Help Me Hank: Help Me Hank! Game over

It's the digital reality of video game land, and Mackenzie, 10, thought it would be awesome to design a world of her own. A create your own character game, she told her mom, was all she wanted.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"It’s a game where there are little animal characters. You create your own [and] give it its own name. You know you can change its hair color and things like that."

Buying video games can be pricey, and Mom wanted to get the most bang for her video game buck.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"In order to save some money, so we could get her more games, we went and bought used video games."

They found this tiny game disk for her pink-cased gizmo, rated OK for all ages and assumed it was safe for Mackenzie to play. But when she clicked it on, she found a surprise inside.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"It already had a character on it."

Well it was used, they thought, so no biggie.

But while Mackenzie was off in her new world, an X-rated text message from that left over character popped onto her screen. We can't possibly come close to showing you what it said here, but her mom knew it was "game over."

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"I was shocked. [It was] vulgar and rude and inappropriate for a child."

She acted quickly.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"We were just panicked, like, 'Oh my God! What are we gonna do?' So, we deleted it."

Sondra called the store, asking why they don't erase used games before reselling them.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"They said that they couldn't do that. They take in too many games."

She wanted to make sure other parents in the "real world" knew what could show up on their child's screen.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"So, I called Help Me Hank!"

Video game gurus tell us that when you buy a used game, you could wind up in a world of trouble if you don't check it out first.

Jason Wilson, Product Manager, PDP USA
"I would suggest that they do erase what they can so they can fulfill a spot for their own game play experience."

Now, Sondra knows that before you even play the game, you've got to know the score.

Sondra Brown, Mackenzie's mother
"Delete it all first before you give it to your kid."

Remember, many stores have very strict polices about returning used video games, so check it out before you pay. Unless it doesn't work at all, you'll usually be stuck with what you buy.