Today’s Fail of the Day is being brought to you by the parents who choose to be uneducated about video games and the associates at a Best Buy who are just plain stupid.

Naturally with Christmas comes lists for Santa that are filled with video game requests from little gamers all across the country.  It should come as no surprise that Modern Warfare 3 is topping those lists this year.  For one news website based in Virginia this “violent” video game is causing some parents concern, because they and what a shocker here,  know nothing about it.

According to WHSV.com, the mature rating is causing parents to be cautious and they decided to ask the gamer know it alls at a local Best Buy what they have been doing to deal with this mounting issue and one associate says, they have been keeping parents from buying the game.

“A lot of times we are going to push them away from it. Just because they need to be over 17 years old. Just for the fact that there is going to be a lot of blood, violence and cursing in that game,” states Richard LaBossiere who also said that occasionally people do get upset over hearing those cold hard facts.

WHSV also asked Sallie Darling (no I’m not making that name up) who handles the Modern Warfare 3 merchandising in the area what her thoughts were and her response was, “It’s always seemed ironic to me, with all the wars going on. That people would still like violent games, in particular war games,”.

So there you go folks.  Ground breaking “advice” and opinions brought to you by the people who work at Best Buy, because apparently they know everything in the world about video games which is why they were chosen as the “go to guys” for advice.

Parents listen up.  If you want advice and have concern on a video game do some research yourself and pay attention to the ESRB ratings and use them as a guide.  Do not walk up to a counter at of all places a Best Buy and address your concerns.  Or quite simply, if you have concerns don’t buy the game.  You of all people know what your child can and cannot handle.  Having somebody else tell you that you shouldn’t buy that for someone you have been raising since they were born is like walking into a candy store and buying a peanut butter chew for another parent’s kid who is allergic to peanut butter and of course you don’t know that.

Trust your parental instincts and everything will be fine if you decide to purchase Modern Warfare 3 or any other M rated game on your child’s list this year.  You do not need of all people Best Buy employees to tell you that.

 

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I wouldnt really call this a fail. Most parents dont think to jump online and research a game. So when they go into a store they ask about a product which is fairly common. The younger generations know that most people working at these stores probably dont know what they are talking about. The rating is on it for a reason, young children shouldnt be plating these games because they are violent. Teenagers are fine but should still have to have a parent purchasing it for them. With all that said it is call of duty which us a ****** game so id push them away from it too.

Asking for advice is one thing, but really not necessary with the ESRB rating on there. I mean, no one is going to be able to tell you much more than what it says right on the cover. Still, it's not surprising from Best Buy. I've know sales guys often get put behind the geek squad counter. It's rarely about what they know and more about their sales experience. I imagine they have to recommend parents not buy games for liability reasons if their kids are below the rating age.

Lol GG. You just don't like Call of Duty do you?

I'm just so sick and tired of these parents who don't play games, they don't know their ***** from a hole in the ground, and instead of looking up the game or looking at the ESRB rating they take it to a counter and ask if it's okay for their own child. I just don't understand how hard it is to do a tiny bit of research on something you want to buy for your kid. Then some news site like this one, that is someone's local home time news place, feeds off of it, because they don't know anything either. I don't know, maybe I'm just weird, lol.

You're not stupid. It's moronic of the news organization to sensationalize the asking of advice from some nerd jockey at best buy.

I didn't think it was that hard to understand that an M rating, not to mention a *censorsed* description of WHY it got the rating right next to it, was terribly difficult to comprehend.

I honestly found nothing wrong with the article.

I think the issue here is that parents should be finding this crap out for themselves. It is not the job of Best Buy, ESRB, Gamestop or whoever to be the parents. The problem is that some parents need to be responsible for their own children instead of waiting for stores, rating boards, or the government to intervene.

I somewhat disagree. It's easier for our generation to say this considering we're tech savvy, know how to use the internet like the back of our hands and can find almost anything online. My parents know very little about the internet and can barely remember how to check email let alone find reliable sources on video games they've never heard of. If I was person buying a product I know little about, I find nothing wrong with asking sales reps and people who know something about the product their opinions on it. I agree parents should research themselves and decide what is best for their children but not everyone's parents are "advanced" in today's new hot games and there are plenty of conservative parents who don't want their kids to play games with blood and cursing, including my own parents when I was growing up.

It's as easy as watching the commercial for the game, seeing the ESRB rating, writing down or memorizing "esrb.com" and typing it into their browser. It's not hard at all. They couldn't make it any easier, in my opinion.

Well, the article did end with:

If you're thinking about buying "Modern Warfare 3," for your kids, you don't have to go just by the rating. Try a demo at a store or read the box for details on why it got that rating. You can also just ask someone at the store."

One thing I would like to see on the box or ESRB is for the Campaign can the extreme content be turned off, I always check out games before letting my kids play, but I am a gamer, even so it would be nice to know if I can turn that off for the campaign mode from the box.