child lock in mamewah

[papaschtroumpf]

There are some games that I don't want my kids to play (adult games are the obvious ones, but there are others based on content or simply "frustration factor").
Currently I simply have a list of "kid friendly" games and a list of all games, and by default mamewah comes up with the kid friendly list (I wrote a script to make sure it does regardless of the last list in use).

The kids are bound to accidentally discover the "3" key that switches between lists, so I'm thinking about doing the following:

remap the "next list" button to a key that's not accessible from the CP.
use the "child lock" to prevent kids from entering the menu.

This would guarantee that the kids can't change list acccidentally (until they're old enough to research mamewah on the net and find out about the child lock   ) but it makes it kind of a pain the the adults to change list since you have to disable child lock, go into the menu, select the next list, ... (OK, it's not that bad but I'm *really* lazy).
I could even change my startup script to make sure that the child lock is engaged every time mamewah starts (of course MinWah could make it command line options to mamewah - hint)

Is there a better solution?

[GamingGreg]

I just thinking out loud here, but how about using two MameWah directories with two different configurations? One for the kids and the other for the adults.  Your startup script could possible look at something to know which one to launch.  

[papaschtroumpf]

yeah I though about something similar: the script would have swapped the FILES directory between two different situations. I guess I was trying not to have to exit mamewah or select on boot since I'm using a cabinet that could be on all day long.
The more I think about my original solution the more I think it's not bad (if it works the way I think it should). Going into the menus is not that bad.

[lokki]

I would also love a feature like this on Mamawah.

Would like to be able to password protect certain Games.
Limit the number of times a game can be played.
Limit the ammount of time that a game can be played.

[eightbit]

I would also love a feature like this on Mamawah.

Would like to be able to password protect certain Games.
Limit the number of times a game can be played.
Limit the ammount of time that a game can be played.

Kids will figure it out faster than you think. Would you miss the adult games if they were gone? Removing them would be a lot easier. Changing the button that changes the list to a keyswitch button. A guy that I'm building a cab for asked me to make the on/off button a keyswitch to lock the kids out. Another option would be to put to remap both buttons put them inside the coin door and lock the coin door.  

As far as time goes there are several programs you can run in Windows that will limit the amount of time or the times when the kids can play.

[Howard_Casto]

Heaven forbid I would try to tell anyone how to deal with their children, but at least imo if you are going to have kids in the house then you shouldn't have porn lying around period. The only way you are going to rest easy is to delete them all together.  Even the most sophisticated adult verification programs can be bypassed by a determined 8 year old if left unsupervised.  

So your options are basically watch your kids while they use the computer or delete the roms.  

[papaschtroumpf]

Heaven forbid I would try to tell anyone how to deal with their children

I guess you just did!

[Minwah]

I could even change my startup script to make sure that the child lock is engaged every time mamewah starts (of course MinWah could make it command line options to mamewah - hint)

The menu lock status is saved as long as you exit MAMEWAH using the exit key.  ie if the menu is locked when you hit the exit key it will be locked the next time you run MW

[Minwah]

Heaven forbid I would try to tell anyone how to deal with their children

I guess you just did!

Well he has a point!  

[eightbit]

A guy that I'm building a cab for asked me to make the on/off button a keyswitch to lock the kids out.

He doesn't want to lock them out of objectionable games but he does want to be able to control the use of the cabinet IF it becomes necessary. He's planning to remove any objectionable games which in my opinion is what a responsible parent should do.

Papaschtroumpf I'm not telling you how to raise your kids, though I wouldn't have a problem doing that, but you asked for our opinion so please don't take offense. The "better" solution is to remove the roms.

Yup closed minded and not willing to compromise, thats me...

[Howard_Casto]

Heaven forbid I would try to tell anyone how to deal with their children

I guess you just did!

Hey you asked for options I gave you two of them.  Next time I won't help.  

[SpamMe]

<- trying to think of creative solutions:

1) Add 1 button to each side of your cabinet, towards the back if it's against the wall. Make one a shift/shazam key (assuming you're using an encoder that makes that possible), and the other the button to change lists. Adult armspan = change lists. Certainly not a permanent solution, but I don't know how old/resourceful your kids are

[paigeoliver]

You know eventually you are going to see this in the newspaper or on the news.

