Mature Video Games in the Minority

Steve writes "Of the record breaking $7.3 billion in video games sold in 2004, only 18 percent of them were rated "M". This is surprising, considering some media watch groups have great concern over inappropriate video games landing in the hands of children, even claiming that 60-90 percent of video games have violent themes. Filefront uncovers the real trend and includes quotes from ESRB President Patricia Vance."

Comments

Re:Huh?

[gothzilla]

Oh god not that argument. Please.
A parent defines what is inappropriate. Every parent has different views of what is appropriate and not. If a parent continually finds their child in possession of "inappropriate" materials then obviously the parent isn't parenting. Don't feel like sitting with your kid while they play X-Box? Then don't buy them an X-Box. Sheesh, it's really not that difficult.

I hate people who want to be lazy parents and force the government to do the parenting for them. Oh, and btw, I have 4 kids (two are teenagers), 2 pc's, an N64 and an X-Box so I know for a fact that these types of arguments are nothing but an excuse for laziness. If people don't want to supervise their kids then thats their problem, not everyone elses.

MOD PARENT DOWN

[Anonymous Coward]

"What percentage do you have to reach before there's a legitimate issue of "inappropriate video games landing in the hands of children"? 90%? 185%? 18% seems well above that threshold to me."

Let me get this straight - because 18% of games sold are M-rated, that means to you that these games are falling into the hands of children. First of all, that analysis is completely without any statistics to back it up in regards to what percentage of purchases are made by or for children, etc. Second of all, what are you proposing to do about this? And why aren't you complaining about the movie industry. I would bet that more than 18% of ticket sales are to movies rated R and the cost to see a movie are much lower than the cost to buy a video game. The same legal accountability is in place for those who sell tickets to minors for an R-rated movie as the person who sells an M-rated game to a minor - namely, none. And that is the way it should be. The government doesn't need to legislate this problem. Parents need to be aware of what their children are buying [especially since games are ~$50 and, presumably, children are buying games with their parent's money] and stores need to act in good faith to make sure M-rated games aren't sold to minors. Please, don't suggest the ESRB does not work without any evidence to back it up.

"Not M" != "Not violent"

[ebingo]

Not having an "M" rating doesn't mean it doesn't have a violent theme. Medal of Honor is rated "T" and it looks like it's based on a violent theme. The fact it has no blood doesn't make it any less violent: You're still shooting people and they still scream in pain.