xbox live??

“my 13yr old son wants xbox live and is willing to pay for it. i don't think he is old enough or mature enough.

so, after many hours spent in verbal negotiations, we have come to an agreement: we're gonna poll trailtalk and see what everyone here has to say. and we're gonna go with whatever trailtalk decides.
your opinions matter so let us know what you think!!
last edited: 1/26/09 1:45:48 PM”

“which one?”

“luke.

gotta opinion crash?
we'd both like to know”

“and luke is standing over me right now, waiting for your opinions, so please give us some input”

“Don't know what the live means...playing other people online?

I say if he is willing to pay for it, let him do it. Can you put some kind of filter on it?


Oh...and if he is with you now, do not click on the naked thread
last edited: 1/26/09 2:00:32 PM”

“wait, is that the slightly horrible one, the really horrible one, or the ungodly holy terror one?

;-)

just kidding. i dont even know what xbox live is. is that where they can play against other x-boxers? what kind of material do they have access to? do they get internet, too? are there parental controls?”

“well, people online can be pretty vile, brash, insulting and mean. Look at TT for a good example ;-)

No, seriously though, particularly in online games, people can be real jerks. However, at 13, chances are pretty good he's already exposed to the same language and insults on a daily basis - so he wouldn't be hearing anything new.

If he's paying for it, I'd say go for it.”

“Oh...and if he is with you now, do not click on the naked thread

actually, you should click on the naked thread, so he can see what a lifetime of sitting on your duff playing video games does to a person”

“Good point...carry on, check out the fat kid”

“crash, this is the ungodly holy terror one.
and i don't think filters are available on xbox live.

and yes, xbox live is player versus player over the internet. so i could play with the naked fat kid.

=)


that was typed by luke---NOT ME!
last edited: 1/26/09 2:09:37 PM”

“whats the suggested age range by the manufacturer?

suggestions: theres a reputation rating system. use it. only those with 5 or more stars. if thats proves too restrictive, 4 or more stars

xbox only after homework is done. check his homework to make sure hes not conning you. limit playing hours. 1-2 hours a day. with three kids, thatll be tough, especially in winter hours. give them ways to earn more video game time

no M rated titles (does canada have the same rating system for video games that we do?)
last edited: 1/26/09 2:15:17 PM”

“i think the ungodly holy terror one typed that.

luke is the oldest, right? the little machiavelli?”

“I mean, just by asking on here, you seem to be active in your children's lives... as long as you keep an eye on the xbox live use and behavior, it can be a pretty fun thing to have. I know playing games online (through the PS3) is the only way I've managed to keep in touch with some friends who've moved away”

“yeah the language and stuff can get pretty bad but most people aren't too bad and it isn't anything he hasn't heard before I'm sure, so if he's willing to pay for it I say let him have it just definitely control the time spent on it (i'm sure I don't need to be telling you that though) so that's a yes vote from me :)”

“yes, i am the oldest.

yes, we have the same rating system as you.

about the age range, i don't think there is one.that is to say, they don't care as long as they're making money.capitalist pigs.
.. A A..
( (oo) ) oink oink.
---------------------------------------------
LUKE”

“I play xbox live 2-4 hours a day, yea, i'm 29 and play too many video games. I'm actually on right now.

I love XBOX live, it's almost a must to get the most out of your xbox and most of the games

1. Pay for a year code on amazon if your going to get it. It's alot cheaper, they just dropped the price on there.

2. There are tons of neat "arcade" games to download for free or up to $8 each. He could play frogger or uno with a cousin states away, and talk for free with the headsets.

3. If you have a netflix subscription you can download and watch your movies instead of having them mailed. You can also download old classics, indy films, cartoons, anime, new releases for 2-6 bucks without netflicks, watch it in 24 hours, and then it's unplayable.

4. There are alot of stoned/drunk college kids playing the popular games online. Some get way to serious. If he plays HALO, Call of Duty, he is going to hear cussing, vulgar trash talk, and other things.
On the other hand, i've been on at 1am, and have had 11-12 year olds cuss me out and talk about doing things to my mother that would curl your toes....


I'd say get it, just keep an ear on him, you hear him call me a MF'er when i shoot him, you'll need to whup his butt.”

“i really abhor that kind of language,so i won't be using it. plus i don't want my butt whupped.”

“o.k judging by this kids posts I would think that he very much so mature enough to subscribe”

“more mature than most of us, I'd say.”

“i really abhor that kind of language

who are you and what have you done with helinka?”

“whoa!!
i'm getting outvoted!
what happened to all the boob-tube haters??


in retrospect, putting it to a vote here was a very bad plan.”

