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United States Entertainment Games

Most Children Able To Buy M-Rated Games 70

Posted by simoniker from the most-delighted dept.
Thanks to an anonymous reader for pointing to the FTC report on children buying potentially inappropriate adult-rated games. According to the survey, "69 percent of the teenage shoppers were able to buy M-rated games", but this figure is down from 85 percent in 2000 and 78 percent in 2001. However, only 27 percent of stores where the games were bought had "signs, posters, or other information to inform customers about the rating system or the seller's policy on rating enforcement", and only 24 percent asked the 13-to-16 year old child's age, in this "mystery shopper" study funded by The Office of Juvenile Justice and Delinquency Prevention.
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Most Children Able To Buy M-Rated Games More

Most Children Able To Buy M-Rated Games

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  • KaZaA, bittorrent, etc. don't check ID. If a (reasonably smart) kid can't get what they want one way, they'll get it another way.
    • yeah, "another way" being the kid's "rich kid friend" who's parents could care less if "johnny" watches skin flicks, while playing Demonic Blood Carnage v.2.0 and chatting with pedophiles about deviant acts.
  • ... the other day, what appeared to be a grandma was purchasing a game (sadly, I didn't see what the game was). The clerk asked who the game was for, and when the lady said it was for her grandson, the clerk then asked his age and said that the game she was buying was a violent game and they don't sell games like that to children. The grandma's response was: well, he had it before but it broke, so this is a replacement copy. I missed the rest of the conversation because it didn't seem too important at t
    • Stores shouldn't hold any responsibility so long as they're not selling M-rated products directly to kids. All the products are labeled with ratings and reasons why they're rated as such, purchasing the product implies that you accept the rating and are willing to make sure your kid stays on the straight and narrow. It's sad because these same parents who let their kids' game consoles do the babysitting will be the ones at the PTA meetings screaming about how kids are out of control because of exposure to
      • It's sad because these same parents who let their kids' game consoles do the babysitting will be the ones at the PTA meetings screaming about how kids are out of control because of exposure to media.

        Actually, it won't be that way because the parents that let consoles do the babysitting aren't interested enough in their children's lives to show up at a PTA meeting. Parents that care are the ones screaming about media exposure because they know that no one is standing up for the kids whose parents could ca

        • Actually, it won't be that way because the parents that let consoles do the babysitting aren't interested enough in their children's lives to show up at a PTA meeting. Parents that care are the ones screaming about media exposure because they know that no one is standing up for the kids whose parents could care less.

          I don't know about you, but I "frecking hate" being told what to do by those that have no authority over me what so ever. Hey, when I was a student I was fine with teachers, admin, and my pa
          • So what you are saying is that guidelines impose restrictions? On whom? Not you, you are an adult. Now, presumably, you as a parent will screen all materials your child has access to. Guidelines ASSIST in the screening process. You, as a parent, are the ultimate arbitreur of what if appropriate or objectionable for your kids to have access to.

            Some material is generally objectionable for children because children may not have the mental acuity and maturity to recognize appropriate behavior as potrayed in fi
    • if it's anything like fags, or other age restricted products here, once the clerk knew or suspected it was for a minor, then the clerk would be responsible.

  • This is a surprise? (Score:4, Insightful)

    by Inoshiro ( 71693 ) on Tuesday October 14, 2003 @09:13PM (#7215645) Homepage
    We're not talking about a 5$ porn mag or a 10$ package of cigarrettes. We're talking about $30-$80 of video game. Now, maybe the laws are slightly different in the US, but in Canada, most places don't let people work a wage job legally until 16. So if you're under 16, and you walk into a video game store to buy Grand Theft Auto, where did you get that money from?

    That's right! The same people who should have educated that person (and possibly be supervising that person) on what is appropriate to buy. The manager of a local video game store once said to me that if a 5 year old walks in with 80$ to buy GTA: Vice City, he has no problem selling it to the kid because there's no where else that child would've gotten the money. Video game stores are not baby sitters. If the parent is with the kid, the will remind them that the title's M-rated, but they're not going to brow beat them or take away their right to raise their children any way they want to.

