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  #1  
Old February 11th 09, 03:26 AM posted to misc.kids
toypup[_2_]
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Posts: 222
Default nintendo ds

I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through a
WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives a
drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I don't want
anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature on the Nintendo
DS? Is there a safety feature built in?

  #2  
Old February 11th 09, 04:44 AM posted to misc.kids
Kat
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Posts: 177
Default nintendo ds


"toypup" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through a
WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives a
drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I don't
want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature on the
Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?


Hm... You know... My parents got DS one of this DS things for Christmas...
He just turned 8 less than 2 weeks ago, so right around the same age as your
DS.
To be completely honest, I really don't know much about this thing. I've
heard you can have multi-player games with others, but as far as that goes,
I have no clue. To be completely honest, I don't know if DS knows about
that, although he has asked for it so he can play with one friend that has a
DS as well, and the friend is right next door. On a very rare occasion,
I've let him take it over to the friend's house to play.
Now that you've mentioned this, I think I am going to see what I can find
out about it and ask around... Now I am curious as to how this thing
works... Last handheld game I've touched has been a simple Gameboy ages ago
LOL
If I find anything out, I'll definitely post what I've found over here, but
I'm also going to be keeping an eye out here just in case someone knows.
That's a very good question, though!


  #3  
Old February 11th 09, 05:31 AM posted to misc.kids
Ericka
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Posts: 64
Default nintendo ds

toypup wrote:
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through
a WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives
a drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I
don't want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature
on the Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?


Where is he going to find a WiFi connection? At
your home, you can configure it so that he doesn't have
access to it with his DS. Is there anywhere else that it's
likely to be an issue?

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #4  
Old February 11th 09, 05:48 AM posted to misc.kids
Kat
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Posts: 177
Default nintendo ds


"toypup" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through a
WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives a
drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I don't
want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature on the
Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?


I'm just talking to a friend who seems to know a fair bit about this DS...
For the connection... He's telling me that you need a wireless connection.
Like a wireless router to connect... With that, he tells me it's for playing
games with someone that isn't within the range of the DS. Not sure how far
the range is, but I believe it's not like miles away or something... fairly
close range.
For playing a game with someone, there seems to be a couple options. With
multi player games, one DS can play off another. Like you and I are
playing, you have a game but I don't - if we're together, my DS will play
off of yours, even though I do not own the game. If you and I both want to
play a game, but you're at your house and I'm out of the range of the DS at
my own house, we can still play together - I need to have the game, though,
and we both need to have the wireless connection. Also, as almost like
"added security" we need to have what I think was called "player codes" -
which is like a password to play a game. You and I would exchange our
player codes for our game and could connect directly to eachother. There is
no chatting option for a game, though. Friend said any games he's played
have NOT had any type of chatting option... You just play the game together,
you don't talk, and then there's also the 'player code' thing that we'd need
from eachother in order to play. He said he obviously hasn't played every
game out there, so maybe some games might have an option to chat, but again,
with any connection to someone else, you need this code to get to eachother,
so since you wouldn't be walking down the street randomly giving random
people you game "code" there seems to be very little chance of Chester the
Molester playing a game with a random person (child).
I noticed, after pulling DS' DS out, there's this thing called "Pictochat"
on it. I'm told that this is something that is a direct connection from one
DS to another within the range. And for this Pictochat to work, there has
to be someone else within the range on at the time. Seems the chance of
Chester the Molester being within range at the same time is not very good,
but I guess you can't ever know for sure. I noticed, while kind of playing
around with it, that each time I've looked, these "chat rooms" for this
Pictochat have always said 0/16 - meaning no one is within range. My friend
said he's never really bothered with that, though, and isn't sure if this is
something that you could find random people out of the DS range with a
wireless connection.
I think since this DS seems to be aimed very much at younger children and
families, there seems like there's a fair bit of security right in it that
doesn't seem to require special knowledge or equipment.
I also found a bit of info on wikipedia, and I really haven't read through
it all just yet. The link is http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nintendo_ds if
you wanted to run through that and find more info. It does seem, though,
generally safe. They also seem to be very popular with the younger crowd,
and Nintendo has always seemed to be fairly 'safe' (like Xbox has that Xbox
Live feature, where you can actually communicate directly with people from
who knows where - Nintendo doesn't do that)


  #5  
Old February 11th 09, 06:11 AM posted to misc.kids
Ericka
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Posts: 64
Default nintendo ds

Kat wrote:
"toypup" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through a
WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives a
drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I don't
want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature on the
Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?


