Family Settings: Xbox Live Controls

On the original Xbox®, they were called "Parental Controls"; on Xbox 360™, this concept has expanded into the new Family Settings feature.

There are two levels of Family Settings - the Console Controls that dictate the behavior of the console offline, and the Xbox Live® Controls that set different levels of protection for online gameplay.

Access Xbox Live Controls from Family Settings.

Controlling Xbox Live Features
Get to Family Settings from the System blade, then select the Xbox Live Controls tab and press the A button. Xbox Live Controls only come into play when you take your Xbox 360 online, and they're linked to a child's gamer profile and Gamertag. When an Xbox Live account is created, the service asks for the member’s age to determine whether to apply Family Settings to that account.

Parents are also required to create or use an existing Passport Network account that connects to a child's Xbox Live account, which protects the settings from being changed later. To change a child's settings, you first select the child's account name and connect to Xbox Live. Once signed in, enter your Passport Network password to unlock access to the settings.

The Xbox Live Controls menu.

Xbox Live Controls include:

• Online gameplay: Before you can play multiplayer games online, you'll need an Xbox Live Gold Membership. Once that's in place, this option allows you to decide if your kids can play Xbox 360 games online and also allow or prevent them from playing original Xbox Live-enabled games that are Xbox 360 compatible.
• Privacy and friends: You have the power to approve your kids' friends. Let them communicate with anybody, or only with their friends; decide who can see their personalised gamer profile; decide whose gamer profiles your children can see; and control who sees your their online or offline status.
• Communications: Select "Everyone" to allow your kids to communicate with anyone on Xbox Live, pick "Friends Only" to allow communication only with people on their friends list, or select "Blocked" to block all communication. No matter what the setting, your children will still be able to receive new friend requests for you to approve or block.
• Content: Last but not least, the Content controls help you set limits on the kind of downloadable goodies your kids can access. You can choose to allow access to Xbox Live for downloadable game updates, demos, and other for-fee content, as well as downloadable member-created content from other Xbox Live users. Here Family Settings act as a filter for what kids can or can't download onto the Xbox 360 console.
  

The Privacy and Friends menu.

Xbox 360 Console Controls
The other half of Family Settings can be found under Console Controls. Check out our accompanying article to learn more!