Parental Controls
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Nintendo 3DS warning label: children under six shouldn't use 3D mode
Ever since the device was first shown at E3, we've been under the impression that the Nintendo 3DS is too good to be true -- three-dimensional, portable versions of beloved N64 games? That's un-possible. The other shoe we've been waiting to drop might have just done so with Nintendo's recently released 3DS warning label; not only does it caution adults to stop using the device if they start to feel ill, it also says that children under six shouldn't use the handheld's 3D functionality at all, as it may affect the development of their poor, innocent eyes. This isn't quite as explosive a story as the mainstream media will likely make it out to be -- 3D display experts have long discussed the possible repercussions the technology has on eyesight. The worry isn't that displays like the one included in the 3DS will actually harm your vision, but that the way it "tricks" your eyes into seeing 3D might impair the way you actually see depth, which is, of course, the coolest dimension. Of course, there's no firm research confirming these worries, but Nintendo's playing it safe -- the 3DS' parental controls will allow parents to lock the device into 2D mode for their under-six progeny.
Mac App Store shots reveal Parental Controls, store helper app
9to5Mac apparently snuck its way into the Mac App Store a little early (the marketplace is set to open up on January 6), and has brought back some screenshots of the app's OS X trappings. You can see the app's icon already, and the app will have a login screen very similar to what you already use in iTunes to install iOS apps. Parental controls are available in the store's preferences, and various installs will all be handled by another app called "store helper." Those controls are configurable for various ages, so you'll be able to define if you want apps to run for users over 4, 9, 12, or 17. Unfortunately, The Mac App Store won't support Game Center or in-app purchases at launch, but given the growing popularity of both of those elements, that may change in the future. We're inching ever closer to the Mac App Store's release, and developers are undoubtedly working even over the holidays to make sure their apps are ready to go at launch. It should be a nice way to kick off 2011 for Apple.
MMO Family: A parent's look at LEGO Universe
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Most kids who play video games have at least seen one from the LEGO franchise. There are a ton of them -- enough, in fact, for a whole page listing them. They're fun games; I'll bet you've played at least one of them, at least in bits and pieces in a demo somewhere. After all, who doesn't love LEGOs? Still, there was a decided "ho-hum" reaction among my team of young playtesters when I announced we were going to test the ropes of the brand new LEGO Universe MMO. Oh sure, they were willing enough, but it seemed there was always something shinier and more appealing to play on any given day than the game about good ol' LEGOs. Until they played LEGO Universe -- and had a (brick-)smashing good time.%Gallery-105603%
MMO Family: Parents as gaming gatekeepers
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Does your child have the emotional levels it takes to tackle certain MMOs? The idea of parents as gaming gatekeepers all too often comes down to simplistic, ESRB ratings-based rulings passed down from on high by relatively disengaged parents. Deciding what and how your child should play is far from a black-or-white decision. Last time in MMO Family, for instance, we looked at how to tell if your child is ready for MMO raiding -- yet far too many commenters missed the point, assuming (from the topic alone, we can only presume) that we advocate a laissez-faire attitude that allows kids to abandon their other activities and strands them in front of a keyboard during every free moment. Come on, folks, it's not a choice between letting kids play to the detriment of the rest of their lives vs. not playing at all. It's about gatekeeping -- and this is where you, the parent, come in. The truth is, categorically forbidding kids who're interested in video games to play at all is no more thoughtful or balanced an approach than throwing up your hands and letting them log in during every waking moment. Your role is to help children learn to balance their interests and lives, with as light or heavy a hand as may be necessary for your kids. This week, we've brought you some thoughts from a mother and son who've been there, done that -- together.
Apple thinks of the children, patents parent-controlled text communication
US patent 7814163 has been granted to Apple under the title "Text-based communication control for personal communication device." It describes the ability to control content sent and received from an "administered device" as defined by a parental control application. If objectionable content is detected based on a table of words stored locally on the device, the content can either be removed or the message blocked entirely. It can also enforce a designated language for children who, for example, are required to practice a foreign language. Note that the controlled content is limited to text, so it won't stop naughty Kin owners from foolish behavior, like, well, buying a Kin.