Internet piracy websites not doing enough to prevent children under 17 from accessing adult materials.

My son just told me he was pirating things like Pac-Man and Dig Dug. But later I found out that he was playing games like Mahjong Feces Carnival and Miss World 97 Nude. How was he able to access those games? Any legitimate piracy site should have measures in place to prevent minors from accessing such sensitive materials.

It has even been rumored that children as young as 11 years old can download pirated copies of Doom with absolutely no sort of age verification.

We here at channel 5 managed to get the "owner" of one of these pirate romsites for an online interview.

REPORTER: Don't you think it is irresponsible to all children under 17 to access adult video games?

R0mzK1nG: yUo are teh suck, whot R U talk!ng ab0uT? Y AM i suppos3D to be babys1tt3r?

REPORTER: So, you allow your own children to play these games?

R0mzK1nG: My own (he he, I said "own"), ch1LdreN? H0w c@n I hav3 kidS, I am only in 8tH gr@de?

REPORTER: Well, there you have it.

[Hammerbot]

Why not get a keyed switch and keep the key in that drawer by your bed with the rest of your adult magazines?

Remap the "3" for mamewah to an unused input and run the wiring through the switch.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/productdetail.jsp?xi=xi&ItemId=1611695620&ccitem=

[eightbit]

Why not get a keyed switch and keep the key in that drawer by your bed with the rest of your adult magazines?

Remap the "3" for mamewah to an unused input and run the wiring through the switch.

http://www.grainger.com/Grainger/productdetail.jsp?xi=xi&ItemId=1611695620&ccitem=

$22! Ouch! Anyone know of a source for a cheaper switch like this?

[grafixmonkey]

I also think the best way to do this is to have two installs of mamewah, one with ONLY the kids' game list, and another with all your lists.  Have them be identical except for the games available, and have your version only launchable by a shortcut that's in your passworded user, or in the Administrator user, or just somewhere where you have to know where it is to find it.  Your cab starting up into 'kid mode' Mamewah would be a start, then maybe you'd have to shut down mamewah and go somewhere deep into the Start menu to find the adult shortcut whereas the kidmode shortcut would be a big pretty icon on the desktop labeled "Arcade Games".  

That said, I agree with HC here.  You might be able to prevent your kids from playing the games by themselves, but how are you gonna keep them from walking in on you playing them, or keep from accidentally leaving the adult version on once, or keep the kids from coming home early from wherever you think you dropped them off for the evening and seeing daddy looking at their arcade game machine with [insert vivid description of really nasty hentai picture here] displaying on the screen?

If you have to keep adult games around, maybe the best thing is to take the adult games off the cab and only play them on your own computer, in your room...  you can reliably keep them out of there, and a keyboard is better for mahjong games anyway right?  Then, if your kids do figure out how to bypass the adult lock on the cab, all they'd be playing is Metal Slug, not porno, and you'd catch them at it pretty easily.

All I know is that someone I know is going through a divorce where the father keeps trying to win custody of the kids, and she's had her lawyer keep evidence of "access to porn at his house" because it would most likely result in her winning the case when/if he does take her to court.

(sorry if I'm bossing you around, I just don't want anything bad to happen to ya)

[screaming]

This is just an idea, but it doesn't seem like it would be a hard thing for MAMEwah (or any other FE) to have a configurable list of games that require a password to run.  It is a front-end, afterall.  Isn't that what it's for?

/Steve

[Minwah]

This is just an idea, but it doesn't seem like it would be a hard thing for MAMEwah (or any other FE) to have a configurable list of games that require a password to run.  It is a front-end, afterall.  Isn't that what it's for?

Well yes, but my my goal is to make a FE that allows the launching of games using arcade controls.  Dad getting the keyboard out to type in a password does not even come into my mind.

I do agree that kids shouldn't be able to find/see/play p0rn0 games, but that being the case such stuff shouldn't be on a system that kids play on.  DVD's / mags are much better anyway  

[screaming]

Well yes, but my my goal is to make a FE that allows the launching of games using arcade controls.  Dad getting the keyboard out to type in a password does not even come into my mind.