    Which is what this really is about. You can raise your child any way you want to, it just so happens that most people expect that they won't have to raise their children because they can use video games as babysitting tools; thus they give them money and send them off to the video game store without supervision. Whose fault is that? Not the video game store!
    • Comment removed based on user account deletion
    • I saved, worked my way to games when I was 10-15, and then I became a pirate.

      ...anyway my parents had little control over the pillow money I saved, so even if only a few of the kids is like I was, the argument falls.

    • But what about jewish kids? I can tell you that you get a LOT of money from your Bar (or Bat) Mitzfah.
    • That manager obviously never had an irate parent come in and yell at him. I personally will not sell GTA3 or GTA:VC to kids (or Dead or Alive Extreme Beach Volleyball for that matter), and I make sure that I inform parents what exactly they are buying. Of course, that can backfire too, as I've also had a mother freak on me saying "Don't you tell me how to raise my children! They understand the difference between a game and real life! It's just a game anyway!" (The kid started yelling at me too - I love t

  • This has gone too far... (Score:4, Funny)

    by Lord Kano ( 13027 ) on Tuesday October 14, 2003 @09:54PM (#7215980) Homepage Journal
    When stores start to card EVERYONE who comes in to buy an M rated game. I'm almost 30, and I look like it. I got carded when I bought Operation Flashpoint Gold. For God's sake people, it's not like they're selling booze or guns. We're talking about VIDEOGAMES!!!!

    LK
    • Hahah. Yeah. That's when I'd walk. There are plenty of local stores that sell video games, without hassling me.

      The only place I put up with that shit is the liquor store, because it's state-run here (WA state) and they're anal about it.
  • The rules applied to movies, magazines, or other mediums should also apply to to video games. I feel it is the moral responsibility of the store to enforce them. Then if the parent or gaurdian chooses to allow their child to have access to a product, that is ok. Kids will always find ways to get access to things to they are not suppose to have. That is what part of growing up is about. We all have flipped through pornagraphic material, or watched the lastest horror flick even though we were underage. It's a
    • I think your preaching to the choir man. I've always been opposed to ESRB ratings, because I knew the problem isn't the games, it's how parents raise their children (or lack thereof). Americans are good at scape goating. Society blames video game violence, for the troubles of youth only because parents don't want to discipline their children. Their too busy acting like children themselves.

      video games don't kill people, I DO! :P
      • Parents can displine their children as much as they want. Only a few will actually listen. The majority get their influences from outside sources. I'm sorry to say but people are influence by the things we interact with Be it fiction or non-fiction, people, life experiences, and even omg video games!
        • Your probably right about that. After all, I was raised during the nintendo era. My hero is Mario, and when I was young I always dreamed of being a plumber who shot fire from his hand, and ate "magic mushrooms" to grow bigger. No, I agree video games do influence. But I don't see alot of teens car jacking, and cop killing because they were playing GTA3/vice city. If kids become pyscho, its not because of the video games, its because they had something wrong with them in the first place. Also, the point i
    • The rules applied to movies, magazines, or other mediums should also apply to to video games.

      Let's see:
      magazines: Anything that isn't regulated by porn laws is up to the individual stores. An 8-year-old can easily buy High Times, Guns & Ammo, and Maxim.

      movies: Anything that isn't regulated by porn laws is up to the individual stores (or theaters). It's slightly harder for an 8-year-old to get into a PG-13 movie at the theater, but they can buy them, and R movies, quite easily.

      There aren't even any
      • Well that's not the case in Canada. I don't know what the laws are. But I do know of my life time it was always a pain to buy certain magazines, even High Times is sometimes hard to buy if you are minor.

        As for movies if you are not off age based on the rating for the movie there is no way in hell you can get into seeing. I'm 25 now, and hell man I got carded for trying to House of 1000 Corpses.

