TIP: Multiplayer Chat (Children in Games)

As a games community manager I see a lot of kids playing games. What is of concern to me is that many of them are too young for the games they play, and are apparently not monitored by their parents. It's really important for parents to keep a guiding hands on the online reins with children, as there are a lot of pitfalls. One is in-game chat.

When we added online multiplayer to a game I used to support we increased the age rating, to eliminate primary-aged and younger players, but I still hear from parents of under-aged children, expressing concern over some of the chat that occurs in the game. The truth is their children should not be playing our game, but I recommend disabling network to prevent online play, as an alternative to deleting the game.

If you have children with access to networked devices, please make a point of trying the games they play for yourself. Look for options to join maps, worlds, or servers. That indicates that there may be multiplayer gaming, where players interact online. If you join and there is no option to chat or communicate in the interface then odds are it's not a fully fledged multiplayer game, and isn't so bad. It really is chat interaction which presents the biggest risk.

Sitting down with your child and having a conversation about the game and chat is a good way to get a handle on how naive your child is. Some children have actual ages in single figures, and levels of sophistication that would probably surprise their parents, so gauging this is important. I have identified predatory players as young children, and their victims as being older kids, in their teens, a few times, and it is jarring to realise that age is not necessarily an indicator of how problematic a player is.

I know children who are able to recognise a predatory player and remove themselves from their sphere, and others who just assume everyone is telling the truth, and go along with it. I know adults who fit into both of these categories too. You know your child best, but you don't know everything, so learning more is never a bad thing!

Ultimately, if you aren't sure if a game is a hazard it's best to be safe, and remove it from their device and their account.