Microsoft educates parents on 20-city bus tour [update 1]
by Christopher Grant 
{ Oct 12th 2006 at 3:00AM }
Beginning today, Microsoft, along with partners Best Buy and the Boys & Girls Clubs of America, begins a 20-city bus tour to educate parents on understanding the ESRB ratings scheme and implementing the parental controls built into the Xbox 360 and accompanying Xbox Live service. The project -- sensationally titled "Safety is no game. Is your family set?" -- is being spearheaded by Robbie Bach, president of Microsoft Corp.'s Entertainment and Devices Division, who spoke with us briefly about the goals of the new initiative.
Bach was blunt that this campaign isn't entirely unrelated to the business of selling video game consoles. Yes, there is the altruistic goal of edifying parents who feel confused or disenfranchised by an increasingly complex video game industry; but, if Microsoft can convince parents that Xbox 360 -- versus, let's say, Nintendo or PlayStation -- ensures a gaming environment that parents are in control of, they'll have earned a significant strategic victory.
With certain Miami lawyers making headlines ... again ... and politicians considering new ratings legislation, Microsoft's campaign to educate the public on the existing ESRB ratings certainly appears to be a preemptive strike. But how successful can one industry player, not to mention a minority player in the console space, make on their own? Bach pointed out there is broad industry cooperation under the auspices of other organizations, like the ESA and ESRB, where Sony, Nintendo, and Microsoft coordinate their efforts. But this tour is more about PR; Microsoft is looking to sell themselves as a responsible industry player.
When asked whether the motivations for the tour were in direct response to the increased legal threats facing the gaming industry, Bach reminded us that every legal challenge mounted thus far has been ruled unconstitutional. He did say he would be "naive" to not appreciate the political motivations of some politicians vilifying video games, but hoped instead that this tour may convince politicians that education, and not legislation, would be the most successful route to enabling parents.
Will Microsoft's bus tour make a dent in the political battle to regulate video games? We're guessing not. The scope of the problem is going to take far more than a 20-city bus tour slash media campaign, but the accompanying "presentations by Microsoft's Bach to government officials and leaders in advocacy and business" may help considerably more.
The bus tour kicks off today in New York City at the Digital Life conference, and continues from there.
First four bus tour dates:
Hartford, Conn. - Oct. 24
Boston, MA - Oct. 26
Atlanta - November 2
Miami - November 9
The remaining city dates are still TBD:
Las Vegas, NV
Los Angeles, CA
Phoenix, AZ
Austin, TX
Washington, DC
Philadelphia, PA
Indianapolis, IN
Chicago, IL
Minneapolis, MN
Denver, CO
Salt Lake City, UT
San Francisco/Bay Area, CA
Seattle, WA
[Update: The bus tour will hit 20 cities over the next 8 months, not 20 days.]
[Update: The bus tour will hit 20 cities over the next 8 months, not 20 days.]
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
dauthi @ Oct 12th 2006 3:11AM
Microsoft vs Hillary Clinton
That's a title match I'd pay to see.
Lekko @ Oct 12th 2006 3:12AM
"see all these games on Xbox? See how they are all rated 'M'? you can lock them all out with this feature! Thereby reducing the Xbox 360 library of fun games to about 2 titles."
Crosswayboy @ Oct 12th 2006 3:29AM
This strikes me as pretty fucking ironic seeing as the 360 is the home to some of the most violent games to be released lately, icluding Gears of War with it's blood-spurting, torso-shredding chainsaws, and Dead Rising with it's head-smashing, stomach-disemboweling zomirificity.
And I bet they don't show clips of that shit to parents.
Crosswayboy @ Oct 12th 2006 3:31AM
I meant zombirificity.
Carl @ Oct 12th 2006 3:52AM
Haha.. it's a win win.
Teach parents into learning that the 360 can be locked up... all at the wonderful price of tricking parents into playing with the 360. I mean... look at that setup. That's way too cool for "learning" purposes.
