult should have been able to smell it a mile off.
Also, how about that weed, poppng up in strange places and stuff.
It's like if I bought my 13 year old nephew a bottle of vodka I could get charged with supplying alcohol to a minor, but at the MW2 launch (shudder) there were parents there buying the game for their 10/11 year old kids, who were with them!
I have seen kids around 5 and their parents playing Halo and Gears of War together. It's an awkwardly wrong image. But I cannot judge them.
That's just strange to me. I think I was introduced to certain Sega Genesis games around that age, and maybe Age of Empires, but nothing graphically violent. It's insane when I see parents buying their 7-year-olds GTA4 at Gamestop. Not even just because of the violence, but because how are they supposed to even understand it? It's pointless.
Parents need to put more consideration into the games they buy their young children. If you're going to sit your 4-year-old in front of a console for a good portion of the day, put some thought into what you're putting into their little, easily-influenced heads. At least buy them a game that's somewhat strategic, if not educational in some way, so they're not just mindlessly shooting at people when they can't even READ in order to understand the story behind why they're shooting at people.
@ Monodi - I was in a second hand store yesterday and wanted to tell the parent who was buying child, no more than 6 Im sure, a copy of Gears 2 that it probably wouldnt be suitable. But then I saw her bloke who probably would of knifed me on the spot so thought better of it.
Also I once got stoned a bit, played some FNR 4 and realized that it's basically an adult version of that classic toy, where two robots punch each other 'til their heads fall off. What a sad fucking game.
That is exactly why it annoys me, they are jsut playing them because its just "cool" to do it on their age. I play a bunch of violent games but I like them when there is a reason behind it.
THough I will confess that I was addicted to Doom when i was around 8.
I agree somewhat, because I think it all has to do with context. I played/watched things with mature content when I was well below the appropriate age, and I turned out fine. But the difference is in the games themselves. What understanding of human interaction or vocabulary is a 4-year-old getting from watching people beat the shit out of each other over and over again?
I don't think a child that young really gets anything out of playing a game like that. They just mash buttons at that age.
wow, that's the dumbest thing you've ever said.
And you set the bar pretty high.
As far as the kid playing Fight Night, I've watched boxing for as long as I can remember and I haven't a violent bone in me.
My younger nephew has been playing violent video games since he was around that age too and at the current age of 10, his favourite game is fallout 3. Yet he's the most mature and kind kid I know.
I think i'm with TheStripe on this one.
its just a sport
...is therefore in possession of a class B drug?
Legally enforceable game playing? Great idea, derp.
@Doos: people mix tobacco so you can roll and smoke a joint once every hour/whatever and stretch it. Also makes it easier to dose, and with proper rolling paper your joint goes out if you stop smoking it, leading to less waste. More efficiency, more profit!
Also, any JRPG becomes better with a joint in one hand. Not like you need both hands anyway :D
Shit like this never happens to me. Some kids have all the luck.
Truly the bum's favourite.
It was fun.
Lol, I thought the same. What a nice and generous act.
Oh and did the father say something about what he did with the bag of weed? Lol I guess I know.
http://www.destructoid.com/forum/showthread.php?t=12265
Also, I agree with Jay Me