Wii: Your portal to ... porn?

This looks like it's going to be one issue that doesn't go away, at least, not for a while. Since the advent of the Wii browser, some sites have taken it upon themselves to provide Wii-optimized content, and shockingly, some of those sites specialize in adult content. Some individuals have made the point that this content is directed at children. One site initially posed this theory last month and has (unsurprisingly) been deluged with comments. The folks at The Porn Talk keep reviving the issue, and they even made a page dedicated to the porn threat in living rooms around the world. In the wake of the backlash following that move, they've asked a question of gamers: "So what advice would you have for parents that don't understand technology? What advice would you give to Moms and Dads in regards to internet porn and Wi-Fi devices like the Wii? Is porn exposure to kids even an issue in your opinion?"

Well, let's see if we can't provide a few answers.

Let's start with the last question first, because the rest seems to hinge on that. Do we think kids and porn are a good mix? The short answer is no, we think that adult material should pretty much be for adults (see what we did there?). Of course, it's up to parents to decide how and when to educate their children, in most cases, and we're not trying to tell anyone how to raise their kids. In general, however, we do think that pornography should not be readily available to children.

Now that we've established that we're on the side of the good guys here, we can discuss issues that are important to parents before making any major entertainment/electronics purchase for their child or children. There are a few important questions parents should ask themselves about any form of entertainment -- specifically, questions about where boundaries are drawn. This seems to come easily for most parents with movies and television, it's almost as though there is some sort of disconnect for many parents when it comes to gaming and computers. Web content, gaming, music -- these forms of entertainment are really no different from movies. If you don't allow your child to watch R rated movies without supervision, the same should probably apply to other forms of electronic entertainment, particularly when they have online content. Supervision is good. Be involved with what your child is taking in.

Many parents do try to take an active role when it comes to such boundaries: they set up parental controls on their cable units, disallow certain kinds of rentals at the video store, and limit the types of television shows children are allowed to watch. Setting up a filter on a PC or parental controls on the Wii (or any other system that features them) is really no different. Sure, maybe some parents are a little shaky with the technology ... but isn't it worth the twenty minutes it might take to figure it out if it protects your child? The Wii is designed to be simple, and this simplicity extends to the parental controls.

In fact, we tested the parental controls settings to see how difficult it might be for those who aren't so tech savvy. It's an extraordinarily simple interface, and twenty minutes was a generous estimate of the time it might take a parent to set up filters. Simply open the Wii menu in the lower left corner of the starting screen, choose settings, and then parental controls. Everything from there is explained, screen by screen, and restricting the Internet Channel completely is as simple as clicking a "yes."

So what would we tell Moms and Dads who are concerned about the Wii? We'd tell them to research anything that might allow content they're not sure is right for their children. They need to be able to take an active role in establishing what's okay and what is not.

While we're on the subject of what should not be okay -- it's important for people to remember that the Wii is being marketed for everyone. Everyone is not limited to "children" or "families." Everyone includes just that: everyone. This includes adults who have every right to browse pornographic material from their computers, their cellular phones, and yes, even their gaming consoles. It's time we got past the idea that gaming is a children's hobby -- because that simply is not the case. In trying to demonize the Wii, it seems that people are asking the world to tailor itself to children. Should we ban all movies that are not PG? Should we scrap the Internet all together? Certainly, the 24 hour news channels will have to go, because images of violence, war, and general poor taste are probably not healthy, either.

Just as broadcasting pornographic material on a public billboard would be in bad taste, so too is asking that everything be dialed down to the level of a child. And that is what we would tell mothers and fathers about the Wii. Enforce standards in your homes that are best for your families. Don't ask the world to enforce those standards for you, not when it's so easy to do it yourself.

[Thanks, Jon!]