The Federal Trade Commission (FTC) recently released the results of its latest nationwide “secret shopper” survey, which employs undercover 13-to-16-year-old’s to determine if retailers follow rating guidelines and age restrictions. The annual study by the FTC is designed to show the extent to which retailers prevented unaccompanied children from buying tickets to R-rated movies, R-rated DVDs, M-rated video games and music CDs labeled with a Parental Advisory Label (PAL) for explicit content. The 2008 survey showed that video and computer game retailers scored well and indicated a significant improvement by entertainment software retailers to ensure that only age-appropriate games are sold to minors.

This year’s survey found that video game retailers are scrupulous when screening for underage shoppers, with 80 percent of underage buyers rejected at the point of sale when buying M-rated games. This is a major improvement for video game retailers from all prior surveys, as the percentage of underage buyers able to purchase M-rated games has decreased by 38 percent since 2006.

With this in mind, one has to ask, is targeting video games for more regulation really necessary? Overall, as seen in the graph below, the Federal Trade Commission saw a steep decline in underage sales for video games over the past eight years.

Why don’t politicians understand that video game regulation is unnecessary? It is because they are frequently hearing from media critics when they need to hear from video game enthusiasts like you! The fight is far from over, and that’s why the Video Game Voters Network exists: to provide a channel for you to help protect our favorite form of entertainment and First Amendment rights.