Have we seen anything new about ratings since this was discussed a month ago?
I wouldn't mind seeing something in the way of sliders for various potentially offensive materials. A slider for sex/nudity, a slider for foul language, a slider for violence and gore, and a slider for illicit substance. Then parents could, for example, let their kids play a game that's quite violent but abstains from sexual content and swearing, (which seems to be a popular stance for American parents).
And, if you tried to access a game that didn't fit your parameters, it could explain with some amount of precision why you're being locked out.
When I was a lad, my parents wouldn't allow me near any game that they knew to be rated T or M, yet they never batted an eye when friends and I would play something like Super Smash Bros. because it didn't occur to them that it was a game that warranted a T rating. So my thinking is that parents are averse to different materials in differing amounts, and the best rating system should reflect that.
If you pay attention to the history of video gaming at all, there is absolutely no danger of over saturation of content for children. If anything, it's worked in the opposite direction in an attempt to "grow up". OUYA isn't going to be short on blood and guts games.
Actually, That's exactly wrong. E rated games have made up a increasing percentage of the industry every year since 2004. (54% in 2004, 67% in 2012.)
(That doesn't even count unrated phone and tablet games, which would probably be overwhelmingly E if they were rated.)
I think that if you're actually paying attention the trend is very much away from blood and guts.
What it really comes right down to is.. OUYA (and every other system and content seller out there) is far less interested in changing the morals and parental habits of their users. It's not really what they're here to do.
Right! That's why a single "Kids' Category" lock isn't appropriate. Especially if the marketplace is international. (Us Americans tend to have strange ideas about what's not kid-safe.)
Imagine this, I make a Sim City rip-off, counting on the Kid's Category to bring in the sales. But thanks to some other game, there are complaints that games with churches in them are not appropriate for kids. How does Ouya solve this?
What if I make a Sims-style, or Animal-Crossing-style game that allows same-sex couples to marry or even just share a house? Or what if it doesn't? How does Ouya solve that?
What about the Venus De Milo?
Heck, I've met people who seriously believe that kids shouldn't have unsupervised access to Dr Seuss's The Lorax because it's political indoctrination!
If you don't want to tell parents how to raise their kids, the fair way to do kid-safe is to tag each game with content indicators, and let parents set content filters based on those criteria. (Blood:Ok, Boobies:No, Gays:OK, Evolution:No, etc)
Doing it with a single catch-all lock-out is telling people how to raise their children, even if it's only because of laziness and/or ignorance.
And let's not kid ourselves : A kids game not on the approved list would fail and the developer would lose money. (Even if most parents would be happy to have their kids play it.)
having a category that have children in mind to make it easier for parents to shop.
Oh, having a category that's "These Games are Designed For Kids" is one thing, having a "These and only these Games are Endorsed by Ouya Store as Kid-Safe" is a very different thing.
If you're going to have a single-category lockout, you've got the latter. (even if you pretend it's the former.)
What about this? If it is really a kids zone, then perhaps just disable access to the store while in it. If parents really want to control what their kids are playing, then nothing can be downloaded from the store while it's loaded. Perhaps if kids zone is setup on the system, on install of a new game there could be a permission check to show the game in kids zone or not. That solves the rating issue to let the parents handle it. The biggest issue with this is that kids have to go through their parents to download new stuff, but isn't that the best way to ensure that your kids aren't playing games that you don't really approve of?
Post edited by GodlyPerfection on
Aggro Tactics - A tactical strategy virtual board game built with Unity3D 4.0, designed around the concept of Threat/Aggro inspired by the mechanics of chess and a customizable party like in table top games.
What about this? If it is really a kids zone, then perhaps just disable access to the store while in it. If parents really want to control what their kids are playing, then nothing can be downloaded from the store while it's loaded. Perhaps if kids zone is setup on the system, on install of a new game there could be a permission check to show the game in kids zone or not. That solves the rating issue to let the parents handle it. The biggest issue with this is that kids have to go through their parents to download new stuff, but isn't that the best way to ensure that your kids aren't playing games that you don't really approve of?
Simple is better, and this is probably the best suggestion yet. It works no matter the parent's preference for content, and it should be fairly easy to implement, which increases the chance we'll actually see such a feature.
What about this? If it is really a kids zone, then perhaps just disable access to the store while in it. If parents really want to control what their kids are playing, then nothing can be downloaded from the store while it's loaded. Perhaps if kids zone is setup on the system, on install of a new game there could be a permission check to show the game in kids zone or not. That solves the rating issue to let the parents handle it. The biggest issue with this is that kids have to go through their parents to download new stuff, but isn't that the best way to ensure that your kids aren't playing games that you don't really approve of?
That's a good idea! That should be a feature anyway if the credit card information is stored on the OUYA account to prevent unauthorized purchase. (Or require a password to make a purchase like iTunes, B&N, Amazon, etc does)
If you pay attention to the history of video gaming at all, there is absolutely no danger of over saturation of content for children. If anything, it's worked in the opposite direction in an attempt to "grow up". OUYA isn't going to be short on blood and guts games.
Actually, That's exactly wrong. E rated games have made up a increasing percentage of the industry every year since 2004. (54% in 2004, 67% in 2012.)
