Millions of parents will be buying their children computer games this Christmas – Over 15 million copies of ‘MW3′ and 8 million copies of ‘Battlefield’ alone are expected to be sold during the build up to the holidays.
These and other games appeal to our kids (and not so young gamers) because of the online gaming capabilities. They are able to team up with others from anywhere in the world and battle against other teams of gamers.
This teaches them how to work as part of a team and interact with other gpeople and is a good thing. Not knowing the other people that they are chatting to or teamed up with though is the down side to online gaming.
Most parents are aware of the dangers of predators online and the risks of online bullying but you also need to be aware of hackers and identity thieves who target children.
Only this summer the Sony Playstation network was attacked by hackers and millions of accounts were compromised. This should act as a warning to parents because if they can successfully attack a company gaming network such as Sony then how hard do you think it will be to get onto your hard drive?
Here’s some tips on keeping young gamers safe online.
- Make sure the user names they choose don’t give clues to their whereabouts, age or even sex. You don’t want any personal info in their at all
- Most games that feature live voice chat include an option that allows the user to disguise their voice so others won’t be able to tell where they are from by listening to their accent, how old they are, their sex etc. – if it doesn’t I would suggest not buying it
- Always make sure they use an avatar rather than a picture of themselves
- If your child is using a computer for their gaming make sure you have an up to date anti-virus, anti-spyware and firewall installed and set up – you should have these on all computers but they are absolutely essential for PC’s used for online gaming
- Be with them when they first set up a new game so you can be sure they use a strong password when they set up their gaming account. The longer the better, random letters, numbers and throw in a symbol or two to such as a * or a !
- Use the parental controls that are included in your browser to prevent them from trying to download cheat programs. These are often malware programs set up because they know the kids will be searching for “how to’s” for the popular games
- Make sure they know to not to send anything to other gamers as it may contain private data an hacker can use
- Webcams are a definite no unless they are only gaming with actual friends
- If another gamer wants to send them something to help them it’s almost certainly a virus or trojan designed to either do harm or allow them access to your computer. Make sure they know not to accept any files from other gamers.
As well as the above you should also keep the gaming computer downstairs in the living area rather than their bedroom so you can monitor how long they play for.
Have a go yourself so you can get a feel of the game and the type of gamers playing and make sure they know they can come and talk to you if they feel another gamer is bullying them.
Online gaming is great fun but because certain games attract a particular age group the game network can attract undesirables looking for kids and teens who will have their guard down. Talking to your young gamers and explaining how not everyone is who they say they as well as making them aware of the dangers of viruses, trojans and online identity theft will lower the risks considerably.
You can find more useful information about protecting children online as well as protecting your home network from hackers and identity thieves at the National Cyber Security Alliance.
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