I'm just talking to a friend who seems to know a fair bit about this DS...
For the connection... He's telling me that you need a wireless connection.
Like a wireless router to connect... With that, he tells me it's for playing
games with someone that isn't within the range of the DS. Not sure how far
the range is, but I believe it's not like miles away or something... fairly
close range.


Once you're connected by WiFi, it's traveling over
the internet, so distance is not an issue. You can play games
with people anywhere in the world. IIRC, these
interactions are mediated by the specific game in use,
and different games allow different types of interaction.
You do have to get the other player's code and put it in
your friends list (and vice versa) in order to do this.
There are websites where people share their friend codes
if they want to play games with other people. There is
a web browser available for the DS, but of course you'd
have to buy that, and if you don't buy it, he won't have
access to it. Most of the games that support WiFi gameplay
don't allow much interaction.

For playing a game with someone, there seems to be a couple options. With
multi player games, one DS can play off another. Like you and I are
playing, you have a game but I don't - if we're together, my DS will play
off of yours, even though I do not own the game. If you and I both want to
play a game, but you're at your house and I'm out of the range of the DS at
my own house, we can still play together - I need to have the game, though,
and we both need to have the wireless connection. Also, as almost like
"added security" we need to have what I think was called "player codes" -
which is like a password to play a game. You and I would exchange our
player codes for our game and could connect directly to eachother. There is
no chatting option for a game, though. Friend said any games he's played
have NOT had any type of chatting option... You just play the game together,
you don't talk, and then there's also the 'player code' thing that we'd need
from eachother in order to play. He said he obviously hasn't played every
game out there, so maybe some games might have an option to chat, but again,
with any connection to someone else, you need this code to get to eachother,
so since you wouldn't be walking down the street randomly giving random
people you game "code" there seems to be very little chance of Chester the
Molester playing a game with a random person (child).


A little common sense goes a long way with this one.
It's possible to keep things fairly secure if you exercise
some basic precautions. I'm sure if you googled around, there
are probably primers on the web for how to use the WiFi
and Pictochat communications safely.

I noticed, after pulling DS' DS out, there's this thing called "Pictochat"
on it. I'm told that this is something that is a direct connection from one
DS to another within the range. And for this Pictochat to work, there has
to be someone else within the range on at the time. Seems the chance of
Chester the Molester being within range at the same time is not very good,
but I guess you can't ever know for sure.


The range is only around 65 feet, so it's not huge.

I noticed, while kind of playing
around with it, that each time I've looked, these "chat rooms" for this
Pictochat have always said 0/16 - meaning no one is within range. My friend
said he's never really bothered with that, though, and isn't sure if this is
something that you could find random people out of the DS range with a
wireless connection.


You can stumble across others. My kids used to like
playing games with friends using Pictochat, or would chat
with each other. Sometimes they'd run across someone else
nearby who was broadcasting. Didn't happen that often. The
main thing is to make sure that their user name in Pictochat
doesn't give away inappropriate information, and for them
to know that it's possible for them to run into strangers
in Pictochat if they're using it in a public space.

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #6  
Old February 11th 09, 08:16 AM posted to misc.kids
toypup[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 222
Default nintendo ds



"Ericka" wrote in message
...
toypup wrote:
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through a
WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives a
drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I don't
want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature on the
Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?


Where is he going to find a WiFi connection? At
your home, you can configure it so that he doesn't have
access to it with his DS. Is there anywhere else that it's
likely to be an issue?


If he gets it, I want him to be able to play with his friend, so no problem
with WiFi. I just would like the ability to make sure he can only play with
that friend and no one else once he has that connection.

  #7  
Old February 11th 09, 08:24 AM posted to misc.kids
toypup[_2_]
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 222
Default nintendo ds



"Ericka" wrote in message
...
Kat wrote:
"toypup" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through
a WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives
a drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I
don't want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature
on the Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?


I'm just talking to a friend who seems to know a fair bit about this
DS...
For the connection... He's telling me that you need a wireless
connection. Like a wireless router to connect... With that, he tells me
it's for playing games with someone that isn't within the range of the
DS. Not sure how far the range is, but I believe it's not like miles
away or something... fairly close range.


