PS3 parental controls? Not so easy

On Tuesday, Will Greenwald wrote on CNET Crave about the misinformation surrounding Mass Effect, and pointed out parents can easily restrict their children from playing it on their Xbox 360. It's similarly easy to manage mature games on the Nintendo Wii. Unfortunately, if you have a Playstation 3, you're going to have a much more awkward time. Greenwald explains. (Jan 24 2008)

[Darkiewonder]

I'm just saying :o

[fjtorres]

The PS2 was already out when the original XBOX brought parental controls to console hardware.
Nintendo used to simply not allow mature games on their consoles (in the US, anyway) but with Gamecube they dropped that policy.
Sony never did anything until PS3.

[GrooveChampion]

NM, I was thinking of DVD parental checks. The PS2 definitely had those.. :P

[Rama26285]

How about just not buying your children certain games? If a game shop does their job properly they shouldn't sell certain games to children under the set age limit for that game, and the only way for them to obtain those games is usually via their parents.

If your child does obtain a game they shouldn't have, then at least the PS3 does have parental control, albeit not one easy to understand. If Sony are going to use their own rating system, then they should at least explain it to people.

[fjtorres]

Just becausae *you* do your job raising your kids right and policing what they see or play, doesn't mean the neighbors do. And kids lend each other games all the time so hardware-based parental controls are a good idea.
The problem the article alludes to is that many parents are lazy to start with and hardly bother with *easy* parental controls. Quirky and odd ones they just give up on. And then they go squawking about the games to FOX and other idiot media venues.
Good parental controls are the only shield the industry has against the busybodies in congress so if even a few parents start complaining to the idiot politicians that parental controls don't work, the pols will use them as an excuse to censor games.
That is why this concerns all of us.

[Kleptic]

fjtorres...great point...

once again these articles filter directly back to the parents...and while every parent feels they are good parent (most anyway), few take the time to actually learn the things that kids are interested in...

this entire ME thing centered around people in the media, a mildly retarded author-psych major, not understanding video games...they 'heard' in one way or another that explicit sex material was in a wildly successful video game...and ran with it...but then blatantly admitted to not once playing the game...apparently even parents do not grow out of hear-say...someone said its in there, so lets put it on the news and look ignorant...

us gamers though will someday make amazing parents in this regard...I know I will be playing every good game before any kid of mine ever gets his/her grubby little mits on it anyway...and I will know then and there whether its something my child should play based on their age...my parents did the same thing...my dad had to take my gameboy for 3 weeks to get sick of Tetris before I was deemed old enough to enjoy it...I was 5...I know that was more him just wanting to play the game...but he spent many hours at an arcade learning all the fatalities in Mortal Kombat, and seeing everything the game would possibly show...before he decided when I could play it...in the end he let me play a lot of violent video games at a younger age than a lot of my friends...but he understood the industry, and made sure I was never seeing anything that he hadn't...He played through Doom II on the PC twice before christmas back in late '94 or whenever that was...I was 11...I got the empty box and manual christmas morning, and he told it was already installed and ready to go...

I didn't know that he was doing this kind of stuff until I was much older, my mom ended up telling me when hearing about some game on TV...but my dad admitted to the fact that the stuff he would hear on the news would make things seem way way worse than they really were...according to the news, Doom II was the work of the antichrist...and that any home containing that game would be swallowed into an open rift leading straight to hell...same with MK...but when he actually played them, realized that they are hardly realistic (his quote of Doom exactly was "when you shoot a guy in doom, it looks like red trash falls out of him"...fi these parents would actually take the time to watch and learn what the kids are playing, they would probably start to wonder what the big deal is all about in the first place...granted something like Gears of War and the upcoming Dark Sector look to be radically more realistic and violent than some in the past...but it doesn't change the fact that if have a stable kid, and is raised properly, that they will understand the line between reality and a video game...

he stopped doing that though when i was around 13...at that point he was more worried about me drinking and chasing girls I guess than a video game with blood in it...

sorry for the long post...but there are ways to handle this violent content maturely...just know what your kids are playing...if you want to get all adult with them and 'talk about it'...thats better...no one wants a bunch of murderers being raised...its just being a lazy idiot and barking about shat that you don't understand isn't going to help anything either...

