I firmly believe that video games are a very, very good thing. Video games encourage creativity, problem solving, social interaction, and introduce moral decisions (yes, even the “bad” video games like Grand Theft Auto). On the flip side, games that let a child “zone out” can act like a mental palette-cleaser and calm them down from strenuous studies.
Video games are a modern art form, and should be respected as such. My friend, Chris Melissinos even wrote a book about it and was curator of its Smithsonian Art Exhibit.
Just like so many things, video games become a problem when they interfere with other aspects of a normal life. A problem occurs when video games is all a child wants to do: they aren’t interested in school or anything else that isn’t a part of their video game world. In a case like this, video game time should be limited until a child can learn to manage their own time and make responsible choices.
That being said, our family computer has parental controls and restricts video game time; simply because it is needed to manage (read: not control) our children and teach them responsible behavior. Yes, even the arguments that come about from the “power struggle” of video game time is actually a valuable social tool that will let children debate differences and express themselves later in life.
Parental controls on a family PC can be a controversial subject. Kids absolutely don’t like it for obvious reasons. Parents have their own reasons to limit unrestricted access to the internet and PC gaming. You may feel that having parental controls is better parenting, while kids will argue that you are a hypocritical control-freak who doesn’t trust them.
Regardless of your reasons, sometimes kids and teenagers should have their computer access and video game time limited. Here’s some of the ways to do it for free.
First of all, make sure the family computer is in a public area that can be supervised, such as their room or an area of the house where you don’t frequent. Treat TV as a privilege that kids need to earn — not a right that they’re entitled to. Tell them that TV viewing is allowed only after chores and homework are completed.
There are some software tools you can use to monitor and control how your kids use the family PC, such as NetNanny and CyberPatrol, but those cost money. Our family uses the free K9 Web Protection for general web protection, in addition to blocking sites like Minecraft. Web filtering isn’t perfect, and your kids WILL try to get around it. Most of these programs log all internet activity, so you can review it and take appropriate action.
You could also use a firewall (read our articles on how to build a custom one), which would control all of their wireless devices. Smartphones and tablet are a different story, and one must question why kids have expensive toys like these anyway. You can use K9 for Android or Apple to control these devices.
Encourage your kids to use the computer for fun, but it shouldn’t be used as a dedicated video game machine. If this is the case, then the PC is nothing more than another video game console. I have found that playing online games helps build skills that are necessary in today’s world, such as reading, researching online and social interaction. But again, there is a line when the games take over their lives.
This goes outside the “free” part of our guide, but you can use hardware devices to limit video game time, such as the GameDR or other video game timers. These may not be realistic for older kids and teenagers. As mentioned before, your kids WILL try to circumvent any restrictions. If the plug is locked up then they may buy a new cable at Gamestop for a few dollars and get around the lock. They may even pry the thing open or guess your password, especially if your kids have lots of unsupervised time.
There is a lot of control you can have for PC games by using free tools. Parental Controls come with any PC that has Windows Vista, Windows 7 or Windows 8. These free tools allow you to set the times the computer can be used, but isn’t granular like “only allow 2 hours of video games every day”.
Set up a profile for each of your kids
1. Go into your PC’s Control Panel and then “User Accounts“. Click on “Manage User Accounts” and add an account for each of your kids. Make them a “Standard User” and not an Administrator, or they will be able to change your settings or install games.
I would encourage your kids to use a password, as this is a good habit to have in today’s technology-driven society. Profiles with passwords are a good thing. It encourages good security habits, and lets your kids have a little privacy, and different profiles mean that their bookmarks and email are not mixed with everyone else’s.
2. After you’ve created an account for each of your kids, create a “Gamer” account. Since there is no way to use the built-in tools to set time limits just on video games, the kids should use this account only for games.
3. Once you’ve done that, Go into “Parental Controls” and click on each of your kids’ accounts. Click Parental Controls to “on”.
4. Now set time limits by clicking on “Time Limits”. You’ll have to do this for each new account you’ve just set up. Just click in the chart for the times your children are allowed to use the computer. When the kids time is up then they will be logged out automatically, even if their game is still running, and unfortunately has no warning. The chart is also in one-hour increments, so you can’t set a 7:30pm curfew.
5. Now go into “game ratings” and set the level appropriate for your child.
6. You can also control specific games that are already installed on the computer.
The separate “Gamer” account is where the control happens. You can set up different time restrictions for different accounts, so you can let kids have access to the computer, but only play games certain times of day, say between 4:00 and 6:00 (after homework and before dinner). You can even stair-step time so that one kid has a block of time and his younger brother has his own dedicated time. Since the kids are standard users, then they will not be able to install their own games.
Games like Minecraft are a different issue, as it is technically a Java application and doesn’t register with Windows that it is a game. Minecraft does not appear in the list of “installed games”, so you’ll have to click on “Application Restrictions” and click “Browse” to find Minecraft if you want to block it.
Kids can also play Minecraft in their web browser. This is where the K9 web protection comes in, as you can deny access to the minecraft website.
Minecraft is a great creative game that has lots of teaching value, but some kids let it take over their lives. If you implement proper time restrictions then you may not have to go so far as to block it completely.
World of Warcraft addiction is a real thing. Here’s a video of a kid who goes absolutely insane when his parents turn off his account, and unfortunately this isn’t an unusual reaction.
Blizzard just wants their money, and they would rather provide tools to parents to make them happy rather than lose your business. They get paid the same if your kid only plays one hour a month or 500 hours a month.
Blizzard has implemented a great granular Parental Controls tools for all of their online games such as World of Warcraft and Diablo 3, and you can enforce restrictions even when you aren’t at home.
Once you sign up and enforce Parental Controls on an account, you can use the Battle.net site to allow different access times depending on the time of day, and the access levels are inheritable. You can limit daily access to 2 hours per day AND only allow access between certain hours. You can also limit how many hours they can play per week. This applies to the account, and not the individual games, so if your teenager plays WoW, Starcraft and Diablo 3 then the hours add up no matter which game they’re playing.
Unfortunately you have to go in and change this when your kids are out of school or have an extended holiday. If you have a latchkey kid then you can change access time, or even completely deny access without having to be home.
In today’s world it’s unrealistic to have one parent home all the time, and there are lots of single parents that are working when their kids get out of school.
No child likes to feel like they are being watched, and certainly do not want restrictions on their leisure time. Your kids will resist and will almost certainly try to circumvent your will on the subject.
We’ve given you a few options on how to parent when you can’t physically be there. None of these methods are completely foolproof, and are certainly not a substitution for good parenting.
At first, this can be seem like a fight and a stuggle for power. But tweens and teenagers are going to fight with you anyway. Not giving in and setting limits is being a good parent. Letting kids do whatever the hell they want puts them on the short path to being entitled self-serving brats with smartphones and poor spelling.