E for Everyone

Updated April 28, 2011
I always find it interesting when I’m trying to purchase game and I get asked for my id. However, the next time I’m purchasing one and they don’t even card me at all, even though I’m buying the same type of game. It makes me curious on how many times does a kid who is not of age can purchase an M rated game and not be carded.

A study by the Federal Trade Commission (FTC), reported in an April 22 PCMag.com article, found that video game retailers are quiet strict when it comes to enforcing the ratings of their video games, while music and video stores are least likely to check if the individual is of age. The article continued to state: that video game retailers are quiet strict when it comes to enforcing the ratings of their video games, while music and video stores are least likely to check if the individual is of age. The article continued to state:

Secret Shopper Results from over the years

The FTC recruited kids ages 13 to 16 to buy music, movie tickets, DVDs, and video games, without a parent, between November 2010 and January 2011. They were instructed to pick up movie tickets and DVDs for R-rated movies, CDs with parental advisory labels that warned of explicit content, and video games that were rated "M" for mature.

The FTC found that video-game stores were the strictest, only allowing 13 percent of the undercover teens to purchase mature or M rated content. That's down from 20 percent when the FTC last conducted this study in 2009. FTC sent teenagers into Best Buy, Game Stop, Kmart, Target, Toys R Us, and Wal-Mart to purchase the games.

The worst company that was selling video games rated “M” to shoppers was Wal-Mart, while the best retailer for carding shoppers was Target.

Where the ESRB puts the rating symbols and content descriptor

The Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB) is a non-profit and self-regulatory body that was established in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Association. The rating system that ESRB uses is voluntary, however all games that are sold by retail in the U.S. or Canada have to be rated by the ESRB. Several major retailers have policies to only stock or sell games that have been rated by ESRB. In an average year the ESRB will be assigned to rate over 1,000 video games. In 2010 the ESRB completed 1,638 rating assignments.

ESRB ratings were designed to provide brief and impartial information about the content of a video game. ESRB ratings consist of two equal parts the rating symbols which say what is age appropriate and then content descriptors which tell individuals what elements are in the game that made the board give that particular rating for that game. More information about rating symbols and content descriptors can be found here.

As an April 21 Globe and Mail article points out, the study was conducted right around the same time that when the FTC did their study it was at the time when the U.S. Supreme Court was debating this high profile case that was concerning the sales of violent video games.  Arnold Schwarzenegger former governor of California thinks that the video game industry isn’t preventing kids from purchasing violent games. He thinks that the government needs to step in.