Request: set a parental lock to a ESRB rating

[emko]

I really need a way to block the kids from playing games that are not for their age, can we a have a way to limit play to a ESRB rating and blow ? and if a game is rated higher it just asks for your unlock password ? maybe also if game is not rated its also blocked 

Please

Thanks

[OKTrashPanda]

I think what you're asking for is a good idea but there's one pretty glaring problem: The vast majority of games out there in the world are not ESRB rated.  There are other ratings systems used in other parts of the world, but many of those weren't adopted until around 2004 so you still have decades worth of unrated games, and even then LaunchBox only uses ESRB ratings.  If you're only using it for modern gaming it would be good, but only if you're strictly playing North American releases.

[emko]

44 minutes ago, strizzuth said:

I think what you're asking for is a good idea but there's one pretty glaring problem: The vast majority of games out there in the world are not ESRB rated.  There are other ratings systems used in other parts of the world, but many of those weren't adopted until around 2004 so you still have decades worth of unrated games, and even then LaunchBox only uses ESRB ratings.  If you're only using it for modern gaming it would be good, but only if you're strictly playing North American releases.

 

ESRB is fine why do we need to use anything else? yes if  a game only came out in a different region we can just adjust their rating to fit into a ESRB and for older games there really was not that many non kids game on the systems i have emulated and the few i can manually add a higher rating and rest leave at E.

 

So if a game is not rated and the kids want to play it at least the password box will pop up and they can ask me if they can play it and in the unlocked option maybe have a set ESRB rating or something or remove from parental control.

 

They could add more fields for other rating systems but would it really be needed? is ESRB that much different then say PEGI or others? if so yes maybe add all of them and let user choose what they want to use and what to default to if yours is missing 

Edited November 16, 2017 by emko

[OKTrashPanda]

I don't think they're going to add other ratings systems any time soon but I think your idea of parental permission settings is a good one, particularly if it includes permission for unrated games.  And yes, altering the rating in the client is always an option too.  I only wanted to point out the potential issue of the huge amount of non-ESRB rated games out there.

But I will say this: There are quite a few gamers out there with kids who do like games that wouldn't be appropriate for kids.  My nephew wouldn't be allowed to play MANY of the arcade games I like and there was never a rating board for arcade machines.  I've got Mortal Kombats all over the place.  Even with modern PC games a lot of the indie titles aren't rated.  Slender was never rated.  That's why non-ESRB rated games NEED to be part of the discussion on parental controls.  Not because it makes parental controls a moot point or a bad idea, but because it's a curveball.

[Lordmonkus]

I would suggest having a 2nd install of games you allow them to play.

A "user profile" feature would be nice for cases like this where you can have different sets of games for users. That is something that is planned but not sure when.

[emko]

1 hour ago, Lordmonkus said:

I would suggest having a 2nd install of games you allow them to play.

A "user profile" feature would be nice for cases like this where you can have different sets of games for users. That is something that is planned but not sure when.

was going to try that but that adds so much work and how do i make it launch one or the other from Kodi without a keyboard/mouse?

i think it wouldn't be such a big deal if it just didn't let any non rated games to be played and if able to add a option after unlocking to set a rating or not that way you wont have to unlock the same games for the kids anyways.

2 hours ago, strizzuth said:

I don't think they're going to add other ratings systems any time soon but I think your idea of parental permission settings is a good one, particularly if it includes permission for unrated games.  And yes, altering the rating in the client is always an option too.  I only wanted to point out the potential issue of the huge amount of non-ESRB rated games out there.

But I will say this: There are quite a few gamers out there with kids who do like games that wouldn't be appropriate for kids.  My nephew wouldn't be allowed to play MANY of the arcade games I like and there was never a rating board for arcade machines.  I've got Mortal Kombats all over the place.  Even with modern PC games a lot of the indie titles aren't rated.  Slender was never rated.  That's why non-ESRB rated games NEED to be part of the discussion on parental controls.  Not because it makes parental controls a moot point or a bad idea, but because it's a curveball.

 

yes to me its better to block any unrated games then not have a parental control, as a community i am sure we can come up with a way to fix the games pre ESRB and games that never got rated 

 

actually looking at http://www.esrb.org/ratings/search.aspx

 

i can't find any system missing other then arcade systems 

 

 

[Lordmonkus]

Like mentioned in a previous post there are quite a lot of games not rated by any ratings system which didn't become a thing until the early to mid nineties and some of them quite offensive by any standards such as the Mystique games with such classics as Beat Em & Eat Em and Custers Revenge on the Atari 2600. While those games are very primitive they are very adult in theme and this doesn't even get into the home computer side of gaming which has far more games like the Leisure Suit Larry games.

