If there’s one thing Jack Thompson can do right (that’s a stretch), it’s that he can easily get news coverage. With that said, Thompson is suing someone (well, something) again and it’s Best Buy. So what did the largest retailer of consumer electronics in the U.S. do to warrant this lawsuit?
According to Thompson, he’s taking Best Buy to court over alleged sales of M-rated games to minors. He claims that the retailer ignored Florida’s Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practices Act by not asking for age verification while purchasing M-rated games. Thompson wrote the following on his website:
"Best Buy, despite promises made to the American people and to me personally, has continued to sell Mature-rated video games to children under seventeen years of age. Best Buy has been doing this at its cash registers here in Miami, Florida, and it is presently doing so, this very moment, at www.bestbuy.com, as it sells Mature-rated games to anyone of any age with no real age verification whatsoever.
This constitutes a Deceptive and Unfair Trade Practice, under Florida and other states’ laws, because your company/client has been telling the public it age IDs buyers of such games who appear to be 21 or under while in fact it does not uniformly do so…"
Best Buy’s stance on selling M-rated games is pretty similar to other video game retailers, meaning that since you need to possess a credit card to purchase games online, it’s just assumed you’re over 17 years old since minors tend to not possess credit cards.
I’ve been to a Best Buy lately and I couldn’t really walk anywhere without getting punched in the face by the ESRB’s rating systems.
