Kmart, Wal-Mart Ban Sale of Violent Games to Youths

W A S H I N G T O N, Sept. 8, 2000 -- Young people itching to wreak virtual havoc

with an Uzi via their Playstation will have to bring along a parent

if they want to buy a violent video game from some major retailers.

Kmart announced Thursday it will refuse sale of mature-ratedgames to anyone under 17, using a barcode scanner that will promptcashiers to ask for identification from youths.

After Kmart’s news conference in Washington, Wal-Mart announcedit would enact the same policy. In a letter last month to AlabamaSen. Jeff Sessions, the president of Toys R Us said the practice isalready in place at his company’s stores.

Targets Retailers

Sessions applauded the move, but said he would prefer thatretailers stop selling mature-rated games, as Montgomery Ward andSears, Roebuck and Co. already have done.

Sessions said he believes “intense involvement” with violentvideo games can cause a young person to become violent.

“Common sense should tell us that positively reinforcingsadistic behavior, as these games do, cannot be good for ourchildren,” said Sen. Sam Brownback, R-Kan.

“We cannot expect that the hours spent in school will mold andinstruct a child’s mind but that hours spent playing violent gameswill not.”

Kmart executives said they believe their policy lets parentsmake decisions about video games.

“A step of responsibility that gets the parents involved is asmart step, rather than just walking away from the issue andletting someone else deal with it,” said Shawn Kahle, Kmart’s vicepresident of corporate affairs.

In May, Sessions, Brownback and seven other senators sent aletter to executives of Kmart and several other major retailersencouraging them to pull the games off their shelves or preventtheir sale to anyone younger than 17.

Lieberman ‘Encouraged’

Sen. Joseph Lieberman of Connecticut, the Democratic vicepresidential nominee, was among those who signed the letter writtenby Sen. Tim Hutchinson, R-Ark.

“It sounds ... great,” said Lieberman, who is known forspeaking out about the amount of violence in popular culture. “I’mreal encouraged. If people want to enforce a rating system, theyshould do it,” he said Thursday.

FTC is supposed to hold hearings on this issue next week, andLieberman is scheduled to testify on Wednesday.

Most video games sold at major retailers include a rating fromthe Entertainment Software Review Board advising consumers aboutwhich games are suitable for certain age groups.

Wal-Mart spokeswoman Jessica Moser said her company has investedmore than $3 million on store signs and advertising to educatecustomers about the rating system.

Moser said she was not sure when Wal-Mart would implement thenew policy. Kmart plans to enact the policy Oct. 15, in time forthe holiday shopping season.

“I think it’ll work from their standpoint,” said HowardDyckovsky, vice president of operations for PC Data, a company thattracks software and video game sales.

“But there will be to some degree a slowdown in sales of someof those products, until the kids find ways to get them throughother mechanisms.”

Brownback said the Senate Commerce Committee next week willexamine the results of a Federal Trade Commission report on whetherviolent, adult-rated games are target-marketed to kids.

“If this is true—and there is plenty of anecdotal evidence tosuggest that it is—this is a scandal and an outrage,” saidBrownback, who authored an amendment that passed the Senaterequesting the FTC to conduct the study.