MMO Family: Is your child ready for MMO raiding?
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Does your youngster have ambitions to become an MMO raider? As a seasoned gamer yourself, you may find it hard to believe that your kids are already old enough to be chomping at the bit to battle the same bosses, to pore over the same strategies, to put themselves through the same scheduling wringer that you do. That's the thing about kids, though -- they want to tackle the cool stuff just like you do, especially if that's what they've grown up watching you raid. Is MMO raiding appropriate for your older child or teen? That's a matter only a parent can decide. The answer will be different from child to child, age to age and family to family. The best analogy I can offer is to treat this like a virtual team sport. Make sure your youngster has the bandwidth to support adding another focused activity to his schedule; from there, you'll want to help him choose the right team with a solid coach and assistants, supportive teammates and an age-appropriate challenge rating and social environment. A little direction from a tuned-in, gaming-savvy parent can help many young wannabe raiders realize their ambitions in an age-appropriate, balanced and enjoyable way.
MMO Family: A parent's look at World of Cars Online
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. How could you not fall in love with a Disney/Pixar movie? I'm not sure that's even possible. Cars revved up belly laughs in the theater back in 2006, earning two Oscar nominations and raking in more than a dozen other industry awards. Kids were captivated by the feisty little car characters, and grownups chuckled at voicing from such high-octane stars as Owen Wilson, Paul Newman and even Cheech Marin. The MMO version of the franchise, which officially launched last month, pulls away from the starting line without this full tank of charisma. World of Cars Online hits on all cylinders yet somehow fails to throttle up into the type of completely engaging world we've come to expect from a Disney/Pixar creation. It's a 2-D, minigame-centric experience with lots (and we do mean lots) of point-and-click racing. Still, if you've got a young boy around the house who's hankering to burn a little online rubber, World of Cars is an inexpensive, kid-friendly way to do it.
World of Cars takes off with a full tank of gas
It's not every day that you're invited to make an anthropomorphized vehicle that you're expected to both race and comfort its feelings. Leave it to Disney Pixar, then, to make the first move in that department, which is why they've launched World of Cars for the hot-rodding set. Based on the 2006 hit animated film, World of Cars invites drivers of all ages to create their own personable car and go head-to-head with friends and strangers. There are even cameos from the movie, as Cheech Marin and Jennifer Lewis return to reprise their roles in the game. Players can explore the open world, upgrade their cars, and enter races for fame and money as they like. Right now, World of Cars is free-to-play with optional microtransactions and subscriptions, and features a full set of parental controls so your mommy or daddy can tell you when you need to stop playing and go into work. Or school. It's okay, we won't tell anyone you're actually having fun with cartoon cars if you won't tell on us too.
Battle.net parental controls guide
We've talked before about using parental controls to opt out of Real ID and we've talked about the new Battle.net site, but we haven't actually talked about setting up an account for your child ... until now. The gallery below is a walk-through on what settings are available and how to set them up for your child. If you are taking the route of electronically limiting your child's play time, I highly recommend setting up both limitations and a schedule. This way, you don't have to be constantly checking to see if your child is playing outside his approved play schedule. However, it's a very good idea to look over your child's shoulder to make sure he's not griefing the locals or using language that previous generations would wash out mouths for. %Gallery-98433%
MMO Family: A parent's look at Fantage
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family, from tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate online games for everyone in the family. Now that we've established that kids aren't gaming snobs and will dig into a good Flash game with as much relish as we grownups attack any top-rung MMO title, let's look at another up-and-coming Flash title for kids. Fantage (short for "Fantastic Age") has attracted nearly 7 million users since April 2008 almost entirely by word of mouth -- how's that for kid power? I suspect the reason Fantage tickles my 9-year-old playtester's fancy is tied to the advancements she's been making with her real-life character this summer. The achievements are flowing: she's figured out how to use the Page Up and Page Down buttons to snag [Swimming in the Deep End], she's acquired her first epic mount [Big Brother's Hand-Me-Down Bike] and she's become fascinated with the possibilities of /dance... We're even breaking away from class-specific gear sets to farm all the mats for her [Tier 4 School Supplies] individually via hotly contested minigames all over town. So while she's still utterly captivated by the sparkling magic of a game like Pixie Hollow, this evolving little personality is hooked on Fantage's opportunities to show off her own style and personality via her avatar and accessories. Different game, different flavor -- so let's investigate the attractions.