(That doesn't even count unrated phone and tablet games, which would probably be overwhelmingly E if they were rated.)
I think that if you're actually paying attention the trend is very much away from blood and guts.
What it really comes right down to is.. OUYA (and every other system and content seller out there) is far less interested in changing the morals and parental habits of their users. It's not really what they're here to do.
Right! That's why a single "Kids' Category" lock isn't appropriate. Especially if the marketplace is international. (Us Americans tend to have strange ideas about what's not kid-safe.)
Imagine this, I make a Sim City rip-off, counting on the Kid's Category to bring in the sales. But thanks to some other game, there are complaints that games with churches in them are not appropriate for kids. How does Ouya solve this?
What if I make a Sims-style, or Animal-Crossing-style game that allows same-sex couples to marry or even just share a house? Or what if it doesn't? How does Ouya solve that?
What about the Venus De Milo?
Heck, I've met people who seriously believe that kids shouldn't have unsupervised access to Dr Seuss's The Lorax because it's political indoctrination!
If you don't want to tell parents how to raise their kids, the fair way to do kid-safe is to tag each game with content indicators, and let parents set content filters based on those criteria. (Blood:Ok, Boobies:No, Gays:OK, Evolution:No, etc)
Doing it with a single catch-all lock-out is telling people how to raise their children, even if it's only because of laziness and/or ignorance.
And let's not kid ourselves : A kids game not on the approved list would fail and the developer would lose money. (Even if most parents would be happy to have their kids play it.)
having a category that have children in mind to make it easier for parents to shop.
Oh, having a category that's "These Games are Designed For Kids" is one thing, having a "These and only these Games are Endorsed by Ouya Store as Kid-Safe" is a very different thing.
If you're going to have a single-category lockout, you've got the latter. (even if you pretend it's the former.)
Hmmm... Well.. I respect your your soap box opinion/speech.
But I do suspect you're over-thinking it a bit much. Your statistics, btw.. are a little misleading because it doesn't take what's intensely marketed into account. There is an enormous amount of E-rated shovelware (not that OUYA holds the potential to be different in this respect) that doesn't get marketed heavily, and is then irrelevant because it gets lost with all of the other under marketed efforts. Most of the games that are visible most to children (due to marketing) are probably not matching the same percentages you cited.
The ESRB has also changed over the years. There are some games that can now be E-rated that would probably not be allowed that rating years ago.
Sort of like how the blurry area between PG and R was addressed with PG-13 a couple decades ago.
I did like your suggestion about the content filter. I'd certainly use it (and would use it since I'm actually a parent), but I imagine that kind of workflow/interface may be a little difficult for the masses to grasp.
The suggestion as @SpoonThumb originally presented it (and I did and still do support) is that this is a categorization. A genre that happens to cross over with other genres. Designed for Kids, etc.. whatever you want to call it doesn't really matter.
I don't think anyone ever said that OUYA themselves would or should police such a thing. But I imagine there would be guidelines for categorization, just as there would be for what qualifies as a shooter vs. a RPG. If a developer believes the guidelines are met, they could categorize it as such. If there is abuse, it could be deemed a mis-categorization like any other genre based on complaints of those that care. It could be as easy as making a section that contains only E-rated games. If ratings become mandatory for the system, that would be enough (and I think a few have already suggested that alternative)
I'd be really curious how many of those who are so vehemently against a kids zone actually have children themselves and have lived through the realities of it. Because honestly, nobody is suggesting restrictions here, just a reliable place for parents to find benign content. It's intent isn't to change the world or violate anyone's civil rights. :)
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Actually, That's exactly wrong. E rated games have made up a increasing percentage of the industry every year since 2004. (54% in 2004, 67% in 2012.) (That doesn't even count unrated phone and tablet games, which would probably be overwhelmingly E if they were rated.) I think that if you're actually paying attention the trend is very much away from blood and guts. Right! That's why a single "Kids' Category" lock isn't appropriate. Especially if the marketplace is international. (Us Americans tend to have strange ideas about what's not kid-safe.)
Imagine this, I make a Sim City rip-off, counting on the Kid's Category to bring in the sales. But thanks to some other game, there are complaints that games with churches in them are not appropriate for kids.
How does Ouya solve this?
What if I make a Sims-style, or Animal-Crossing-style game that allows same-sex couples to marry or even just share a house? Or what if it doesn't?
How does Ouya solve that?
What about the Venus De Milo?
Heck, I've met people who seriously believe that kids shouldn't have unsupervised access to Dr Seuss's The Lorax because it's political indoctrination!
If you don't want to tell parents how to raise their kids, the fair way to do kid-safe is to tag each game with content indicators, and let parents set content filters based on those criteria. (Blood:Ok, Boobies:No, Gays:OK, Evolution:No, etc)
Doing it with a single catch-all lock-out is telling people how to raise their children, even if it's only because of laziness and/or ignorance.
And let's not kid ourselves : A kids game not on the approved list would fail and the developer would lose money. (Even if most parents would be happy to have their kids play it.) Oh, having a category that's "These Games are Designed For Kids" is one thing, having a "These and only these Games are Endorsed by Ouya Store as Kid-Safe" is a very different thing.
If you're going to have a single-category lockout, you've got the latter. (even if you pretend it's the former.)
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