In a small aside to the R18+ debate, the video game industry today begins educating parents on how to stay on top of their kids gaming habits.
The Interactive Games and Entertainment Association (IGEA) has today released a series of videos to teach parents how to better control the gaming habits of their children. The first videos look at how to set up parental controls on most popular consoles, theoretically restricting the amount of time kids spend playing and what they play (including classification restricions).
The move comes on the back of a 2009 survey that showed most parents were unaware that consoles even had parental controls.
The IGEA also has a range of general tips on how parents can best think of the children, including all the seemingly no-brainer stuff like putting the console in a common area of the house and even playing with the kids.
It’s probably a little redundant to most Atomicans, but anything that helps parents do their job instead of relying on governments to do it for them is a good thing. And if it makes them feel better about the introduction of an R18+ rating, all the better.
Issue: 137 | June, 2012