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The Tale of Wal-Mart, Jack, and Bully
GamePolitics is reporting on something that seems like a simple decision: Wal-mart is no longer accepting pre-orders for unrated games. As a 'family-friendly' establishment, it makes a certain amount of sense. The catch is that, in the eyes of many, one of the U.S.'s largest retailers is bowing to pressure from Jack Thompson. The company denies these claims, with Kotaku running a short discussion with John Simley, Wal-mart spokesperson. From that article: "Simley says it has nothing to do with Bully, but rather is the outcome of discussions that the company has been in for 'weeks if not months' about how to handle rating pending titles. Bricks and mortars stores have never accepted pre-orders for RP titles, he added. 'I'd like to give credit to Jack Thompson, but there are a lot of Jack Thompsons out there and we are just listening to our customers,'"
... now get the rest of the RP games out there off the preorder list. If you're going to do it for violent or racier games, then I expect to see every unrated, family safe Disney game get the same treatment before release.
"Common sense will be the death of us all"
The problem is that it appears that Thompson managed to influence one of the larger companies in the States towards his agenda.
Cynical Idealist
I actually agree with this. I wouldn't necessarily allow a kid to preorder a game that might be rated M or above (unless it was named 'Elmo's Adventure' or the such). Similar to movies, I wouldn't want a young kid to get a R or higher rated movie just because when the preorder was out it was "unrated." At least they finally take the ESRB seriously for what they were created for.
Walmart has always been on that side of the fence.
Anyone else think the comments just weren't rendering right before they turned off ABP and saw ads?
The most terrifying words ever uttered: "There are a lot of Jack Thompsons out there."
Anonymous Luddite: "What do you think of the dehumanizing effects of the Internet?"
Andy Grove: "Not Much."
I agree. I don't see this a big deal at all and probably has little to do with Jack(off). Wal-Mart is notorious for selling the clean/edited/lame version of everything. ;)
The problem here is that Walmart is THE largest retailer, so if they don't carry something, there's almost half as much chance for it to be sold. Walmart generally doesn't carry anything rated over Teen, BUT it carries all the R rated, if not even Unrated DVDs for some reason..... So this makes publishers/investors less likely to put their money behind M rated games, and does affect the industry in the long run...
:(
However, last time I checked Bully was probably only gonna get a Teen rating, but with Rockstar's past, the ESRB may just give it an R out of spite. This whole situation sickens me
"A truly wise man realizes he knows nothing."
Wal-Mart has always had this stance. I doubt Jack has anything to do with it. I still remember back when Mortal Kombat came out and they didn't carry the Genesis version because there was blood in it. But they had the SNES version becuase it was colored gray (sweat).
This sig isn't original enough, it's time to come up with something witty...
Why do people fall for the whole preorder scam? Giving a store your hard earned money months in advance for something you have yet to recieve is foolish - once you factor in interest you are paying *more* for the game than you would if you just waited until release day - and there are *never* shortages of games on release day.
I understand that this seems incredibly bogus, and I agree. However, you have to understand where Wal-mart does the bulk of its business, in my experience. This decision didn't come down to affect scientifically enlightened locations like Silicon Valley or New York City. These are areas where if the local church objects, there will be mass boycotts and negative media attention, because EVERYONE in town goes to that church. And, of course, the local church will object to anything that sounds like it's not a) conservative, b) WWJD, c) wont someone think of the children, etc.
stuff |
The problem with Wal-Mart being the largest is that they, all by themselves control sizable portion of the retail market.
It's extremely common for companies to make special versions of products specifically tailored to Wal-Mart's specifications, probably the most visible example of this is sanitized versions of music CDs but it also occurs in other product segments.
For many companies who can't or don't want to make a special version of a product just for Wal-Mart they may opt to just make all of their product to Wal-Mart specifications.
Without a doubt, even if you never shop at Wal-Mart, they have some control over what you are able to buy.
On the plus side, Internet shopping has really taken off in small-town America. So hopefully it will become increasingly irrelevant what Wal*Mart does.
He might as well have said, "I'd like to give credit to that asshole, but there are a lot of assholes out there and we are just listening to our assh^H^H^H^H customers."
"Wal-Mart is notorious for selling the clean/edited/lame version of everything. ;)"
It is? I purchased OZ dvds from there. If those are the clean/edited/lame versions... ugh.
"I like to lick butts!" by MobileTatsu-NJG (#32700246) (Score:5, Informative)
That was my first thought too. Then I remembered that the ESRB had raised the rating of GTA: San Andreas to "Adults Only" after the Hot Chocolate mod was released.
Yeah, I know, RockStar would rip out scenes of Bully right and left if necessary to get it down to a "Mature" rating. However, theorectially it could still get rated "Adults Only". Wal Mart doesn't want to be put in the position of having presold a game that it would like to turn around and not sell at all due to company policy. They don't want surprises like San Andreas.
Now, as to why Slashdoters care, that's another issue. I can understand them not wanting speech infringed, etc, but I'm pretty much completely failing to see how this could either infringe free expresion or even provide a "slippery slope" to infringing free expression.
I think this is actually kind of smart for Wal Mart. They're waiting to see the exactly what the product will be before they start to sell it. I'd want to know if a game called "Pleasant Dreams" was a title for 5 year-olds, a soft core pornography game or a game where you hack up bloody nightmare monsters before selling it too.
TW
I wish there was a footnote when acronyms are used. This is an ongoing problem with Slashdot. What does "RP" stand for -- can someone please define it? I tried to trace the articles but that cleared up nothing.
That Wal-Mart's PR guy is nimed "Simley". I look at that and immediately think Smiley, and picture them interviewing that big flying smiley face. Gives me a chuckle.