Fewer Kids Buying Adult Games; But Don't Expect The Press To Tell You That
from the say-what-now? dept
Matt writes in to point out that the FTC has released a study about the film and video game industry's ability to self-regulate when it comes to minors purchasing adult content. The report shows a very positive trend, in the video game space, where the number of children buying "M" rated games has been cut in half since 2000. However, as Matt points out, that doesn't make for interesting headlines. Instead, folks like the NY Times come up with the following headline: Report Says the Young Buy Violent Games and Movies. Matt says: "Given video games' prominent place in the headline, one would assume that the article would cover the report's findings on video game sales to minors. However, the nearly 1000-word article devotes only 3 lines to those findings. The rest of the article covers the report's findings on the film industry, which fared much worse in the FTC study."Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
I think the headline is misleading as well, but I won't use an ad-hominem attack to try to prove it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
No kidding...
For instance, I give you the Wii. At least 9/10 people will tell you that the Wii is amazing (or that they really want to try it), yet I doubt Wii has many (if any) "Mature" titles.
Plus.. games like GTA are just becoming BORING now.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No kidding...
For instance, I give you the Wii. At least 9/10 people will tell you that the Wii is amazing (or that they really want to try it), yet I doubt Wii has many (if any) "Mature" titles.
Plus.. games like GTA are just becoming BORING now."
LOL!!! The Wii amazing? That must be why no one I know is least bit interested in it. LOL!!! Sure it's "amazing" IF you like games made for people with very short attention spans and kids.
Games like GTA boring? THAT must be why they sell so well... Maybe we should call you Captain Obvious? Or maybe not. ;-) Could you any more like a Wii fanboy?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: No kidding...
And yes. GTA is soooo boring. Once you beat its lame. And I mean REALLY lame.
And it'd be f'ing awesome if you called me Captain Obvious. I've always wanted to be a Captain. Do I get a ship?
/end sarcasm
Dumbass.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: No kidding...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Yeah!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Yeah!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Actually they don't. Such laws have been introduced in various states and they have all been struck down as unconstitutional. That was the whole point of the FTC's study, to determine how well the industry is self regulating itself.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
Sorry but no there isn't. The video game rating system is VOLUNTARY same as the motion picture rating system. It's not illegal for a someone younger than 17 to go see an NC17 rated film. It's up to the movie theaters to enforce the rating. Much like it's up to the retailers to enforc the videogame rating system.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
be curious to know...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Techdirt's Hypocrisy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Techdirt's Hypocrisy
If a game is rated 16+, should your 8yo then be able to buy that game. Of course not! And it's good news that this report points out that less kids buy games that are not suitable for their age-group.
Please use some common sense...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Techdirt's Hypocrisy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Techdirt's Hypocrisy
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
"If, as Mike contends, video games have no impact whatsoever on violence, then it should make no difference what kind of games kids buy. But now he is proud that kids are buying fewer violent games."
He's not saying it's good or bad that kids are buying them less. He's saying the mainstream press is acting like the numbers are increasing when they're actually decreasing.
"If a game is rated 16+, should your 8yo then be able to buy that game. Of course not!"
I dunno...I started playing 'Teen' rated games when I was 6 years old, with the original 'Command and Conquer'. Didn't hurt me any. In fact, I've got a 4.3 GPA this year and next year, as a high-school senior, I'm gonna be taking a few classes at the local college. And I credit that mostly to those games. Starts with editing rules.ini, ends up editing fstab.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Cyclops from Astonishing X-Men #7: "The news isn't there to tell you what happened. It's there to tell you what it wants you to hear, or what it thinks you want to hear. They already have their stories worked out. They just wait for events to fill in the blanks. When they don't fit, they get sidelined or twisted until they do."
I think there is a lot of truth there.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: to Matt
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: to Matt
That's a corporate policy, not a government law. Stores like those enact those policies to comply with the Entertainment Software Ratings Board's policies. These groups do this because they know that if they don't control the sale of violent games to minors, the government will try to step in and do it for them; it's the same situation with the MPAA and their ratings boards. As I said before, the FTC report was intended to measure how well these companies are succeeding at this on their own.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: to Matt
FYI, as far as I know, the movie industy's rating system is the same way. No laws there (because they would be unconstitutional), they just willingly comply so "everyone" is happy. Media industries understand that it's best for everyone to self regulate than get the law involved.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re: to Matt
Regardless of where they get their "source" if all they are looking to verify is that the ratings are having n affect, then fine.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Piracy
"With cool new gaming developments on under 'M' ratings, who needs to buy 'Mature' games. For instance, I give you the Wii. At least 9/10 people will tell you that the Wii is amazing (or that they really want to try it), yet I doubt Wii has many (if any) 'Mature' titles. Plus.. games like GTA are just becoming BORING now."
LOL!!! The Wii amazing? That must be why no one I know is least bit interested in it. LOL!!! Sure it's "amazing" IF you like games made for people with very short attention spans and kids. Games like GTA boring? THAT must be why they sell so well... Maybe we should call you Captain Obvious? Or maybe not. ;-) Could you any more like a Wii fanboy?
All I have to say to that is "wow." My little brother (who has a very short attention span) finds more enjoyment in GTA then any Wii game he's ever touched. Even worse, you're called him Captain Obvious. GTA has probably sold so well (in comparison to the Wii) because (a) it's been in the market longer and (b) it has a price tag much less then $400, not to mention it is on 3 different platforms and "piratable" (that's not even a word).
Oh, Norman619, if you used less "LOL"s in your sentances you wouldn't come off as such a moron. Just a tip.
-B
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Desensitization...
I'm not sure what outcome this will have though...
What happens to desensitized children?
-B
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
What does this mean?
Or because their parents are buying the games for them?
I don't like violent/gross video games, but I figure adults can play whatever they want. And if we don't want kids to play them, it's up to their parents to take the time to stop for FIVE MINUTES and watch what their kids are playing.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Comments
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Comments
Quothe me earlier: "I'm about to do something extremely geeky, and quote a comic book.
Cyclops from Astonishing X-Men #7: "The news isn't there to tell you what happened. It's there to tell you what it wants you to hear, or what it thinks you want to hear. They already have their stories worked out. They just wait for events to fill in the blanks. When they don't fit, they get sidelined or twisted until they do."
I think there is a lot of truth there."
[ link to this | view in chronology ]