Anyone who has worked in game retail will be used to the situation of parents buying 16 or 18 rated games for their children. It could be down to ignorance – the notion that it is "only" a game is still surprisingly prevalent – but if New Zealand government chief censor Bill Hastings gets his way then these parents could be prosecuted. Ouch.

They might think the offence is silly, but it ain't... That's what the law says, but... you're not going to have police officers in every bedroom... There would certainly be some shock value to prosecuting a parent who gives their under-18 child access to a restricted game. It would send out a message that the enforcement agency means business.

Fine, but not very practical. Where Hastings does a have a serious point is when he talks about the digital divide between parents and their kids.

I think the word 'game' can mislead people for sure. It's not checkers. For the first time in history, kids are more savvy with technology than parents... parents need to get up to speed on the digital divide. They need to look at what their kids are playing and doing...

It's hard to argue with that. Longer term I can see the divide narrowing. Many new-ish parents in their 30s are among the first generation to really grow up with gaming – C64, ZX Spectrum etc – and are unlikely to be as out of touch as their parents were. The mainstream acceptance of the Wii will help too.

So yes, clearly parents need to look at what their kids are playing and doing. But prosecution? Really? It would be practically unenforceable but even then surely other media would need to be covered. After all, I'd argue that letting your 11 year old play the 18-rated GTA IV, or whatever, is not as "bad" as sitting them in front of a Hostel or Saw DVD. Anyway, what do you think?