Software V-Chip for PC Games?

63N1U5 writes "CBS news is reporting that SMARTGUARD software is releasing a new application that will allow parents to control their children's PC gaming, a-la the V-Chip for television. The new software, called WallFly, uses the ESRB ratings database to determine if a game can be launched by the current PC user, based on the parents' preferences. Parents can also use this software to set limits on when and for how long their children can play PC games."

Comments

Instead of having a computer chip monitor...

[Nadsat]

...why don't parents just talk to their kids?

Re:Instead of having a computer chip monitor...

[Draconix]

Where have you been? Actual parenting is not in vogue! These days, parents have more important things to do than actually raise their kids, like driving their SUVs to Starbucks and talking on their cellphone-of-the-week, so as to assure everyone at Starbucks that They Are Trendy, thus giving their lives meaning.

Re:Instead of having a computer chip monitor...

[hunterx11]

Kids don't always listen. Parents should talk to their kids and use this.

Re:Instead of having a computer chip monitor...

[cgenman]

When I was a kid, I would have been vehemontly against such a thing. Any policy or any extra rules set, especially around video games, would have been opposed with all of the stubbornness a 12 year old year-of-the-horse child can muster.

But now that I'm facing the prospect of having children myself, I'm all for it. I remember how I used to sneak out to the TV to play games from midnight until 5 or 6 AM, before "waking up" to go to class. Admittedly, those classes were easy enough that sleeping through them was no big deal, but that's what private school will be for. Estimating my time somewhat conservatively, I probably spent about 20 - 90 hours a week on videogames. This was not healthy. Instead of engaging in underaged fraternizing, getting binge drinking out of my system, experimenting with drugs, or experimenting with haxor tools before being prosecutable as an adult, I was staring at a glowing screen trying to get Mario to bounce off of a turtle shell for infinite lives. Admittedly, the average american is up to 4.5 hours of TV PER DAY, and so my consumption was in line with that.

Hopefully any son or daughter of mine will be bright enough to serrupticiously install a keylogger and get root, but this is more about the policy than anything. 6 hours total on weekends, 10 hours total throughout the weekdays. That's a healthy amount, and that's it. More would be granted for summer vacation.

As a gamer and a game developer, I want to have / make / show great games to / for my kids. But as a concerned parent, I want them to be using their time to develop into a complete person, full of abilities in addition to this bunch.

Of course, if they fall under 2 hours per week, they're going to get homework. "No more music until you beat Zelda..."
"No, the first one."
"Yes, both quests."
"Yes, I'm stuck in the past. You could almost call me 'a link to the past.'"
"Yes, I know that wasn't funny."

Re:Instead of having a computer chip monitor...

[prockcore]

and I'm sure it had nothing to do with clean drinking water becoming available at the same time.

People drank alcohol because it was one of the few potables that was fit to drink.

Why not?

[RatBastard]

As long as it is voluntary (sp?) I'm fine with it. Parents should have the right to take charge of what their rotten little bastards are up to. If it's mandated that all computers have this then I'm against it. But, I don't have any knee-biters in my household.

Re:Why not?

[august sun]

I'm with you. Despite everyone elses cries of lazy parenting, it's just not realistic anymore to expect to have a parent at home at all the same times as the children. If it's good parenting to lock your alcohol/guns/porn away, why not something else which the parents have deemed detrimental in unregulated amounts.

Good Idea

[cc-rider-Texas]

Gives the parents a little control over what their kids are into and keeps the government's ever pervasive fingers out of it. I for one don't want a village overseeing my kids (well, grandkids now), just the family.

Hrm, interesting idea.

[MajroMax]

Although I personally feel that the ESRB system is relinquishing moral judgements into the hands of a distant third party (much like movie ratings), this system does seem to be a reasonable idea.

It is also a very compelling argument in favor of multi-user systems.

