My son just got Need For Speed for his X Box 1 and I have always been very nervous about him ‘playing’ on line at 12 years old. The game is for 12 years and above and when the wife got it, she didn’t notice that he needs to play on line . I am guessing we need to subscribe to do this also, which isn’t the issue. I want to know how I go about making it safe for him to play this game without worrying about other people causing issues. We have opened the game seal, so its not like we can take it back and at £47 is a lot to do nothing with it. It is paid for by my son saving his pocket money etc, so he is obviously keen to use it.
Any help on knowing what I need to do to restrict things on this, would be great, as we will need to sort it out soon as. We are total numpties to game consoles etc, so hope someone can shed some light on this please. The box is obviously on line anyway for updates etc, but as yet, we have stopped any subscriptions and on line gaming.

There’s stuff you can do the xbox side: http://support.xbox.com/en-GB/my-account/security/xbox-one-manage-privacy-and-online-safety

Generally though, I’d hope you’ve already had chats about general online safety that apply just as much to gaming. Sharing personal information, reporting things that make them feel uncomfortable, bullying/harassment (both victim of or doing themselves), etc. CEOP, NSPCC and others have good guides around this if not.

it might like the crew where it needs an online connection ( but not live gold).. A quick look on their website shows you can play in single player mode

http://www.needforspeed.com/en_GB/news/nfs-faq

I noticed with xbox like you can set up a parent account for authorisation but not having done it i cant comment any further on that

Simon, the wife is going to an ‘E’ talk at the school tonight and we have Microsoft family set up for him for being on line for searching etc. So we are doing what we think is best. Cheers Cheeky, I will read that at home tonight.

one thing I think that is overlooked about the Kinect is that you can use it for a mic and this negates the need for a headset as you can have everything coming out of the TV.

This is really annoying, but I would rather this than not know what is being said to my kid while online. (it’s only Minecraft at the moment with my kid, but having heard some of his mates swearing on it as they think it’s just them that can hear it, and then seeing how fast they stop when you tell them you can hear them is worth the extra money.

Having kids act online like someone is always watching/listening is not a bad habit to get into if you ask me

My two (8 & 10), play Minecraft online on the Xbox.
I restrict who they play with to a few known friends.
I wouldn’t let them play a game in an open environment at their age, but they often get requests from these “friends” to join them in COD or GTA…!!!
Needless to say these friends get blocked.

I’m careful about them using a headset as that’s where they’re going to be prone to bad language etc. I mostly know the parents of who they play with.

At 12 your lad is going to be old enough to know if something is overstepping the mark, & as said above, the usual anti-grooming advice is paramount.

I think in general, playing online without a headset is pretty safe.

Edit, also the Xbox is in the lounge, there’s no way I’d trust them in their own rooms at their age.

This is really annoying, but I would rather this than not know what is being said to my kid while online. (it’s only Minecraft at the moment with my kid, but having heard some of his mates swearing on it as they think it’s just them that can hear it, and then seeing how fast they stop when you tell them you can hear them is worth the extra money.

Of course they swear, they are practically teenagers. They will do it at all other times so not sure how stopping it when playing online does anything.

Having kids act online like someone is always watching/listening is not a bad habit to get into if you ask me

True, but bear in mind they may just not invite him to play as ‘his dad spoils it’?

Its looking like we can play one player off line with this game, but we were unable to load the game. Seems we needed an EA Games account, which we were unable to set up last night. How difficult do these games people want to make it for just playing a sodding game ?

You can setup an EA account via a PC then use the log in details on the console of choice.

My two boys 7 & 9 play minecraft and other similar games online. I don’t set any restrictions other than how long they are allowed to play. I just can’t see how there is any realistic risk to them.

My two boys 7 & 9 play minecraft and other similar games online. I don’t set any restrictions other than how long they are allowed to play. I just can’t see how there is any realistic risk to them.

This, following the online safety chat. My two have always been pretty open when they’ve had issues or been uncomfortable, and we’ve helped them sort it. Had far more issues with facebook and tumblr than any gaming, which we’ve worked through together. They’re 17 and 20 now and still alive, and fairly normal.

Drac, we have done this today. Wouldn’t let us last night and …….. we still cant play the damn thing……. Just had enough. These people have no logic in helping people to just play a game. Don’t care if the game is open, will take it back and say its faulty. All he wants to do is play a facking game……….

There’s a Fracking Game…cool.
Oh.

Well, I gave it one more chance and after spending 2 1/2 hrs on line to Electronic Arts trying to resolve why it wouldn’t work, Argos had a reject game to deal with. Total disaster. My son is pretty miffed about this, as was waiting for it to appear to spend his pocket money. Seems the code 00000002 has been found on a few peoples consoles, which stops it working, so we weren’t the only ones. Not sure if EA can short term sort it, or we wait for a while and get another copy. Bring back Atari’s 8)