The PlayLimit console is a token-based system of doling out TV and video-game time in 15-minute increments for kids
ages 4 to 12, though the
site also claims "it is certainly possible to use PlayLimit with teenagers" (which is something we tend to highly
doubt).
This blogger's first concern with this device was the ease with which kids might hack any rudimentary
limitation
to their playtime. PlayLimit's answer? Locking the composite connector inside the PlayLimit console itself. With a
keyed entry to the token slot, younger game addicts may have to resort to old-school arcade hacks to work around this
new intrusion to their unsupervised lives (or keep a second, hidden A/V cable to use as a spare).
What's telling is that a print ad for this "console" was found not in the latest edition of EGM, but in the
pages of Time Magazine. The people behind PlayLimit state that "the tokens empower kids to manage their own
time, so parents no longer have to be the 'time's up!' police." Is bringing
an
arcade-style reward system into the home the right way to teach children the importance of limits and the benefits
of non-gaming activities? Would gamer parents be interested in using this for their own kids? Or is this simply another
way for parents to abdicate the responsibility of vetting their kids' video consumption—and the willpower to just say
no?
Engadget
TUAW