5 Tools To Keep Your Child Safe When Playing Video Games

We are all very aware of the risks of our children being online and that possible danger. But as online gaming has hit a whole new level of popularity and kids are playing at even younger and younger ages its important to be reminded of the dangers that lie within online gaming.

Online gaming takes place on a individuals personal device (tablet, cellphone or computer), but they are playing against people from all over the web. There are little to not regulations in online gaming so it is up to parents to stay up to date and be knowledgeable about what is going on in their children games.

Here are a few tools to help keep your children safe when they are playing games online:

Turn invites off. Most games online have the option to be invited to play with other people. Turn them off. Predators seek out children, not the other way around. Do not give someone the opportunity to reach your child.

Keep personal info private. If the game gives your kids the options for a bio, don’t let them fill it out. And if for some reason you both decide that it is appropriate for your child to fill it out do not put any personal info in your bio such as age, or location.

Online friends should be real friends. Encourage your child to not allow themselves to become friends with new people while playing. Because in reality you have no idea who that person on the other end of the screen really is. Anyone can pretend to be anyone online. Stick to playing with people you actually know in real life.

Turn off location. Under no circumstances should your location be visible to others. Most phones and computers come with a option to turn off the location. Do so when playing games so that others can not pin point your location. If you do not want to completely turn off the locating device with in the phone most games have a location option so you can turn that off.

Do not go into chat rooms and do not engage in messaging. By keeping your child from doing this you are keeping shielding your child from developing an online relationship with a predator. Again, this is where predators are lurking, by bypassing these arenas you are not giving them access to your child.