I think they can easily bypass the age check either with facebook/the current system, just a few clicks. Their parents should keep on eye what their children's playing. At least until age 14-15. If a 9 yo play a 16+ game, it's a bigger problem tnah a 14 yo. And MAYBE that 14 yo more polite, and can respect other players. So, parents please sometimes check what games your children's playing.

I'm having a problem where I know that there are two 8 yo in the group. Imagine how many others there is that I don't know about. I would not feel comfortable giving them games which include explicit sexual content or graphic violence...

As long there are torrents, fileshare sites and schoolmates with tons of pirated games you shouldn't care. If they want to play it they will play it anyway.

It is a parents job to supervise their kids , not yours. That said if your group mostly has giveaways for games not suitable for an age group you could add an age restriction to the group and kick anyone out that is under age. Kids will still lie. also a kid can make a fake Facebook page with a fake age, Facebook has rules about being under 13 and that is rather commonly ignored.

In most countries, age restrictions for gaming generally does not exist. There are only "suggestions" like ESRB. It's up to parents.

Its just nowadays the respect of these 9-year olds to people that are 16-18 is just stupid. How could they even dare too call elders something like that?

I think that the age restriction should be respected more to kids especially to kids under the 10.

oh please, Ive been playing games like quake 3 at the age of 8-9

You must understand my concern, I'm a pedagogyst and it is my job to care about stuff like that, especially when their parents do not.
I know I can't make 100% sure that everyone is in the "acceptable age group" but I have do care about that and would like to keep the gore and violence in the games they win to a minimum.

There's no rules/laws about it in my country and parents are not informed in most cases, so I often hear young mothers talking happily how their 10 year old or younger child enjoys spending time in front of GTA IV. It's... not calming, to say at least, for someone who works at school like me. Luckily, even if they do play shooters and action games, most of my students prefer LOL, so there's that at least.

rofl. This isn't the first/begining of the second half of the 20th century.

What games???? I cannot think about any game that isn°t suitable for kids... I cannot really think of any game idea that wasn't suitable for kids except porn, but it is debatable (they have internet)...

As an actual parent of one of those kids (will be 14 in a month, but - 5 yrs Steam)... I honestly don't know what to say.

On one hand - there's no actual valid age verification when you create an account, or go to game's store or community page in Steam, so no real way to check it, and if they're lying about age in the first place - who said they will answer truth when asked? And same with Facebook (fake accounts!) and other virtual "proof".

On the other hand - parents should monitor their kids activities, but... Not everyone have time (bull!), or been able (might be), or even care (shame!), so again - no real way for community to enforce it.

From personal experience: I have older kid who also Steaming for 7 yrs already, started when he was just under 13. But back then it was quite easy - Steam accessible library was quite small: TF2 (come one! who didn't play Cops and Gangsters with neighbourhood kids!) comes as most vivid example, and without F2P and restricted access to money and no giveaways like now - really no problem for conscient parent to enforce rules. Now he's responsible (well, almost) young man who really cares about his brother - so he's the one who most likely to point out that something isn't age-appropriate (and for what reasons). But - their dad doesn't really care, so we clash from time to time when he's buying something I don't approve of for his dear little sweet boy. XD Then it's up to me and older Monster to monitor what is youngster actually doing when he has playing time.

TL:DR - I think that if you (or other GV creator) knows for sure that winner is under-age for that particular game - re-roll, I find it reasonable enough. Otherwise - no clue...

P.S. sorry for going on ranting trip. ;P

"Aren't suited" is just a simple recommendation, there is nothing wrong letting kids play violent games, everyone did it, and I don't see any killers or ppl with mental problems, the only games should be restricted are games where you can find porn, erotic, sex, this kind of things.

Parents should respond, because if their kid is so dumb to get the wrong idea from games.... I think the age ristrictions should go like 10+ not 18+ .. because if the kid is mentally healthy, there is no problem..

Parents problem.

It's pretty easy to lie about your age on the internet. If you wanted to take a guess though. Just have a voice chat with them over Steam when they win a game. If you think they are a little kid. Don't give them the game or whatever you wanna do.

When you are younger you tend to think those age recommendations are silly. But now, when I think about it, there were a lot of movies I probably shouldn't have watched as a kid. Specially some horror movies that gave me nightmares for months. The original Robocop stole the innocence of many childhoods, including mine (Murphy being tortured and executed was just too much for a little kid)... I know you asked about videogames, but I think it translates well. Videogames weren't so shocking back then.

