Internet Web Safety 101 for Parents Video Gaming Online

Xbox live

Playstation Network

Wii Online

The Playstation 3 makes a great gift but what else can children do besides play games they buy or rent from the local BlockBuster. They can play those games online and make connections and befriend people from all over the world and add them to their buddy list so that even though they are not in a game they can voice or video chat with these new buddies

The first and most important step in keeping children safe is to get the PLaystation 3 out of the finished basement or child's bedroom and put it on the main floor of the house where you and other parents spend most of their time. Yes I know it's more convienent to have it out of public spaces but in reality children are only young and impressionable for such a very short time that anything that is done for their best interest is worth the most extreme inconviences to parents and the worth the gameroom effect on the decor of the house.

The Next important step in keeping children safe is to actually play some of the Playstation 3 games with them regularly. Parents need to understand the draw a specific game has on children before they can fully discuss and be considered sincere when addressing concerns with children that a Parent may have with the game or games. Understanding the Video Game Rating system

Lecture over now down to the nitty gritty of what tools the Playstation 3 offers to parents to help them in their parenting of a gamer.

WHen setting up teh PS3 you set up the master account and have your children create their own logins using the sub-accounts, Parental Controls then can be found in the account management menu and in the settings menu.

• One of the best Parenting tools that the Playstation3 offers is the ability for the parent to control the chat output. Parents can easily set the ps3 online settings(setting menu - chat settings-audio output-) so that their child can talk through the MIC to other Players but the other players comments are heard through the TV speakers allowing Parents to listen ensuring their children aren't being exposed to inappropriate stuff. And if abnoxious people are online or in the event your kid is not keen enough to recognize that captain creepy is using subtlies for creepy reasons, the parent can mute that player so your child can have a relatively safe online PS3 gaming experience chatting with normal people. Well. that's if you consider online gamers normal. Some of us are though.


• Parents, think of it this way; isn't it better that we be home with a bunch of friends over, eating all of your groceries, while gaming online with the PS3? Isn't that better then us wondering the streets with nothing to do but to get into trouble. (We wouldn't get into trouble. This is just a scare tactic we use to get you to buy one for the house). Your response is always homework... Not that we would neglect our grades etc...


• Parental Controls Online and Offline gaming- Setup is easy to control what games your children play, control what movies they watch. Great for Parents but Not the most exciting features on the PS3 for children.


• The ps3 also allows children to navigate the internet (it has it's own browser) which means all the same internet precautions should be addressed by parents much the same way they address them with the Computer. Having internet searchability isn't a bad thing especailly when children need to do research for papers and need your assistance. Veiwing the internet with your child is much easier when viewing it on the big screen rather then on the tiny computer monitor. Another advantage to having the internet browser on the ps3 is that when your child has friends over it is easy to understand and know what youtube video is the most popular of the day etc...

The ultimate family friendly setup is to have 2 tv's in the family space used most often. One for gaming and one for the rest of the family, parents included so they are able to enjoy the latest movie or just watch the news in the same room their children are gaming. (I know it sounds abnoxious) But if your PS3 is in the basement anyway, you already have the second TV. We actually built a cabinet that holds both Tvs and when friends come over with their XBOX we can link the two and have a 8 player gaming party. And when we are not gaming the second TV is hidden by a cabinet door that closes.

These are suggestions that when implimented early with young children, the suggestions are very easy to maintain. When implimenting these steps only after a problem occurs usually when the child becomes a teen, the implimentation will only fuel the already natural teen resistence and suspiscions to any changes etc...