Steam Getting Parental Controls via "Kid Mode"

[Glaice]

A tool is not meant to be a replacement for responsible parenting, it is supposed to help them but not replace them.

 

[insanelich]

It is a system which in is essence is restricting children from unvanted content by locking them out, implying that lack of this system is the reason kids wanted to play these games. A good parent teaches and explains, not deny acess. IF you are a good parent your child will be able to determine whether he wants to play certain game or not, removing the need for age restriction to begin with.

A good parent teaches and explains, therefore there's no need to keep the drain cleaner out of reach and keeping the gun in the nightstand is fine.

Parenting just might be a process in which you teach your children. Or children could be born into this world as perfect machines never accessing, using or even wanting things that are bad for them. Who can tell? Not me, not you.

 

[Elberik]

Those of us in the 20-30 range got away with a lot on the Internet because most parent's just didn't understand what computers were capable of or how to properly block sites. So when we have kids (god forbid but go with me on this) hopefully we will be the presence of mind as well as the expertise to properly secure devices so our 8-yr-olds can't "accidentally" stumble across 4chan or play Cock Hemorrhage 4.

 

[Elberik]

Well, steam is making a tool for parents to restrict their children it seems. Because blocking off information is always easier than teaching children to be responsible. Always blame everyone but the parent. always.

Parents should know everything about every game on Steam but as usual those lazy parents are too busy working to do that.

Alright Timmy, this is the Internet. You can read, watch, & listen to anything and everything your little mind can imagine. Now please be a responsible 13-yr-old and don't look at any pictures of sea urchins.

If I had a child, I would rather not risk them "accidentally" stumbling across mature content.

 

[WeepingAngels]

Well, steam is making a tool for parents to restrict their children it seems. Because blocking off information is always easier than teaching children to be responsible. Always blame everyone but the parent. always.

Parents should know everything about every game on Steam but as usual those lazy parents are too busy working to do that.

Alright Timmy, this is the Internet. You can read, watch, & listen to anything and everything your little mind can imagine. Now please be a responsible 13-yr-old and don't look at any pictures of sea urchins.

If I had a child, I would rather not risk them "accidentally" stumbling across mature content.

I can't imagine anyone thinking parental controls are bad and I get especially annoyed when people blame parents for not being "all knowing and all seeing".

 

[Strazdas]

Werent ready for? you mean you failed to prepare them for?

Yes, because all entertainment is the same and your 7-year olds should be immediately prepared for all the R-rated stuff.

As usual you completely miss my point. not all entertainment is the same, nad 7 year olds are not immediately prepared. you got 7 years to prepare them. 7 years is a long time, you agree? And if you cant find time to talk to your children - you shouldnt be having any.

Your argument was that parents shouldn't have this option because they would abuse it. But if they want to monitor their kids' gaming or stop them from doing it they can do it. But isn't it a better option for them to do it with parental controls like this, instead of taking away the computer alltogether?

Fair enough, you got a point there.

You didn't answer me. Do you have kids or indeed have you looked after children ever? How old are you? (EDIT: according to your bio you are old enough to possibly have children, though.)
Because you seem to have some rather unrealistic expectations about parenting.

I did not answer you, because i assumed your ad hominem was not intentional. It seems i was wrong. However your Ad Hominem [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem] will not work. You should argue against my statements, not my own age or parenthood.

Children, like all humans, are logical.

You are not from planet Earth. Children are the most irrational and illogical naturally occurring creatures that exist.

I guess you failed to read the second sentence, where i explain that their logic (and yes they are logical) are structured by different knowledge, and thus may not seem rational to people with more knowledge.

Fair enough. I have to agree with this logical reasoning.

I would have thought Valve making parents responsible would have been a massively positive thing.

How does making a tool that allows parents to shift parenting to valve is making parents responsible?

What ever happened to responsible parenting in this world, especially the developed countries?

It has been changed to caretaker TV and nanny parental locks.

Well, steam is making a tool for parents to restrict their children it seems. Because blocking off information is always easier than teaching children to be responsible. Always blame everyone but the parent. always.

Agreed.

Parents should know everything about every game on Steam but as usual those lazy parents are too busy working to do that.

Everything? No. but they should be able to take interest in what their children are doing enough to read 2 sentences decription.



Also most people seems to use stereotype of "mature content = not for kids" to excuse this. but that is another topic so i wont expand.

 

[Lieju]

Werent ready for? you mean you failed to prepare them for?

Yes, because all entertainment is the same and your 7-year olds should be immediately prepared for all the R-rated stuff.

As usual you completely miss my point. not all entertainment is the same, nad 7 year olds are not immediately prepared. you got 7 years to prepare them. 7 years is a long time, you agree? And if you cant find time to talk to your children - you shouldnt be having any..

What are you even arguing about?
I agree you shouldn't keep children in the dark, but you need to introduce them to scary or difficult concepts carefully and with support. You don't explain a child what sex is by letting them watch porn by themselves and then wait for them to ask WTF it was they saw.
You guide them and let them grow and practise social interaction age-appropriately.

