Study of M-rated Games Sold to Underage Buyers

[Freakin' Duck]

GamePolitics.com: PTC Spanks Game Industry, Praises GameStop, Best Buy in Secret Shopper Report

 

Did you or someone you know ever buy an M-rated game while under the age of 17? If so, from what retailer? Also, which retailers, if any, denied the sale?

[Atari5200]

kinda off topic but not. Best Buy a couple days ago. My son, whom just turned 2, and I go into Best Buy to purchase Bioshock.

 

The guy at the counter then proceeds to tell me how the game is rated M and not geared towards children. Sorta shocked, and trying not to laugh, I tell him that yeah it's mine, my son's a tad bit too young to be playing Bioshock.

 

Little extreme there, or the guy seriously thought my 2 year old was going to be playing Bioshock.

Edited July 24, 2008 by Atari5200

[goodwill_gamer]

when i was in retail, they told us that we were to sell m rated titles at our own descretion. so, yeah... i did have a lady get super pissed at me for selling her son a goatwhore cd, though. i guess things are tighter now.

[wstankew]

The only 2 times I was ID'd for buying games was when I picked up RE: Code Veronica for the DC (I was underaged but my dad was with me and told them it was alright), and GTA: San Andreas (at which time I had proper ID)... Coincidentally, each instance was at a different Toys'r'us. It seems they have a handle on things, but i have my own opinions. This is a good (and recent) article about game rating laws: http://arstechnica.com/news.ars/post/20080...me-ratings.html

 

for those not wanting to read the whole thing it can be boiled down to these two paragraphs:

 

"In the gaming world, we can see the same conflict in how different games are rated. Halo 3 was given a Mature rating, and the ESRB added "Blood and Gore, Mild Language, Violence" as the content descriptors. Now, Condemned 2 is also rated Mature, for "Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Use of Drugs and Alcohol." One of these games is hardly disturbing: the violence and "gore" in Halo is mostly alien in nature, and the weapons are mostly futuristic and sci-fi in look and feel. It's an exciting game, but not an intense one, the violence and questionable content is more in tune with something like Star Wars than anything else.

 

Condemned 2, on the other hand, shows you beating bums to death with lead pipes while drinking found bottles of bourbon to keep your alcoholism-related shakes to a minimum. You also see ritualistic murder, and your nose is shoved in a very terrifying underworld of madness. But it shares the same rating with Halo 3, along with many of the same descriptors. Parents thinking that since their children plays the M-rated Halo 3 could be in for a shock when picking up games like Condemned. "

Edited July 25, 2008 by wstankew

[Ryanw]

I remember getting stopped twice to buy an M Rated game. One time was at Wal Mart but I don't remember the game, the other was at Gamestop for GTA: Vice City Stories. Since I look under 17, I usually am prepared to show ID when I buy M - Rated games but I was only ever stopped once and that was for Vice City Stories.