A Personal Experience: Buying San Andreas without ID

If you've ever tried to buy a game that's rated above your actual age you'll have had a varied experience of whether or not staff at game stores will actually sell you the game. In the past I've always been able to buy games no matter what age requirement they were. One of my most proud gaming moments is when I picked up a copy of the original Grand Theft Auto in a HMV store at the ripe ol'
age of 13. That bought me some massive bragging rights with my less lucky friends, who all had the game but were never successful in buying the game themselves.

Nowadays, it seems to be much harder to be able to buy 18 rated games in comparison to other types of age limited products. The other day I went out to pick up a copy of the Xbox version of Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas. Needless to say, not a single shop across town would sell me the game, despite me being 18. Albeit I didn't have any identification handy, but I have no problem buying Alcohol, DVDs and other games that require your age to be 18 (in the UK at least)
without ID. I even bought the PS2 version of San Andreas when I was 17 without any problems. So why is there such a problem with buying the Xbox version of San Andreas?

To give you an idea of how my personal crusade to try and buy a copy of San Andreas without ID, here?s how the different stores treated me. A female assistant at GAME barely even looked at me as she asked for ID; ?It?s the Law for me to ask for ID?. The manager at my local Dixons store even went as far as saying he could be fined ?5000 for selling me the game without ID! The most interesting story came from the WHSmith game assistant. He told me he?d been advised by his manager to always request ID for San Andreas, but that I could buy another 18 rated game without problems if I
was so inclined. That comment lowers the rating system to a system that will only prevent possible PR outbreaks rather than under-age sales. It paints a picture of shop managers being paranoid about selling games to under-age investigative journalists rather than selling games that are rated 18+ to younger gamers. The most worrying thing about the whole issue is that the system appears to be slanted towards more ?controversial? games (or games that the tabloid press deem as unsuitable) that are nearly impossible to buy without ID.

Instead of trying out every last game store in town I went home and bought a copy for ?15 less than the RRP on eBay. I
gave up searching for a trusting and sympathetic game assistant. What are your experiences of buying games under your actual age? Is the experience different in the U.S. compared to the U.K? Should game stores have such an unfair system for allowing game sales? Make sure to drop by the comments thread and share your experiences.