PEGI, the European industry-run rating board, has a similar database, but a subsidiary site, Ask About Games, has some excellent in-depth guides to specific mainstream games such as Apex Legends.įor more general insights, there's always PC Gamer, but for more of a focus on the family, check out Geekdad and Geekmom. At best, each game in its database runs just a paragraph of detail. Hugely recommended.Īs for official ratings resources, the ESRB website lists games rated by North America's industry-run rating board. Then it goes into wider information about the game and its context, suggests conversations you might have with your child about it, and user-submitted reviews (as ever, YMMV there).
Each game features a short description, ratings for different kinds of sensitive content you might care about, including Positive Messages, Consumerism, and Ease of Play. The best place to get briefings on a given game, app or service has to be Common Sense Media. It's not practical to be able to play through all games to gauge them for yourself, but there are many resources available that can give you an idea of what horrors may lurk in a given game. Whether they'll actually corrupt your children in the long term is another matter, but certainly, many games feature stories and situations that might deeply upset them. One of the biggest parental concerns around games is violent and sexual content. Similarly, Microsoft has Parental Controls for Microsoft Store-bought games.īut think less about controlling what they play, and more about being part of what they play. Steam's Family View can restrict kids seeing the store, friend and chat features, user-produced content and having a public profile. You can't shield them from everything, but you can certainly help them face it.Īnd also talk about the good stuff! Stories about Fortnite sessions are usually boring as hell, but showing interest in your kid's willingness to share their experiences is the basis for a healthy relationship.Īs a blanket approach to controlling what your kids can access, some platforms on PC have parental controls. Games can bring up topics that they'll need to understand in their lives, so take the opportunity to be there for them. Let your child know that they can always talk to you about the things they've experienced while playing, whether good or bad.
As a very general rule of thumb, you don't want to let them be the first among their friends play a new game, but you maybe also don't want them to be the last. But if you don't like the look of it, it's often not the best idea to simply ban it, since they'll become excluded from their friend group.
Regardless, your kids will naturally want to play the hot new game their friends are playing. Some communities will draw out overwhelmingly negative responses from players. If they have a generally positive air, it could be a sign of a good general community that is healthy for your kid. Since you can't always directly play a game your child is interested in, and they won't always want to play with you, one way to get a quick idea of what it's all about is to visit its official social media accounts and scan replies to posts. One big question for many parents: What age is okay for kids to play Fortnite? We have a whole article about that very topic.
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