I got my son a headset for his PS3 so he can talk to his online gamers.
Apparently, he does something called a “co-op” where he plays random strangers. I’ve already informed him that there are creeps out there that may want to talk about some messed up stuff. And if that ever happens, to NOT continue playing with said person and quit the game.
I also told him that if he isn’t sure about a certain person, to let me know and I’ll tell him how to handle it. I went on to tell him to use his best judgement and trust his instincts.
I hope I don’t sound overly paranoid, I just want to make sure I have all my bases covered. Is there anything else I need to tell him to look out for?
My son is 15yo but he is also (high functioning) autistic. (He follows direction well.)
The thing I’d be worried about is whether he’d be slower than a non-autistic person to notice that someone was being creepy. Is he good at recognizing that? Or have you went over what specifically would be creepy?
I can’t help too much with the online gaming thing, as I don’t do it. But what you’ve covered as far as that goes seems reasonable to me based on my experience on the Internet in general.
I don’t know your son (or how his autism works), but based on his age, there’s a very real chance that he’s the one other parents are telling their kids to look out for. IMO looking out for “Creep-os” when playing online games isn’t worth your time. They’re just aren’t that many. What you have to look out for is assholes, and most of those are teenage boys.
Of course, most people (especially on the PS3) don’t use headsets. So you’ll often just hear silence. It really depends on what game he’s playing.
Thanks, this puts me at ease. As far son being the A-hole, well, he’s got a fairly large following on his YT channel where he gives tutorials on how to beat certain games or “missions” I believe he calls them. I guess that means he’s a serious player.
(You’ll have to forgive me, I’m not a gamer so I’m not familiar with all the proper vernaculars.)
You know I started getting into playing some online shooting games lately. I don’t have a headset, but I was surprised at one thing - sure, the kids are immature, but there really isn’t TIME for anyone to get too into it, and if someone is wasting time doing stuff like that, they usually get “kicked” - that is, there is a vote to get rid of them. And I was surprised at how fast douchebags and jerks get kicked.
And they don’t kick you out for playing badly. I was playing…um, that game that’s like a FPS but has swords…and I suck something terrible. But they kicked the guy that wasn’t playing the game and instead jerking around.
I mean, do warn him, by all means, and help him, but if he’s playing the traditional FPS, there just isn’t that much time to get all skeevy.
I’ve played a LOT of online games, and to be honest, I haven’t heard much of anything creepy at all. About the closest thing I can think of is when one guy playing could do a dead-on impression of the old pervert on “Family Guy” and was using it to aggravate some pre-teen kid by saying mock-perverted things to him. I think at one point he used the gladiator-movie line from Airplane, for an example.
Otherwise, I’d be more concerned with the slang and what-not that he’ll pick up. He’ll start calling things “gay” meaning bad/uncool, and stuff like that. He may also hear/see a fair number of pot references (a lot of the players are high school and college boys).
Has he demonstrated that he’s capable of drawing the line between authority figures and non-authorities? I’d only be worried that he’d take the direction of someone who tells him to divulge his personal information, or kill himself, etc. I have to lean away from allowing a disabled child to have free reign on the internet, but then I don’t know your kid.
Most games have family filters and what not that you can set up. Most consoles even have a function where you can only chat with specific people. The Xbox, for example, has a place where you can only hear voice to/from friends, for example.
Lastly, if you want to leave it a little more up to him where the line is, most games allow you to quickly mute any individual if they say stupid things.
Super lastly, some titles even take it a step further, knowing which players are selected to get muted more frequently mean they come into your room pre-muted.
If he does co-ops and has tutorials on how to beat levels, then I wouldn’t worry about him at all. Every person I know who did these things was a serious player and had little tolerance for anyone who wasn’t likewise-minded. The pace and objectives of such games leave little room for people who dick around anyway.
Pretty much what everyone else is saying. I’ve been online gaming for 7 years and I can not recall someone being creepy but I’m a guy so the ladies may have a different experience. Mostly it’s just people being dicks and cussing that you have to worry about.
Agreed that the pace of FPSes and probably most PS3 online games is too fast for someone to get their creep on. 99% of my bad experiences with other gamers has been with jerks and assholes, not creeps.
My experience with online games has also been that I play with a large number of people for a short period of time. I’ve never spent enough time with the same people on a FPS online to get to know anyone well enough to be creeped out.
Facebook, Twitter, and those kinds of social media platforms are where you find out enough about people to know they are a creep.
Just jerks and assholes to worry about. But at least you can have the pleasure of trying to kill them or vote-kicking them
Could still mean he’s less than polite online. A fair number of serious players have bad gaming manners. It happens. It’s also well known that (for some games more than others) teenage boys turn into the most homophobic, racist, foul-mouthed generally unpleasant misogynists the world has ever known. The relatively anonymity of the internet allows them this freedom.
I just kind of assume all teenage boys are like that unless proof to the contrary presents itself. Unfortunately, if you don’t want your son associating with online a-holes spewing racist, homophobic garbage, you might as well toss his console in the trash.
You should jump in the game sometime and ask him to show you how to make your own profile and how to get around. Then jump in sometime on your own when he’s at school to get a glimpse of what things are like.
He should be fine. You might see your hair go white.
Mostly what he needs to know is a) not to give out any personal info and b) it’s really not ok to use that kind of language towards other people.
In my WoW guild, and playing WoW in pickup groups, we had WAY more problems with the teenagers than the adults. The adults, we could just say “Hey, that’s not cool here,” and they’d leave. Teenagers would see it as a challenge.
You know, the most heated, profane and angry chat argument/insult-fest I’ve ever heard was playing Call of Duty: Black Ops where there were a bunch of Scots and English players cussing each other (and a couple of us Americans listening and offering critical commentary).
