Device lets parents grow healthy video game habits - 2007

14 December 2007

A device for parents concerned about their children becoming addicted to video games has been designed by a Queensland University of Technology student.

Industrial Design graduate diploma student Toni Do, from QUT's School of Design, has designed a device that allows parents to control when and how long their children played computer games.

"Younger people are getting more addicted computer games because technology is improving, getting faster and more sophisticated, making it more attractive to game-players," Ms Do said.

"So I have designed a device, the Echelon, to establish a regular gaming pattern when they are young."

Ms Do said there were two parts to her design, the Echelon program installed on all computer and game devices in the household, and the Echelon timer device that unlocked computer games for play according to parents' "instructions".

"It works as a credit system, allowing parents to program how long their children can play computer games," she said.

"The Echelon key is about 4.5cm in diameter and has a button that when pressed unlocks the computer game the child wants to play.

"When they have used up all their time credit it locks them out again, but credit can be recovered by spending time outside of the game.

"Parents can also set how long it takes to recover credit and what times of the day their children are allowed to play."

Ms Do said the Echelon could easily be used with home PCs and the latest generation of game consoles, such as Xbox and Wii.

"The Echelon program can be installed onto the PC and consoles via a DVD drive, and parents use the PC to set the parameters for each child's key," she said.

"The keys can then communicate wirelessly with the devices through a Bluetooth connection. If the console doesn't have inbuilt Bluetooth, a receiver can be plugged into a USB port."

Ms Do said it was important to establish healthy game playing patterns in childhood.

"In my research I found if children develop a regular pattern when they are young, they are less likely to stray from it when they are older."

Ms Do will be pitching the Echelon to IT companies, seeking development from interested companies.

Media contact: Rachael Wilson, QUT media officer, 07 3138 4494 or rachael.wilson@qut.edu.au