I did not answer you, because i assumed your ad hominem was not intentional. It seems i was wrong. However your Ad Hominem [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem] will not work. You should argue against my statements, not my own age or parenthood.

So you can link to Wikipedia. Well done. But you haven't exactly supported any of your statements with anything else than 'it's my opinion', so it's not unreasonable to ask what kind of personal experience you have on parenting, as you're so eager to tell people how to do it.

 

[Strazdas]

Werent ready for? you mean you failed to prepare them for?

Yes, because all entertainment is the same and your 7-year olds should be immediately prepared for all the R-rated stuff.

As usual you completely miss my point. not all entertainment is the same, nad 7 year olds are not immediately prepared. you got 7 years to prepare them. 7 years is a long time, you agree? And if you cant find time to talk to your children - you shouldnt be having any..

What are you even arguing about?
I agree you shouldn't keep children in the dark, but you need to introduce them to scary or difficult concepts carefully and with support. You don't explain a child what sex is by letting them watch porn by themselves and then wait for them to ask WTF it was they saw.
You guide them and let them grow and practise social interaction age-appropriately.

I did not answer you, because i assumed your ad hominem was not intentional. It seems i was wrong. However your Ad Hominem [http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ad_hominem] will not work. You should argue against my statements, not my own age or parenthood.

So you can link to Wikipedia. Well done. But you haven't exactly supported any of your statements with anything else than 'it's my opinion', so it's not unreasonable to ask what kind of personal experience you have on parenting, as you're so eager to tell people how to do it.

Except that "Age-approapriately" has been turned into a stop sign till some arbitrary year number. Of course you introduce them gradually. however what this does is keeping them in the dark.
This is a forum, you know, a place meant to share opinions. this is not a science conference where you need ot provide proof for every sentence. Ad hominem is still adhominem even on forum though.

 

[Elate]

I would have thought Valve making parents responsible would have been a massively positive thing.

How does making a tool that allows parents to shift parenting to valve is making parents responsible?

Let me see, oh, because they aren't shifting parenting. Yeah it's really that simple. Just like how routers all have parental controls, and most Window OS's have parental controls, and all consoles have parental controls, this requires the parent to actually actively use these controls, so it makes them responsible for the childs actions.

I.e the parent can no longer say "WHY ARE COMPANIES ALLOWIN' MA KIDS TO PLAY VIOLENT VIDYA GAMES" because the company (Valve) can now turn around and say that they implemented the features for parents to use to make sure their kids can't.

In short, I think you missed my point, it doesn't make them responsible parents, it gives them more responsibility.

Now, looking at your other comments, I don't give a flying crap whether this puts kids in the dark, that's up to the parents, and this system will likely be customizable based on rating or something similar. So this encourages parents to actually get involved in what their kids are doing, rather than letting the PC baby sit them.

 

[Strazdas]

I would have thought Valve making parents responsible would have been a massively positive thing.

How does making a tool that allows parents to shift parenting to valve is making parents responsible?

In short, I think you missed my point, it doesn't make them responsible parents, it gives them more responsibility.

I quoted your post part where you said they do, and now you say they dont. so which is it?

 

[Elate]

I would have thought Valve making parents responsible would have been a massively positive thing.

How does making a tool that allows parents to shift parenting to valve is making parents responsible?

In short, I think you missed my point, it doesn't make them responsible parents, it gives them more responsibility.

I quoted your post part where you said they do, and now you say they dont. so which is it?

Yeah you quoted it, which is why I find it funny that you don't seem to understand it.

You can give someone responsibility. That doesn't automatically make them act responsible. You're confusing the two. Here:

responsibility
noun, plural re·spon·si·bil·i·ties.
1. the state or fact of being responsible, answerable, or accountable for something within one's power, control, or management.
2. an instance of being responsible: The responsibility for this mess is yours!
3. a particular burden of obligation upon one who is responsible: the responsibilities of authority.
4. a person or thing for which one is responsible: A child is a responsibility to its parents.
5. reliability or dependability, especially in meeting debts or payments.

I'm talking in context of 1 in the fact that it makes them accountable, and you're misunderstanding me in thinking I mean that the parents suddenly start acting responsibly.


I guess to remove confusion the better term would just be accountability, it makes the parents accountable for the childs actions.

Anyway, I can't be bothered explaining it anymore since you just keep quoting me out of context (missing the part where I explained what I meant), go read up on accountability if you're still confused.

 

[Strazdas]

short quote

So you meant it in a way of valve shifting the blame on parents. i see. English is not my first language, so i didnt think of this possible meaning. thank you for your patience in explaining.

Capcha: dollar signs
really capcha, doesnt steam have enough?

 

[Elate]

short quote

So you meant it in a way of valve shifting the blame on parents. i see. English is not my first language, so i didnt think of this possible meaning. thank you for your patience in explaining.

Capcha: dollar signs
really capcha, doesnt steam have enough?

Well, now I feel like a bit of an ass in getting somewhat pissy at you for you not understanding, my apologies.

But yes, that's what I meant, if the kids are playing games they shouldn't be then the parents will now be to blame, and I only see that as a good thing. Hopefully it's a sign that the games industry is trying make it so that parents can no longer blame games for their shitty children being violent.