games unsuitable for children

[Ben Armstrong]

Argh.  I botched that.  Let's send this to the correct list address this time ...

By the way, this discussion really belongs on the discussion list, not the package list.

On Fri, 22 Dec 2006 23:23:39 +0100
Javier Candeira <javier at candeira.com> wrote:
> As to the classification, we could look at the industry self-ratings, and
> follow the most objective one we find (blood/no blood, nudity/no nudity are
> not moral issues, but factual) publicising which one we are following.

This is harder than it sounds.  Xpenguins and jumpnbump both have blood by default, but they also each have an option to turn it off.  Should they get tagged "*::blood"?  I have included both in Debian Jr., trusting that administrators of kids' systems will personally review everything on the system and tailor them to suit the needs of their families.  If we start tagging these "blood", will it turn parents away?  Will they stop even trying out these packages (both of which I've found entertaining and suitable for my own kids)?

Unlike most commercial games, open source gives us greater freedom to tailor games to suit different individual tastes.  So to guide users in their choices, we may find we have to further divide these elements into those that are an integral part of the game vs. those that are optional.

Ben
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