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American Morning

Group Releases Annual Report Card on Video and Computer Games

Aired December 13, 2001 - 08:44   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PAULA ZAHN, CNN ANCHOR: If you are Christmas shopping for your kids, there's a good chance their wish list includes a computer or video game. And a survey by the National Institute on Media and Family says 92 percent of children from 2 to 17 play video games. That's 59 million players. Well, today, the group releases its annual report card on video and computer games, designed to make parents aware of what is and is not age appropriate for their children.

A report card comes out today on the industry. Here are the games. The video and computer games industry got the highest grade, an A-. The arcade industry got a D. Retail enforcement of ratings, D. Accuracy of ratings, D. The overall grade, C.

Joining the institute when it releases this report this morning will be Connecticut Senator Joseph Lieberman, who has been highly critical of video game makers and retailers. He joins us now.

Welcome back.

SEN. JOSEPH LIEBERMAN (D), CONNECTICUT: Great to be with you, Paula. Thank you.

ZAHN: Thank you, senator.

So why don't we go through these grades by one by one. We mentioned that video and computer game industry got the highest grade, an A-. Not bad.

LIEBERMAN: Not bad. And of course these are grades given by dr. David Walsh, a wonderful person man from Minneapolis who has devoted himself to try to have an independent source of review for video games for parents and kids.

And the video game industry got the good grade because they have a great rating system. It's very comprehensive and very easy to understand. So if a parent or shopper wants to exercise some responsibility, the information is right there on the package.

ZAHN: All right, well the arcade industry didn't get a grade any parent in America should be satisfied with, did it, a D.

LIEBERMAN: No, not so good. And in that case, we've been working with the arcade industry. This actually is the sixth year that Senator Herb Cohen of Wisconsin and I have joined with Dr. Walsh. We've working with the arcade industry. They promised to put green, yellow and red stickers on the various games for indications of whether appropriate for kids, and in the test that Dr. Walsh did, there is very little compliance at arcades around the country with that promise, and generally employees there supposedly watching the games and who plays them didn't even know about the system, so that's why unfortunately, the arcades got the low grade.

ZAHN: Retail enforcement of ratings also a weak area, a D doled out there as well. What exactly does this mean?

LIEBERMAN: Well, this is the one that really bothers Senator Cole and me the most, because we've got here an industry growing in importance. As you said, 92 percent of kids between 2-17 consider themselves video game players. This is a booming, multibillion dollar business. Violence, all the studies show more and more, in video games, studies show can really affect the behavior of kids. But the retailers are not enforcing the good ratings system, and they're making it too easy for kids to buy games that are rated as only appropriate for adults, including in this study one 7-year-old.

There are three chains that really do well at this: Sears, Target and Wal-Mart. And we appreciate that, and they enforce the ratings. They don't sell M-rated games, mature rated games to kid, but all the other retailers, by and large, do, and that's going to be the focus of our attention this year, to see if we can't get all the retailers to just carry out the code, the ratings system that's on the video games, and help parents raise their kids.

ZAHN: So let me ask you this, senator, those retailers that aren't doing this, are they doing this out of laziness, or is the bottom line profit here?

LIEBERMAN: Hard to -- I can't say there's been any study or survey on that. My guess is, it's a combination of both. They're trying to raise sales, and they're just not -- they're not as willing to make the extra effort as the three chains that I mentioned that do it, and do it completely and do it without any apparent disruption to their businesses. So I hope we can convince all the rest to get on board and give a hand to America's parent, as they fulfill their responsibility to raise our kids.

ZAHN: Yes. And final word of advice to them this morning, because they will argue that they try to exercise the control as much as they can not realistic for them to go to the store every time teenage kids, for example, or even younger than that goes to store.

About 10 seconds word of advice for what they should be looking out for.

LIEBERMAN: Parents should just follow the ratings on the box. The ratings are very good. The video gamers have stopped marketing to kids around parents backs. They deserve a lot of credit for that. Now the parents and the retailers have to really use the rating system that the video game industry puts on every game.

There's a lot of good games out there, a lot of exciting and kid- friendly games, and those are the ones that parents should make sure their kids are playing.

ZAHN: Well, thank you for letting us preview that report card that you will share with the public a little bit later on today.

Thank you, again, senator.

LIEBERMAN: Pleasure, Paula. Have a good day.

ZAHN: Are you going to be buying any video games soon?

LIEBERMAN: You know. I have...

ZAHN: Maybe not.

LIEBERMAN: You know, I have a 13-year-old who doesn't play the games, and then I've two little grandkids who are a little too young, so in time.

ZAHN: All right, you're out of the woods on that one.

LIEBERMAN: OK.

ZAHN: Thank you again, senator.

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