Cyberguide

By Chris Taylor

games

EDUCATIONAL SOFTWARE The hardest job in software is to make learning fun. Few games succeed, but the CARMEN SANDIEGO series (latest: WHERE IN THE U.S.A.?) comes pretty close. Kids chase the eponymous thief around the country, improving geography skills. If only Carmen could do the same for algebra.

Where in the U.S.A. Is Carmen Sandiego?: Educational value, 5; Violence, 0

ROLE PLAYING These games look like movies, except the players direct the action and the dialogue and must solve problems to find their way out of each "scene." The MONKEY ISLAND series (latest: CURSE OF MONKEY ISLAND) is O.K. for all ages; GRIM FANDANGO, with its noir-ish themes, is better for mature teens and adults.

Grim Fandango: Educational value, 2; Violence, 1

ADVENTURE Gorgeous graphics, ingenious puzzles and barely a dead body in sight. No wonder ZELDA: OCARINA OF TIME and RIVEN (sequel to MYST) have become so popular with kids and parents. Without the visceral fear of losing "lives," players concentrate on cracking codes, exploring imaginary worlds and enjoying the scenery.

Zelda: Educational value, 2; Violence, 1

WORLD BUILDING The so-called God games turn kids into master builders. They can craft working metropolises--from sewers to skyscrapers--in SIM CITY 3000 or build empires to rule the world over 5,000 years of history in CIVILIZATION: CALL TO POWER, the latest and greatest in the popular Civ series. A taste of simulated despotism never hurt anyone.

Sim City 3000: Educational value, 4; Violence, 0

REAL-TIME STRATEGY Even though the battles are bloody, kids learn fast with games like AGE OF EMPIRES and STARCRAFT because looking ahead, plotting strategy and husbanding resources are the only ways to win these real-time wars. Age of Empires, which pits players against Hittites, Greeks and Romans, might even teach the kids a little history.

Age of Empires: Educational value, 4; Violence, 2

SPORTS GAMES Pick any fast-moving sport, and there's a popular, highly realistic, multiplayer console game to go with it: NFL BLITZ, NCAA FINAL FOUR, FIFA '99 soccer. The teams, the players, the camera angles and even the commentary are exactly the same as the ones you see on TV. What's the harm in a little added interactivity?

NCAA Final Four: Educational value, 1; Violence, 1

FLIGHT SIMULATORS Best-selling MICROSOFT FLIGHT SIMULATOR now comes in two flavors--with combat and without. The aim, not surprisingly, is to stay aloft while handling all the complexities of a modern cockpit. Unless you count deliberately crashing into a cornfield or re-enacting air combat from World War II, there's not too much mayhem.

Microsoft Flight Simulator: Educational value, 3; Violence, 1

FIGHT SIMULATORS Although they are pure combat, martial-arts programs like TEKKEN 3 and VIRTUA FIGHTER seem less violent and a lot less cowardly than the games that let players hide behind their guns. The TEKKEN series has all the choreographed beauty of a Hong Kong action flick and hardly any virtual blood. There are probably worse ways to let off steam.

Tekken 3: Educational value, 1; Violence, 3

DRIVING SIMULATORS If your kids feel the need for speed, try to steer them toward car-racing games like GRAN TURISMO, in which the worst they can do is drive recklessly and crash spectacularly. The object in GRAND THEFT AUTO, by contrast, is to steal hot rods. In CARMAGEDDON, players are rewarded when they mow down pedestrians.

Gran Turismo: Educational value, 1; Violence, 4

SPLATTER GAMES These are the games that put guns in the hands of kids and reward them for blasting everything that moves. Players in DOOM and QUAKE (and a host of imitations) navigate mazes in first-person perspective, picking up ever larger and more lethal weapons. Only the victims change. In DUKE NUKEM, it's pig-humans in police vests; in DEER HUNTER, it's Bambi.

Quake: Educational value, 0; Violence, 5

Internet

HOMEWORK HELPERS Here's where saintly kids surf. AMERICA ONLINE has the most comprehensive service, with specialized "study rooms" and teachers an e-mail away. On the Web, try studyweb.com and kids.infoplease.com But watch out for cheat sites and their vast databases of plagiarizable term papers.

AOL Homework Helper: Educational value, 5; Adult content, 1

SEARCH ENGINES It's a fact of Web life: if you search for a perfectly innocent term like "girls," you're likely to get a flood of X-rated home pages. The solution: kid-friendly search engines like YAHOOLIGANS www.yahooligans.com) Type "sex" here, and you get exactly one site, on zygote reproduction. Alternatively, try kids.askjeeves.com which answers plain-English questions like "Why is the sky blue?"

