Safety tips for online gamers

How to keep save on a gaming site online?

• There is no difference between chatting on a gaming site and on a chat site - so check the info about safe chat!
• Be careful who you trust online and remember that online friends are really strangers. People you are playing with online, no matter how long you have been chatting to them or how friendly they are, may not be who they say they are.
• Meeting someone you have only been in touch with online can be dangerous. If you feel that you ‘have to’ meet, then for your own safety you must tell your parent or carer and take them with you – at least on the first visit – and meet in a public place in daytime.
• Stay in charge in chat. Keep your personal information secret in the online game, in the profile and in chat (name, address, telephone number, mobile number, private email address, picture), even if people ask for this. Although it can be tempting to reveal more than you normally would in online friendships, giving out personal information can make you vulnerable.
• Look after each other. Don’t give out your friend’s personal information online as it could put them at risk. Look after and respect your friends while you are online.
• Think about your username or ‘handle’. Use a nickname, not your real name, and a nickname that is not going to attract the wrong type of attention.
• Learn how to block another player. If another player is behaving badly and annoying you then you should block them so you don’t hear from them again.
• You can always kick someone out of the game if they are making you feel uncomfortable.
• If there is voice chat on the game, sometimes you can disguise your voice by using a voice mask – these will make you sound different, like a robot for example. If you don’t want people to know your age or gender, this may be useful.
• But be careful using voice chat. It may feel like you are talking over the phone, but remember that you are chatting to a stranger. It is still important to keep safe and not give people your personal information while talking to them.
• Learn how to report another user. If another player is making you feel uncomfortable, by harassing you for personal information for example, then you should report them to the games provider.
  Learn how to keep a record, and keep any key information. It’s easier to explain a problem if you can show it.

How to keep a record?

While the worrying conversation is visible on the screen, create a picture of the screen:

• Push the button “print screen” on the keyboard.
• Open a word-document, right click and choose “paste” to insert the screen dump.
• Save the word-document with the records and show it to someone you trust

If it is not possible to copy the conversation, then keep a note of the date and time of the chat, the person’s username, and it may be useful to make a note of the names of other people who saw this person behaving in this way to you.

• If someone makes you feel really uncomfortable while you are playing then you should just leave the game.
• If you feel that a communication via an online game becomes dangerous for you, don’t hesitate to tell an adult. They might want to report to the police. The police know about online harassment and have ways of identifying criminals online.