Mank @ Oct 12th 2006 4:28AM
Somewhere, deep down, I'm wishing that that TV in the middle of the last shot is an oven.
yke @ Oct 12th 2006 4:04AM
Only in America.. (bleh)
FSK405K @ Oct 12th 2006 4:04AM
Good...maybe if people start learning that if they use a 4-digit PIN to keep their 4-year-old from raping hookers, we can put Jackoff Thompson out of business.
DarkTetsuya @ Oct 12th 2006 4:24AM
lucky #7: *writes that one down* I'd write a message about how the parents are responsible for what their kids intake, but like Homer Simpson says, "Can't someone *else* do it?"
aDub @ Oct 12th 2006 4:33AM
It's built into every system yet most parents either don't care little timmy is playing "Mature" games,or
aren't aware of the games little timmy is playing... With the ammount of children playing online being exposed to "mature" content, maybe "educating" or getting the parents into gaming themselves isn't a bad thing.
Pulse @ Oct 12th 2006 5:29AM
Lol, I feel sorry for the poor sods that venture onto that bus, but getting to the point, of course they are going to skip out all the violent stuff, and thats just stupid, because if parents wanted to protect thier kids from xboxlive or the games for that matter, they aren't going to be sitting at it changing pins etc, they just simply won't buy it. And how on earth is microsoft going to stop those racists, and other nitwits that use the XBL for the wrong purposes of flaming and insullting other XBL users, its already going on.
Some pursuasion that will be....
belz @ Oct 12th 2006 6:55AM
I somehow feel that this campaign would have more teeth if it were backed by all three platform-holders. After all, its an industry wide problem.
On another note, I take it they wont be introducing parents to the "colourful" language and "paedo-friendly" environment that is Live and Live Vision. This also applies to the PS3 with the eye-toy and their PNP.
random @ Oct 12th 2006 6:53AM
Parental settings control Live content. If someone isn't on the kid'ss parent approved friend list, they can't communicate woth them (audio or camera).
Martin @ Oct 12th 2006 7:43AM
"2. "see all these games on Xbox? See how they are all rated 'M'? you can lock them all out with this feature! Thereby reducing the Xbox 360 library of fun games to about 2 titles." "
Yeah Lekko, and you are exactly the type of person who feeds the Jack Thompsons of the world into thinking videogames is just about violence, which will inevitabbly take them away from everyone! Sorry that you are under 17 and if your Mommy and Daddy find out, you will be stuck with Viva Pinata and not much else!
This is a great move on M$'s part. If parents know that they can do this with the 360, they will be more inclined to buy their children this than a PS3 or a Wii (though you can do it with those systems too, they just aren't going out and showing it). It also helps M$ with any future cases because if some parent trys to sue they can honestly say, "look we went out and educated parents on this, at some point you need to parent your kid!" It is win win for MicroSoft
redemption77 @ Oct 21st 2006 9:54PM
I think it is great! It is about time at least part of the industry cares about this. PR or no PR it is necessary to inform parents so maybe we can put a dent into the ignorance that most parents have torwards video games. The majority(not all) of these post are pretty negative. I don't see anyone with better ideas. Maybe it isn't the industry that doesn't care...
AZ I BORICUA @ Oct 12th 2006 8:26AM
i think this is great. Im not a parent, im a 20 year old gamer and i would really appreciate this if i were a parent. I wouldnt want to have to keep my kid away from all gaming. Just monitor what he plays. who he talks to and definitely no CAMERA! Id rather have my child home playing video games (monitored) rather than having to bail him out for selling drugs.
Rabidkeebler @ Oct 12th 2006 8:55AM
This would probably work better if there were more "E" games on the 360. Unfortunately the 360 seems to be traveling closer to the original Xbox in ways of content than its rivals.
Gimbal @ Oct 12th 2006 9:19AM
Count me as another person who thinks this is a step in the right direction. I have to give Microsoft props for putting forth the effort to do this. Dispite the sarcastic nay-sayers to the contrary, this is important. It won't stop some idiots from claiming that video games are the casue of violence, but it does help parents do what the should be doing, and that is giving a crap about what their children are up to.
