PlayStation Home may incorporate adult content beyond the expected 18+ trailers and casino elements, according to Peter Edward, Director of the PlayStation Home Platform Group.
Asked by SPOnG's own Steve Boxer, “Will we see areas that you have to be 18 in order to enter?”, Edward responded:
As Edward says, those “other” areas “might not come to fruition”, but if they might not, that means they also might. It's far from hard (excuse the word) confirmation, but its interesting to hear Sony openly discussing the possibilities – especially given the heat games are attracting currently between the ongoing U.K. government's current review of games.
Edward also discussed how Home is growing, saying, “... as the service grows and as we start bringing more people in, we’ll get more of an idea as to how they’re using it and build it up with them, rather than just going out there with a product that ticks all the right boxes. I think that reflects on what you were just saying: that these services tend to grow up organically”. So, surely if the users demand smut, Sony will have to oblige?
Well... SPOnG's a little dubious. With the current state of online age verification processes it seems unlikely that Sony would risk youngsters lying about their age and wandering into anything filthy. 18+ trailers and casino areas are one thing, but it seems unlikely that Sony would risk alienating its potential family audience with anything too risqué, despite Edward's admission that “most of the purchasers of PS3s are classic 18 to 34 males right now”.
Source: Sony's semi-official blog
Asked by SPOnG's own Steve Boxer, “Will we see areas that you have to be 18 in order to enter?”, Edward responded:
“Yes, probably. In the short-term, there probably won’t be many but in the long-term, we expect to see them. For instance, a casino or even somewhere you can go and see 18-rated trailers for games. That isn’t anything particularly sinister, but obviously, you’d have to prevent 12-year-olds going in there. Obviously, there are other 18-plus areas that you could imagine, but some of those might not come to fruition. But we have the ability to age-protect areas, and I think that’s something that we will inevitably make use of.”
As Edward says, those “other” areas “might not come to fruition”, but if they might not, that means they also might. It's far from hard (excuse the word) confirmation, but its interesting to hear Sony openly discussing the possibilities – especially given the heat games are attracting currently between the ongoing U.K. government's current review of games.
Edward also discussed how Home is growing, saying, “... as the service grows and as we start bringing more people in, we’ll get more of an idea as to how they’re using it and build it up with them, rather than just going out there with a product that ticks all the right boxes. I think that reflects on what you were just saying: that these services tend to grow up organically”. So, surely if the users demand smut, Sony will have to oblige?
Well... SPOnG's a little dubious. With the current state of online age verification processes it seems unlikely that Sony would risk youngsters lying about their age and wandering into anything filthy. 18+ trailers and casino areas are one thing, but it seems unlikely that Sony would risk alienating its potential family audience with anything too risqué, despite Edward's admission that “most of the purchasers of PS3s are classic 18 to 34 males right now”.
Source: Sony's semi-official blog
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Comments
king skins 12 Sep 2007 10:16
1/6
Sony are generally quite prudish anyway. They don't even like porn on Betamax and have made it hard to get porn on Blu-Ray
hollywooda 12 Sep 2007 10:35
2/6
i dont trust anyone who doesn't like porn..
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headcasephil 12 Sep 2007 10:54
3/6
who gives a s**t all i whant is a offical date when are sony going to give that come on sony sort it out
deleted 12 Sep 2007 10:59
4/6
I like porn, but i dont like my kids looking at porn, and as such my kids play my ps3 and most likely will want an account and avatar on this home thing, so unless the age verification is good and able to stop my kids accessing it while i may not be monitoring them, then i wont be using, and i suspect the majority of that 18-30 yr old base has kids and those kids play on dads (or mums) PS3 and they also like having a 'name' as my kids call it and they will want to be allowed to wander around like mum and dad does, so sony needs to notice that its gamer target ages will have kids who also play.
tyrion 12 Sep 2007 12:06
5/6
haritori wrote:
my kids play my ps3 and most likely will want an account and avatar on this home thing, so unless the age verification is good and able to stop my kids accessing it while i may not be monitoring them, then i wont be using
Well each PSN account has a birth date associated with it. All Sony have to do is make Home check that before you enter a restricted area. Then it's up to you as the parent to make sure your kids' accounts are correctly set up.
deleted 12 Sep 2007 15:57
6/6
tyrion wrote:
haritori wrote:
my kids play my ps3 and most likely will want an account and avatar on this home thing, so unless the age verification is good and able to stop my kids accessing it while i may not be monitoring them, then i wont be using
Well each PSN account has a birth date associated with it. All Sony have to do is make Home check that before you enter a restricted area. Then it's up to you as the parent to make sure your kids' accounts are correctly set up.
Thats right as i do now, but what im saying is how is interaction going to work between adults and children, what safeguards will sony put in place, say you can exchange photos, whats stopping adults giving photos to kids?
And whats stopping adults registering as a kid and interacting with other kids? whos going to monitor it and what safeguards are going to be available, its all well and good saying its up to me but i cant tell if a registered child is really a child there is only so much i can do and i will be doing everything i required too and more but Sony need to make sure they are monitoring too.