10 Online Safety Tips for Gaming National Cybersecurity Alliance
Installing parental control software, limiting game time, and having open conversations about online dangers are all important steps. Visually stunning graphics, intense action sequences, and fast-paced gameplay provide a high level of sensory stimulation that captivates children and teens. As entertaining as interactive gaming can be, parents should be aware that their children can speak using their own voice with strangers online.
Parents should encourage routines that include schoolwork, physical activity, family time, and offline hobbies, ensuring that gaming is just one of many activities. This digital dependency bears striking similarities to substance abuse, providing both temporary relief and the risk of dangerous dependence. These include ADHD, depression, anxiety, mood disorders, and even autistic-like symptoms known as “virtual autism”.
Help children use gaming as a way to build on their skills and have fun in a safer way. As soon as you get a new gaming console or try out a new game, open its privacy and security settings. Are you suiting up and playing with people you don’t know? Whether you’re an eSports pro, killing a few spare minutes on your phone, or enjoying an endless fantasy realm for hours, who doesn’t love online gaming? Most operating systems – such as Windows (Microsoft accounts), macOS (Apple ID), Chrome OS (Chromebook accounts), and Android (Google accounts) – offer built-in parental controls, as do app stores and some routers. Implementing both Safety “Rules” and Software “Tools” on all digital devices, online platforms and services used by your child will help to ensure a safer online experience for them, and peace of mind for you.
Can bring educational benefit and awareness
We recommend keeping your gaming hardware and software as updated as possible. Before downloading any new gaming app on your device, make sure it’s legitimate. And, yes, you should have a unique password for each online account. Remember, though, that you shouldn’t lower your cybersecurity defenses just because you’re racking up points. Remember, technology tools are not a substitute for parental supervision as determined kids can usually find a work-around. You can help make their gaming experience safe, friendly, and even educational by learning about the gaming community, checking game ratings, and using built-in privacy and safety tools available in most games.
Awareness of appropriate age restrictions
- Are you suiting up and playing with people you don’t know?
- Let us guide you through gaming to help ensure that you, your family, friends and children in your care can enjoy this space safely.
- Community is one of the many reasons that players choose to engage with different games for hours on end.
- You can help make their gaming experience safe, friendly, and even educational by learning about the gaming community, checking game ratings, and using built-in privacy and safety tools available in most games.
- Frequent forced changes are less important than using a strong, unique password per account and changing it immediately if a breach is reported.
- Agreeing on boundaries before they can play can reduce conflict in the future.
However, several concerns have emerged of which parents should be aware of as games become more realistic and playing partners can include anonymous strangers engaging in unmoderated chats. Gaming consoles operate much in the same way as a computer—children can log online, put on a headset, turn on a webcam, and talk to and play with any of the millions of gamers around the world. Reviewing your privacy settings is a quick, high-value task — set profiles to private where possible, and avoid posting real-time location information publicly. You can naturally develop a child’s digital resilience through regular conversations like those outlined above. If gaming starts to get in the way of other activities, it’s time to revisit the boundaries you set. So, it’s important to read up on the games they want to play before allowing access.
Online Gaming risks and concerns include the following:
Involving the child in the process of setting new routines can give them a sense of control and responsibility. It’s also helpful to guide children toward games that have natural stopping points and avoid those designed to be endlessly engaging or addictive. Setting clear, consistent time limits is important, and using tools like timers or parental control apps can help manage screen time without constant conflict.
This means that if your child browses the console store, they can only access appropriate games. Popular video games consoles, including PlayStation, Xbox and Nintendo, let you customise access to content based on age. Limit your child’s access to games which are rated well above their age. Use device settings as well as in-game controls to help manage your child’s safety. Games where users communicate with each other generally have tools to playbunny block and report users. Make sure your child knows that a friend will never pressure them to share information or content that makes them uncomfortable.
- Implementing both Safety “Rules” and Software “Tools” on all digital devices, online platforms and services used by your child will help to ensure a safer online experience for them, and peace of mind for you.
- And, yes, you should have a unique password for each online account.
- Remember that you can always kick a player out of the game if they are being a bully or otherwise making you uncomfortable.
- Gaming is always looking todevelop, often improving on graphical features, accessibility and user engagement as years go by.
- Furthermore, VR can blur the line between the virtual and real world, making it harder for children to distinguish what is real, which can lead to confusion, distress, or inappropriate behavior.
- The lack of strict age verification and effective parental controls can make it difficult to shield young players from these influences, raising serious concerns about their safety and well-being in digital environments.
Ask about the friends they play with — are they friends from school or did they meet in the game? As a part of ongoing conversations around gaming, make sure you discuss behaviour. Another way to take an active interest is to play the game as well. Taking an active interest in your child’s gaming can help keep them safe. Take an interest in their video games by joining in gameplay to support them and learn more. Agree on limits around how much time they spend gaming to help them balance their time online.
“Tools” A Parent’s Defensive Strategy (“Technical Measures”)
This exposure can have harmful effects on children’s mental and emotional development, influencing their understanding of body image, relationships, and consent at a stage when they are still forming their identities. Many of these games, while seemingly age-appropriate on the surface, contain avatars, dialogue, or user-generated content that promote unrealistic and often adult-themed depictions of sexuality. The anonymity and lack of supervision in many online games makes them prime hunting grounds for predators looking to target vulnerable children. Online games allow for a high degree of interactivity, where players can directly impact the game world and outcomes through their actions. 84% of teens say they have or have access to a game console at home.90% say they play video games of any kind (whether on a computer, game console or cellphone).
This will naturally lead to conversations about the game and will also help you understand your child’s interest. To help your child keep online gaming positive, follow these tips. Playing video games can provide children and young people with endless opportunities. Set controls on the console, platform or app your child plays video games on.
Preventing Online Gaming Addiction
Further, online gaming incorporates the free use of video and audio chat, as well as voice-masking technology which increases new channels of access by a sexual predator to a child. Similar to those, it is important to recognize age appropriate content and consider how suitable it is for children. Attackers use publicly available information to make phishing attempts more convincing and to answer account-recovery security questions. Multi-factor authentication (MFA) means proving your identity with something beyond just a password — usually a one-time code from an app, a text message, or a physical security key.