Customizing and opting out of Real ID
This is not a discussion of the good (yay, crossrealm chat!) and the bad (boo, privacy fail) of Real ID. This is a guide for how to truly opt out of this feature and how to adjust the settings if you do participate in game. To be clear, everyone who does not have a parentally controlled account has in fact opted into Real ID, due to a security flaw. Addons have access to the name on your account right now. So you need to be very careful about what addons you download -- make sure they are reputable. In order to actually opt out, you need to set up parental controls on your account. This is not an easy task. Previous to the Battle.net merge, you could just go to a page and set them up. Done. Now, you must set up an account as one that is under parental control. Once your account is that of a child's (a several-step process), your settings default to Real ID-disabled. Any Real ID friends you have will no longer be friends. In order to enable it, you need to check the Enable Real ID box. Setting up parental controls: Go to the appropriate battle.net site for your region. (That link should take you there.) Push the Create or Manage a Battle.net Account button. Log in as normal. Click on Parental Controls, which is an option listed under Manage My Games. (And, if you're like me, you'll be sad that you are still not in the beta.) Choose the No - Setup Parental Controls button. Fill in your info as both the child's account and your own. (Why they make this distinction, I don't know. Parental controls always used to be an option for adults to manage their own game time.) You will receive an email. You need to save this email, because the link in there is the only way to get to the parental controls. Otherwise, you have to make Blizzard resend it. Click the link to get into the controls. Save Settings and then be told it will take up to 30 minutes to go into effect. That is how to opt out. How to optimize opting in is after the break.
$99 Xbox Live Gold Family plan available this November
With Kinect, Microsoft is trying to get the whole family playing games. Now it hopes to get the whole family paying for Xbox Live as well, through a discounted "Family" offer. The Xbox Live Gold Family plan, available this November, offers a year of Xbox Live Gold membership to four different family members for a total cost of $99.99, half the normal cost of four individual memberships. It also includes new features, including a "Family Center" menu for managing the family account and content restriction settings, activity reports on Xbox.com, the ability for the "primary account member" to buy and distribute points to other members, and "exclusive family content and discounts." Microsoft is further expanding its family gaming functionality this November with new Family Settings, also due in November. "Family Programming" expands the parental controls to allow the removal of all video and game content of a certain rating level from the Dashboard for younger users, variable by account and password-protected. Title exceptions allow parents to permit certain games rated above the account's maximum level -- for those who can't bear to deny their kids access to Deadly Premonition.
MMO Family: A parent's look at Pixie Hollow
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. I wasn't planning to include a 2-D Flash game in MMO Family's initial sweep of children's games -- but then my daughter tried Disney's Pixie Hollow. Initially dismissive of the idea of slumming it in 2-D, she found herself utterly captivated by its magpie collection quests and friendly community of players. In the eyes of this 8-year-old road tester, Pixie Hollow delivers an enjoyable, social experience in an online world ... And I was forced to admit that this world suits her own interests as well as deeply immersive MMO worlds hold mine. We're not going to get into gender wars here. Obviously, some girls won't like the fairies theme, and we're sure grownups will continue their snarky debates over the game's recently added male characters ("sparrow men"). Beyond that, what's most apparent is that Pixie Hollow successfully snares both kids who are enthralled with the Disney Fairies franchise and those who simply enjoy a glittery, web-based spot to flutter and chatter.
MMO Family: A parent's look at Toontown Online
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. Kids may not even realize they're playing an MMO (you know, one of those games that Mom and Dad talk about all the time and play after bedtime) when they log in to Toontown Online. All the traditional elements are there -- missions, combat, grouping, pets -- but they're all couched in the incomparable cartoon stylings of Disney. In fact, "couched" is probably the most apt descriptor possible, because Toontown is familiar and welcoming, just like that cozy couch you've been nestling into to watch Saturday morning cartoons for ... well, your whole life. That's not to say that the action in Toontown is laid back. It's anything but. Kids gobble up the zany, cartoon slapstick approach to "combat" (think cream pies and banana peels) and mini-games. In fact, they'll be so busy squirting the boss in the face with their lapel flowers that they won't even realize they're "working" on levels. This is kid-flavored MMO gaming at its candy-coated best.