[BrianC6234]

If parents are really worried they could get a cabinet with locking doors and lock the consoles up in it when they aren't home. That would actually be best with younger kids anyway. They shouldn't spend all their free time playing games. They can do homework. Do chores. Go outside and play. Whatever. I think people use game consoles as babysitters and that just isn't good.

[travelguy2k]

Sony should have their own rating system displayed on the game box so that we at least have a clue.

[Kleptic]

well people wanted region free gaming...this is what you get...

I guess SCe could have implemented something were you state your territory, and it will use that specific rating system...but who knows...some kid in Germany could want to import Manhunt 2, or a friend of his imported it and brought to the kids house.. (I know its not a PS3 game, just an example)...and a territory only restriction, it would play the game anyway...without the parents ever knowing...

if you really care about this kind of stuff...you will take the time to learn it...take a look at every single game your kid is playing, and figure out whats appropriate...

parents and govt. peeps that keep pushing for this to be 'as easy as possible' are going to whine and whine until its done automatically...then they will turn around and flip about because it blocks the children from some material that they feel is fully appropriate...w/e...can't win...

[Bleucrunch]

Parental Controls????? what in the world would you do that for......did sega genesis have parental controls when mortal kombat came out nooooooooooooo did playstation have parental controls when resident evil came out nooooooooo....so what the hell is the problem now people need to grow the hell up its not that serious, games dont influence young minds to do the things that they do its just a cop out to place blame somewhere.

[Kyur4ThePain]

It's called my foot up your @ss if you don't listen.

[BardockS30Z]

lol IM KIDDING

[CadDad]

Keeping the PS3 off limits unless I'm around. My kids are 9 and 4, and given enough time will find a way to destroy anything they have access to. So they don't get to play games unless I'm home from work.

Kids will be kids, and if you are a parent, you know the obstacles you face with trying to censor your kids from certain things. It's impossible to have a say in everything they experience. The best thing to do is make your kids comfortable enough with approaching you with questions, and be ready to answer some doozies. ;)

-CadDad

[BlackCountryBob]

I would like to propose why I think Sony use the proprietary level system. Unlike on the 360 and Wii, all PS3 games are entirely region free meaning that they can be played on any console anywhere in the world so to establish a usage of the ESRB type ratings every game would have to be given a rating from every single ratings board in the world before a disk could be pressed. The level system gives the game a simple rating that doesn't rely on the need to be approved by the various worldwide ratings bodies.

Of course that is just my guess though with some simple thought I would have to ask why exactly a young and impressionable child has access to a £350 console and £50 games without any parental monitoring. TVs and games are in no way a substitute babysitter.

[Yi-Long]

Just teach your kids morals and values, and teach them the difference between fiction and real life...

I will never censor my kids. I WILL, however, pay close attention to them, explaining everything, helping them, etc.

I cant wait to receive some headshots from my 4 year old kid while we're playing Call of Duty 7 together! 'Dont shoot Daddy!!!'

edit: You wanna keep bad influences away from your kids? here's something:'Stop reading them The Bible'. That book has caused millions of more deaths than any other work of fiction, and has caused people to hate and look down upon those who dont believe, of have different beliefs.

I really dont understand the hypocrisy of many of these parents who go on about their kids maybe playing Ninja Gaiden, and then turn around and let them read about King Solomon threatening to cut up a baby, or a dude getting nailed to cross with people cheering and clapping? etc etc.

[Super_Sharp Sharpee]

psst, just goes to show you how the PS3 is responsible for the negative influence in videogames.
I BLAME YOU SONY!

[cheapness1]

The levels are there because Ps3 games are region free...but doesn't the manual state the rating equivalents for each of the levels?

not that I actually bothered reading it ;)

[Sheddi]

My parent used to brake my games...that parental control doesnt work so I dont care :P

[WilliamRLBaker]

sony is not an software company so its gonna be hard for them *laughs*

[ForTheFallen]

Why is this so hard for people?

I don't feel like repeating/rephrasing Yi-Long; He pretty much nailed it. (Although...Believe what you want, I like the bible.)

Jesus is probally playing CoD4 right now.
Owning.

[Mr Marbles]

Sometimes Sony can be so stupid

[SilPho]

And what would you have done differently?