Gamestop Manager Won't Sell Games To Stupid Kids

[White Knight]

I think that's the point--this isn't to please the kids, "stupid" or not. These days, there's no such thing as a kid that's too "stupid" to make good grades. For every disability, for every possible educational handicap, there is some kind of program or group designed to support it to make sure every child has the opportunity to make good grades. Honestly, if there are still kids that are too "stupid" to make it in that system, then there is obviously a much greater problem to resolve.

In my opinion--let me make this clear, my opinion--"stupid" is just an excuse. It's an easy way to justify lazy, an easy way of saying "I don't wanna do this." I have a 24-year-old sister that still lives at home with our parents, has an almost 2-year-old son without a father. She has, for over 10 years, claimed that she is "stupid". She failed out of high school because she is "stupid". She failed out of GED courses...twice...because she is "stupid". She doesn't maintain a job because she is "stupid". She has trouble spelling words and understanding things because she is "stupid". This is always her excuse for everything, that she is too "stupid" to do anything.

About a month ago, our father asked a favor of me. He suspected that she had been using the internet as a means of communicating with the father of her baby and hiding it from him. You see, she has convinced everyone that she cannot find this guy to get child support from him since before their son was born. My role, at dad's request, was to monitor my sister while she is online.

I've been doing this since he requested, and I've noticed a few things. She doesn't appear to have a problem with spelling when she's chatting with friends. She's very quick with her typing, and without many errors--probably less than I've made and corrected just writing this. To make a long story short, she is far less "stupid" than she tries to make everyone believe, and she has definitely been communicating with her baby's daddy. When I say "definitely", I mean she sees him regularly and is trying to maintain an intimate relationship with him.

My point is simple. While "stupid" is common, someone that is truly stupid experiences a very handicapped life. So handicapped, in fact, that they are probably not even capable of playing most video games, and wouldn't be that interested in them in the first place.

Some people are only good at things they like doing. I excell at anything I like (sports, videogames, cars, politics, etc.), but I will fail at anything I'm not interested in (math, most science, and anything else useless and boring).

 

[White Knight]

Ok it's time for me to tell another story about my childhood. When I was a kid my friend wasn't allowed to even play video games unless he had high scores from his tests in school. Now of coarse like many, they don't ever acknowledge the fact that human beings think in different ways, and some people just can't comprehend certain things as easily as others. I can dance circles around most in 3d art, but when it comes to math... I suck.

Anyways fast forward to today, my former friend is in jail for doing drugs... again(he's a junkie). His parents were so strict that he eventually sought out the wrong crowd. Like many I grew up with, he was yet another kid who broke under the pressure of extremely strict parenting. Balance, and responsibilty is the key when raising a child. This guy should be fired for trying to assume the role of a parent.

And my parents never once punished me for failing, and rewarded me with game after game for no reason, and I am now 34, HATE all drugs, and never got arrested and make a good living. The smart kids and/or kids with overtly strict parents were the real problem.

 

[White Knight]

There is no legal discrimination there. Grades are not a protected status. A private company can chose to sell based on whatever standards they see fit.

Besides that (and I didn't read past the post I quoted), this is oldish news. The guy has already been suspended. I think he has a good idea.

You think it's a good idea because you're not in the group who's being discriminated. Put yourself in a poor/average student's shoes. A great kid who's not a good student and has the cash to buy shall not be denied. If he is denied, then he should get the game he wants by any means necessary. Then that'll send a message to the liberal dogooders in the store.

 

[JasonG75]

You really think the kids of today are anything like the kids 20 years ago? I invite you to look around.

I grew up with a single mother who couldn't have bought 4 games in a month if she saved for an entire year. I also had to do well is school or there would be hell to pay. Those things didn't turn me into a scumbag. I too have a good job. I don't do drugs either, can't stand the idea of them. I also have a wife and kids whom I treasure. None of those things had a damn thing to do with video games.

I'm searching for your point in the "I'm good at the things I like do" bit. Being an adult means you have to do things you don't necessarily "like to do".

I am in 100% agreement with whoever said Since when do kids know what they want (I would have used quotes but I couldn't find the post) If parents in general did a better job with their kids, this guy would be able to stay out of it and sell the games.

 

[devitek]

No, he's a piece of crap. I'm 34, and 20 years ago I was a degenarate horrible student, however I had the time of my life in 1987 with NES and SMS games. Just because I hated school didn't mean I didn't deserve my games.

Why exactly did you "deserve" your games? Before I go on a 5000-word speech about the ridiculous entitlement issues in this country, I'd just like to know.

Take away your neighbor's kid's video games and he'll go into drugs. He won't improve his grades. Nothing could have made me into an A student 20 years ago, and my mom still bought me on average 4 games per month. However, it kept me indoors, and I never got in any trouble with the law, which is more important than school anyway.

