GameStop Cracks Down on Underage Game Sales

Via GamePolitics, which has commentary of its own on the situation, a report on the Destructoid site pointing out a new, harsher penalty for GameStop employees that sell M-Rated games to minors. To be blunt: they're fired. Not only that but their managers are fired too, for failing to keep an eye on them. This new policy was set down last week in a conference call, which also warned that 'secret shopper' sub-17-year-olds would be trying to keep game store employees on their toes. The article quotes statistics from the ESRB saying that the M-rated policy has, in the past, only been enforced 65% of the time. I would imagine this will work to fix that.

Manager Fired too

[maddskillz]

Is the manager expected to work so closely to the employee, that they see every transaction that takes place? If so, couldn't they just use the manager to do the work, and get rid of the employee?

Thank god.

[Sneftel]

No, seriously. As someone entering the video game development industry, and who doesn't want to see the industry shackled by a decade of Hayes-code-esque "decency laws", I think it's about time for retailers to start picking up the slack WRT enforcement. Sooner or later the Jack Thompsons of the world are not going to be batshit insane self-destructors, and when that happens we need to be able to show that heavy-handed legislation is not the solution to keeping video games age-appropriate.

Manhunt 2

[amrust]

Manhunt 2 is released this summer. In-store sales for that game will likely be adversely affected by this policy. I wonder how the Gamestop execs will feel after they miss out on the majority of sales of one of the hottest games for the PS2, during the summer school vacation break?

Not saying it's a game for kids. I'm just saying it's probably the parents job of being mindful of what their kids are playing, rather than leaving it up to some retailer.

Re:Manager Fired too

[HappySqurriel]

#1 rule for success as a manager ... hire employees who don't need to be managed

You may not always have the option (the current labour shortage in Calgary means even terrible employees can't be fired) but, in general, if you have to look over an employee's shoulder in order to ensure they're doing what you told them they weren't a good hire.

In other news...

[dada21]

A surge of non-video-game-playing 18 to 24 year olds have been seen purchasing games from GameStop that they have no interest in playing. When questioned, they said "I don't even have that console." Experts are unsure of why these post-teenage shoppers would be purchasing games and then quickly losing them, but experts will be watching closely to understand the phenomenon.

Manager fired

[GoRK]

So all I really need to do if I hate my manager and don't care about my job is sell an M game to a 16 year old? This sounds like a really fun way to quit your crap Gamestop job while taking someone else (you probably hate) out with you. I have had a couple of jobs I would have exited a lot more readily if it meant that my boss would also be fired also.

The only way this will reasonably work is if the point-of-sale system requires manager approval to sell an M rated game. Hopefully the (ahem) genius that devised the ridiculous policy will at least figure out this simple way to make it somewhat fair.

About time

[Jaqenn]

It is my understanding that the movie industry adopted a rating system in order to prevent the eventual regulation of the movie industry. The game industry needs the same thing. The game industry has the same thing, but if it's not enforced by the retailers then it means nothing. Kudos to Gamestop for enforcing the existing system, so that an aspiring senator doesn't invent a new one.

Re:Manager Fired too

[AKAImBatman]

Is the manager expected to work so closely to the employee, that they see every transaction that takes place?

No, they're expecting the manager to "take care" of the problem before his boss or corp ever hears about it. By adding this threat, they're hoping to get the managers to take their job seriously. Which means communicating how critical this rule is, as well as enforcing it if they do become aware of a violation. If a manager fails to take it seriously, the matter will eventually get back to the powers-that-be through either "mystery shoppers" or parental complaints.

Re:I blame the parents

[Jeff DeMaagd]

"better parenting" only works to a certain extent. Unless you have some sort of totalitarian level of snooping, which implies that the parent has no trust in the youth, then it's going to be easy to hide anything that's not up to the parent's standard.

I do agree that it's not the store's job to enforce parental standards.

Re:Manager fired

[Lithdren]

Good point. If I was in management at a GameStop, i'd start looking for another Job.

Going to take one punk kid with a bad attitude, to get you fired, because they dont feel like following the rules? If the manager has to stand there and be sure every transaction is done correctly, or THEY are fired, why bother with the kid at the front counter? The dang manager will end up doing all the sales.

Typical corporate mandates that are not considered, before enforced.

Re:Manhunt 2

[Itchyeyes]

Certainly some of them will do that, but a good portion of them will just go find an older brother or an irresponsible parent to buy it for them. Less than 10% of games are purchased by someone under 18. I understand that it's important for companies like Gamestop to be responsible about selling to minors, but these rules are almost worthless when it comes to keeping violent games out of the hands of children. The onus is on the parents to ensure that their children aren't playing these games. They're the only ones with any real control over the situation.

Re:Manager Fired too

[radish]

It's called taking responsibility. As a manager (not at GameStop I should add), if someone working for me screws up to such a level as to require someone to be fired, that someone should be me - I'm ultimately responsible for the actions of my team. A manager's role is to a large degree one of control and oversight, it's my job to make sure that the right people are given responsibilities, that they understand them, that they have whatever resources they need, and that they are trustworthy.

I was going to say to boycott them..

[necro2607]

You know, I don't support restricting availability of software to "younger" gamers.

If you've played the game Postal (the first one, not the recent FPS "Postal 2"), you'll know it's excessively violent and pretty extreme what with people crawling along in agony, leaving a trail of blood on the ground behind them...

Anyway, I picked up a copy at the age of 13, despite various warnings right on the box (made by the game developer themselves not some parental-advisory group).

Playing Postal at the age of 13 didn't do a damned single negative thing. In fact it gave me a great way to release my pent up anger and frustration about the world around me during those times. If anything it was more *therapeutic* to me, than influential in a harmful way. This is of course merely my own experience and I'm a pretty "dark" kind of person to begin with, so violent stuff doesn't phase me, for instance loving movies like Natural Born Killers, Se7en, American History X etc. all throughout my teenage years...

Anyway, I was going to say I'll boycott GameStop, but I don't buy software anymore unless I *really* like it... ;)

It's ironic...

[gillbates]

It used to be that alcohol was a part of man's daily life. Making water into beer and wine kept it potable for long periods of time. While "underage" - if you could call it that - drinking wasn't illegal, it was generally frowned upon for a man to let his son or daughter get roaring drunk. There was family oversight of drinking activities, which tended to restrain people from getting totally sloshed. That, and the fact that hard liquor hadn't been invented...

As the industrial era came upon us, families generally stopped producing alcohol. They could buy it more cheaply from the brewery than they could make it. Consequently, there came about laws which prevented minors from purchasing alcohol. Now the state had to step in to prevent unscrupulous shopkeepers from profiteering from inappropriate drinking. The rationale was pretty good - underage drinking does have deletrious effects on developing minds and bodies.

Still later, when the dangers of tobacco became apparent, selling it to minors was prohibited. Again, it was done with the intention of protecting children, and given that nicotine is more addictive than heroin, it didn't seem like such a bad law.

Now, in the Land of the Future(TM), selling strings of bits to minors is prohibited. Somehow, we are supposed to believe that children are not capable of dealing with violent video games, even though they'll see 16,000 murders on tv by the time they are 18. This restriction, mind you, from the same society that considers Jack Bauer torturing a suspect on national tv to be entertainment. Show it all you want on tv, but don't dare let a minor buy a violent video game.

What an improvement to society!