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Games Entertainment

M-Rated Game Sales to Kids Down, Shows FTC Report 67

Posted by Zonk from the that-i-believe-is-a-good-thing dept.
Kotaku examines a report drawn up the the Federal Trade Commission on 'inappropriate content' sales to children. The study (pdf) examined sales of M-Rated games, R-rated movie tickets, and explicit music to underage persons in the most extensive look at the topic since 2000. While it appears the games industry still has a way to go, the study shows that it's much harder than it was four years ago for a young person to buy an M-Rated game. "Video games showed the greatest improvement, dropping from 69 percent being able to make the purchase in 2003 to 42 percent in 2006. That's just three percent more than the number of underage children able to get into R-rated movies."
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M-Rated Game Sales to Kids Down, Shows FTC Report More

M-Rated Game Sales to Kids Down, Shows FTC Report

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  • ...how much Gamestop's new policy of "we will fire the employee and the manager if an M-rated game is sold to a minor" has affected this...
  • The study shows that as underage customers are less likely to purchase M rated games, they are more likely to visit the titty bar. I'm *sure* I read that in there somewhere.

  • Eh, it won't make a difference (Score:5, Insightful)

    by Coopjust ( 872796 ) on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:56PM (#18709671)
    Personally, I don't think the fact that the sales of M-rated games to minors dropping. Why? Well, many times it goes like this:

    Child: Mom, I want Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas
    Mom: Oh, what do you do in that game?
    Child: You drive cars.
    Mom: Oh, OK then.
    Clerk: Ma'm, you realize this is an Mature Game, intended for ages 18 and up?
    Mom: Yeah, sure, whatever.
    *Kid plays game full of violence*

    Forget the fact that it's on the back of the box (inappropriate content warnings), parents will blithely ignore them. All of the sales restrictions to minors don't prevent bad parents from buying them.

    • Re:Eh, it won't make a difference (Score:4, Insightful)

      by ZakuSage ( 874456 ) on Thursday April 12, 2007 @04:58PM (#18709701)
      And it's really going to make a difference if a kid plays GTA? I know when I was growing up I watched a whole bunch of violet movies and it didn't "corrupt my moral fiber" or anything of the sort.

      • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

        by Coopjust ( 872796 )
        I never said that the kid will become a murderer, or attracted to guns, booze, and prostitutes. Kids see all sorts of objectionable stuff on network TV (24, Standoff, CSI, etc.) and in movies.

        But, it's in video games, some parents ask, ?!?!?!, Johnnies on a murder simulator, get a psychologist, etc.. It is really ridiculous.

        I personally believe there is more objectionable content during the news than in GTA. In GTA it's not even REAL. And about "not being able to tell the difference", that's a load of

      • Re: (Score:2, Troll)

        by drinkypoo ( 153816 )

        And it's really going to make a difference if a kid plays GTA? I know when I was growing up I watched a whole bunch of violet movies and it didn't "corrupt my moral fiber" or anything of the sort.

        You are hardly an unbiased source on your moral fiber, and the plural of anecdote is not data.

        Anyone who has watched kids get fired up by watching Power Rangers and run around kicking shit knows that media has an effect on children. Actually, anyone who has gone to see The Rice and the Ridiculous knows that it af

        • Re:Eh, it won't make a difference (Score:4, Insightful)

          by rhombic ( 140326 ) on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:35PM (#18710277)

          Finally, I think most of us accept that a video game (or other virtual reality experience) is valid training for real-life events.


          So you're gonna be allright with your oncological surgeon having learned via "Trauma Center: Under the knife", right?

          Anyone who has watched kids get fired up by watching Power Rangers and run around kicking shit knows that media has an effect on children.


          As you so cleverly pointed out, the plural of anecdote is not data. Kindly point us to a statistical study showing a causative relationship between watching violent TV or playing violent videogames results in real-life violence (actions resulting in serious bodily injury, not kids wrestling). TIA.

          • Being a surgeon is easy, just shoot patients up with the green stuff to get their stats up, right?

          • Re: (Score:2)

            by grumbel ( 592662 )
            ### Kindly point us to a statistical study showing a causative relationship between watching violent TV or playing violent videogames results in real-life violence

            Thats the wrong question to ask and the wrong study to do. If you only look for real-world violence caused by games with a direct link, you of course won't find it. Life is complex, there isn't a "play video game" -> "kill people" cause and effect relation ship, especially not when you also have violent movies, a violent real world neighborhood

        • Re: (Score:3, Insightful)

          by Darth ( 29071 )
          Anyone who has watched kids get fired up by watching Power Rangers and run around kicking shit knows that media has an effect on children.

          The kids also know they are playing make-believe. If you stopped the kid and asked him what he was doing, he knows it isnt real and he knows the Power Rangers arent real.
          The kid is having fun pretending. That doesnt tell us anything about long term effects of watching power rangers on real life incidents of violence.
          It is really no different than when kids used to play co

          • Calling Grand Theft Auto a thug life simulator is as reasonable as calling the Rainbow Six series anti-terrorist training simulators. (which, personally, i find absurd)
            I take it you've only played R6: Vegas? The old games were actually... you know... "as real as it gets".

            • Re: (Score:2)

              by Darth ( 29071 )
              I've played a little bit of R6:Vegas. I've also played Rogue Spear and Raven Shield.
              I guess i'm qualified as an anti-terrorist expert.

