Email this page to a friend with a personal messageHere are the top ten tips for smart online gaming.
Tip One:
The most important thing you can know about staying safe is to follow the most basic rule of online safety. Most parents are already aware of the most basic rule of online safety, but for those of who are new to the internet and the online gaming rule the most basic rule for any online program is to never give out full name, full address, phone number or other information that may identify you.
Tip Two:
As a parent you also need to be aware of the fact that not all online gaming devices come with parental controls. Some like Xbox have built in parental controls so you can only allow your children to use the live voice chat when you feel they are ready for it, but not all of the online gaming devices have this feature so you should look into what is being offered with the gaming system in terms of parental controls.
Tip Three:
Another thing that you need to keep in mind is to have your home computer in a central location. This way you can monitor what your child is doing, what features they are using, see who they are talking to and not to mention the fact that they are going to have a harder time hiding things from you because if they try and hide something with you in the room you will be more aware of it.
Tip Four:
Something else that is important is to check out the websites that your children are using to play online games. Many websites have additional safety features that are in place to help protect young gamers from any kind of harassment. By knowing what websites your children are using you can find out if they have these safety features in place and see if they are appropriate for your child to be using. Basically be knowledgeable about online gaming and use numerous resources to find out about a websites safety factors.
Tip Five:
As a parent you are also going to want to make sure that you teach your child about the block or ignore button that is usually available for online games, in fact almost every website with a chat feature has this safety device. Basically what you want to teach your child is if they are being harassed or bullied during online game play the best thing that they can do is to use the block or ignore feature so that they are no longer bugged by that particular person.
Tip Six:
You also want to make sure that you read the terms and conditions section of the online gaming website. This section is very important because it will tell you what is allowed and what isn't allowed. But it will also let you know what you can do if you are being harassed or if people are not following the rules. Make sure you check out each websites terms and conditions and then tell your child about them so they can report any kind of unwanted behavior.
Tip Seven:
Basically what you need to watch out for is people who are talking more than they are playing most of the time these people are looking to cause trouble, and you only need to watch out for these people if you are using the live voice chat feature. So if you don't allow your children to use the live voice feature then you won't have to worry about that aspect at home.
Tip Eight:
If you are going to be using live voice chatting then you should try and use a voice mask. This is an actual program that Microsoft and some other companies use to help protect online gamer's identity. Basically what the voice mask does is that it changes your voice to that of a robot, adult or even a little girl, you get to decide which mask you are going to use and because it disguises your voice people have no general idea of how old you are or what sex you are.
