Video game ratings enforcement under scrutiny

A bipartisan bill that would require retailers to check identification for all customers who purchase video games with a "Mature" or "Adult Only" rating is receiving praise from a pro-family organization.

Congressmen Jim Matheson (D-Utah) and Lee Terry (R-Nebraska) have unveiled the "Video Game Ratings Enforcement Act." The legislation comes on the heels of the recent release of the violent and sexually explicit video game, Grand Theft Auto IV (rated "M"), which has been roundly criticized for its content. Retailers have also been ripped for allowing sales of similarly rated games to younger children.
 
Dan Isett of the Parents Television Council (PTC) believes the legislation is needed. He says retailers have done a poor job when it comes to insuring that children cannot access "Mature" rated video games."[A] 2005 Federal Trade Commission study found that 42 percent of the time, a child was able to go into the store and come out with a 'Mature' rated game," Isett details.
 
Although the PTC spokesman argues that parents are the first and last line of defense, he believes retailers should shoulder more responsibility. "What's at issue here is whether a child's going to have complete unfettered access to this type of game [M- or AO-rated] -- and clearly that's not something that's in parents' best interests to have," he states. "And there's nothing that a parent can do, really, to ensure that a child can't go into any given store and come out with a game like this."
 
As for a parent purchasing such games and then giving them to a child? "That's for a parent to decide," says Isett.
 
Hearings have not been set for the proposed legislation. The bill calls for fines for retailers who sell "Mature" or "Adult Only" rated games to minors.