Slashdot Mirror
Euro Parliament Wants "Red Button" For Shutting Down Games
GamePolitics writes "The European Parliament has actually requested that red, panic-style buttons be set up for use by parents whose children play online games. The buttons would allow the parents to quickly shut the game down should something inappropriate occur. Wouldn't the old-school on-off switch work just as well?"
To be fair, the report isn't entirely crazy; it says games "can also be used for educational and medical purposes," and acknowledges that the "presence of violence in video games does not automatically lead to violent behaviour."
Seriously.
1. phillips head screwdriver (to open case)
2. wire cutter (to cut leads to switch)
3. wire nut (to short circuit around switch)
4. profit?
The really clever kids will find a way to install a software patch that makes any game say "Show us your tits!" every time the button is pressed.
When I was a kid, my parents had a 'red button' called a leather belt. It was much harder to hack.
Sounds useless, but to answer the question - using the power switch could cause file system corruption.
So if you could rig this up to the equivalent of "Alt-F4" then you can avoid that.
As for why it's useless, if your child is not ready to see "stuff", and they see "stuff", and then you press the panic button, they won't _unsee_ stuff. In fact, they would probably remember it for a very long time.
If your child is not ready, just don't let them play such games, and perhaps you should work harder at getting them ready.
You don't send soldiers to battle untrained and unarmed.
Brainwash/domesticate your kids before the world does it for you (they want your kids to buy/believe their stuff without thinking too much or even at all).
Yes you may think brainwashing is wrong. But it's usually better to train them "fire = bad", and hopefully they survive long enough to figure out the complexities and subtleties.
From the EU Parliament Press release:
Furthermore in the actual draft report, the word "button" never appears. As such, the red button doesn't seem to be a literal red button, rather a figurative term used in the press release as a euphemism for parental controls. I'm not sure how this is any different from how the current-gen consoles implement parental controls though.
Ok, so this /. article links to an article that already is a bad summary of this press release, which sounds a little more enlightened:
To help parents choose, MEPs would like to see more public awareness of the content of video games, parental control options and instruments such as the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) age rating system.
Sounds to me like they're doing the exact right thing: Making parents responsible and asking game companies to give them options.
Now the actual "red button" part reads like this in the press release:
the report proposes fitting consoles, computers or other game devices with a "red button" to give parents the chance to disable a game or control access at certain times.
That does not sound like an emergency "off" switch to me. It sounds more like a timer thing, where a parent can tell the computer "no online games for my son after 22:00". Unfortunately, I couldn't find a source beyond the press release, so what exactly they have in mind remains a mystery. It does sound a lot less exciting than TFA makes it to be. Selective quoting, anyone?
Assorted stuff I do sometimes: Lemuria.org
To be fair, the report isn't entirely crazy; it says games "can also be used for educational and medical purposes,"
I do agree that sex and violent games are meant to be educational.
Like last time I caught my cousin attempt to flirt with a CG girl in hope to have cyber sex. I pressed the magic red-button and gave him a few bucks, told him to go out and do a real girls like a real man.
The other time I caught him shooting polygonal guys on streets with lots of bullets and first-aid boxes scattering around. Needless to say, I pressed the magic red-button again and gave him a shotgun, told him to hit the street and shoot real people like a real man.
They could employ the same system that the Xbox employs. Add an IR receiver.
I already have a button which turns off my Xbox 360 in one button press. It's on my Logitch Harmony. When I press "Off" it turns off my hometheater, including my 360.
If they want a quick "OMG boobs!" button then they just need a universal remote. Program it to the XBox's IR "Off" command and bam! Problem solved.
If people start swearing I could just press the "mute" button and it'll mute my receiver.
I guess the EU wants to legislate the ownership or at least education for parents to purchase a Universal Remote. PC games? Add an IR receiver. Again, mute is easy enough in windows. My keyboard has a mute button so there must be a hook. Also minimizing to desktop is a hotkey so that should be pretty easy to setup to an IR command as well.
Like many people on Slashdot, I'm an advocate of responsible parenting: know what your children are doing (within bounds of privacy, dependent on the child's maturity), set reasonable boundaries, and take opportunities to discuss things with your children (i.e., make things learning experiences where possible).
Okay smart guy, how is a politician like me going to get re-elected on the nanny vote with a message like that, hmm??? Newsflash: personal responsibility only sells at the polls if you're talking responsibility of people who aren't voting for you! Yeah, you obviously didn't think that one through, did you? That's why I'm a senator and you aint!