The big catch with this idea, though, is that this is restricted to only commercial titles, and ESRB-rated titles at that. While TFA says that this can also be used to control "computer use," it likely won't be able to distinguish web/Java games from web research for the science fair.

I speculate that the software knows executable names for commercially released games, and it can then cross-reference these against the ESRB database. With this in mind, smaller catches are that this software will require regular updates, and the ESRB rating system itself is quite coarse: look at the dearth of adults-only games.

windows vs linux

[delirium of disorder]

If this gets implimented on a wide scale, I think we will see bootable Linux cds with the nvidia kernel and doom3 or halflife2 installed becomming very popular.

I love these kinds of restrictions, they really help kids get creative and find ways around systems of control. It teaches them valuable lessons that they will need later in life as DRM get more and more popular. If we are to live in a free society, we need creative people who can subvert the confinements imposed by parents, churches, governments, and corporations.

Re:windows vs linux

[Anne Honime]

Wait, so a free society is a society without authority?

Nope ; it's a society where resepect is earned, not brutally enforced. Good parents never have problems setting rules, because they can explain their purposes.

Re:Ever hear of common sense?

[s20451]

Did it occur to you that this helps parents do their jobs without constantly spying on their children? Or would you have appreciated having your parents monitor your activities 24 hours a day? Is that what you consider good parenting?

If Mom and Dad say no Grand Theft Auto, their word alone will most emphatically not stop a clever kid. This kind of technology is pretty reasonable in helping parents set boundaries. The kids and the parents can then talk about the boundaries that are established.

This isn't government censorship -- it's parental censorship.

Re:Ever hear of common sense?

[hunterx11]

This is a tool to help parents do their jobs. It is not being foisted on anyone. You can't complain about lazy parents, and at the same time chastise parents for not being lazy. This fits in perfectly with the idea of the ESRB rating system: voluntary ratings made to inform the parents and allow them to meaningfully control what their kids play. Without this sort of thing, people are going to listen to idiots like Joe Lieberman.

Re:Well

[mrsev]

Does anyone think that the kids will not be able to get round this! I mean you tell a kid there is someting they should not do and they will find a way to do it.

On a side note maybe the parents should regulate what game the kid get in the forst place no?

F*ck them it wont work and will just scam some cash out of the parents. My bet is that most kids will get full access privs in matter of hours and then the kids will sbe able to lock the parents out.

Several ways round this spring to mind such as Knoppix, Dual boot, Safemode etc.....

Won't Stop a Computer Litereate Kid

[UnderDark]

Being 15, I can tell you that if my parents were to install this, I would simply kill it. I'm Admin on my box, so I don't have to worry about profiles. Even if my parents manage to sneak something like this on, and block me from deleting it: how does it stop me from booting into DOS and deleting it there? All my parents need to do is talk, it does a lot more than a lame peice of software could ever hope to do.

Re:Ever hear of common sense?

[pcgabe]

You're never going to stop a clever kid with clever hacks.

Clever kids don't need to be stopped. Clever kids can differentiate between a fantasy game and reality. If a kid is sufficiently clever enough to figure out how to play the game, that kid is not in danger of undue influence from it.

This is the "You-Must-Be-At-Least-This-Smart-To-Ride-This-Ride " equivalent.

Rephrase the caption...

[mark-t]

"CBS news is reporting that SMARTGUARD software is releasing a new application that will allow parents to have the illusion that they control their children's PC gaming".

Because that's all it will ever be, an illusion.

Kids get around their parents porn-proofing the computers all the time, the number of kids this will stop from playing those games is inconsequential.

Parenting

[Beolach]

Everytime I see articles like this, there's a plethora of comments along the lines of "Gee, why don't the parents just, I dunno, do some parenting!"

Guess what? This is a form of parenting. Whether it's an effective, or good method of parenting is debatable, but a parent who uses software like this is making an effort at raising their child to be what they consider to be a good moral person. Your opinion of what a good moral person is may differ; and the methods they choose to try to promote their morals may not be as effective as they think, but they are making an effort.

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