Microsoft, the Parent Teacher Association, and football superstar Jerry Rice have formed a triumvirate of power to fight crime. And by "crime," I mean kids who spend too much time playing Xbox.
To stop this scourge, Microsoft is adding a parental timer to your Xbox 360, so moms and pops can be like, "45 minutes for you, sonny, then it's time for macaroni and glitter sculptor-making." The timer works on a daily or weekly basis, with parents and/or guardians setting any limit they would like on their charges' entertainment.
Microsoft expects the news of the Family Timer to be received favorably by parents based on independent research it unveiled today that showed 62 percent of parents would welcome a tool to control the amount of time children spend using the video game consoles in their homes. Nearly 100% of latch-key gamer kids think the whole idea rots, and hope their parents won't ever find out about it, like a bad report card or something.
That's where the PTA comes in: Millions of PTA members nationwide will receive information on the fundamentals of the campaign, which encourages a "balanced approach to interactive media use" and helps "families to come to an agreement on how their children spend their screen time."
“As a leader in interactive entertainment, it’s Microsoft’s responsibility to provide parents with tools they can use to manage their children’s video gaming and online experiences, and we have made that a priority from the very start,” said Robbie Bach, president of the Entertainment & Devices Division at Microsoft.
My mom was one of the first people to try this out on me, limiting my gaming time to 35 minutes a day. I was okay with it at first, but then I realized I hadn't lived at home in many years, my mom doesn't know what an Xbox even is, and it's my damn job to play videogames.
That's my sad story. What about you? Do you live at home? How are your folks with you playing videogames?