(I know I don't need to point this out, but this was a joke)
Why don't we just dig out the eyes of our kids so they never have to run the risk of seeing something the parents fear may harm the child... You all see how ridiculous this paranoid over-protectionist crap is, right?
..::ALWAYS : watching::..
For online pc games, a solution exists.
"Good news, everyone!"
and this was just about 12 years ago, one of my friends told me about this awesome cheat code for Duke Nukem 3D where if you entered the code and then pressed space bar in front of a lady they would sing (or some other stupid thing). Of course, when I entered the code and hit space, the lady (stripper) took off her top and showed me her boobs (vague lumps with pink squares in the middle). :O )"
Of COURSE, at this juncture, my mother entered the room. I don't remember the exact look on her face, as such, but attempting to recall it now, I envision Munch's "the Scream (
She told me to turn off the game, or I would be grounded, and would have no more access to the computer. That's it. No magic button was required. Her finger did not even have to touch some mundane "on/off switch". I took one last glance at the cardboard-pixel boobs dancing haltingly across my screen and decided that, whatever this was exactly, it wasn't worth the infinite punishments my mother seemed prepared to apply.
Considering that day now, I don't see much need for some sort of "red button". Setting aside the fact that various consoles and televisions already have remotes with buttons serving the mandated purpose, I lay before you this objection: parents already have (very nearly) absolute power over their children. Button or no button, you can stop them from participating in any leisure activity that you feel is inappropriate with little more than a threat and a stern tone of voice. You certainly have the power to take away any consoles or computers which might allow them to defy your violence/profanity/digital-titty embargo.
A button makes it easier, less personal, more secret. It also puts an additional burden on the video game industry, to the glee of family values groups everywhere. It is not a necessarily solution. It is at best a crutch used to control your offspring, and at worst a lie used to manipulate them.
Should you ever see your children looking at something that you don't think they should see, then tell them that they can either stop, or lose some privileges.
Leave it to Slashdot sensationalism to spin an EU report which is generally very positive towards gaming as some kind of evil plot...
Read the Reuters article in the summary for more info on what this was actually about:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE51A60H20090211
.: Max Romantschuk
So many other things could also do with a panic button to shut things down "should something inappropriate occur"; the list is endless, but we could start with:
- The international banking system, (too late)
- The North Korean politburo
- The Australian parliament
- The Canadian parliament and,
- The European parliament!
I've got a better one. Tell your child to stop playing the game. If a parent can see what their child is doing in order to press a red button, then they can just as easily tell their child what not to do.
Relying on physical means to control your child's behaviour only sends the message that physical means are the only means to control their behaviour and if they can avoid or counter the physical means, they can behave as they wish. Are the people who proposed this bill afraid of their own children? Is physical control what they rely on?
Aide-toi, le Ciel t'aidera - Jeanne D'Arc.
Europeans also would like a "Red Button" for shutting down Parliament. Wishful thinking.
Have you ever tried simply turning off the TV, sitting down with your children, and hitting them?
Er, and what do you do when the child says no?
You walk over and unplug it, and take it away for a week or three.
That way, they quickly learn that undesired cooperation on the short term can result in a greater net gain in the long run.
You can back up your demands with physical action, but you probably shouldn't start by putting a pickaxe through the PS3.
Er, no.
Someone doing what you say doesn't depend on physical means, it depends on respect.
Plenty of parents exert lots of control over their high school students - even though there's no physical advantage.
Otherwise I'd never be able to get the 6'4" kid I live with to do anything, cause I'm pretty sure I can't take him in a fight.
The preferred solution is to not have a problem.
Raising kids is about respect, and give and take... knowing which battles you absolutely have to win, and which are just distractions. I don't have kids, but I do have a ton of nieces and nephews, and while running around the house and causing havoc are things I generally allow (all the breakables get put away before the nerf guns come out), there are rules I have that are disobeyed at their own peril (no running or playing on stairs) and they know this.
That said, I know I'm going to be cursed with triplet girls when it's my time... Lol.
Mine did the same thing back in the late 80's BBS era. Her trick was to take the phone off the hook in her bedroom and lock the door to keep me from staying up all night.
My trick was to ride my bike to the public library, get a book on telephony, and install a cutoff switch for her extension in the bathroom on the other side of the wall. ;)