The weekly newsletter for Fed2 by ibgames

EARTHDATE: July 5, 2009

Official News page 10


GADGET OF THE WEEK: GAMEDR

by Hazed

If you're a parent who worried that your offspring spends far too long playing computer games, then this gadget might come in handy. The GameDr (I assume it's meant to be pronounced Game Doctor) is a timer device that fits onto the console's power cord. You then set the timer for the time you want to allow your child to play, and when the allotted time is up, it turns off the power to the device.

It's password protected, so your kid won't be able to sneakily reset the timer - unless they can guess your password, of course, which let's face it is probably quite likely!

I imagine if I was playing a game I would find this restriction immensely irritating. Ok, it gives a 10 minute warning and then a 1 minute warning so you have got time to save your game before it powers down, but still, it's far more annoying than having mom or dad come into your room and threaten to yank the power cord in person. After all, you've got a chance to whine and wheedle for a little more time if the parents are trying to enforce a time limit in person, but with this timer, you can't argue with it!

I suppose it could also be used for all kinds of electronic devices, not just consoles - if you want to allow your child to watch an hour of TV before bed, this would let you enforce the end time.

Still, I am not convinced that using remote devices to regulate your child's behavior is a good thing. Hands-on parenting is always preferable.

See more details here.


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