So automating it based on ESRB is only a half measure at best.

[jayjay]

Iv thought about this as well. Is a feature I would like. What I thought of doing was... lets say we're dealing with a complete Snes.

 

Make a back up of your snes data file - this will be your "adult" file as it has all games.

Then delete all snes games from launchbox that are adult games, make a back up of data file - this will be your teen file.

Now delete all the teen games, make a back up of the file - this will be your "everyone" file.

Set up 3 windows user accounts, an adult, a teen and an everyone.

Have a script or batch run on startup that moves the correct file into the launchbox directory depending on what user signs in.

If that wouldnt work correctly then have 3 instances of launchbox set up pointing to the same location for all files except cache. Obviously will take up more space etc.

 

Then I thought about the work involved, then I thought bllx jason can sort it. lol.

Edited November 17, 2017 by jayjay

[Klopjero]

even with a rating/password system in place your kids would still see the game listed and the associated media. the user profile thing is okay I guess but it does take away feel of having an arcade like set up. 
it's a alot more work I suppose, but what I propose is a hidden function, where games are filtered based on user preference and the rating system. games can be made visible by giving a secret code in the menu.
Sort of like a the konami code.the konami code is controller based so you wouldn't need a keyboard or even worse an onscreen keyboard to put it in. if mr Car, could build a framework or a plugin then you could even define codes per content type, so you'd have a code for gore or sex.

Edited November 17, 2017 by Klopjero

[emko]

3 hours ago, Klopjero said:

even with a rating/password system in place your kids would still see the game listed and the associated media. the user profile thing is okay I guess but it does take away feel of having an arcade like set up. 
it's a alot more work I suppose, but what I propose is a hidden function, where games are filtered based on user preference and the rating system. games can be made visible by giving a secret code in the menu.
Sort of like a the konami code.the konami code is controller based so you wouldn't need a keyboard or even worse an onscreen keyboard to put it in. if mr Car, could build a framework or a plugin then you could even define codes per content type, so you'd have a code for gore or sex.

yes that should also be a option to hide all games that don't meet a rating but also make it so it does show and just asks for your parental code to play, i don't mind the kids seeing a list of games its not a problem for me but i guess it could be for others.

[OKTrashPanda]

Or maybe just a locked/unlocked toggle per game?  That might be more work than most people are willing to put into their collection but you could switch to unlocked mode to show the hidden games.  

21 hours ago, emko said:

 

actually looking at http://www.esrb.org/ratings/search.aspx

 

i can't find any system missing other then arcade systems 

 

 

It's not a matter of the system being unknown to the ESRB.  They rated one NES game so of course they're going to have a listing for NES games.  But only one NES game was rated by them (not counting VC and NES Classic re-releases).  But they didn't rate any games for the Master System, any Atari console or computer besides the Jaguar and a few late releases for the Lynx, any Commodore platform, ColecoVision, Intellivision, Vectrex or Neo-Geo.  Not to mention if you have any games that were not released in North America.  This is why your idea of unrated = automatic parental lock is a good one.  Sure, it could be Super Mario Bros. but it could also be Splatterhouse 2.

[polygonslayer]

As I've been going over my collection with meta-data etc., I've been rating unrated games myself. Just even roughly so as when this feature does come in it will hide the Teen/Mature games etc. It is a lot of extra work though, so I'm wondering if some form of rudimentary "LB Ratings" system could replace where there are no official ones? It wouldn't be perfect and not official, but at least we hopefully could easy hide those games clearly not meant for kids. Even if it was a simple; "LB-Kids", "LB-OH DEAR, NOT FOR KIDS" kind of deal.

[DukeSkinny]

I've been thinking about this a lot lately as well. All I'd need is a way to explicity tag certain games as 'kid-friendly', and that'd be that. I don't want my kid to have to go through an endless sea of games, clicking around haphazardly at what looks cool only to be denied. I'd rather he had access to a personal collection of select games - for instance, he loves the Donkey Kong Country series. Kirby too. So those would be visible to him. Meanwhile GTA would NOT be, because I haven't actively approved it. Neither would a game like SotN - not necessarily because it would be inappropriate, but because he hasn't been introduced to it yet and doesn't need to be overwhelmed. This way I can expand his selection of games at a manageable rate, while he can focus on what he loves.

 

And yes, most likely a password system with which to access the 'true collection' would be optimal.

[Lordmonkus]

I'll just go back to my initial suggestion as a "right now fix", just make a 2nd install of Launchbox with the games you want for "kid friendly" games and then you could easily add games a few at a time.

I know a "user profiles" option would be the better solution but I have no idea where that sits on @Jason Carrs list of priorities right now, maybe it will be on the next poll which shouldn't be too far off.