And if parents started acting like parents, then the burden of parenting can be lifted off the shoulders of the video game industry, or whatever other scapegoat people place societies ills on.
Someone should start a billboard campaign with a picture of a game console and the saying "This is not your child's parent...YOU ARE!" Then you can have other ones with a picture of a TV, or Jack Thompson.
LaughingTarget @ Oct 12th 2006 9:37AM
Just for the record, the PS2 actually had the largest percentage of its total library rated M. The Xbox wasn't the most violent console last gen, it was the PS2. The other two were, not surprisingly, Xbox in second and Gamecube in a distant third in M rated titles.
However, this is a brilliant move. If Microsoft can figure out how to create a software censor to bleep out language and erase blood on the fly, they will have easily reached a holy grail in gaming. Parents can just set the rating, and everything above it gets edited back down.
Firegirl @ Oct 12th 2006 10:53AM
Microsoft is trying to make parents feel all warm and fuzzy about ESRB so the parents will continue to buy games for their kids. Too bad most of the games that are any good for the 360 are bloody and violent!
joe smith @ Oct 12th 2006 12:30PM
I think this is a good idea. With all the hype about games out there and hte pols trying to capitalize on it, I think it is both business smart AND a good service.
I have a 12 year old and I set her up with a Child acocunt set so that she can only interact with people on her friends list and I approve the list. This also covers the camera. It was easy to set up and works well. I think it would be great if more people knew about and used the parental settings.
I get VERY tired of people bitching and moaning about how nasty it is on Live and how the camera is a pervert's wet dream when it is trivial to set thigns up so you don't have to be bothered by the jerks of the world.
Martin @ Oct 12th 2006 1:01PM
You all know, most of the Naysayers on stuff like this are the people who aren't old enough to buy an M rated game.
Usually when you hit 18, you appreciate these kind of parental controls.
Gimbal @ Oct 12th 2006 2:18PM
@joe smith
You, sir, are awesome.
Lekko @ Oct 12th 2006 3:54PM
"Yeah Lekko, and you are exactly the type of person who feeds the Jack Thompsons of the world into thinking videogames is just about violence, which will inevitabbly take them away from everyone! Sorry that you are under 17 and if your Mommy and Daddy find out, you will be stuck with Viva Pinata and not much else!"
Thank you for backing up my own point, actually. I'm just saying that parents who are concerned about content should not have bought their kids a 360 because of the lack of quality non M rated games.
For some background: I work in rental and rent out games to a lot of people. Frequently I see kids that are about 7-12 years old comming in and picking up 360 games. The parents quickly follow, bringing games up to me and asking why they are rated M, and trying to decide if their kid can play them. On the one hand, I do applaud them for at least trying to keep an eye on the content their kid plays, on the other hand if you are concerned, why did you buy them a 360? There are few games outside of racing and sports that are not M rated. I mean, if you're worried about content, get your kid a Gamecube. you're safe with about 90% of the titles there.
As for blocking out M rated games in the system, that's pretty much useless because it lacks context. There are a TON of parents that are OK with game violence, just as long as there is no sex. The M rating does not differentiate between these two. There is a list of all the sub-categories that can explain why a game is rated M, drug use, Gambling, Violence, Explicit violence, Cartoon violence, ect. ect. If you look next to the rating on the back, it lists a few of what they found in the game.
Now it would be far more accurate if there were a checklist where parents could say, "I don't want my kid seeing violence, gambling, or Nudity... everything else is fine" and it locks the games out accordingly rather than "EVERY M TITLE!". The reason just locking out M is bad is because it is too broad, locking out most of the 360 library, which I find to be ironic.
It's a step in the right direction, but still not good enough. Also, MS shouldn't really be the company to spearhead this seeing as this feature that they are trying to advertise turns the 360 into a very limited system.