  Agreed, and I think that's the goal of almost all the FEs out there.  But why won't it still work though?  You can't read p1b1-p1b2-p2up-p2down-p1b3-p1b4 as a password?

I do agree that kids shouldn't be able to find/see/play p0rn0 games, but that being the case such stuff shouldn't be on a system that kids play on.

  Monetary and spatial reasons make this impractical.. for people that want them, anyway.

 DVD's / mags are much better anyway  

  haha! Yeah, I don't understand the mentality behind 'adult' games. What's the point of voluntarily working for my porn?

/S

[Minwah]

Well yes, but my my goal is to make a FE that allows the launching of games using arcade controls.  Dad getting the keyboard out to type in a password does not even come into my mind.

  Agreed, and I think that's the goal of almost all the FEs out there.  But why won't it still work though?  You can't read p1b1-p1b2-p2up-p2down-p1b3-p1b4 as a password?

I do agree that kids shouldn't be able to find/see/play p0rn0 games, but that being the case such stuff shouldn't be on a system that kids play on.

  Monetary and spatial reasons make this impractical.. for people that want them, anyway.

 DVD's / mags are much better anyway  

  haha! Yeah, I don't understand the mentality behind 'adult' games. What's the point of voluntarily working for my porn?

/S

I had thought about the combination of presses idea - but how many presses would actually be required to make sure that kids do not accidentally hit it?  I suppose hiding the password entry option away somewhere would help, but maybe that defeats the point of the password (?)

[screaming]

I had thought about the combination of presses idea - but how many presses would actually be required to make sure that kids do not accidentally hit it?  I suppose hiding the password entry option away somewhere would help, but maybe that defeats the point of the password (?)

  Naw, the password entry option can be in full view, but if they don't know the password then they can't change/disable it (Think: Parental control on cable TV). IMO the number of keypresses needed would be subjective. Configure mamewah to have a minimum of 3, and a maximum of 8 or something I think would be fine.

  I can't really speak for the people here because really I don't have kids to worry about, but don't think these people are planning on relying on this combination of presses to protect thier corporate network from hackers. They simply just don't want thier kids to access the adult games. Half the time just displaying a notice saying "Don't make me get your father!" will be enough to keep the kids away.

IMVHO

  In all seriousness, if I had to worry about such a situation, I think a simple combination of keypresses and a method of logging which games are played would be enough. If I reviewed the log and found out someone other than me was playing the adult games, that meant they did a little hacking. That's grounds for basement-cleaning duty! Chop chop!

/S

[grafixmonkey]

 Naw, the password entry option can be in full view, but if they don't know the password then they can't change/disable it (Think: Parental control on cable TV). IMO the number of keypresses needed would be subjective. Configure mamewah to have a minimum of 3, and a maximum of 8 or something I think would be fine.

Well, kids figure out mortal kombat combos...  maybe minimum of 3, and maximum of 20.  It's not like it'd take all kinds of memory to hold 20 keystrokes or anything.

 I can't really speak for the people here because really I don't have kids to worry about, but don't think these people are planning on relying on this combination of presses to protect thier corporate network from hackers. They simply just don't want thier kids to access the adult games. Half the time just displaying a notice saying "Don't make me get your father!" will be enough to keep the kids away.

Better yet, have it log bad password attempts, and have the popup window say so.  (so you know if your kid is trying to see Daddy's games)

IMVHO

  In all seriousness, if I had to worry about such a situation, I think a simple combination of keypresses and a method of logging which games are played would be enough. If I reviewed the log and found out someone other than me was playing the adult games, that meant they did a little hacking. That's grounds for basement-cleaning duty! Chop chop!

/S

It would be a start, but it still doesn't prevent the kids from accidentally seeing it due to some unforeseen circumstance - such as you forgot that today is a half-day of school, and they walk in the door.  But I guess you can't protect against _everything_.  I think the password thing would be a great way to casually keep kids from playing games like Metal Slug and Mortal Kombat, if you decide they're too young for it.  The "adult" games all really suck anyway.  If you want to see nekked people, do you really want to see it in 32 colors, displayed at less than half the (already low) resolution of a TV?