Mac 101: How to use the iTunes parental controls
As Apple removes sexually suggestive apps from the App Store (and is evidently preparing a Red Light District for the future), users are wondering how they can protect their kids from certain content. With that in mind, here's an overview of the parental controls in iTunes. Note that the screenshot at right is from iTunes 9.0.3. Older versions look slightly different. Parental controls are only available in iTunes 5 and later. To access these settings, select Preferences from the iTunes menu, and then click the Parental tab. Here you've got several options. First, you can disable access to podcasts, internet radio or the iTunes Store completely. Note that you can keep iTunes U accessible while disabling the rest of the store. Additionally, you can deny access to shared libraries. Once turned off, these items won't appear in the left sidebar of the iTunes window.
MMO Family: A parent's look at Wizard101
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. Wizard101 is the game your youngest gamers have been begging for. With stringent chat filters atop relaxed, turn-based game play, Wizard101 looks almost unbeatable for young players seeking an MMO with traditional fantasy appeal. It plays like a collectible card game with all the MMO trimmings: housing, armor and clothing, player houses, pets, mini-games ... Family subscription plans plus the most complete, well presented web documentation that we've found keep parents as happy as the kids. (And they just might find themselves tempted to start a character and build their own spell decks, too!)
MMO Family: A parent's look at Ether Saga Online
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. Next in our look at kids' MMOs is Ether Saga Online, winner of a 2009 National Parenting Publications Award for tweens and teens video games. Compared with the freewheeling, open-ended approach of Free Realms, ESO presents a more traditional MMO face. Even so, you probably weren't expecting a work of classic literature -- but that's in fact what you'll get. ESO, which was first developed for Chinese players, is based on Journey to the West (often known in the West as Monkey), considered one of the four great classical novels of Chinese literature. All that, and it's free to play, too.
MMO Family: A parent's look at Free Realms
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. This week, MMO Family begins a gaming-savvy look at some of the most popular kid MMOs. You know what you like in an MMO – but what about your kids? And what if you're looking for something the whole family could play together? Today's gaming family can nibble from a whole feast of MMOs: games for grownups (we can help you fence off areas for kids who want to play what Mom and Dad do), games for the little ones, games for tweens and teens, and games for everyone to play together. When it's time to find just the right selection for the kids, we'll help you reticle over the most likely targets. First up: Free Realms from Sony Online Entertainment.
Egg-man will teach you about PSN security
Sony Computer Entertainment Europe has just launched a new website catered to parents looking for tips and tutorials on safe gaming for younger players. PS-PlaySafeOnline.com includes explanations of the PS3's parental control settings function, security features for registered PSN Online IDs, and advice on what to do when faced with online jerks. The entire site is wrapped around a strange (and way too cheery) Egg-man character, who seems to waver been non-threatening and subversively creepy. Our only real gripe? There is no glossary term for PlayStation Home's "Quincying" phenomenon. Everyone must be warned.
MMO Family: Parental control tools
MMO Family is your resource for leveling a gaming-specced family ... From tips on balancing gaming with family life to finding age-appropriate niches for every family member, MMO Family offers you advice on MMO gaming of the family, by the family and for the family. If you've been following along here at MMO Family, you'll know we keep a pretty big toolbox. What works for one family won't fit another, so we believe in offering a lot of different options. You can't possibly use every tool at once -- or maybe you could, although you probably shouldn't. You'd be one busy parent if you attempted to wield all 17 internet safety tactics at once for every child, every day. You'd never have time to actually log in and play if you ran every game screening technique known to man ... Treat all these tactics like a buffet, and load up your plate with the ideas you think fit your family's taste. That said, we've got another big tool for the box this week: parental controls. These settings on your computer, game consoles and individual games let you limit access to game features you don't want your children to use. You can use parental controls to determine what games your kids play (and block those M-rated games borrowed from the friend at school), who they're playing them with and when they're playing them.
