Online gaming
You can help keep your child’s gaming experiences safe, age-appropriate, friendly, fun, and even educational by educating yourself about the gaming community, game ratings, and how to use the privacy and safety tools built into the games.
You may wish to familiarise yourself with the safety features and parental controls offered by all the major gaming consoles including Xbox, Nintendo Switch and PlayStation. It can also be useful to keep up with new gaming functions as these often change. For example a new game feature was added to Fortnite Battle Royale allowing users to connect with strangers through both text and voice chat.
Have regular ongoing conversations with your child about the games they are playing, their gaming experiences (both good and bad), and who they are talking to. Use these opportunities to keep the safety conversation current and ongoing. Talk to your child about:
- Using voice chat wisely and being aware of voice masking technology. While masking can be a safety feature, people can also use it to pretend to be someone they are not.
- Strangers online. It is recommended that younger gamers, particularly those under 16, only play with people they know in person and that are parent-approved.
- Using suitable screen names (gamertags) and not using their real name and never giving out personal information about themselves or that of another player.
- Being aware of cyberbullies (griefers).
- Kicking out any players that make them feel uncomfortable (ignore or block), and telling a trusted adult and reporting abusive or inappropriate behaviour in the reporting area of the game.
The NSPCC reported that 1 in 4 youths aged 11-18 have been contacted on Fortnite by someone they don’t know. (2018). Gaming developers like Microsoft and Epic often have features on their websites where a parent or carer can subscribe to receive updated changes to gaming functions.