Boxing and Sex

The Illinois law is about to take the gaming industry into unfamiliar waters. Man Bytes Blog points us towards Wired for the optimistic thought that it will go away. I'll probably focus more on that in the morning when I wrap all this coverage up. However, more importantly, he also gives us a blueprint on how to treat the situation:

If the receiving party is made aware of the transaction they are about to engage in and agree that it is legal, proper, and the consequences are not the responsibility of the other party, that’s consent. The example the site uses is boxing. If you walk up to someone on the street and beat the holy living poop out of them, that’s a crime. If you get into a boxing ring with someone and beat them until they’ll never be able to think straight again, that’s consent.

- Man Bytes Blog's Nature of Consent

Where is he getting this ideas from? Well, the adult film industry of course. Even if Demuzio doesn't want to treat video games like an ethical issue, the problem from a distribution portion is the same. Make 100% clear that your material is not for minors (if desired or required) and force the user to recognize that fact. Yeah, little Timmy can probably just click a few keys to get to your information, but you can force him to agree to your terms.

It might not be as water-tight as a credit card check, but it's probably tighter than law that's about to be signed.