So after getting ~flOw~, I thought I'd set up a user on the PS3 for my 2 year old son... Just for fun... just to see if he'd even get it. (He did score 7,900 on Blast Factor... and I was impressed. ...) So I set up a name and then went into that name and adjusted all the parental controls... After I finished, I was expecting to see: no web access, only the rated ALL games, and none of the music, pictures or video I have in my user account... But the only thing it did was change the parental controls SYSTEM WIDE. Every user still had access to the pictures, music and video folders... AND every user was under the same parental controls...

This is not a multi users system... it ONLY allows different users to maintain individual game saves, browser bookmarks & PS Network ID.

I don't keep any Photo/Vid or Music files that are dirty or anything (maybe some music I wouldn't want my kid listening to yet)... But the fact that all users have access to all files on the system and are able to DELETE them completely makes it useless. If I'm going to allow other users on my PS3, I damn sure don't want them to be able to delete my files (music, pictures, video) or change my settings.

It's disappointing.

I'm surprised I haven't seen more complaints about this (especially here in this forum). I guess the majority of PS3 owners are just single users?

What would the solution be if you both wanted to play the same 1GB demo? Download it twice? I don't know why people complain as soon as a system is released. I am probably more of a 360 fan but even that system went through many updates to get to where it is now. People aren't complaining because it's not a big concern. What would people have to hide from other family members?

What would the solution be if you both wanted to play the same 1GB demo? Download it twice? I don't know why people complain as soon as a system is released. I am probably more of a 360 fan but even that system went through many updates to get to where it is now. People aren't complaining because it's not a big concern. What would people have to hide from other family members?

Triangle --> Make available to all users.

That would work.


...and did you really sense any anger or outrage in my post? Did I say the system "suxors" or threaten to sue Sony for being liars? Sheesh... Pardon me for being slightly critical of one aspect of the system.

And if you really tried to comprehend my post it has nothing to do with hiding things. But what is the point of parental controls if they are set for all users? Everytime I want to play resistance I should have to go change the settings (or enter a password)? And what about having other users deleting things (on purpose or by mistake)?

What would the solution be if you both wanted to play the same 1GB demo? Download it twice? I don't know why people complain as soon as a system is released. I am probably more of a 360 fan but even that system went through many updates to get to where it is now. People aren't complaining because it's not a big concern. What would people have to hide from other family members?

I agree with the first poster. I was going to set up an account for my son to play blast factor/flow/qbert etc., but I do not want him to be able to go online or download / play other games without my consent. I was not aware of this, but I will be setting it up tonight and report my findings as well.

It was my understanding it was similar to windows xp where you could set access and privledges for each individual user. If you read the first post he was not worried about "hiding" anything rather just keeping the kids out of mischief and accidently deleting things he wants to keep.

And what about having other users deleting things (on purpose or by mistake)?

I don't think anyone will disagree that it needs improvement. But to complain about a system after only 3 months of release is a little ridiculous. You seem to be looking for features that even Windows do not have. Parental controls are to protect the child from things not kid friendly. Not to protect the parent from the child.

I think this needs to be expanded too. Sony's engineers probably had lots of stuff in mind when they created the multi-user feature but never had the time to properly implement it. Hopefully we'll see more in the future.

Restricting games from certain users should be easy, but pics/vids/music will probably be harder as there aren't any universal ratings metadata tags in use. Sony could store this info in the PS3's local database but if the db gets corrupted then those rating would have to be entered all over again.

I could see this as being important, maybe similar to the TiVo Kidzone, where you have two almost completely different interfaces based on who you are. You unlock it with the parental code and have full functionality, then you can put it back in kid mode or if you leave it overnight or reboot it it comes back in kid mode.

In kidzone they can only watch channels I have previously approved, or recordings I have setup to be in the kidzone or added to the kidzone.

But if they do add this to the list of stuff to fix/add it had better be lower than streaming media over the network and upconverting standard dvds. (my kids aren't old enough to use the ps3 by themselves, yet)

I think this needs to be expanded too. Sony's engineers probably had lots of stuff in mind when they created the multi-user feature but never had the time to properly implement it. Hopefully we'll see more in the future.

