trivard676A recent study by the Federal Trade Commission had recently conducted an undercover shopper survey. In it, they recruited 13-16 year old kids to go into various retail outlets and purchase an M-rated game (17+). The study found that only 13% of the retail outlets asked would sell an M-rated game from a minor. This is a significant improvement from the 20% in 2009.
Above: a kids’ worst nightmare when it comes to buying games.
Narrowing things down further, 8% of Gamestop locations allowed a minor to buy an M-rated game, with Target (9%) and Toys R Us (10%) coming in next.
By comparison, 38% of minors were able to purchase an R-rated DVD, 33% could buy a ticket to an R-rated movie and 64% were able to buy a CD with a parental advisory label.
These kinds of surveys are conducted all the time for different purposes, and it isn’t just your standard mystery shopper. For example, the Smoke Free Ontario Act regularly inspects all businesses that sell tobacco by using test shoppers to ensure they’re complying with the laws, laying charges as necessary.
ESRB president Patricia Vance commented on these findings with the following statement.
“We are extremely pleased to see the Federal Trade commission confirm not only that the video game industry continues to have the highest rate of enforcement at retail, but that it continues to climb higher than before. The strong support that the ESRB ratings have enjoyed from retailers is crucial, underscoring their firm committment to selling video games responsibly.”
We’re pretty sure that right next to “bad music,” video games are at the top of the hit list when kids misbehave. We’re not going to pretend that we like the already ever-present censorship in our favourite games, but we’re not going to gloss over the fact that a lot of tykes out there shouldn’t be watching it. Is 17 really the right age that should be set for these? Some 17 year olds are really mature, some 16 year olds are really mature. Others? Well…show me a study that says video games will put a gun in their hand and wreak all sorts of havoc.
Touche
But when society cries out for a ratings system to games, the industry complies. The increased pressure from parents everywhere (even if it really isn’t necessitated) on game retailers has pushed these guys to perform and do their job well. Different than the Smoke Free Ontario regulations, we’re pretty sure that the only real stigma of failing to abide by these guidelines would be a stern, disapproving look.
So then how are these little tykes getting their hands on these games and screaming obscenities into my ear during Call of Duty? A friend of mine, working in the retail industry once told me that despite his advisement, parents will continue to buy that latest CoD game for their little brat.
At one time, I might have agreed that “yeah, if it’ll shut them up, why not?” But Christ, that’s pretty lazy parenting, isn’t it? Even if their kid’s been begging for it for the last several weeks and will scream and cry and throw a tantrum in the middle of the store to embarrass them. So parents get the game for them, sit them in front of the television for hours on end – and then blame the industry for their bad parenting.
And also for making their kids fat.
Editor’s Note: I really don’t hate kids as much as it would appear in the article. Just when they keep telling me to get them a sammich, due to the anxiety they get from hearing a woman’s voice online.
–jeeves86
Source: Game Hunters
