A European parliament committee report on videogames appears to include a lot of sense, but the BBC report I’ve just seen highlights one element of stupidity.
The report backs the idea that videogames can be beneficial, including helping creativity, cooperation and strategic reflection. And I can see that although I firmly believe parents should be making decisions about appropriate content, the voluntary age rating system should be improved as we’re still reaching the age where parents are generally videogamers themselves.
But the bonkers part appears to be calling for a ‘red button’ on consoles, computers and within games for parents to turn off a machine or game.
I hate to point this out, but:
- Consoles and computers have such a button. It’s called the power button.
- If that fails, non-sentient computers and consoles can be disabled by removing a device known as a ‘plug’ from an ‘electrical socket’
- Surely there’s an element of parental control which needs to be used if parents wish their offspring to stop playing for a while? The same element which would hopefully be used to dissuade or stop children from any other activity at the wishes of their parents?
If research shows that more than half of European children are playing games unsupervised, then there’s a definite need for parents to take more of an active interest, rather than awaiting the first assault charges brought because a game was suddenly ended mid-session.
It’s why there needs to be parental involvement in internet usage and social networks. And why I’d always recommend that any children using webcams should only be able to use them in a shared family space, and not in their own rooms, for example. But for someone far more knowledgable about the reality of online risks, I’d recommend checking out Danah Boyd’s recent post.
