19% Of Kids Can Buy M-Rated Titles?

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A new study claims that almost 1 in 5 kids can buy M-rated games. Oddly enough, about the same percentage of kids sneak into the movies, buy cigarettes, drop out of high school and / or become pregnant. Thankfully our priorities are in order so we can put an end to M-rated games once and for all. :rolleyes:

The PTC site says it sent kids between the ages of 12 and 16 to 109 stores in 14 states, and 21 of those stores sold M-rated games to kids. K-Mart and Sears were the easiest marks, failing to card 62 percent of the kids. GameStop and Toys R Us stopped every purchase attempt.
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I can understand K-mart. They are just desperate for anyone to buy anything, hehe.
 
So roughly half the number that have smoked pot if even those studies can be trusted (unlikely).

Oh Noes! Will someone think of the children and Stop the EVIL of M Rated games!!

/sarcasm off

Another statistic can be pulled from this study or out of my ass whichever you feel is more accurate (personally my ass is rarely wrong). It was also found that at least 19% of parents couldn't be bothered to be responsible for their kids purchases! :rolleyes:
 
Dekoth-E- said:
Another statistic can be pulled from this study or out of my ass whichever you feel is more accurate (personally my ass is rarely wrong). It was also found that at least 19% of parents couldn't be bothered to be responsible for their kids purchases! :rolleyes:
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You didn't even read the article, did ya.
 
I have been able to buy 18+ games since I was like 10 years old. K-mart... walmart... anywhere.

Most people working the basic stores just don't give a damn that much about it... I've even had the register ring up and say "customer, 18+?" and the cashier will just smash any button to proceed with the sale without even checking.

This most definitely happened while I owned a Sega Genesis as a little kid. If anything else, you just ask your parents or friends big brother. NEVER an issue.... next
 
Once I bought my first M rated game when I was 12, that led me down a path of robbing a store and selling my body for more rated-M video game money.
 
IMHO, as a parent, I don't give a flying F about ratings on games, tv, or movies. They are completely PC BS. I teach my kids right from wrong and this is a non-issue. Kids are not violent because of video games, they are violent for bigger problems like Mommy is a crack head and Daddy is in jail.
 
If you don't want your kid to play M-rated titles just put a parental control on the console itself - problem solved. If they can afford their own console with money they earned (NOT that you've given them) then they're mature enough to play the M-rated title anyway. Same goes if it's a PC game - if they could afford the videocard/CPU/motherboard etc without you giving them the money then they're mature enough to play an M-rated game.
 
I'd imagine most of these kids are like ones I used to run into in higher end neighborhoods when I did in home PC repair that had 50 inch DLP TVs with Tivo's in their room (this was 2002 when both were thousands of dollars) so they probably got big allowances as well.

I also fondly remember trying to advise parents that GTA was probably inappropriate for their 11 year old but was ignored or bitched at as they kid just had to have it. Unless the kid has a job they are getting the money from their parents.
 
Ryokurin said:
I'd imagine most of these kids are like ones I used to run into in higher end neighborhoods when I did in home PC repair that had 50 inch DLP TVs with Tivo's in their room (this was 2002 when both were thousands of dollars) so they probably got big allowances as well.

I also fondly remember trying to advise parents that GTA was probably inappropriate for their 11 year old but was ignored or bitched at as they kid just had to have it. Unless the kid has a job they are getting the money from their parents.
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You don't know that they have big allowances. It was possible for a 13 year old to make money with website advertisers back then (Anybody remember Netradio?) I actually started playing Everquest and selling currency when I was young, so even though I had literally NO allowance I still was buying things like TiVos when they came out. Nowadays it's even easier for a kid to say buy Everquest II, play on The Bazaar server, and sell on a Sony sanctioned/controlled site like Livegamer. Don't assume a kid has a big allowance because he has things because the truth might be that he has no allowance at all.
 
Dekoth-E- said:
I did, which is why I was being snide and sarcastic in the entire post.
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I'm referring to the part after your /sarcasm off tag.

Parents had nothing to do with sending 100+ undercover children into stores to purchase games they should not have been allowed to purchase. Had this been a survey of 100+ real children, not actors, your statement would have been plausible...
 
I typed that before I realized I had more to say and forgot to remove it..ahem lack of edit buttons here.

Really though, is it that important to keep querying me on it?
 
19%. To me that is a surpisingly good percentage, some people are making it out to be a bad thing...
 
caniba said:
IMHO, as a parent, I don't give a flying F about ratings on games, tv, or movies. They are completely PC BS. I teach my kids right from wrong and this is a non-issue. Kids are not violent because of video games, they are violent for bigger problems like Mommy is a crack head and Daddy is in jail.
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Please continue to reproduce.
 
How funny- was looking around Toys R Us the other day with my kids and noticed Lego Halo toys. Those toys were rated for kids 8+. Found it funny since the Halo game is rated M for 17+
 
caniba said:
IMHO, as a parent, I don't give a flying F about ratings on games, tv, or movies. They are completely PC BS. I teach my kids right from wrong and this is a non-issue. Kids are not violent because of video games, they are violent for bigger problems like Mommy is a crack head and Daddy is in jail.
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QFT.

"please continue to reproduce" II
 
caniba said:
IMHO, as a parent, I don't give a flying F about ratings on games, tv, or movies. They are completely PC BS. I teach my kids right from wrong and this is a non-issue. Kids are not violent because of video games, they are violent for bigger problems like Mommy is a crack head and Daddy is in jail.
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Thank god my parents are like you. First game for the n64 my mom bought me was golden eye, and the first game my grandma bought me for my n64 as well was killer instinct,
 
I like that all purchases at TRU were blocked...I worked at a TRU in Austin for three years and always laughed at the kids whose parent's had "okayed" the purchase of the game. If they were available, most times I talked the parent out of getting the game if it was rated M. However, some parents still didn't care and bought the game for their 7-year olds anyway...
 
Major Yoohoo said:
I like that all purchases at TRU were blocked...I worked at a TRU in Austin for three years and always laughed at the kids whose parent's had "okayed" the purchase of the game. If they were available, most times I talked the parent out of getting the game if it was rated M. However, some parents still didn't care and bought the game for their 7-year olds anyway...
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Quite honestly, if I was there while you were talking my mother out of buying me a game when I was I would have probably thrown something at your groin just for being a douche.
 
In other news 19% of all video games are labeled M. Most of the games I buy are labeled T or M.

If you have Netflix check out a film called This Film Is Not Yet Rated. An interesting look at how the MPAA rates films. Which isn't the ESRB, but still interesting.
 
must be doing well if 1/5 kids won't use bittorrent to make their lives much easier.
 
randomdean100 said:
Quite honestly, if I was there while you were talking my mother out of buying me a game when I was I would have probably thrown something at your groin just for being a douche.
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Yeah because the threat of the store getting penalized or the employee losing his job is worth having some underage punk kid getting a game that the rules in place say they are not old enough to play.

This isn't a issue of whether or not the ratings system is justified, but the fact that people think they are above the rules. Just another bad quality of the human race I suppose. "Oh there is a new rule? I just have to break it because I'm a rebel and I can!" I don't agree with all the rules in place in this country, but try to follow them the best I can.


They should do the study over again during the months of November - December to see just how bad this issue is when everything is about the bottom dollar.
 
In shitty UK they have changed it so that you need to be 25 to buy an 18 title. I remember going in to buy and 18 horror film and being asked for ID. I didn't have any on me being a few years past 18 not expecting it. I showed them a credit card. Still no good. So I went and bought it online.
 
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