"In an attempt to stave off threatened state and federal regulation of movies and videogames, the nation's video rental stores and videogame makers, with the cooperation of the motion picture industry, have joined forces in a push toward self-policing. 

Their effort, which comes in the wake of such high-profile teen-age shootings as those in Colorado and Georgia last spring, includes a move to beef up restrictions on the sale and rental of some products to minors. 

"We want to make it clear this level of parental control is the right vehicle, and home video stores are well equipped to handle this," said BoAndersen, president of the Video Software Dealers Association, which represents more than 19,000 video rental stores, about two-thirds of the        nation's total. 

This week, members of the association -- independent video rental stores as well as chains like Blockbuster and Hollywood Video -- are beginning to display new, brightly colored posters highlighting their updated Pledge to Parents campaign. Some posters explain the voluntary movie ratings system that has been administered by the Motion Picture Association of America for the last 30 years. Others highlight videogame ratings, created in 1994 by the Entertainment Software Rating Board. 

WHY THIS CAME ABOUT AND WHAT IT WILL DO:

The moves by these groups follow an announcement in June by the National Association of Theater Owners that theaters would check identification and prohibit minors from viewing adult-rated movies. 

Video dealers and game makers are planning to have most of the revised educational material for their campaign in place before the Christmas holiday selling season. 

While the videogame rating system has been in existence since 1994, and most games now sold include a rating logo, most parents know little about the system and few stores enforce any limits on sales or rentals. 

According to the National Institute on Media and the Family's 1998 Video and Computer Game Report Card, only 40 percent of parents surveyed said they routinely checked the ratings of the games their children buy or rent. Only 5 percent of parents could identify a popular mature rated game, "Duke Nukem," while 80 percent of junior high school students were familiar with the title. 

 In addition, only 21 percent of the retailers it surveyed enforced ratings policies on the sale of games. Fewer than half of the retail and rental employees understood the rating system and few stores educated their staffs about it, the report said. 

Signs point out that, without parental consent, the store will not rent or sell to children under 17 videotapes or videogames designated as restricted. In addition, when adults apply for membership at a video store, or at any point thereafter, they can elect to prohibit the sale or rental of certain types of videogames and movies to their children. For some stores, including the Blockbuster chain, such moves supplement optional restrictions already in place. "

WILL THIS WORK?

"The industry may have a tough time convincing retailers to take bold moves to restrict access to some of the products they sell. "

 FAO Schwarz is complying with the new regulations and has even removed videogames that have violent content. But on the other hand, KMart says they have no intention of pulling these violent games off the shelf because they have no official restrictions. K-B Toys says they also have no intention of restrciting sales of adult rated videogames.

I think the idea behind the strategy is a very important one and shouldn't be taken lightly. I think before too long, these stores who sell adult rated videogames to kids could be held liable. If these companies are smart, they will just come up to regulation now. In a few years, I see this being manditory. Why wait?
 

** All information was taken from:
1. NYTimes.com, "Video Game Industry Makes Push at Self-Policing", October 12, 1999