Keep your Video Gamer Playing Safely

From Fortnite to the latest Call of Duty, there’s a ton of video game options out there, all vying for the attention, time and (of course) money of gamers.

While gaming might seem a pretty low-risk pastime on the face of things, there are some risks gamer parents really need to know about. There are lots of nasty folks and shoddy business practices out there, and sadly, the gaming community isn’t immune.

As a wise nerd once said, “forewarned is forearmed.” Here are three simple things you can do to keep the gamer in your life playing safely.

Lock Out The Chance of Accidental Purchase

Sounds weird, doesn’t it? How on earth do you accidentally purchase something?

Some games (especially those available on portable devices) are specifically designed to encourage in-app purchases. These micro-purchases can be for anything really—a cool outfit your virtual character can wear, upgrades which make winning easier, or perhaps even the option to open up whole new areas of the game.

The (kind of dastardly) thing about some of these in-app purchases is that they don’t bring up a nice big clear window saying “do you want to pay for this?” Instead, many of these games keep you immersed in the game environment, making it all too easy for the avid gamer to make an impulse buy without ever really contemplating the cost ramifications.

As you can imagine, this is especially not cool when you have young kids playing who may not have sufficient adult-smarts to even fully comprehend that they’re spending real money.

How serious can this problem be? Aren’t we just talking about a few cents here and there? Check out this story of a kid who unwittingly spent $6,000 in cold hard cash playing a popular mobile device game. It can be a pretty big deal!

In recent years, there has been a crackdown on the more nasty of these sneaky marketing methods, but they’re still out there.

So What Can You Do About It?

The big handheld tech manufacturers have been incredibly helpful, and have built into their devices secure settings for locking down the option to make in-app purchases.

With just a flick of a virtual switch, your gamer will no longer be able to authorize these kinds of purchases.

Here’s a handy guide for doing that on Apple products. And here’s a guide for Android devices.

Both will keep your kids (and your bank account) safe.

Talking To Strangers

Back in the day, a computer game was a pretty solitary affair. You sat in front of the box and immersed yourself in a virtual world.

It isn’t that way now. Most modern games support some form of socialization via voice or text chat. While this is fine most of the time, unsavory characters can jump into these chat rooms—and for most parents, this will send up a bit of a red warning flare!

Without controls in place, young gamers can easily be exposed to hateful comments, bullying, racism, homophobia, sexism, you name it.

What Are the Options for Dealing With ‘Stranger Danger’?

Again, the good news is that, with a bit of preparation and savvy, you can lock this kind of content out of your gamer’s experience.

Consoles like Xbox and Playstation actively support a “party” mode, which acts like a bit of a social firewall. It’s a limited list of people your kids actually know. Instead of playing their game with strangers, they can play with their friends. This is much safer, and actually quite a bit more fun too.

For a detailed guide on how this works in Xbox, check out this guide on Windows Central. Here’s Playstation’s guide to parental controls.

On portable devices, generally, group chat is less an issue. The lighter games offered on portable devices tend not to offer such immersive social experiences.

That being said, every game is different! And new games are being released all the time. Nothing beats close parental supervision for keeping your kids safe. If you aren’t sure your kids games are safe from unsavory characters, take the time to watch and do some of your own research.

For a few minutes effort on your part, you could be saving your kids a ton of problems.

Setting Limits

Then there’s the fact that games themselves have become incredibly good at becoming addictive. So much of modern game design—from endless leveling-up options, to character development, even to the bright, bedazzling colors they use—is specifically made that way to draw a gamer in and keep them transfixed.

And we’re talking hundreds, possibly even thousands of hours of game time.

It is incredibly easy for kids, in particular, to get sucked into gaming, but even adults fall prey. There’s an entire arm of addiction counseling now which focuses on gaming addiction and how to beat it.

How To Beat Gaming Addiction

The best thing you can do to prevent the possibility of obsessive gaming is to set limits, preferably in advance.

One parameter you may wish to consider is putting a ban on gaming on school days. Then give your gamer fan a generous chunk of dedicated gaming time on the weekends to make up for it.

Another simple option is to game WITH them! This is a win-win because you get extra cred from your kids for being that cool gamer parent, and you get to watch their gaming. If you begin to see obsessive fixation or addiction creeping in, it gives you time to do something about it before it becomes a big problem.

You may even want to consider investing in some handy hardware! The Amazon Circle Home is designed to give parents more control about how the Internet and Online gaming is used in the home. You can even set curfews, so it’s not you being the bad guy, it’s that machine in the corner!

If you are worried that your kids (or you for that matter) have a problem with gaming, it’s a really good idea to get some help. When addiction becomes full-blown, it can be a hard thing to beat.

Check out this resource curated by the American Addiction Centers. It’ll give you some solid advice and it’s a good place to start.

The most important thing to remember here is that gaming isn’t bad! In fact, there’s a bunch of evidence to suggest that gaming in moderation is good for your kids. But just like pretty much everything in this world, moderation is key. Anything can be bad for you if you have too much of it or consume it the wrong way. Gaming is no exception.

The best thing you can do for your gamer kid is to get involved. Our advice here at Nerds On Call is to make gaming a family activity! Make it something you all talk about. If you can make that effort to be informed and involved, straight away your gamer kids are going to be that much safer. And you might just have fun in the process.