Restricting games from certain users should be easy, but pics/vids/music will probably be harder as there aren't any universal ratings metadata tags in use. Sony could store this info in the PS3's local database but if the db gets corrupted then those rating would have to be entered all over again.

Restricting music files individually seems like a pain, maybe you could have a subdirectory for the protected user MUSIC/kids or something like that.

I don't want them listening to disgusting music, but I don't listen to anything that is really offensive. (bad language is one thing, bad/offensive/degrading content is another)



In reference to the OP, your opinion is definitely valid, and this is a forum for open discussion. This is a good idea that hadn't even crossed my mind, so I am glad you brought it up.

Original poster... I have no comments for you...

Does enabling multiple users give them acess to the same save data? I would like to make a user for my girlfriend, but I don't want her screwing up my game saves by making questionable decisions in games. FLow is a good example.

Wow not sure why the OP is being attacked. This is a valid point and something I wish was in place. My soon to be five year old likes to play RFOM but I don't want him playing it. So I tried to set up the PS3 the same way the OP did. Same result.

I think all we are saying is if they are going to have a multi user system they should make it a true multi user system. Maybe firmware 13.41 will have it!

No one touches my PS3.....

same goes for all my electronics.

Restricting music files individually seems like a pain, maybe you could have a subdirectory for the protected user MUSIC/kids or something like that.
Yeah, but the PS3 doesn't support any directories now on the internal drive. There are many routes they could take to solve this, hopefully they have something in mind. Even just keeping the music/pics/vids from one user hidden from the others would be a quick and dirty fix.

I don't think anyone will disagree that it needs improvement. But to complain about a system after only 3 months of release is a little ridiculous.No, it's not ridiculous at all. Complaints are valid from the moment a system is launched.

Does enabling multiple users give them acess to the same save data? I would like to make a user for my girlfriend, but I don't want her screwing up my game saves by making questionable decisions in games. FLow is a good example.Different user accounts will have their own seperate save files. It's been a while since I checked on this but I'm 99% sure.

I don't think anyone will disagree that it needs improvement. But to complain about a system after only 3 months of release is a little ridiculous. You seem to be looking for features that even Windows do not have. Parental controls are to protect the child from things not kid friendly. Not to protect the parent from the child.

I guess my tone was too harsh for some (although I didn't feel it was remotely harsh at all). And the parental controls unfortunately protect EVERYONE from things not kid friendly... instead of just the child. That's what I'm saying. There is a workaround for this and it is that I enter a password on everything game related that is not ALL rated. But there are no parental protections for Music, Video and Photos (which there wouldn't even need to be if they were user specific).

Original poster... I have no comments for you...
But thank you for your spam. http://boardsus.playstation.com/i/smilies/16x16_smiley-indifferent.gif

I'd like this as well. It would require having password protection to access the different accounts - hopefully configurable per account so the most restricted accounts wouldn't have to specify a password if you didn't want them to.

How about adding this to the "Official Request List for PS3 Upgrades (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=753527)" thread?

Does enabling multiple users give them acess to the same save data? I would like to make a user for my girlfriend, but I don't want her screwing up my game saves by making questionable decisions in games. FLow is a good example.
No, they got this right. The users system seems to be based purely on game saves (and it does keep browser bookmarks separate). With regards to game saves, the system works perfectly in my experience.

I'd like this as well. It would require having password protection to access the different accounts - hopefully configurable per account so the most restricted accounts wouldn't have to specify a password if you didn't want them to.

How about adding this to the "Official Request List for PS3 Upgrades (http://www.avsforum.com/avs-vb/showthread.php?t=753527)" thread?
I will do that... And I've also mentioned this idea on the PSU version of that thread: ~ The *UNOFFICIAL* What YOU want to be included in the FIRMWARE Thread ~ (http://boardsus.playstation.com/playstation/board/message?board.id=ps3&thread.id=1175989)

What do you want?

Complete data duplication per user?
A master user that can add, remove and grant/revoke access per user?

What do you want?

Complete data duplication per user?
A master user that can add, remove and grant/revoke access per user?
Probably a master/admin user, yeah.

I don't think data duplication is really necessary. As I suggested in my first reply in the thread I think there's an easy solution to that.

