Legal Niches

Mislabeling Puts Dating Sim in Hands of 9-Year Old

By pete_gallagher

A Spanaway, Washington mother got a surprise when purchasing what she thought was an 'E' (Everyone)-rated game for her nine year old daughter.

The game Kara Petrich bought at a Tacoma Big Lots store was labeled as an entry in Ubisoft's Petz videogame series, in which players care for a virtual pet. Unfortunately, reports Komo News, the game inside was the 'T' (Teen)-rated game Sprung, a title billed as a 'flirty' dating simulator. The game cartridge itself was also mislabeled, adding to the mom's confusion.

When Petrich's daughter started playing the game, she was presented with dialogue like 'Make sure you bring your life jackets, condoms,' and 'You wanna rock my mountains, don't you?'

Petrich said she was angry about the mixup, saying, 'Most important, I want parents to know that you can't just hand kids a game and then send them off.'

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Full post as published by GamePolitics.com on March 30, 2010 (boomark / email).