XBLA Could Really Be Family-Friendly If…
Microsoft advertises XBLA as a family-friendly environment, featuring several features designed to keep Live a safe, kid-friendly interactive environment. It is something they keep in mind, especially after the release of the Xbox Live Vision Camera, which provides video interactivity to the mix. Whatever your opinion on the entire issue of game censorship, the general agreement we all can reach is that there are some things kids under a certain age should never see. Never ever. And for the most part, XBLA is kid-friendly territory.
However, there may be a slight loophole in the safety system. Kotaku reader Aaron tells this story of Live Uno, some other gamer who had (for reasons said gamer would not reveal) a camera, and an outraged mom. The short version of the story: Aaron’s nephew and the others play Uno. They ask gamer with camera how he got the camera. Gamer would not explain, then he lights up a blunt and blows smoke into the camera… as the nephew’s mom walks into the room. Outrage central.
This isn’t the only incident of… inappropriate content being broadcast by Live Vision users. Aaron also claims there was a female Uno gamer who decided to show off more than her gaming skills. She showed off everything. And by that we mean everything not related to her gaming skills.
That kid’s mother’s outrage – not to mention Aaron’s, who emailed Microsoft and the ESRB about the matter – is understandable. While the ESRB did rate Uno and other similar games kid-friendly, they also warn that “Game content may change during online play.” For the obvious reasons: game developers have no control over the behavior of their game’s online players (until it’s too late, anyway).
Moral of the story: free expression is nice, but do remember that there are impressionable young children out there. At the very least they deserve a gaming environment where they and their parents can feel safe and secure. If there are protests that aim to restrict video games based on ESRB content, while they annoy many in the gaming community, it’s also probably because there are irresponsible gamers out there, like Mr. Candidate-for-Rehab and Ms. Live Peep Show, who give the gaming community a bad rep. Hot Coffee was bad enough from that perspective.
Buy: [Xbox Live Vision Camera]
Via Kotaku.com
Microsoft advertises XBLA as a family-friendly environment, featuring several features designed to keep Live a safe, kid-friendly interactive environment. It is something they keep in mind, especially after the release of the Xbox Live Vision Camera, which provides video interactivity to the mix. Whatever your opinion on the entire issue of game censorship, the general agreement we all can reach is that there are some things kids under a certain age should never see. Never ever. And for the most part, XBLA is kid-friendly territory.
However, there may be a slight loophole in the safety system. Kotaku reader Aaron tells this story of Live Uno, some other gamer who had (for reasons said gamer would not reveal) a camera, and an outraged mom. The short version of the story: Aaron’s nephew and the others play Uno. They ask gamer with camera how he got the camera. Gamer would not explain, then he lights up a blunt and blows smoke into the camera… as the nephew’s mom walks into the room. Outrage central.
This isn’t the only incident of… inappropriate content being broadcast by Live Vision users. Aaron also claims there was a female Uno gamer who decided to show off more than her gaming skills. She showed off everything. And by that we mean everything not related to her gaming skills.
That kid’s mother’s outrage – not to mention Aaron’s, who emailed Microsoft and the ESRB about the matter – is understandable. While the ESRB did rate Uno and other similar games kid-friendly, they also warn that “Game content may change during online play.” For the obvious reasons: game developers have no control over the behavior of their game’s online players (until it’s too late, anyway).
Moral of the story: free expression is nice, but do remember that there are impressionable young children out there. At the very least they deserve a gaming environment where they and their parents can feel safe and secure. If there are protests that aim to restrict video games based on ESRB content, while they annoy many in the gaming community, it’s also probably because there are irresponsible gamers out there, like Mr. Candidate-for-Rehab and Ms. Live Peep Show, who give the gaming community a bad rep. Hot Coffee was bad enough from that perspective.
Buy: [Xbox Live Vision Camera]
Via Kotaku.com