Parental controls on Playstation 3, Wii, and Xbox 360

Tek7

Tek7

CGA President, Tribe of Judah Founder & President
Staff member
Did you all know all 3 next-gen consoles have parental controls?

Parents: Do you use the controls?

Just wondering what people think about parental controls on consoles.
 
I know that there are controls, but I hadn't bothered to set them up. Since it's just my wife & I... and neither of us play anything with what we deem as objectionable content, there's really no need.

On a side note, is there actually anything on the Wii worth locking down?
 
Durruck said:
On a side note, is there actually anything on the Wii worth locking down?
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Probably wouldn't want the little ones blowing the heads off zombies in Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.

Or playing Manhunt 2 (not that anyone would want to, anyway).

Or surfing the web using the Internet Channel unmonitored.
 
I seen the controls on the 360, but I don't use them since I get mainly T-rated games. Well, I also got Gears of War 2, but I toned down the stuff anyways. But I'm glad there's an option to not allow 12-year old online in Halo 3.
 
Tek7 said:
Probably wouldn't want the little ones blowing the heads off zombies in Resident Evil: Umbrella Chronicles.

Or playing Manhunt 2 (not that anyone would want to, anyway).

Or surfing the web using the Internet Channel unmonitored.
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No More Heroes
 
Tek7 said:
Just wondering what people think about parental controls on consoles.
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For the most part it is dumb as the kid usually knows more about the console then the parents. Also considering how many parents buy "mature" games for their preadolescent children, I have given up hope on this generation.
 
Keero said:
I seen the controls on the 360, but I don't use them since I get mainly T-rated games. Well, I also got Gears of War 2, but I toned down the stuff anyways. But I'm glad there's an option to not allow 12-year old online in Halo 3.
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Now if parents would just use it.


vibrokatana said:
For the most part it is dumb as the kid usually knows more about the console then the parents. Also considering how many parents buy "mature" games for their preadolescent children, I have given up hope on this generation.
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I tend to agree, most kids know more, which shows a lack of interest and involvement in the childs lives on the parents fault, so really we need to fix the parents first.


For the console thing: its neccessary. I dont care otherwise. Now the main thing is to get more restrictions on halo and WoW for children
 
Atown said:
Now the main thing is to get more restrictions on halo and WoW for children
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I think Blizzard already has some kind of parental control that only allows children to play for so long.

Sadly, though, it's usually adults who are in greater need of a WoW time limit.

So here's an interesting offshoot of the original question: What about parental controls that only allow a user to play so many hours per day?

I've long felt that the danger of addiction (especially to massively multiplayer online role-playing games) is often overlooked because of the media's exaggeration of violent and sexual content in video games. (Remember all that rot about Mass Effect?)

We know that a small percentage parents are teaching their children If you kill that hooker, you can get your money back, but a larger percentage are allowing their children to play games like WoW for several hours a day.

EDIT: Just to be clear: I am not anti-MMO. I played Dark Age of Camelot during its beta and 6 months after retail release. I even played World of Warcraft for a few months. I'm currently participating in the closed beta for Shin Megami Tensei: Online. Tribe of Judah has successful guilds where members manage a healthy balance between gaming and offline responsibilities.
 
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I am not against parental filters, it's good to have the option to help out and even the best intentioned child could stumble across something. I do tend to wonder if it could become a substitute for more direct parental supervision though. I think, how shall I put it, having the consequences of trespassing is much more important than just having a higher fence. It's instilling the desire to what is right aforetime. If you move out and suddenly don't have a filter you should still have the restraint not to play certain games and not go pell-mell into them because you can. I think some of that instilling is lost if a parental filter is used as a crutch instead of an aid. Anyway the "no substitute for parents being around" thing is probably pretty obvious to everyone.

Tek7 said:
I've long felt that the danger of addiction (especially to massively multiplayer online role-playing games)...

...but a larger percentage are allowing their children to play games like WoW for several hours a day.
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<sarcasm on both points>Of course Tek a subscription to WoW is far cheaper than a babysitter :D </sarcasm on both points>
 
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the restrictions i was referring to tek, are the time limit restrictions currently in place by wow but need to be more enforced by parents and accessible for halo children
 