        As for buying movies on the hand. Most stores don't care, unless it is porn.

        But to rent a movie on the other ha

  • don't look past the context (Score:3, Informative)

    by bigbigbison ( 104532 ) * on Tuesday October 14, 2003 @10:30PM (#7216175) Homepage
    While I am sure that Jack Thompson and the Lion and the Lamb group will latch onto this number, keep in mind that videogames were not the worst. According to the survey 81% were able to buy mature dvd's and 83% were able to buy mature music. Remember this, because I'm sure the anti-videogame zealots won't.
  • Anyone whos worked in retail, or simply listened to someone who worked in retail, knows that dealing with morons is a daily task. People are just getting lazier and stupider these days and this is reflecting on their children. This seems to be materializing in the form of ignorance.

    We all know the ESRB is doing its best to teach the public about their ratings, but quite frankly most people ignore them. Now whos job is it to tell a 9 year old kid who comes into a store with a hundred dollars to buy GTA:VC

    • So what if they do catch on, do they care? After all, if they stop their little Johnny from having it he'll complain that Timmy in school has it, and.. well, you can guess the complaints. Parents will give it to their kids because they don't care enough to say no, explain why and make sure their kid understands why they aren't being allowed to do it. So much easier and quieter just to give them the cash, boot them out to the shop and pretend that everything will be okay because everyone else does it.

      Hell i
  • Am I the only one here who thinks that the whole rating system is retarded anyway? Kids are gonna grow up eventually. Just what practical purpose do we serve by censoring them to sex, drugs, and violence? It just encourages rebellious kids to go learn the hard way on their own. People don't like being censored. Especially kids.
    • I agree with you that the rating system is lame, but not for the same reasons. First, I think its anemic, because few people take it seriously. Parents still buy blood bath 4, T&A raider, or jiggly fighter X for their ten year old. Parents, got their way, and got a rating system, but has it really worked? I think not. Second, people still complain about video game violence. Well, if we have a rating system, then in theory, violent/sexually explicit games should be taken out of the hands of the kids. Th
      • Yeah, most definitely. It's not working. But do we need it at all? Are our kids really in need of this kind of protection in the first place? It's not working because no one takes it seriously.
  • Perhaps I'm hopelessly libertarian in these sentiments, but doesn't it seem cheaper, more effective, and much more efficient to allow parents to control what their children can access?

    Great, yes, put on the packaging that the game contains nudity/violence/swearing/whatever, but don't legally restrict anyone from buying it. The state can't insure that, for example, the kid doesn't sniff his new bottle of whiteout in his room -- at some point, we MUST fall back on parental oversight. Why don't we use it by d
    • cause that's hard to do. Actually spending time with your kids is hard work. And after working all day, who wants to spend time with them. Let alone tell them not to do bad things. Its so much easier to program your tv, vcr, dvd player, PS2, etc... to block explicit material from your kids. Which btw, assumes you know how to program the v-chip stuff, and that your kids don't know the override code (EG: PS2 has a general code to unlock the censoring).
    • The parents can't be there with thier 14 year old kids 24/7.
      I picked up GTA:Vice City and have been loving it, but there is no way I'd let anyone under 18 (even 21) play this game. It's not he violence, it's the sex/nudity and language that really gives it the "M" rating (Should of been an "A" IMO). If I saw a kid buying this game I would have to raise my voice to the seller about it.
      It's not about "If the kid is mature enough" it's about "If the kid is responsable enough". And I know that most kids High
      • So on your moral compass having sex with a hooker is significantly worse than shooting someone in the face? You're an interesting character.

