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[Eric Blank]

Yeh, stupid children. Not people, is pet!

Serious: I think the reasoning behind retail stores restricting sales to minors is that grumpy parents might sue them, or whine loudly.

[Graknorke]

I think the reasoning behind retail stores restricting sales to minors is that grumpy parents might sue them, or whine loudly.

On what grounds though? It's not illegal, and I don't think that parents would, for an example of an actually harmful thing, sue (or even complain about) a shop for selling their child copious amounts of sweets which result in developing health issues.

[Eric Blank]

Worried parents will attempt to sue for anything, legal grounds or not. And even if they don't or fail, they're afraid that the event might make them look bad in the public eye. Businesses prefer to pander to idiot customers for fear of losing their business.

[TamerVirus]

Not really. Corporations have big money so they basically have a lawyer draw up a motion to dismiss.

And the case ends up dismissed cuz no legal grounds

[Frumple]

Correct me if I'm wrong, but a child has generally  no legal agency until they reach the age of majority, so they couldn't sue gamestop anyway

It's actually a bit more complicated when it comes to contract law, which buying/selling technically falls under. Though I forget the specific details, at least in my area a minor can enter into legal contracts under their own violition and, presumably, sue in case of broken ones (assuming they're not the ones that break it, anyway).

The thing is, with rare exception (mostly involving transport/freight) businesses (anyone, really) can refuse to enter contract with another individual on... basically any grounds, iirc. So while the kid might have a degree of agency if the contract is entered (i.e., the company actually does sell the merchandise -- this would be more likely to come up if the kid pre-ordered or something, and then was refused the product afterwards), they (no one, really) have no means to force the business to enter it to begin with.

Contract law is both fairly straightforward and kinda' squiggly, honestly, and the roles minors can have in regards to them is one of the somewhat less straightforward (if not quite to the point of squiggliness, yet) parts of it.

[Lord Shonus]

Gamestop and a few other large retailers (Walmart in particular) have adopted the ESRB rating guidelines as store policy for just about as long as the ESRB has existed. This was caused by rapid-fire Jack Thompson-style lawsuits that tried to hold stores responsible for acts that people that bought Mortal Kombat or Killer Instinct from them performed, with the attendant negative publicity in the "won't someone PLEASE think of the children" period in the late 90s and early-to-mid 00s. Defeating even the most absurd lawsuit is extremely expensive in legal fees, and at the time there was a very real possibility that some of the lawsuits would actually succeed. This is also why Wal-Mart CDs are (or were) heavily censored, worse even than radio edits. It's fairly common for these stores to claim that carding people is the law (much like movie theatres do with the MPAA ratings, which are also purely policy), despite multiple court rulings that any government backing or enforcement of a rating system is illegal.

[MaximumZero]

Nail on head, Shonus. Repeat after me: "[Insert store name] reserves the right to refuse to do business with any customer at any given time for any reason." Most retail places have a policy like this. I don't give a rat's ass if you buy Watch Dogs for your 8 year old, I don't like moral guardians any more than you do. However, I am required by my company to tell you about the boobs, gratuitous violence, drug references, etc, therein, so that you can make an informed decision about what you buy.

Why, you may ask? Having product returned costs us money. Sometimes lots of money. Sometimes more than the item in question is worth, if there's a vendor kickback for selling it.  It also costs profit through good will. Concerned parents won't come back if we sell "Duke Nukem Tits Forever" to their kid, and we lose all of their money forever.

Edit: Spelling. Damned phone.

[TamerVirus]

If you actually bother to read the full ESRB write for certain games, you might find some funny stuff.

Scribblenauts:
Players can elect to summon "cartoony" versions of bats, bombs, guns, and flamethrowers. These types of items can be used to destroy objects or even other summoned items (e.g., a club can be used to hit an animal; steak can be attached to a baby to attract lions; rockets can be lobbed at a man)

Duke Nukem Forever:
Duke's comments range from jokes about colon cleansing to several one-liners about sex and female body parts. Bathroom humor includes the ability to urinate in toilets or urinals and/or pick up feces from toilets and throw it against walls. Players can use both steroid pills and beer as power-ups; when beer is consumed, the screen temporarily blurs. The words "f**k,""sh*t,""c*ck," and "a*shole" appear in dialogue and on-screen text.

[TamerVirus]

Unrelated, but in the news:

1)Girls catches man in Tigger costume having sex in public bathroom

2)Man killed by tape measurer that fell 50 stories

[Karkov]

1) Biology in action.

2) Physics in action.

[Tawa]

1) and 2) Horrifyingly funny in action.

[Karlito]

Oh joy, the New York Post.

[Xantalos]

Holy fuck, I've never looked at how crazy the highest post-count members on this forum are. This kj1225 guy has the most posts on the forum, averaging over 69 posts per day. 5 posts in GD, 40692 posts in the various Forum Games forums.

IamanElfCollaborator and Xantalos are #2 and #3, but they're going to fall behind because they've only got like 30 ppd.

RangerCado is #4 and is going to pass up Xantalos soon, with 50 posts per day. She has 8 posts in non-forum game forums, out of 30005 total.

I have the 69th most posts on the forum. I am okay with that.

Yep, it's mostly due to the magical girl games and their one-sentence post structure. GWG only managed to stay ahead via dint of giant arguments as well as the RPing.

[mastahcheese]

I knew you can check the top ten, but how do you check your standing if you're not?

I'm curious now.

[My Name is Immaterial]

Start counting.
(You're #67)
Edit: And I'm at a solid 175.