Yahooligans: Educational value, 4; Adult content, 0

ENTERTAINMENT The best bets for sports and entertainment are the online versions of your kids' favorite cable channels: disney.com nick.com and espn.com The MAGIC KINGDOM and its counterparts are spending a lot of money to attract young eyeballs, and it shows in interactive games, fantasy leagues, cool graphics and fast downloads.

Disney: Educational value, 2; Adult content, 0

ONLINE GAMES From chess to Quake, cyberspace is the best place to pit your wits against those of total strangers. YAHOO'S GAMES PAGE yahoo.com/r/ga is a good place to find traditional, wholesome fare--although playing Scrabble by e-mail turns out to be a lot more addictive than you may think.

Yahoo's Games: Educational value, 2; Adult content, 0

GATED COMMUNITIES GeoCities, that vast labyrinth of home pages, maintains an ENCHANTED FOREST area just for kids geocities.com/EnchantedForest) An even better--and livelier--kid community can be found at freezone.com which offers monitored chat, e-postcards and its own kid 'zine. When Junior joins up, his folks are notified--and they can join too.

Freezone: Educational value, 3; Adult content, 0

CHAT ROOMS In the free-for-all of Internet Relay Chat (IRC) available at sites like theglobe.com your kids can talk to hundreds of strangers with no adult supervision. Comfortable with that? If not, restrict them to AOL's monitored channels. Or point them to just-for-kids chat on private servers, like kidlink.com/irc

Kidlink: Educational value, 1; Adult content, 1

E-COMMERCE GUNS, BEER, DRUGS, GAMBLING--it's all available online if you know where to look or how to search for it. Credit-card requirements will keep most kids out of trouble (unless they carry their own VISA or American Express card). And more than one site offers free bingo and card games (with large cash prizes) to all comers.

E-Commerce: Educational value, 1; Adult content, 5

SEX SITES The bad news: everything you could possibly not want your kids to see is out there, and a lot more besides. The good news: most SEX sites are serious businesses and require log-ins and credit cards. Still, they're easy to stumble across and heavily publicized, and even their open-to-the-public home pages can be XXX-rated.

Sex sites: Educational value, 2; Adult content, 5

VIOLENCE As we all know by now, the Internet is host to plenty of bombmaking information. From pipe bombs to napalm, it's all available in infamous online tomes like the TERRORIST'S HANDBOOK and ANARCHIST'S COOKBOOK. For better or worse, it's free speech. What's more, the same information can be found in public libraries.

Violence: Educational value, 2; Adult content, 5

HATE SITES The Web carries more than 1,400 racist, anti-Semitic and other hate sites--not to mention websites specializing in police photos and morgue shots--according to the Wiesenthal Center. Many of these pages have names that could easily turn up in homework searches. It's ugly, toxic stuff. The best antidote is to teach your children to find it as repugnant as you do.

Hate Sites: Educational value, 0; Adult content, 5

...AND WHAT MOM AND DAD CAN DO ABOUT IT

1 Check game ratings

So you're a concerned parent and you want to know which video games contain scenes of graphic violence. Trouble is, so do many kids, but for the opposite reason. For some of them, violence rules. That's why game ratings imposed by the RECREATIONAL SOFTWARE ADVISORY COUNCIL, bottom left, are mocked by gamers; RSAC's website-ratings system hasn't fared much better. Other systems simply deem certain games "teen" or "mature"--but as most families know, maturity is graded on a sliding scale.

2 Block offensive content

Though they are no substitute for parental supervision, blocking programs--NET NANNY, SURFWATCH and CYBERSITTER--can help keep your kids away from the raunchiest sites. But be warned: these programs can wreak havoc with your system software and may pass judgments you don't agree with (e.g., barring info on contraception). Another option is CYBER SNOOP, which creates a tamper-proof list of the sites your kids surf.

3...and other tips

--The easiest way to snoop on your kids' surfing is to check the HISTORY FILE in Internet Explorer or CACHE in Netscape Navigator (type about:global in the address field). Beware: both files can be tampered with easily.

--If you're an America Online family, consider using AOL's excellent PARENTAL CONTROLS, and periodically check your kids' user profiles.

--Don't give your children ACCESS TO CREDIT CARDS, and check your statements for bills from Adult Check or customerservice@ntcor.com Both are common porn-site clearance agencies.

For more advice, visit time.com/cyberguide