Four games per month? Are you serious? In 1987, I was lucky to get game at all--maybe a total of 5 in a year, and that's including birthday and holidays. I was also a straight-A student that didn't necessarily get rewarded for it, even though I felt at the time I should have been. Looking back, I was going above and beyond in school, and my reward for that came in the form of all kinds of other privileges over the years.

I too was not ever in trouble with the law, and spent most of my time indoors. Seems we have that in common. However, I don't think in any way, shape, or form that staying out of trouble is somehow superior to an education. Again, though, that's just my opinion.

Some people are only good at things they like doing. I excell at anything I like (sports, videogames, cars, politics, etc.), but I will fail at anything I'm not interested in (math, most science, and anything else useless and boring).

I would agree that people tend to be good at the things they like to do. That doesn't mean that things they aren't good at should just be neglected. No matter how boring you find math and science, they are the very reason you are able to reply to this post right now. They may be boring to you, but to those of us that use them to enable people like you to share your opinions on this boring, math-powered, science-driven computer you are currently using to read this with, they are pretty interesting. I'm not saying that math and science are for everyone, but school gives you a rudimentary understanding of your environment, even if the path to that understanding is boring to a fault.

And my parents never once punished me for failing, and rewarded me with game after game for no reason, and I am now 34, HATE all drugs, and never got arrested and make a good living. The smart kids and/or kids with overtly strict parents were the real problem.

I'm glad that you hate drugs, that you make a good living, and have never been arrested. Congrats on all of that. Seriously. Whatever your parents did, they must have not completely failed.

You say the smart kids or kids with strict parents were the "real problem"--would you mind siting some examples? I really can't relate to that at all, and I'm curious.

You think it's a good idea because you're not in the group who's being discriminated. Put yourself in a poor/average student's shoes. A great kid who's not a good student and has the cash to buy shall not be denied. If he is denied, then he should get the game he wants by any means necessary. Then that'll send a message to the liberal dogooders in the store.

I'm going to leave the discrimination part of this totally alone...it's just a huge argument waiting to happen. I will cite, however, that once again I see the phrase "...he should get the game he wants..." Why? What exactly has he done to earn it? And what does any of that have to do with being liberal?

 

[White Knight]

You really think the kids of today are anything like the kids 20 years ago? I invite you to look around.

I grew up with a single mother who couldn't have bought 4 games in a month if she saved for an entire year. I also had to do well is school or there would be hell to pay. Those things didn't turn me into a scumbag. I too have a good job. I don't do drugs either, can't stand the idea of them. I also have a wife and kids whom I treasure. None of those things had a damn thing to do with video games.

I'm searching for your point in the "I'm good at the things I like do" bit. Being an adult means you have to do things you don't necessarily "like to do".

I am in 100% agreement with whoever said Since when do kids know what they want (I would have used quotes but I couldn't find the post) If parents in general did a better job with their kids, this guy would be able to stay out of it and sell the games.

Yes, videogames don't have anything to do with it either way, that is true. You can be a smart kid and never get games, and grow up good. Or, you can be not so smart and get plenty of games, and grow up good.

I do do things I don't necessarily like to do. I don't really like working, but unless I win the lotto, I'm going to have to do it until I'm in my 50's or 60's. However, I do know that there are plenty of good kids out there who suck in school. I would never take away gaming rights to a failing student. That might make the kid grow up to hate the parents. There are plenty of alternate ways to help a kid improve his grades.

 

[strommsarnac]

But parents don't care!

I mean, really. Look at all the people on this board alone who can't spell half the words they try to post. EVIDENCE! Illiteracy FTL.

Hmm. I'm a parent with a 17 and 13 year old. Our rule has always been, anything less than a B and you're off PC/Console until the next interim/term grading shows B's or better. Anything less than a C and it's no TV too.

I'm also a 4th year career center instructor. Most of my parents follow a similar policy. I even have a standing class rule (signed by student and parent) that absences on or just after a "release" date must be doctor verified. ALL school districts really require this but "allow" for a parent to sign a sick form. Any work missed/due is a ZERO and not able to be made up.

Not all parents are uncaring schmucks, just some.

 

[Mingus]

A private company can chose to sell based on whatever standards they see fit.

This is not a private company. This a large franchise with small douche bag manager that has no idea what he's doing. He does not have the legal right to refuse payment for a game unless the rating does not allow for the age. I've done some research for the law it's self but there's just so much I am having difficulty finding it. Closest thing I've come to is the Coin Act of 1996 that says a vendor must except legal tender if a debt is owed and or payment is due. Which could be taken as a kid trying to buy a game and this guy refusing to except the money. But I think you'd need to have more than this, it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[sagema]

It's true that the average American is getting fatter, and far more self destructive. When I tell my co-workers I exercise, don't eat when I'm not hungry(no exception), and I don't drink beer, they look at me like a freak. I can thank video games for that. Kids get bored, and they look for hobbies, better a hobby of games than drugs.

