Last year, the Federal Trade Commission in the US ran an undercover shopper sting, aimed at testing various retailers’ compliance with age ratings for media products. Kids aged 13-16, without the supervision of an adult, were asked to try buyin unrated DVDs, explicit albums and M-rated video games.
For all the crap that game retailers often get in this regard — and I know as a former EB Games employee I saw my fill of parents buying young kids inappropriate games — it turns out game store (and retailers) were among the best in the US at enforcing the ESRB’s self-regulated ratings guidelines.
While 30 per cent of kids were able to buy adult DVDs and movie tickets, and 47 per cent could buy explicit CDs, only 13 per cent of secret shoppers could buy M-rated video games, which the FTC says gives video game retail “the highest level of compliance among the industries”.
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