Once you're connected by WiFi, it's traveling over
the internet, so distance is not an issue. You can play games
with people anywhere in the world. IIRC, these
interactions are mediated by the specific game in use,
and different games allow different types of interaction.
You do have to get the other player's code and put it in
your friends list (and vice versa) in order to do this.
There are websites where people share their friend codes
if they want to play games with other people. There is
a web browser available for the DS, but of course you'd
have to buy that, and if you don't buy it, he won't have
access to it. Most of the games that support WiFi gameplay
don't allow much interaction.


So most games that allow WiFi play only allow the players to play that game
and not chat at the same time? When I read about DS, it said something
about being able to play people around the world, so that was the part that
concerned me. If he can play others without a running conversation with
them, that is fine with me.

Is Pictochat something that is built into the DS? I know my son knew how to
use that at his friend's house. If I buy it, I would like him to use that
feature to communicate with his friend but not anyone else.

  #8  
Old February 11th 09, 02:14 PM posted to misc.kids
Ericka
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 64
Default nintendo ds

toypup wrote:


"Ericka" wrote in message


Once you're connected by WiFi, it's traveling over
the internet, so distance is not an issue. You can play games
with people anywhere in the world. IIRC, these
interactions are mediated by the specific game in use,
and different games allow different types of interaction.
You do have to get the other player's code and put it in
your friends list (and vice versa) in order to do this.
There are websites where people share their friend codes
if they want to play games with other people. There is
a web browser available for the DS, but of course you'd
have to buy that, and if you don't buy it, he won't have
access to it. Most of the games that support WiFi gameplay
don't allow much interaction.


So most games that allow WiFi play only allow the players to play that
game and not chat at the same time?


Correct.

When I read about DS, it said
something about being able to play people around the world, so that was
the part that concerned me. If he can play others without a running
conversation with them, that is fine with me.


You have to check out the individual games, but
I don't think my kids had any games that allowed free
chatting. And, as noted before, they had to have exchanged
friend codes.

Is Pictochat something that is built into the DS?


Yes.

I know my son knew
how to use that at his friend's house. If I buy it, I would like him to
use that feature to communicate with his friend but not anyone else.


You can't do that. But, as I said, keep in mind that
Pictochat has only about a 65 foot radius for communication.

Best wishes,
Ericka
  #9  
Old February 11th 09, 04:17 PM posted to misc.kids
enigma
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 447
Default nintendo ds

"toypup" wrote in
:



"Ericka" wrote in message
...
toypup wrote:
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS.
I am concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with
people through a WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing
with his friend, who lives a drive away, but I don't want him
playing with random people and I don't want anyone contacting
him. Is there a parental control feature on the Nintendo DS?
Is there a safety feature built in?


Where is he going to find a WiFi connection? At
your home, you can configure it so that he doesn't have
access to it with his DS. Is there anywhere else that it's
likely to be an issue?


If he gets it, I want him to be able to play with his friend, so
no problem with WiFi. I just would like the ability to make
sure he can only play with that friend and no one else once he
has that connection.


do you have wi-fi in your home? does your son's friend? are these
wi-fi connections set properly so any random stranger can't park in
the driveway or street & use the connection? if so, then there
isn't an issue. if not, there's a bigger issue than the kid's
nintendos, like full access to all computers on the network... by
random strangers.
lee

  #10  
Old February 11th 09, 06:08 PM posted to misc.kids
Stormlady
external usenet poster
 
Posts: 51
Default nintendo ds

I THINK that the built in wifi only connects to other DS's, you can't go
online with it searching for games or anything like that. The 2 systems
have to be in pretty close proximity for it to work and one has to agree to
download the game for them to play. There is also a chat program built in
to the DS, but same thing, you have to be close to the other DS. There is a
WiFi browser that you can buy which I think lets you surf the net with it,
but it's optional.

"toypup" wrote in message
...
I am thinking of eventually getting my 7 yo son a Nintendo DS. I am
concerned about the feature allowing him to hook up with people through a
WiFi connection. I don't mind him playing with his friend, who lives a
drive away, but I don't want him playing with random people and I don't
want anyone contacting him. Is there a parental control feature on the
Nintendo DS? Is there a safety feature built in?



 




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