Originally Posted by
Smaguris
Punishments
Minors can't be punished by law, so it would have to target sellers or parents. This would put unnecessary stress on both parties, because now parents would be paranoid that their kid is playing games "illegally", and game markets would have to ID buyers, adding extra step to every sale.
Minors can be punished by law in almost all western countries;
take minors carrying illegal substances, committing murder etc;
The only way to make age ratings a law would be lump it with other age-restricted commodities, so minor playing restricted games would have to carry the same reprisals as for example minors consuming alcohol.
Sure, in most of the western world the fallout lands on the parents, but the blemish upon ones record will in some cases be punishment enough cascading into future employment etc;
repeat offenders would also most likely end up with social workers and other instances meant to "cure" these repeat offenders of their "illegal behaviour(s)" and/or "addiction(s)".