I had to save up my money and buy my own games 95% of the time. I think that taught me responsibilty at a very young age. Manage my money if I want something.

 

[Tairusu]

Hmm. I'm a parent with a 17 and 13 year old. Our rule has always been, anything less than a B and you're off PC/Console until the next interim/term grading shows B's or better. Anything less than a C and it's no TV too.

I'm also a 4th year career center instructor. Most of my parents follow a similar policy. I even have a standing class rule (signed by student and parent) that absences on or just after a "release" date must be doctor verified. ALL school districts really require this but "allow" for a parent to sign a sick form. Any work missed/due is a ZERO and not able to be made up.

Not all parents are uncaring schmucks, just some.

You get a smiley face! :thumbsup:

Growing up, those were the same rules when my old man was living with us. There was no such thing as playing video games before doing your homework, it just wasn't done. Parenting supercedes everything. Not having games made easily available to you isn't going to lead to sex and drugs, but having bad parents will.

And for the record, I think I turned out all right. That's what the voices in my head tell me anyways.

 

[bigwilliiy]

well, i play games without restrictions. no problems so far, dont get into trouble at school (not much i can say about the marks tho:sick: )

 

[Mingus]

A private company can chose to sell based on whatever standards they see fit.

This is not a private company. This a large franchise with small douche bag manager that has no idea what he's doing. He does not have the legal right to refuse payment for a game unless the rating does not allow for the age. I've done some research for the law it's self but there's just so much I am having difficulty finding it. Closest thing I've come to is the Coin Act of 1996 that says a vendor must except legal tender if a debt is owed and or payment is due. Which could be taken as a kid trying to buy a game and this guy refusing to except the money. But I think you'd need to have more than this, it's not exactly what I'm looking for.

 

[[DT]]

And my parents never once punished me for failing, and rewarded me with game after game for no reason, and I am now 34, HATE all drugs, and never got arrested and make a good living.

I have a rock that keeps away tigers. There are no tigers around here. It must work. :lol:

Sorry, but I don't agree that not enforcing some kind of rules and performance expectations with your kids is somehow conducive to obeying the law and have reasonable success as an adult (though I'm glad in your case - which I would argue is the exception to the rule - it worked).

A videogame is too specific, the abstraction is that effort = reward (whether it's a new game, money, more freedom, etc.)

FWIW, I only agree with the GS manager in concept, the execution at a retail store doesn't take into account things I mentioned in a previous post (like a sliding scale of effort to actual grades).

~DT

 

[alien]

Maybe, put simply, your daughter is not as intelligent as the child who skips so much school and never studies. Maybe he doesn't need to study as much to achieve the same result

It's brilliant. I hope other stores get wind of this and start incorporating the idea somehow. When I see a neighbor kid playing something on his PS3 all evening long, then see my daughter trying to do her homework all evening, it gets me thinking. When I see that same neighbor kid skipping school 90% of the time and my daughter never missing a day, that gets me thinking, too. It makes me think that the parents of that neighbor kid are going to perpetuate a system that teaches each generation that they can live off of the system instead of becoming productive, and that makes me furious. So, if a store manager at GameStop decides that parents aren't qualified anymore to have jurisdiction over whether or not their kids get to play new video games, then he's taking a much-needed stand.

If my daughter wants a video game, she gets it--she's a straight-A student.

The neighbor kid needs someone to take his PS3, Wii, and 360 and run them over repeatedly with my car. Will it make him attend class and get better grades? No. Does he deserve it? Absolutely. I'm sure the parents think that playing games is better than a life of crime or drugs or whatever, but the reality is that when the games get old and boring, their kid is going to turn to those other things out of sheer boredom.

Soap box of the day. If I offended any of the younger crowd that happen to not do well in school...

Do your homework, pay attention in class, and get a freakin' tutor when all else fails. Sheesh, it's not like any of you are entitled to play video games. You are, however, entitled to an education so long as you live in the USA.

 

[devitek]

Right.

It comes naturally to her--she doesn't spend all of her time studying, quite the opposite. I do understand (I think) what you're trying to say, though. Many kids that skip school do so because they are bored; i.e., school doesn't challenge them enough. However, it's still not a good excuse for not doing the work. If I decided, today, that the work I do isn't challenging enough and decide to just stay home for the next two weeks, there would undoubtedly be consequences. This store manager is simply trying to provide consequences where (seemingly) none exist. It's not his job, it's not his responsibility, it's not even his business. It is, however, a brave move to stand up to a community, to get their attention focused on an issue they have been choosing to ignore.

His end result, one would hope, is that the parents in that community will think twice before just going out and buying games for their children. THAT was the point.