We understand why families who use Clearplay for movies and TV shows would want similar control over other entertainment. Our filtering is designed specifically for movies and TV shows, and we do not have plans to expand into other forms of entertainment.
The Family Movie Act of 2005 provides the legal basis for our filtering of movies and TV shows. Other forms of entertainment, such as video games, are not covered by the Act. In addition to these legal limitations, the way we create our filters makes filtering other forms of entertainment impractical.
How Our Filters Are Created
Because AI and software automation cannot make moral decisions about what families consider inappropriate, our filters are created by a team of parents. They personally screen each movie, identify the content to filter, and add the precise timing for every mute and skip to our filter library.
This approach works for movies and TV shows because they follow a fixed timeline. A scene occurs at the same point every time, so our team determines exactly when a mute or skip should begin and end.
Having people create every filter also limits the amount of entertainment our team can cover. This is especially important for media produced or uploaded in enormous quantities, media without a fixed timeline, and entertainment outside our focus on movies and TV shows.
These include:
YouTube, social media, and other user-generated videos
Livestreams
Video games
Music and music videos
Podcasts
Audiobooks
Virtual reality and other interactive entertainment
YouTube, Social Media, and Other User-Generated Videos
Video-based social media and user-generated platforms, such as YouTube and TikTok, are not supported. We only support legally authorized streaming services.
There is also a practical issue of scale. Because our team of parents personally creates the mutes and skips, we would have to watch and manually filter each individual video. Users continuously upload new content to these platforms, creating far more material than a team of people could reasonably screen and filter.
Livestreams
Livestreams present an additional problem because the content happens in real time. Our filter team cannot review the content in advance or create precise mute and skip timings for events that have not happened yet.
Video Games
Video games present a different problem because they do not follow a fixed timeline. What happens, when it happens, and whether it happens at all often depends on where the player goes, what they do, and the choices they make.
Video games would required our filter team to play through its many possible paths and scenarios to identify inappropriate content. Even after identifying the content, there would be no consistent time codes for the mutes and skips. Filtering a game would require a fundamentally different system that recognizes objectionable content during gameplay and filters it in real time.
For these reasons, our filtering method for movies and TV shows does not translate to video games. We are also not aware of another service that provides comparable video game filtering.
How to Research Video Game Content
Although filtering is not available, several resources help you research a game before deciding whether its content is appropriate for your family.
Common Sense Media
Provides detailed breakdowns of violence, language, sexual content, consumerism, positive messages, role models, and other content. It also provides age recommendations and reviews from parents and kids.
Common Sense Media Game Reviews
Plugged In
Run by Focus on the Family, Plugged In provides detailed reviews covering violence, language, sexual content, spiritual themes, positive elements, and other content.
ESRB
Provides official age ratings and standardized content descriptors for video games, such as Blood and Gore, Strong Language, and Sexual Themes.
IMDb Parents Guides
Provides Parents Guides for some video games, with categories such as Sex & Nudity, Violence & Gore, Profanity, Alcohol, Drugs & Smoking, and Frightening & Intense Scenes. IMDb Parents Guides are user-contributed, so coverage varies. Some games have detailed descriptions, while others have little or no information.
YouTube Gameplay Videos
Another option is to preview the game yourself. Searching for the game title followed by “gameplay no commentary” often returns extended gameplay footage without added commentary.
Common Sense Media is the best place to start for detailed information about potentially objectionable content.
Music, Podcasts, Audiobooks, and Other Entertainment
Music and music videos, podcasts, audiobooks, virtual reality, and other interactive entertainment represent enormous libraries of content. Because every filter requires someone on our filter team to review the content and create each mute and skip, covering these forms of entertainment would require our team to divide its time across vast amounts of additional media.
We are keeping our filter team focused on movies and TV shows.