Washington House Democrats

Young secret shoppers buy video games meant for mature audiences

Dickerson, Kerlikowske say study shows that parents need to be vigilant 

Aug. 27, 2007

OLYMPIA—Children in King County can still buy ultra-violent video games meant for mature audiences despite age warnings that appear on the game boxes, a new secret shopper study has found.

            “The kids in our King County study found that sales clerks ignored age ratings on video games about half of the time,” said state Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle.

            Dickerson spearheaded the Aug. 17 secret shopper study of six King County stores to test whether area retailers are honoring the video-game rating system created by the national Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB).

            Video-game manufacturers use ESRB ratings to help parents choose age-appropriate games for their children. The ratings range from EC for “Early Childhood” to AO for “Adults Only.” Games rated “M” are intended only for persons age 17 or older due to sexual content or graphic depictions of extreme violence.

            “The problem is that underage kids can often plunk down their money and buy the games without their parents’ knowledge or consent,” said Dickerson. “Sales clerks who ignore the ratings are undermining the right of parents to restrict their children’s games.”

            In the recent King County study, children ages 12 and 16 were able to buy games intended for older youth or mature adults in four of eight attempts.

            In one case, Nhautrey Brown, a 12-year-old girl from Seattle, purchased Mortal Kombat Armageddon despite labels on the game box that warned the game is intended for mature audiences due to “blood and gore” and “intense violence.”

According to GameDaily.com, Mortal Kombat Armageddon offers “lots and lots of gore,” including interactive opportunities to shred opponents in meat grinders, throw them into pools of acid and “rip out a guy's eyeballs.”

            "It surprised me how easy it was to buy the game,” said Brown. “I asked the guy at Target to get it out of the case for me.  He didn't even look at the game and he just let us buy it.  It was very easy." 

            Seattle Police Chief Gil Kerlikowske said the Dickerson study shows that parents need to be vigilant about their children’s video game choices.

“It is clear that sales personnel are not always attentive to keeping inappropriate and violent video games out of the hands of children,” Kerlikowske said.  “Parents and guardians need to be aware of the game ratings and make sure that cop-killer and other ultra-violent games are kept out of the hands of their loved ones.”

            Dickerson expressed disappointment that underage kids were able to buy inappropriate games so frequently.

            “I respect the fact that some national chains such as Best Buy are aggressively pursuing strategies to decrease the likelihood that children can buy these mature games,” Dickerson said. “However, our study shows that more progress is still needed and that parents are still the only reliable monitors of their children’s games.”

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