“"i really abhor that kind of language,so i won't be using it. plus i don't want my butt whupped"


btw, this post was NOT ME!
i like having my butt whupped”

“youre asking a bunch of dorks who sit in front of their computers all day advice about letting your oldest pup veg out in front of a video game”

“seriously, if you want to say no, say no. dont make us be the bad guys”

“As a fellow gamer I say let him do it. It can be a great way to teach responsibility because he's paying for it, it'll teach him moderation in all things because you aren't going to let him play it 24/7 (right?). And as with anything that gives your child access to people you do not know, like the web, think about keeping the XBox in a common room like the living room.”

“post up your live names


UA EASYKILL”

“thank-you everyone who was kind enough to take part in our little poll. Lucas purchased the live thingie with his own $$ and paid for half the networking cable too. He even helped me string the wiring through the basement ceilings.
after a test run tonight of a couple hours(!!!), he claims total satisfaction. although he did let slip to me that someone called him an eight year old and another introduced themself as a pedophile. glad he is mature enough to ignore that #&%!$.”

“if he's got a high squeeky voice it'll be murder...lol I mute the 8 year olds

what games is he going to play online?”

“they've all been blessed with rather deep voices, and they say there's some kinda voice masking ability.
no, Luke and his brothers out themselves when they start fighting in the background while one of them is playing.

i think the most played game is Halo3. he's "ZomeScrabble" if you wanna have some fun opie (or maybe get your ass kicked ;)”

“kids won't play with pple with voice masking, or everyone tells them to turn it off.

The thing that we love to hear is:

"Ok MOM, one second. NO, Let me finish just this game....MOOOOOOOOMMMMMM”

“I have an xb360 and we use live. Set up an account for yourself and then create accounts for them. Because they are under a certain age they will be sub accounts from yours and you can set up parental controls on content games etc. Also they can't invite friends without you entering your password. So it is locked down pretty tight. You can even specify how much game time they get.


I love the xb360 hands down the best system on the market. The live gold service and esp the netflix stuff is sweeeeet.”

“you think Luke is gonna let ME near that thing to set up an account?! ha! i have an even better game control system...the network cable.

what you're more likely to hear when Luke plays (cuz he is my kid after all and has inherited my language skills-don't let those persuasive posts form last week fool you): "get the #&%!$ out of my room. i'm gonna kill you if you come in here. #&%!$ing jerks"”

“Believe it or not, even after encouraging Ruby to get the 360 my wife and I are getting a Wii. We are getting the exercise pack with workout board. It'll be kinda cool because it's something we can do together. She's thinking work outs and I'm thinking of having a bowling/kegger party. LOL!”

“you think Luke is gonna let ME near that thing to set up an account?!

who's the parent here?”

“some things aren't worth fighting over crash.
and i'm technologically inept. i don't even know how to turn the system on, so the boys are in charge of that stuff. no need for more controls if they follow the rules, and i have the ability to yank the network cable if they piss me off. i don't think he's gonna turn into an xbox junkie.
the funny thing is that after 3 years of no tv watching in this house, i got cable hooked up on the weekend. so far, the xbox has proved to be more entertaining than the 10 billion channels available to watch.”

“I just make it simple for our kids. You want the xbox 360 then here is what you have to do. Same thing with internet, cell phone, etc. I trust my kids but I do not trust the world they are growing up in. I think parental controls are a major drag but in my case isn't about keeping my kids away from stuff I don't want them to see. It is about keeping the creeps of the world away from them.

For a few years I had open internet in the house and trusted my kids not to abuse it after a long talk. I figured that parental controls were a demonstration of a lack of trust and that was not the relationship I wanted with my children. One day I got paranoid and checked up on them. I changed my mind on the policy after looking at some of the stats re predators on the Internet and watching my teenage daughter and son grow up. These people prey on naive young people and while I now know my kids would not reach out to the creeps, the creeps reaching out to them was a definite possibility. In the end I saw it as all being about influence. I can have some say so about what influences them as they spend their free time or I can let tem be influenced by the unfiltered world. In the end I decided there will be time enough in their lives for the world to take its toll on them and I was going to not let my kids grow up too quickly.

It was tough to put all this in place but they adjusted and understood that it was not them I did not trust but the rest of the world.

Just trying to share my experience here. Being a parent is some tough stuff and the job constantly changes. It all seemed so tough when they were babies but I think now that they are more independant it is more work than ever before... But more rewarding too.

Oh well! It is still an uber cool game system.

They are not allowed to play during the weekdays (no exceptions) and only on the weekends after their homework is done. I love to play the thing but do so only after they go to bed... Too cruel otherwise. :)”

“Wow, just wow. When I read posts like this Yogi it gives me a lot of hope. You hear so much about "typical parents" and "typical kids" as if there is a built in excuse for anything that may go wrong but when I see parents taking responsibility the way you do it makes me really hopeful. Many times you hear childless people like me say, "If I had kids they wouldn't do that.", but when I learn from watching people like you I say, "If I had kids I would do this.".”