Euro Parliament Wants "Red Button" For Shutting Down Games 167
GamePolitics writes "The European Parliament has actually requested that red, panic-style buttons be set up for use by parents whose children play online games. The buttons would allow the parents to quickly shut the game down should something inappropriate occur. Wouldn't the old-school on-off switch work just as well?"
To be fair, the report isn't entirely crazy; it says games "can also be used for educational and medical purposes," and acknowledges that the "presence of violence in video games does not automatically lead to violent behaviour."
Red Button Doesn't Seem To Be Literal (Score:5, Informative)
From the EU Parliament Press release [europa.eu]:
Furthermore in the actual draft report [europa.eu], the word "button" never appears. As such, the red button doesn't seem to be a literal red button, rather a figurative term used in the press release as a euphemism for parental controls. I'm not sure how this is any different from how the current-gen consoles implement parental controls though.
crappy summary of a bad summary (Score:5, Informative)
Ok, so this /. article links to an article that already is a bad summary of this press release [europa.eu], which sounds a little more enlightened:
To help parents choose, MEPs would like to see more public awareness of the content of video games, parental control options and instruments such as the Pan-European Game Information (PEGI) age rating system.
Sounds to me like they're doing the exact right thing: Making parents responsible and asking game companies to give them options.
Now the actual "red button" part reads like this in the press release:
the report proposes fitting consoles, computers or other game devices with a "red button" to give parents the chance to disable a game or control access at certain times.
That does not sound like an emergency "off" switch to me. It sounds more like a timer thing, where a parent can tell the computer "no online games for my son after 22:00". Unfortunately, I couldn't find a source beyond the press release, so what exactly they have in mind remains a mystery. It does sound a lot less exciting than TFA makes it to be. Selective quoting, anyone?
Leave it to Slashdot... (Score:5, Informative)
Leave it to Slashdot sensationalism to spin an EU report which is generally very positive towards gaming as some kind of evil plot...
Read the Reuters article in the summary for more info on what this was actually about:
http://uk.reuters.com/article/healthNewsMolt/idUKTRE51A60H20090211 [reuters.com]
Re:No IR needed to toggle power switch (Score:3, Informative)
Well, when my child is misbehaving the console itself goes bye-bye. It gets hidden beyond reach and doesn't come back again for some time (days or weeks at a time). He has learned very quickly that mom and dad mean business when it comes to listening to what they say.