          • It's not a matter of whether pretending to be a Power Ranger leads to increased acts of violence. The issue is that this kind of role-playing helps form the basis of the child's values. If you disagree, ask yourself if you'd want your kids playing Slaveowners and Abolitionists instead of Cowboys and Indians.

            The point of this type of play is to reinforce societies values. Children want to be the Hero so they emulate the qualities of the Hero. In many modern video games the protagonist is an Anti-Hero. GTA is

            • Re: (Score:3, Interesting)

              by Darth ( 29071 )
              It's not a matter of whether pretending to be a Power Ranger leads to increased acts of violence. The issue is that this kind of role-playing helps form the basis of the child's values. If you disagree, ask yourself if you'd want your kids playing Slaveowners and Abolitionists instead of Cowboys and Indians.

              depending on the context of how they are playing the game, i wouldnt mind them playing Slaveowners and Abolitionists. It has the opportunity for them to understand why slavery and racism are bad things.

              B
      • It corrupted mine. I use Linux AND Bittorrent. That makes me a commie-pirate-thief. I don't think there WERE M-rated games when I grew up I was out of high school in '94 when the ESRB was formed. So it MUST have been the violent movies.
      • when I was growing up I watched a whole bunch of violet movies and it didn't "corrupt my moral fiber"

        Like this? [imdb.com] Or like this [imdb.com]?
      • I don't think any gamer who plays modern FPS can honestly say that it didn't desensitize him (or her, of couse) to a certain degree. It became really obvious when I went to see "children of men" with some of the people I work with. The non-gamers could hardly stand the violence, and some had to look away during some scenes, while the gamers thought it was cool, and even somewhat funny.

        When I was in the army, gun training was on targets shaped like humans. They do that to get you used to shooting at humans.

  • Even zero percent is not good enough (Score:4, Insightful)

    by biocute ( 936687 ) on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:02PM (#18709755)
    Since they have been thinking of children so much, I would recommend a -1% target, so there are absolutely no kids allowed to get their hands on a M-Rated game, additionally 1% of eligible gamers will also be turned away because they couldn't produce a ID, this includes senior citizens too.
    • Please don't give them ideas. The "think of the children" crowd has probably already come up with this, but we can't be too safe.
    • Perhaps it is not young kids that should denied access to violent material. Small kids are not really strong enough to really hurt anyone (unless they have handguns etc). It's more of a problem giving the violent urge to the 16-25 year olds who're tanked up on testosterone and physically capable of hurting people.

      But that observation aside, I expect that the correlation between game violence and realworld violence is pretty weak. My kids (11 and 15) play shoot-em-ups and don't go around beating people up.

      I

      • Small kids are not really strong enough to really hurt anyone

        So many snarky responses are coming to mind...

        The worry is that the small kids are especially impressionable, not that they are especially dangerous.

        When people assert that video game violence doesn't lead to real-life violence, they're thinking too narrowly. Children may be affected in any number of ways. (As an aside, did you see The Butterfly Effect? Considering the cast and concept, it was surprisingly good. In one very memorable s

      • Re: (Score:2)

        by LKM ( 227954 )
        If games did have a negative effects on you kids, you would probably not notice it immediately.
  • Parent's pay for them anyway. Most aren't going to care about the violence or content as long as it babysits enough to keep the kid out of their hair. The other half who don't buy them for their children, just complain about it while letting lighter games occupy their children..

  • BitTorrent (Score:4, Interesting)

    by rustalot42684 ( 1055008 ) <<moc.tnuocca> <ta> <ekaf>> on Thursday April 12, 2007 @05:11PM (#18709917)
    Purchases are down, but that does not mean there are less kids out playing M-rated games. When I go to futureshop, and they refuse to sell me the game, I download it. Do I feel guilty for stealing* it? No, because they wouldn't sell it to me.

    * Yes, I know it isn't actually stealing, it's infringing copyright, but that's not the topic today.

  • Sure, the sales to minors has gone down, but I'll wager the sales to parents of those minors has gone up almost as much.
    • Exactly. It's just like alcohol and cigarette sales - many kids simply get older people to buy it for them.
  • ,Pirate bay reports.
  • Efforts to teach parents responsibility taking hold. More parents are actually putting some thought into child-rearing instead of simply buying their kids whatever they want.
  • The fact that kids are buying lower rated games doesn't really mean anything. Of all the game boxes i have sitting on my shelf, three of them are rated M: Counter Strike: Condition Zero, Halflife 2 and Dungeon Siege 2(This game is absolutely terrible in my opinion it cost me $80 and I hate it. It hardly deserves the M rating even). Of my other games: Battlefield 1942, Battlefield Vietnam, Star Wars: KOTR, Warcraft III and The Frozen Throne Expansion, Star Wars Battlefront and Guild Wars; ALL of them are rat
  • They laugh at such restrictions.

    Anime tentacle snake monsters unite!

  • Not surprising... (Score:1, Informative)

    by Anonymous Coward
    Look at dates. This is the first major survey done since 2000. The ESRB ratings system was created in 1995, and the system went through a lot of changes up until 2001. Not to mention the competing RSAC standard was still around until 1999, which served to dilute awareness about the competing system. The last time they looked at the data, the ESRB system was only five years old, and was still undergoing heavy changes, with descriptors and rating levels being added and removed. It isn't surprising that e
  • When I was 12 my mother bought me Mortal Kombat II. I did not realize this then, but now I see it as yet another incident in a pattern of bad parenting behavior.

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