The Mighty Gerbil said:
I am not against parental filters, it's good to have the option to help out and even the best intentioned child could stumble across something. I do tend to wonder if it could become a substitute for more direct parental supervision though. I think, how shall I put it, having the consequences of trespassing is much more important than just having a higher fence. It's instilling the desire to what is right aforetime. If you move out and suddenly don't have a filter you should still have the restraint not to play certain games and not go pell-mell into them because you can. I think some of that instilling is lost if a parental filter is used as a crutch instead of an aid. Anyway the "no substitute for parents being around" thing is probably pretty obvious to everyone.
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I think a lot of it is that parents just don't care about their children's lives any more. Instead of trying to understand they just try to exert control. When they don't feel they have control then they try to punish. I know my parents are like that and it has caused tons of problems. While I love them, but we have virtually no forms of communication. My dad tries to run my life for me and it often causes conflicts with teachers because he has taken over my school email and accounts to the point where I can't even register for classes or receive school notifications. We have tried counseling but my parents wont change as they feel some of my problems with academics are because they don't exert enough control. It has ruined my work ethics to the point where I will procrastinate as I see no value in accomplishing anything besides not being yelled at by my parents. So if you want an example of what not to do, you could always try my parents :P
 
vibrokatana said:
I think a lot of it is that parents just don't care about their children's lives any more. Instead of trying to understand they just try to exert control. When they don't feel they have control then they try to punish. I know my parents are like that and it has caused tons of problems. While I love them, but we have virtually no forms of communication. My dad tries to run my life for me and it often causes conflicts with teachers because he has taken over my school email and accounts to the point where I can't even register for classes or receive school notifications. We have tried counseling but my parents wont change as they feel some of my problems with academics are because they don't exert enough control. It has ruined my work ethics to the point where I will procrastinate as I see no value in accomplishing anything besides not being yelled at by my parents. So if you want an example of what not to do, you could always try my parents :P
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I can't say about your situation because I don't know but for me I am probably pretty inclined to forgive my parents controlling tendencies due to my own great faults. Ultimately I think what they do they do is out of love for me even though in reality it may not be the best thing for me. It's very hard to let go of someone you love but a child has to have the ability and opportunity to stand on their own one day. Parents seem to have a hard time doing that, particularly mothers (I've wondered if the pain of childbirth from Genesis is really having to let go but that's another subject). Regardless I know they do what they do out of love, not out of social obligation, not because they want to say they are a good parent and not because they want to live their lives through me. Because I am sure their reason is love I can say they are good parents even though I disagree with their actions. In these days of aborted children and TV parenting I am blessed to have parents that care to get involved at all.
 
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Atown said:
the restrictions i was referring to tek, are the time limit restrictions currently in place by wow but need to be more enforced by parents and accessible for halo children
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Halo is rated M, people shouldn't be buying it for their kids anyway. Developers shouldn't be forced to spend needless money on restrictions meant for an age group that the game hasn't been rated for. When I was younger, if I wanted something that my parents wouldn't have wanted me to have, they wouldn't allow me to have it. Once I was able to get my hands on games, cd's, movies, whatever that my parents may have found objectionable, they usually listened, read through lyrics, watched the movies, or played the games with me and if they didn't like what they saw, guess what? I was out $15-$50
 
blackgravity said:
Halo is rated M, people shouldn't be buying it for their kids anyway. Developers shouldn't be forced to spend needless money on restrictions meant for an age group that the game hasn't been rated for. When I was younger, if I wanted something that my parents wouldn't have wanted me to have, they wouldn't allow me to have it. Once I was able to get my hands on games, cd's, movies, whatever that my parents may have found objectionable, they usually listened, read through lyrics, watched the movies, or played the games with me and if they didn't like what they saw, guess what? I was out $15-$50
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Yup that's the way parents should behave imo. As far as the developers being out money I don't think they are afraid of that. If anything it gives developers an out to explain why their video game has offensive material. They can claim they are being "responsible" (and I use the word lightly) by including restrictions. There is some content out there that is not fit for anyone and putting a filter on it doesn't change that.
 
ya know as i reflected more... i usually followed the verbal time limits of only playing for 2 hours or 3 hours on a given day. and I agree with you on the fact that M games should not get into the hands of under aged children, i also believe the ESRB is horribly out of touch with anything related to reality and over rate games like halo and under rate games like GTA. i mean i was a 12 year old playing MGS and its still one of my fav games to this day. yeah my parents looked at the ratings but whenever they walked by the screen, they never saw anything violent except me figuring out nakita missle puzzles
 
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blackgravity said:
I don't think MGS is necessarily rated for the violence, but for the imagery and themes of the game.
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It covered genetic manipulation, mental powers, nuking other countries, torture, betrayal, and undead to name a few. If you weren't prepared you could get washed away and damaged. Of course I think watching barney is a more traumatizing experience for kids. IMO that game would be an awesome one to play then discuss the themes with your kids (provided they are mature), as there are some very good points you can touch on.

It is rather hard to express what can be harmful to a person in a game. Sure you can define extremes, but there is a lot of grey area. While blood and gore may be "bad", I tend to think otherwise. To me it represents how dirty killing is and presents the idea that it should never be done unless necessary. When you start to represent murder as bloodless and without consequences then that is a sever issue.
 
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