What I learned from Leisure Suit Larry

Oct 3, 2006 Author: Veronica | Filed under: babble, video

To save minors from inappropriate content, YouTube has this handy “verify you’re over 18″ deal. Because that will prevent 13-year olds from saying they’re 25. Yup.

I’ve mentioned in the past that I would always try to sneak into Leisure Suit Larry on my best friends computer when we were little, and they reason we could get on was because they asked you current event and historical questions that 10-year olds just didn’t know the answers to. We tried to find answers in the Encyclopedia Britannica (you remember the books? Before Wikipedia?) but I think we only cracked the code once. Myspace is having similar issues with kids younger than 14 (the new lowered age limit) trying to score accounts. Little kids might not know too much in the way of worldliness, but they sure as heck know how to put in a lower year to make themselves instantly 15.

So, what to do? Keep inappropriate content off of easily accessible sites? Find a new age-verification method? I have a feeling the younger generations will always find a way to get past anything we throw at them! They’re smarter than us.

Dan sez: “Heh… there’s also the radical concept known as ‘parenting’”

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18 Responses for "What I learned from Leisure Suit Larry"

Jason W. October 3rd, 2006 at 12:24 pm 1

Yeah, there should be another form of identification that the Social Security Dept. office gives you when you turn 18. You should then be able to use that identification to get into your favorite porn and gambling sites… for research, of course!
SuitCase October 3rd, 2006 at 2:56 pm 2

Yeah, I remember that. I can’t remember how, but one time I figured out the shortcut to skip the quiz.. I think it was Ctrl-X or something similar.

I do actually remember when I was about.. 5 or 6 and remember asking my babysitter how to spell “hooker” (to tell the taxi driver where to go) and she refused. I might have got mad about it.
Jonathan C October 3rd, 2006 at 6:44 pm 3

i think youtube knows the age verification system’s flawed…maybe they just put it there to keep people from whining about how easy it is to see pr0n. kids are smart, this system is like child’s play (no pun intended)
Rodrigo October 3rd, 2006 at 8:59 pm 4

That’s like putting the porn on the top shelf so my 12 years old cousin can’t reach…
Until know I believe he had never used a chair to reach the porn DVDs Sure….
Kato October 3rd, 2006 at 9:19 pm 5

Yea, those systems are lame. I always assumed they were in place just so the website can cover their ass legally (“We have a system in place to prevent minors from accessing our content… granted its a shitty system, but then so was Communism…”) It really irks me when videogame sites are “protected” by this type of system (cause its annoying and gets in the way, and half the time its done in Flash, wtf). Like any kid who has ever touched a video game controller wouldn’t be able (or inclined) to quickly defeat the “clever” age verification system.
Kato October 3rd, 2006 at 9:19 pm 6

Also… was the YouTube video worth it?
tdous October 3rd, 2006 at 10:27 pm 7

I’m sorry, what is this “books” of which you speak?
Jboswell2000 October 4th, 2006 at 1:20 am 8

And let’s not forget that standards are usually applied by the users themselves (in the true spirit of Web 2.0), so Carmen Electra riding the sybian may not require an age confirmation, while something like that fat Numa guy might (but maybe that one is deserved–younger kids are so impressionable).
Joel. October 4th, 2006 at 7:44 am 9

What’s funny is that you can put your age as 99 years old on MySpace.
They only do it so angry parents don’t sue them. Duh!
Robert October 4th, 2006 at 10:32 pm 10

Is Leisure Suit Larry really porn?

I mean, pixelated female anatomy isn’t really that hot. ESPECIALLY if you were old enough like me to have the CGA version of Leisure Suit Larry.

Leisure Suit Larry 4 was by far the BEST LSL ever!

I miss Sierra. I wish they’d come back and be a dominant force in the gaming market again. King’s Quest, Police Quest, Space Quest! Gotta love it.
Darryl October 5th, 2006 at 5:21 am 11

ahhh.. LSL.. good memories.
Pierre October 5th, 2006 at 4:37 pm 12

I say all future verifications should somehow incorporate the Dial-a-Pirate wheel used for piracy verification in Monkey Island 1.
Ross C Brown October 6th, 2006 at 8:58 am 13

On YouTube, you can change your age whenever you like! It’s madness!
John Bemont October 6th, 2006 at 9:07 am 14

sooo true. who was the one with lsl? chris?
Veronica October 6th, 2006 at 12:44 pm 15

nope, katie!
Shantanu October 9th, 2006 at 9:31 am 16

(5:42:10 PM) shantanubala: MySpace has a lot more questionable content than one could imagine. I have an older sister who I refer to as a MySpace addict, and I\’ve been clicking through friends profile\’s and such. Not only are people absoluteley out of control, they use profanity and sexually explicit terms

(5:42:30 PM) V: it\’s true

(5:43:30 PM) shantanubala: and none of this is filtered, blocked, or even censored. You don\’t even need an account to look at these profiles. I think that is absurd.

(5:43:55 PM) V: so how do you think they could change it?

(5:45:28 PM) shantanubala: leisure suit larry is an example, but atleast make people register, so they \”confirm\” they are fourteen
(5:46:15 PM) shantanubala: Or have some sort of javascript warning when viewing a profile that is profane
(5:47:23 PM) shantanubala: but honestly, there\’s no way to truly fix the issue, but the main thing is adults paying attention to what their kids are surfing. It\’s called browser history

(5:47:58 PM) V: so you think parents should check what their kids have been surfing?

(5:48:29 PM) shantanubala: definately

(5:48:44 PM) shantanubala: not only that, but have filteres to block myspace

(5:50:26 PM) V: so you don\’t think the responsibility lies with the websites

(5:51:23 PM) shantanubala: it does, but what can they do? If they block all profane content, The teenage wasteland will just be a bunch of inactive accounts.
Kyle January 1st, 2007 at 9:22 am 17

Too funny, I have the same Leisure Suits Larry memories.

I remember asking my friends older brother for some answers, he was all for us playing the game, and he didn’t know some of the answers, and he was of age, so I guess that feature also kept stupid people from playing too *L*
Happy Birthday Veronica Belmont! July 21st, 2008 at 6:15 am 18

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