Gaming is a fine sociable way of spending some fun time and you encourage all the teamwork while developing certain skills. Besides having all the good stuff gaming has to offer, there are many risks that you have to be aware for staying safe and have a positive gaming experience.
Although online gaming has many associated benefits for the young as well as adults, it would be vital to be aware of a few risks that can ruin your gaming experience.
GAMING RISKS AND HOW TO AVOID THEM
Games offer young people with an escape from the world’s reality along with the social aspect of different games helping you become a community’s part. However, without right guidance on the games that you’re going to play, children as well as adults get exposed to certain risks like in-game bullying, online grooming or paid gaming addiction in extreme cases.
Famous online games such as Minecraft, Roblox and Fornite can be played with friends and strangers from around the world. However, joining multiplayer gaming community online can pose substantial risks.
Here are the tips for what should you do for staying safe when anything is wrong:
- Make sure to have safe username and your nickname shouldn’t include: Full name, college or school name, address and the city you live in, your contact number.
* - Instead of using a profile pic, you can have an avatar that doesn’t reveal your face. While using a picture, you can think whether it is showing anything usable for identification such as street name or school logo.
- Having strong password is a must when creating an account.
- Always be cautious about what you’re sharing
- Games are fine ways of making friends on the internet. However, it would be vital to think about anything personal that you’re sharing.
- Personal details like phone number, address, full name, your school or college, shouldn’t be shared. Even when you’re only sharing little things, someone can use for getting your info.
KNOW WITH WHOM YOU’RE PLAYING
Online games are open for everyone, meaning that you can play with people who are young or older. Also you can be worse or better at the game than people you play with.
Remember that when you’re playing online with people:
- You can mute and report people who are threatening or are abusive or anyone who bullies you.
- People are not always honest about their identity
- Be cautious about scams and reject offers or gifts that are too good
- Check privacy settings
- Changing privacy settings affect who sees you when you’re online, who you play with and whether people see the games that you play.
- All consoles and games are different so you must be sure to check settings for knowing all available options.
- Stay cautious about in-app purchase options and loot boxes
BEING SAFE ON SPENDING YOUR MONEY
Many games can be played freely and you won’t have to start playing for free right after downloading. Games such as these make money after selling in game features such as loot boxes, skins, lives or items. When you get tempted to get things inside the game:
- Check whether something costs real world money before making a purchase.
- Ask whether the person paying before purchasing anything
- Have track of everything that you’re spending, even when you’re purchasing cheap things ending up costing too much
- Never purchase website items outside the game
- Take little time away from game before deciding whether you want to get something
- Downloads and mods aren’t always safe
- Always use the app store or download mods only through official websites
Download of mods or cheats from websites other than official website of the game can harm your device. Mods can also contain malicious applications that steal information from your mobile or computers and can damage your device as well.https://128.199.93.217/ if you want to play with another friends
ADDED SECURITY MEASURES
Just like your email and other accounts you can protect your gaming account by enabling two-factor authentication when available (2FA). This provides additional protection for your account. With 2FA when you’re signing in, you get many text messages with codes for completing access to the account. There are many gaming companies that provide two factor authentications to users to get tight on the privacy part.
New gamers have to keep a lot of things in mind while they’re logged in to their gaming accounts. Always be careful when accessing notifications, emails, texts and chat messages you get from any untrusted or unknown source. Avoid clicking on any suspicious link. For any additional help you can consider getting in touch with the gaming company from their official chat and mail support.