        And you're going to restrict a 19 year old from playing GTA? Hmm, they're old enough to go to war and shoot real people and sample hookers from around the world but simulating these acts is too much. I'm all for the ratings system so that parents can know what their children are doing but I also believe that there are some people under the age of 18, who are mature enou

        • Ah, the good 'ol 'Slashdot is only skin deep' defense...
          Completely ignoring the 14 year olds getting porn statement also. maybe if I put that in the beginning you would of finished reading before getting all steamed over sex > violence *sigh*
          In America, violence is an every day even that can not be escaped. News, TV, movies, games. But hardcore sex is not something everyone can handle. We already have an overpopulation problem and to think sex does not contribute to this problem? Not to mention a lack
          • And yes, those few 'kids' that are mature enough to handle playing GTA are treated unfair by the system...THAT is when the parent should be able to say yes or no. Don't just let them have things, know what your getting your kids and know if they can handle it...ignorance is no excuse

            But you're making comparisons to porn here. In the US, it's illegal to give kids access to porn, even if you are their parent and believe they're mature enough to handle it.

            That's what's really twisted about the whole sex is
      • It's not he violence, it's the sex/nudity and language that really gives it the "M" rating

        What? Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've run through the entire Vice City storyline, and I've never seen any nudity and only occasionally heard some relatively mild language (certainly nothing that every 10-year-old in the country hasn't heard). If there was any reason that young kids shouldn't play this game, it'd be the violence.

        Would you buy porn for your 14 year old?

        I doubt I'd ever buy porn for anyone, because t

        • Correct me if I'm wrong, but I've run through the entire Vice City storyline, and I've never seen any nudity and only occasionally heard some relatively mild language

          If you call "Fucker" "Shithead" "Cocksucker" and "Bitch" mild...
          You must of missed the "Movie Studio" missions with Candy Suxxx where the last mission is to modify a spot light to display a large pair of breasts on the side of a building...not to mention the cut scenes with vivid descriptions of sex and the act of, everything short of nudit

  • ugh. (Score:1)

    by h0mer ( 181006 )
    The replies I've read so far have made me sick. Of course video games should be subject to the restrictions of movies and music. So far the general sentiment has been "let the parents take care of it", which I agree with, but the ratings system is a nice backup.

    What's that you say? The kids will find a way to play it anyways? That's the way it should be. Every kid looks at a porno magazine or watches a bad movie etc. However, it shouldn't be right there for them to indulge. This is the same problem that ca
    • The replies I've read so far have made me sick. Of course video games should be subject to the restrictions of movies and music. So far the general sentiment has been "let the parents take care of it", which I agree with, but the ratings system is a nice backup. ...
      Everyone says that video games are just as much of an artistic medium as anything else, so why shouldn't they be subject to the same restrictions?

      They already are. There are no restrictions on music or movies outside of obscenity and porn laws.
    • Kids watching porn or whatever doesn't bother me, either. If parents think kids need the world shielded from them, let the parents do the shielding. I see no reason to require some clerk selling software to do it.
  • Most M-rated games aren't really rated M for anything that bad. So you shoot a guy, whoopie-doo. You see that on the news every day. 99% of the time, the M-rated games aren't anything to worry about.

    When Grand Theft Auto: Vice City came out, however, the people at EB were asking everyone for ID - and if the parents WERE there, they would explain to the parent what the game is about - and most wouldn't buy it.

    Some parents did, however. I overheard one woman who bought it for her eight-year-old son. Her rea
  • At our Local Wal-mart they have the same rules for M-Rated games as they do for R-rated movies. you have to be at least 17, I have seen kids try to buy them and they wont let them.
    • One more reason not to shop at walmart. I'm surprised they even sell R rated movies anymore.
      • You know, usually I'm the first to start Wal-Mart bashing, but in this case I think they're on the right track. Why exactly do you think it's a bad thing to not sell M rated games to little kids? Would you prefer a store where children can by hardcore porn over somewhere where they check ID?

        I don't care for censorship, but I do believe in age-related restrictions.