Personally, I believe that the concept of 'privacy' on the internet is a falsehood. One has no 'right' to privacy online or expectation thereof. The moment you put your personal details out there, they are there for all with the know-how to see, regardless of your 'privacy settings'. In any situation where you are interacting with others online where goods are involved, it would be completely in your right to do a background check.

Even though I [somewhat hypocritically, having played Duke Nukem 3D a lot as a child] agree that minors should not be playing games outside their ESRB/PEGI/CERO Ratings, caution should be taken when setting up giveaways. No restrictions can be placed on public giveaways, but if they are private or group, you'll need a site moderator's approval for extraneous/special giveaway rules. Assuming you get that approval, simply state in the giveaway description clearly in the description something like, "This title is rated M by the ESRB, and is not suitable for individuals under the age of 17 years. If the winner of this giveaway is found to be under 17, a reroll will be requested and the user will be blacklisted from all future giveaways."

Just because parents actively or passively contribute to the juvenile delinquency of their young does not mean that you have to. I know I would probably quickly lose my employment were I ever working at a Gamestop or any major electronics retailer, but I would vehemently refuse to sell to parents who were clearly buying a mature game for their young one, especially if I thought they didn't even care what their child was exposed to, especially given the major online focus these days.

...you actually worry about that?!

...no, seriously?

Why should i be responsible for some child I never saw and can be even from different continent?. Parents should control, what their child plays. And age rating of the game can be different amongst countries.

And how do you want to check age of the winner? Nobody give you phoro of identity card or driver license :)

Someone's age is rarely a sign of their maturity, and kids can handle topics like gore far better than most adults remember. They're clearly able to differentiate between video game violence and real world encounters.

I don't think its beneficial for any parent to shelter their kids from the harsh realities of the world, but if they wish to do so, the responsibility is their's, not mine. They need to create well-rounded individuals that are capable of thinking for themselves, and then trust that they'll make the right decisions, or at least learn from the wrong ones. Anything less is simply a failure.

Bunch of young whippersnapper! Back in my day we used to watch violent movies like Robocop before we were 5!

If you truly are concerned set an age limit if you care, although technically you are breaking the law if you knowingly giving a game deemed inappropriate to someone underage. Like buying smokes, booze or porn for minors.

Meh, reason why nobody really has cared though is that Steamgifts hasn't been assaulted by lawyers beating them over the head with briefcases full of legal documents.

I really cant give you any advice how to check there age without asking them directly, in the hope that they will answer honestly. You may look here and there (social media sites), if they are member and have posted direct link to it, but even that is often fabricated.
You may explicitly request that giveaway participant should be age appropriated, and in case of foul play to re-roll. But, this will work only in case of valor and honor of members in your group.

At your question whose problem is this, there is saying "You need a village to raise a child", so in my opinion its their parents and ours.
Here is first generation of games who's parents are gamers themselves, but looks like they forgot that not all games are for all ages. So I think that we need to educate parents and kids that games should be played at appropriate age, before government decide that you cant go to liqueur store to buy wine for parents dinner party.

I'm saying that is better for us, gamers, to learn how to self-regulate, then someone form the side who still thinks that games are just for kids and that all games just teach violence.

As simple as it is, rated M means "mature", I feel like age really dosen't factor in; as long as the child is mature (can respect other players, and dosen't bring video game influences into life), then it's fine.

Though if a child isn't mature enough, then they shouldn't be playing video games, for example, my little brother who is 10, play's TF2, we went to go to his school a coiple days ago to pick up his school supplies and to meet his teacher, he had a folder in his hand and was acting as it was a gun and "shooting people" with it. Last year at his school, he would talk about guns and more guns, he would even threaten people; so if a child isn't mature enough, then video games made for older people will affect them greatly in real life.

It's definitely the parents responsibility, my little brother play's TF2 (as I said before), and he play's it very excessively, I used to play TF2 and he saw me, so he decided to get it, now my brother just can't stop playing video games. My mom blamed it all on me, I never even showed my brother the game, he just saw; at this point my mom is doing absolutely nothing about it, and all what she is doing is blaming it on me, instead of taking action before it gets worse.

Though, children have a lot of access to get violent video games, torrenting, buying it online, sneaking out and buying it, buying games from kids at school. So kinda at this point it's almost impossible to stop them from getting video games.