November 23rd, 2007
46% minors can buy “M” rated games
Games are powerful tools that serve mainly the entertainment industry and no other master, but every once in a while a big stir come out of debates on its misused educational power or addictive qualities. Today’s issue is about the rating system, how useful and dependable can it be. This Tuesday, four US senators including Hilary Clinton called ESRB officials for a Q&A session with a government committee. Just when people seem to be moving against ESRB, some rather disturbing results come out of a recent study on video game sellers. Apparently almost half the US retailers, or their employees to be specific, sell “M” for mature-rated games to minors without considering the implications.
The undercover survey was conducted by East County Youth Coalition in collaboration with other organizations and performed with purpose of determining just how easy is for minors to get their hands on mature rated videogames. For the sake of logic, we’ll presume that it was a typo and they’re actually talking about children below 17. Over the course of two months, they visited retailers all over the US and tried to buy adult oriented games in over 60 stores. While sexuality, nudity and strong language are mild problems, there is the issue of alcohol, drug use and extreme violence involved. It seems 46% retailers had no problem putting games like Manhunt or Narc into the hands of eager children. The same groups called on retailers to adhere to the rating system, institute formal training for employees, display the rating system in stores and separate mature-themed video games from other games. The ESRB already has a good number of affiliates, the enforcement of the rating denominations seem very lax.
While selling tobacco and alcohol to minors is forbidden by law, there still are some loopholes when it comes to video games and the way they can model young minds. Gaming has pretty much come out of the closet and is nowadays targeting children less and less. After all, the main market is where the money is, and online games are both a very time consuming and successful enterprise which require monthly fees. Selling inappropriate games to minors isn't the videogame industry's fault, yet the blame is always placed here by those pointing fingers. The 50% failure ratio still places the gaming industry ahead of many other entertainment sectors, including the movie and music sector.
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Published by: Kampfaren in News
7 Comments on 46% minors can buy “M” rated games
Posted by John 11/27/2007 8:19 pm
If you want something bad enough you can get it.
Posted by Kampfaren 11/27/2007 10:12 pm
I'm not going to play the moralising wolf, but this study actually shows that no-one gives a damn about selling potentially harming material to children. In my opinion, the programming principle of "trash in, trash out" applies.
Posted by Nutinc, a gamer and programmer 02/08/2008 9:16 am
I play video games. There I said it. I don't think anybody anymore ever takes into account that if video games do something horrific to a persons mind, it was either a horror game or the person was sick in the head to begin with. I personally want ESRB, the critics, and the people that haven't even played a video game in their life yet still hate them to just shut up and stop controlling an art form!
Posted by patv 03/24/2008 2:58 am
The rating system i think is bu11shit...Why rate a game??? I think that it's stupid to rate something M or A. I think that people should have their own judgment and should be able to differentiate real life from video games. Just because some stupid kid played grandtheft auto 3 and started doing drugs and buying guns and shooting up stuff doesn't mean that everyone is like that. Because of that stupid kid the rating system is enforced to sh1t. I have trouble buying "M' games because they don't think I'm old enough so i have to go through all this cr4p to buy it. Walmart is the worst with the game ratings. I walk in and try to buy a "Teen" rated game and they don't let me because it says in their Fuk1ng machines that you have to be 17 or older to by the game. So, i use one of their computers and log on to the ESRB rating website and show them. They still don't believe me so I still can't buy the game. I was so pissed of.
Posted by Cezar 03/24/2008 1:36 pm
It's true patv. I agree with you!
Posted by Zakahev 07/15/2008 1:24 am
i completely agree with the comment posted by PATV above me!
i'm under seventeen and i play M games!
i've played everything from grand theft auto to manhunt and neither game makes me want to kill anyone or shoot up a store!!!
everyone doe'nt have good judgment but many do!
Posted by Someone 07/18/2008 11:10 pm
That's the parents responsibility.
And the kids responsibility. Kids aren't animals. When they behave like animals it's the parents fault for treating them like animals.