1.) Have a master setting to make added files or downloads available to a.) all users, or b.) only the user that downloaded it.
2.) And then a TRIANGLE option on any file or folder that allows you to select a.) "Make available to all users", or b.) "Make private to current user"

And then, of course, make the parental control settings specific to users (whether set my the master user or from within any user's account). But if I want to lock out all non-child friendly material to one account, I don't want to see a bunch of locks and passwords on all the material from within my account.

I guess my tone was too harsh for some (although I didn't feel it was remotely harsh at all). And the parental controls unfortunately protect EVERYONE from things not kid friendly... instead of just the child. That's what I'm saying. There is a workaround for this and it is that I enter a password on everything game related that is not ALL rated. But there are no parental protections for Music, Video and Photos (which there wouldn't even need to be if they were user specific).
Your post/comments were not harsh at all. For some reason, there is ramped abuse around here as posters continue to hide behind the veil of anonymity. They really feel like they can post anything. I am willing to bet the morons don't have children and/or they cherish their little inanimate object (PS3) a bit too much and they are simply jumping down your throat because your "compliant" attacks their precious product.

Your request should be easy to implement and I am certain other parents are equally concerned. I am willing to bet the Sony folks are working on this.

Danny

I believe the parental controls work like they do because there is no password required to change users. It would be pointless to setup parental controls for one user, if you could simply switch users without a password. If they implemented passwords for users, then yeah I can see this being a good idea.

What do you want?

Complete data duplication per user?
A master user that can add, remove and grant/revoke access per user?


Don't forget that this isn't just another console, this is a computer, and it is supposed to be a "Digital-media-center" or something.

This feature would not be difficult to implement, and it wouldn't require duplicated data.

The way it is setup now with parental control makes it possibly more cumbersome, because you have to put in your code for everything that is protected, and not everything is protected (so you have some inconvenience, and your kids can still access stuff you didn't want them to).

Not sure if it is clear, but I am a PS3 owner and a parent so I am who this feature would be aimed at.

edit: It isn't like my PS3 is full of porn or something, I just want to know that my kids aren't exposed to things that I don't think they are ready for. Which is exactly why I love the Kidzone feature on my TiVo.

I agree with the original poster - and with what Walk said though... without passwords to log into a user account - it would be pointless.. never thought of that... but i too wanted to setup a user account for my daughter soon... now there really is no point. will just have to set the access level for my account and require password for parental levels... but i don't want her listening to my music - too 'disturbing' hahahaha....

No one touches my PS3.....

same goes for all my electronics.


right with you there, brother...

my suggestion, push the little tykes out into the back yard and play ball or some other physical activity and dont show him/her a video game until they are 13. way too many fat, lazy brainless kids coming up through the ranks. I will state now that my comments are in no way to suggest your kids will either fat, lazy or brainless.

This is a totally valid point. Granted I'm sorry that some people view anything less than glowingly positive PS3 info to be a slight against their own personal God and feel the need to say it but for parents this is an area that really would be key to address (and it can be but someone probably has to say something sometime and maybe it starts like this).

We are at the point where both parents and their children now play video games and use a system (which is designed as a media hub also albeit not nearly perfect in that regard yet but promising). There should be a better way to lock down the console on a user account basis to protect both media (viewable and delete rights) as well as game titles.

It's not outrageous to expect something like this from user accounts and parental controls. I don't want my son or my wife messing things up although I'd certainly like them to be able to use my equipment with minimal hassle and have fun (and it's setup so that they can do this).

If there is some way to provide feedback directly to Sony that someone knows of, they should post it, otherwise what else can people do besides bring an issue up in a forum?

EDIT - for what it's worth, maybe better than the "hey keep quiet and wait it's only 3 months old" maybe a better way to think about it would be "I see where you are coming from, this sounds like something they could impliment with a firmware patch - maybe it will happen or maybe there's a way to get the ball rolling and at least bring it to their attention". This is the first generation of consumer devices to where we are actually seeing real updates and feature enhancements, that doesn't mean no one should say anything less than stellar about the launch or existing feature set and just shut up. People expect reasonably finished product, if it can be enhanced, great, but something they feel to be a glaring omission is going to bother them. I don't see a Sony forums for improvement suggestions and bug tracking - too bad because that encourages bitching, which seemed relatively effective in getting the 1080i issue taken care of.