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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
Umm... since Walmart regularly carries "R" rated movies, and "M" rated games, etc that's probably not the reason.
More likely the reason is that because the game hasn't been given an "official" rating yet, they feel they could be a civil case risk. If some 12 year old pre-orders the game now, but upon delivery it actually has a "M" rating; in our sue-happy society someone is going to go after the big-money Walmart. And it will cost them millions to just fight the case, or multiple tens of thousands to simply settle it. Theoretically they could possibly be even held legally liable by the government, it's not passed yet but look at Clinton & Liberman's "The Family Entertainment Protection Act", which would make it illegal to sell adult games to minors. (Clinton's made direct complaint's about Walmart's selling of games to minors, so they know they are the politician's crosshairs)
This is simply a CYA move, why would any large company take preorders on a game in limbo like this assuming the significant amount of possible risk associated to it with not much to gain?
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."
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.
Giving a store your hard earned money months in advance for something you have yet to recieve is foolish
:(
NOW you tell me... stupid DNF pre-order.. I've been waiting for years