OLYMPIA – Violence-filled video games intended for adult players are getting sold to young teenagers, a state lawmaker warned Wednesday.
It happened at two stores in Lynnwood this month, where two 15-year-old girls bought games the video game industry rated for mature audiences, meaning their content is considered unsuitable for anyone under the age of 17, according to Angenie McCleary, an aide to Rep. Mary Lou Dickerson, D-Seattle.
The teens returned the games immediately for refunds because they were assisting Dickerson in a random test of stores’ adherence to the industry guidelines.
At a third store, a 16-year-old boy managed to buy a game after telling a clerk he was 18. Two stores, Best Buy and Target, did not sell to the teenage shoppers, according to McCleary.
“I’m doing this so parents can understand there is a problem with their kids being able to buy violent video games,” Dickerson said Wednesday.
This is the fourth year Dickerson enlisted teenage volunteers to act as secret shoppers.
Nine youths took part, visiting six retailers each in Thurston and King counties Nov. 4-6 and five stores in Snohomish County on Nov. 15. Store employees and managers do not know they’ve been visited, and there is no contact afterwards, McCleary said.
In King County, five stores sold mature-rated games while only one did so in Thurston County.
“The video game industry tells us the stores are following the rating system that the industry devised to make sure the games are not sold to underage players,” Dickerson said. “This is to see if that’s happening.”
The industry’s Entertainment Software Rating Board has devised seven rating categories. These include “EC” for early childhood, “E” for everyone, “M” for mature audiences and “AO” for adults only.
A video game for mature audiences “may contain intense violence, blood and gore, sexual content and/or strong language,” according to a description on the rating board’s Web site.
Ratings serve to inform buyers of the content and guide stores in selling them to appropriately-aged players. The sale of a mature-rated game to a 15-year-old is not recommended but is not against the law in Washington.
In 2003, Dickerson sponsored a bill making it a crime to sell violent video games to minors. Gov. Gary Locke signed it, making Washington the first in the nation with such a prohibition. Video game industry members sued and succeeded in getting the law thrown out, she said.
Last year, Dickerson won passage of a law directing stores to put up signs informing customers about the video game ratings. Teenage shoppers found signs in only two of the stores they visited this month.
Dickerson said she may seek legislation to put some “teeth” into that law.
McCleary accompanied the youths in Snohomish County and said the purchases, and refunds, occurred without incident.
“It wasn’t a perfect experiment,” she said. “The idea of it was just to get a sense of whether the stores are complying or not.”
Reporter Jerry Cornfield: 360-352-8623 or jcornfield@heraldnet.com.
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