Program Limits Kids' Video Gaming
GameCore is a weekly column by CBSNews.com's William Vitka, Chad Chamberlain and Joey Arak that focuses on gamers and gaming.
The FCC's V-Chip is the bane of eager adolescents craving Mature rated content on television. The purpose of its initial design was to give parents the ability to shield their kids from programming they deemed unsuitable. Some TVs allowed caretakers to program schedules for viewing times; a feature that let parents create a kind of allowance for watching the boob tube.
Soon after, when the Internet proved itself to be a wondrous playground of all things lewd, similar software was created that was supposed to prevent kids from stumbling onto mature content. Those programs have a spotty track record and, when they actually work properly, have led to severe disappointment on the part of smut-seeking hormone rockets otherwise known as teenagers.
Now, with concerns about violence in video games growing, parents might be looking for some way to manage their children's PC gaming. A new program called WallFly, from SMARTGuard aims to do just that.
It's a computer program that monitors video game use and, if the parents deem it so, blocks certain games from being run. The easiest way to think of it is a V-Chip for the PC. WallFly is designed to assist parents who want to monitor the software that is run on the home computer.
"We do a lot more than give parents a tool to help control content," Jerald Block, CEO of SMARTGuard, told me. "We also allow parents to setup time zones where gaming and computer use is or is not permitted, allow parents to setup weekly budgets for game and computer use, and provide informative reports that detail game use on the computer."
WallFly reemphasizes what readers, gamers, parents, and -- pay attention here, dear politicians -- that coveted 18-34 year-old demographic have said: parents are the ones ultimately responsible for their offspring.
"Our goal with WallFly is to give parents a tool to help them oversee the gaming content and time used gaming on family computers. Most parents know considerably less about computers than their children do and yet they are being asked to oversee the computer use. They need some help. WallFly gives parents an easy and transparent way to manage the family computer."
WallFly uses the ESRB's ratings database as a guide. While running, it checks to see if a launched game meets with whatever criterion has been set by the parents. If Mom and Dad don't want their kids playing anything rated above 'Teen,' then they won't be able to.
"We stop games as they are launched. That is very different than using batch-like processing. Studies show that programs that rely on batch processing, like some of the antivirals, are rarely run and ineffective. So, we did it differently.
"I'd say we are the V-chip for the PC AND that we offer quite a bit more."
Since computer usage is being monitored, privacy concerns could become an issue. Does SMARTGuard, or anyone else, know what I'm playing? Someone playing something like "Improperly Proportioned Teen Naughtiness" might be concerned about sensitive information.
"No," Jerald told me. "Only you know what your computer has been used for."
WallFly is being released at a time when violence in video games is coming under extreme scrutiny. Jerald told me that is purely coincidental, but that didn't mean he didn't have strong feelings on the subject.
"I believe the lawmakers are reacting to pressure from some families, testimony from wildly overstated 'experts,' and from misguided attempts to address recent school shootings. While I believe it is the government's job to regulate dangerous products, I think we are nowhere near being able to say that about computer games."
Ah, and yet many politicians are scurrying to attempt to cash in on what they perceive to be the anti-video game violence vote. Which is the opposite of what many people seem to want.
A quote from the increasingly pertinent H.L. Mencken comes to mind: Whenever 'A' attempts by law to impose his moral standards upon 'B', 'A' is most likely a scoundrel.
If you follow GamePolitics.com or GamersAlliance.org, you'll see that many states have bills moving through the legislature that block sales and regulate what games can be sold to whom.
"Essentially, as I understand it," Jerald told me, "they are considering two approaches. Either age-checks upon buying from a retailer or the retailer assumes liability for later acts of violence that are found to be related to a game purchase."
"I don't think the government should get involved in what games you can buy. Before we start passing laws, we need more data."
Which is exactly what Jerald is hoping to obtain in the near future. One promising aspect of WallFly is its ability to be used as a research device. With some modifications, it could be used to track all activity on a computer.
"I have already approached several other researchers and I think we should get something off the ground fairly soon. There is a lot of interest in actually looking at hard and accurate data," said Block.
We can only hope that those seeking to pass laws restricting video game sales actually pay attention to that data. Otherwise, who knows? Some lawmaker might get the funny idea to classify video games as a controlled substance or a hazardous material.
"Sorry, son, you can't have that game. Would you like a gun instead? Or maybe some medication?"
Get a driver's license, get a gun, get pregnant, get a prescription -- but watch out for those Mature rated games
By William Vitka