Online Gaming Is A Fun And Social Way To Spend Time, Encouraging Teamwork And Developing Skills. Children See The Online Gaming World As A Virtual Playground.These Days Gaming Consoles Operate Same Way As A Computer—Children Can Log Online, Put On A Headset, Turn On A Webcam, And Talk To And Play With Any Of The Millions Of Gamers Around The World. Many Online Games Have Associated Online Communities, Making Online Games A Form Of Social Activity Beyond Single-Player Games. Online Gaming Can Be A Fun Way For Kids To Connect With Others, But Its Important For Them To Understand The Risks And Know How To Handle Certain Situations.
ALL GOOD STUFF, BUT THERE ARE A FEW THINGS YOU NEED TO BE AWARE OF:
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Children should select those types of games for enjoyment and making sure they are appropriate for their age.
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There are concerns that some young people through on line games are abusing the fear around the challenge to encourage others to self-harm and carry out various dares and post the results online under the guise of some game challenge. Stop playing such games and inform your parents/ elders.
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Some games let children play and chat with anyone in the world. This means they might come across offensive language and bullying, so be carefull.
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Children should avoid giving out personal details that could identify them or their location.
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If you experience Online grooming by strangers who aim to take advantage of your naiveness and inability to protect yourself from dangers, stop interaction and inform parents.
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Children should be aware that Some games encourage players to buy extra elements during the game without realising at the beginning of the games, be aware.
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In extreme cases bullying can be used as a tactic to win games. Children may find themselves either bullying or being bullied. Avoid those games and inform your elders.
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Keep your device uptodate: All Internet-enabled devices need to be kept up to date to protect them from malware and other threats. Security protections are built in and updated on a regular basis. Take time to make sure all the mobile devices in your house have the latest protections. Before you start playing, be sure your computer/gaming system has the latest operating system and software, including anti-virus protection, web browsers and apps.
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Have a strong password : A strong password should be at least 12 characters long with alpha numeric special characters, think about strong and are easy to remember passwords which are hard to guss.
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Some other players will make you feel uncomfortable, inform/tell a trusted adult. Learn how to block and/or report another player if they are making you uncomfortable. Keep a record of what the other player said, but do not engage them.
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Protect your personal information: Never reveal your real name, location, gender, age, or any other personal information. Keep your user name vague and use an avatar rather than an actual picture of yourself.
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Protect your identity: Do not use voice chat when playing an online game, Do not use a web-cam while playing an online game.
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Always Put a time limit on yourself for game playing with the permission from your elders/parents.
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Never accept downloads from strangers. This includes cheat programs that may claim to help you perform better in the game, but really could be carrying malware.
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Do not send out materials to fellow gamers that contains personal information and/or data.
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Do not meet a stranger from your gaming world in person. People are not always who they say they are.
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Know the risks and practice good judgment and take advice from parents/elders. What you do online has the potential to affect everyone – at home, at work and around the world. Practicing good online habits benefits the global digital community.
Safety tips for Parents children's online Gaming
One of the most important duty that a parent has is to keep their kids safe, basically protect them from any kind of danger online or offline. A parent should be able to find out about the various dangers that a child can face and then find out what to do to protect them from those dangers.
Here are some safety tips for online gaming.
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One of the best things that you can do to keep your kids safe while playing online games is for you to participate. Spend your time with your children and joining them in some of their games to find out just why they find them such fun and also to keep their gaming experience healthy. Find out what sort of games your children enjoy. You should play the games with your kids, which can actually be hard depending on their age and what games they are playing. But this is one of the best things that you can do because it is a good way to help teach them about how to deal with other people online, but this also still allows them to have fun in a safe and secure way.
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Discuss with children who they play with online, who they meet and talk to, and what kind of language is being used in live chat . Make sure your child knows that Many of the Gaming sites often have ways of reporting abusive chat and excluding anti-social players. You can teach your child about what they should do if they come across cyberbullies.
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Make sure that your child is using an appropriate screen name for the game. Basically you want to make sure that their chosen screen name doesn’t reveal any personal information and will not invite people to harass your child. You also want to make sure that the screen name follows the rules of the website.
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Especially for younger children, change the settings on your tablet or smartphone to airplane mode so that they can play the game offline without making accidental purchases or connecting with someone they dont know
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Make sure you and your family agree what games can be played and that children understand why some games are allowed and others arent. Agree how long they’re allowed to play for.
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Teach your children to protect themselves remind them not to share personal information and to keep gaming friends in the game only rather than adding them to their other social networks.
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If they are using an online gaming feature like live voice chat or something similar than they really shouldnt talk to people that they don’t know. But even if they only add people they know, you never know when you will find somebody else using somebodys account, so if they are getting harassed or if somebody is bothering them they should place that person on ignore or block them so they can no longer communicate with them.
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Read each games advice for parents and play the game yourself to help you understand more about how the game your child is playing works and its appropriateness.
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Make sure your child knows how to block abusive comments and report content that worries them .
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Teach them to respect others online and think about comments before they post them.
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Dont arrange to meet people in real life that they ve only talked to online and remind them that some people may not be who they say they are.
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Teach them how to use secure and legal sites to download music and games. Advise them to Check attachments and pop ups for viruses before they click or download anything.
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Create the trust and make sure your child knows they can come to you if theyre upset by something they have seen online ,Tell them you trust them to do the right thing rather than over monitoring their internet use.
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If your child comes to you with an issue, stay calm and listen without judging them and dont threaten to take away their devices.
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Tackle peer pressure by explaining that if they have talked into bullying someone online or sending inappropriate images it may get reported to their school or even the police .
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Talk to them about how much time they spend online and make sure this is balanced against other activities.
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Make sure your child knows not to share personal information like their phone number or email address online
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Advice children that some apps have gained a reputation for being potentially riskyfor children because of the types of technology they use and the types of communities that have formed around them.
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Only talk to real life friends or family on social media sites and in chatrooms
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Use privacy settings wherever they exist to keep their information private
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Dont arrange to meet people in real life that they ve only talked to online
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Use Public Friendly WiFi which are secured when they are out and about to filter inappropriate content .
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Don’t post things online that they wouldnt want you to see
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Ask them for advice on how to do something online and use this as a conversation starter
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Make sure they know they can come to you if they’re upset by something they ve seen online
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Be sensitive and praise them when they share their online experiences with you
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Make sure they know how to block abusive comments and report content that worries them
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Teach them to treat others as they d like to be treated online
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Put yourself in control Make use of the parental controls on your home broadband and any internet-enabled devices, including your child’s mobile phone.