Intramural Computer Gaming as a Holographic Spectator Sport

You see, at this point it pretty much goes without saying that parents want assurance, among other things, that their children aren't playing games they (the parents) disapprove of (too violent, such as Grand Theft Auto; too adult-themed, such as Leisure Suit Larry; etc.). The closest relevant analogy I can provide is from other intramural activities. For example: A parent, when they take/send their young son/daughter to enroll in some intramural activity (baseball, softball, T-ball, etc.), do so with the implied existing assurance that their child will be placed into a league/group/team of other players of similar age (and thus, appropriately similar gender, size, and/or skill, as is appropriate per established local/regional tradition). They know, without thinking a second thought, that their 7yr old daughter will not be placed on a team of grown men over the age of 17. And so on and so forth.

The lack of organized computer activities with parental/adult oversight is the one contributing factor to this problem which CAN be remedied, and I'm going to do my best here to illustrate at least one existing avenue where such remediation COULD take place. In Stillwater (where I reside at the time of this writing), the Public Library has a number of PCs (maintained by the City of Stillwater IT department) available for public use (all you need is a library card -- your card # becomse your ID number on their system). Children and young adults (and even some adults ranging into their early 30's!) OFTEN use these public facilities to "play games". The system only allows 1hr access (can be extended in 15 min intervals indefinitely as long as no one has made an advanced reservation - if it gets busy, the reservation station - where one can make a reservation for a PC - serves to intervene as a neutral, technical 'authority' for terminating sessions of the 'longest use', etc..) The whole point here is that, apart from actually organizing times/teams/games/etc. to play, the public library has already acted (per its own established internal design) responsibly in its provision of these PCs. They REQUIRE the user to register - in person, with valid identification, with proof of residency, etc. Admittedly, their system is not perfect (someone determined to undermine the system, could do so easily - think: the objective being to get a fake LIBRARY CARD, isn't near as difficult as getting a fake PASSPORT). But it does work (at present).

What's the problem, then? My library card isn't valid proof of age to any system other than the Local Area Network (LAN) maintained by the city for the library (can't get on any other system, city or otherwise, with this library card # -- it only works at Stillwater Public Library).

What's the solution, then? *smile* INTRAMURAL GAMING! Locally coordinated. Locally supervised. Locally maintained. Etc. Technology is progressing, but it's lagging behind... reacting to our problems, rather than planning ahead for them (retina scanners and face recognition are but two examples of how it is that the industry is saying 'we should have made it more secure, let's see what we can come up with to remedy that' - with some really expensive gadgetry). By the same token, the industry has totally rejected those pre-existing systems which have a proven level of utility, in favor of 'their own new invention'. What's wrong with making kids go 'sign up' for computer use, just like we make them go 'sign up' to play summer league ball?

I know the court cannot ORDER other government agencies around and such, without there being some justifiable case decision (and precident, etc.) for doing so. And I certainly don't want to be quoted as recommending that we dump this burden onto the public library systems, parks and recreations systems, etc. What I would like to be quoted as recommending, however, is that we nurture these notions by planting seeds of encouragement (e.g., "hey there, [city of choice] Public Library person. how would your system deal with a doubling, or tripling in size? Is there any way your system can work cooperatively with [city] parks and rec toward some coordinated resolution of these matters? Would you be willing to meet with [so-and-so] from said department and discuss options?" blah blah blah). That is... bring together the peoples and agencies which are already dealing with individual facets of a larger, as yet undefined but certainly easy enough to envision, social situation. Local individuals, who know the capabilities of their system, each from a different area of specific application (e.g., a few interested representatives from: public library from their experience with computer IDs: parks and rec from their experience with organizing/maintaining community recreational activities; school representatives to help in the initial selection/filtration/categorization of age-appropriate content; etc.; and yes, hopefully even a few lay parents!)

By the same token, I don't want to encourage the creation of yet another 'pay service' akin to the already existing 'age verification systems' that already exist and are already proving ridiculously ineffective (i.e., they're no more secure than the person sitting there using the unauthorized access code, or fake id number). Why? The person at internet company X has NO CLUE who is typing in the ID code, nor if it matches the identity of the person who registered/purchased it in the first place.