- You cannot set parental controls per-user. The block is in place system-wide.
- When parental controls are in effect, you can't see the names of the games that are blocked. So if you want to play a blocked game, you'd better know exactly where it is in the list!
- Parental controls are assigned numeric levels, similar to DVD parental controls. There is no way to know which level a game uses without putting it in the system and hitting triangle on the disc icon before starting the game. It isn't printed on the game case. And some games don't even implement parental controls, so you either allow all such games or no such games.
There is a chart on the net that maps ESRB and PEGI ratings to the numeric values.
e.g., For PEGI:
http://legaldoc.dl.playstation.net/ps3-eula/psn/e/e_rating_en.html
I can't find the ESRB mapping at the moment (Used to know it. ^_^).
I suspect Sony uses this numeric scheme because PS3 games are region free. You can import games that use a different scheme (or no scheme).
Using the mapping from the net, you can know the parental control number of any game based on its say.... ESRB or PEGI rating or something else.
However if the number is not printed on the game case, it may mean the game does not implement parental control (e.g., imported games). So the catch all option will apply (block or unblock games with no parental control level).
I agree Sony should implement popular rating systems into the UI, instead of forcing parents to look up the numbers. PEGI, ESRB and CERO (?) ratings should be used together with the numbers.
And yes, the local user account system is broken. Different people should have different view of the file system, based on parental control and other privacy settings.
They should also allow sub accounts to be upgraded to full accounts as children grow up.
In my family, we set up parent control for my son's PSN account when he was 4. By 6, he would use his mom's account to play games, bypassing the parental control completely. He also guessed my iOS lock code. So accounts are not necessarily safe also as the kid grows up. >_<
These days I keep all my mature stuff on my Vita. The PS3 is now all family media.