        • Of course, we all know how good Wal-Mart is about actually doing these things
          Wal-Mart stops selling guns in California after nearly 500 violations of CA firearms laws [go.com]

          I actually like Wal-Mart's system with games and movies even if it's only because they actually carry the stuff. I'm always a little leary about buying movies, music, and games at Wal-Mart after the early-to-mid-90s, when half of what you'd buy there would be censored and wouldn't have much of a label to let you know it. At least if they're
        • I think stores should be able to sell what they want to who ever wants to buy it (as long as the product is legal). Why should the store be responsible for what the purchaser does with the product? They are just the middleman. I decide to give them money, they give me a product. It ends there.

          Its just one more example of parents not willing to be parents and wanting the gov't and industry to babysit their kids for them.
  • my parents kept the violent games from me until i was 10 (didn't have a console til then, even then it was a 2nd hand genesis), first 'violent' game = DOOM, i had played it many times before, am i a violent person... HELL NO! parenting really counts before age 10, it is the parent's responsibility, but frankly some of these M rated games are rated M for no reason. Duke Nukem: manhattan Project, rated M, WTF? i played the original at age 10, no problems there... oy. bought diablo II a few weeks ago M rated
  • I think it should be up to the parents to decide what games are appropriate for their children, not a rating system. I grew up playing all sorts of games from an early age because my dad got all sorts of them. The only games he didn't let me play were the liesure suit larry ones (but I did get to play them when they came out in vga! :) ).

    Other then that, I played all sorts of violent games. Anyone remember manhunter, those awesome sierra adventure game? Those were bloody violent, let me tell you. I played
    • GTA has hookers in it. Which automatically makes it fifty times worse than shooting people in the face.
      • I can't tell if you're being sarcastic or not, but in case you're not, I'd just like to point out that I played all the way through GTA3 and Vice City several times without ever realizing that you can pick up a hooker. It's really not an important part of the game.
        • I was hopefully being sarcastic.

          But, seriously, that's all I hear about, the fact you can pick up hookers and kill them. Like that's somehow worse than running over a work crew or gunning down random passerbys.

  • I don't understand most of the comments here. How is it that parental control and involvement are good, and the Rating System is bad? Without the rating system, how is a non-gaming parent supposed to know why a game might be inappropriate?

    I expect movie theatres to enforce their posted age restrictions, and stores to enforce their posted age restrictions. If I think that they are being overly strict, then hell, I'll buy my son the ticket, or the game, or the book, or whatever. But then it's my decision.

    • The rating system is bad because it is not being enforced. Parents asked for a rating system, but do not take advantage of it. If I (the parent) buy my kid T&A raider for my 7 year old, knowing full well that it is M, and I listen to my kid over the store clerk, then what is the point of having a rating sytem? Also, in some cases, a game's rating is much higher than it should be.

      At the same time, parents still complain about kids getting violent games, and video games being too violent. Well, the times
    • BTW, I think that a good, functional rating system is the only way that we get to have the full spectrum of games available to everyone.

      Exactly. I recall that before the movie ratings system was introduced, there were horribly strict regulations on what a movie could have, content-wise. Among other things, husbands and wives were not allowed to sleep in the same bed. It's implied that members of the opposite gender who weren't married couldn't either. Then the ratings system was introduced, and people cou

    • I think the rating system is bad because it's too simplistic. I don't know the specifics, but it's obviously something like X amount of sex/violence=>M-Rating. So, (some) parents just let others decide what is an appropriate amount for their kids.

      I've seen nothing saying that video games are causally related to long term aggression or violence. Or, the "objectification of women"(for the rare sex stuff). Not that I think it's neccessarily bad to be treated as a sex object. I wouldn't mind it occasio
  • Not to go against the "pop" pychology vein here, but has it occured to anyone that if you cannot tell fantasy from reality your probably already crazy!! I mean call me strange, no really do, but does it seem a little weird to anyone else that; Person A shoots Person B, so instead of punishing Person A, as the law and commonsense call for, we look for any and all means to alleviate their guilt. Actions, not motivations matter. Did A actually shoot B? Yes? Then bring on the lethal injection! Or life imprison

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