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...

[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.....

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.