My 9 year old wants to download Steam. I had never heard of it until today. He wants it so he can download mods for Gorilla Tag on our VR. Is steam safe for kids?
Steam is like anything on the internet. With proper parenting restrictions, yes, absolutely. Otherwise, no, it's not. Just a little bit of information here that I think all parents need to hear, the reason kids encounter horrible things on the internet or end up in something bad is because of unfiltered access where parents don't try to pay attention to what their kids do and just let them do whatever on their ipads or computers. That's when Steam becomes not safe. If you set up proper limitations, the kid should be perfectly fine.
I used to HATE my parents for restricting my access so much, but as an adult, I now fully understand why. Trust me, no matter what he says, you're doing the right thing by limiting his access to the internet and the things in it. And as he gets older and more mature/responsible, you can slowly lift those restrictions and allow him to play more mature games. That's basically what my parents did with me.
u/satoru1111 gave a REALLY good start for you. I highly suggest starting there. I'd also suggest monitoring your child's activity not closely enough to feel invasive or super controlling but just enough to make sure they aren't doing or encountering anything bad. But I'm not a parent, so you should do what you think is best for your child. This is all just my opinion.
I also suggest completely disabling any form of voice chat. He is way too young to be doing that. LOTS of words get said that a child SHOULD NOT hear.
Side note, you can't get mods for Gorilla Tag on Steam. You buy the game on Steam and then use a modding site, probably mod.io . I do not have the game so I don't know. But it is a good idea to introduce your child to Steam, as it's the only good gaming platform to use for PC gaming atm. You can find an assortment of games from kids games to more mature games if you look in the right places.
I grew up as a teen when the Spider-Man Elsa crap on youtube was floating around. My 4 year old brother used to watch those videos on my mum's Ipad, and she never noticed.
I only noticed how disturbing those videos were when I went to borrow the Ipad off him, then I showed them to her. She started limiting his screen time and I helped her setup some parental settings for him so that doesn't happen again.
Unrestricted access to the internet is one of the biggest wrongs parents can do nowadays, in my opinion, so it does well to educate oneself on how to protect and supervise what your kids are doing online, just like any other public setting in real life.
I don't think the content on the Internet was any more or less bad back then compared to today. I have come across some truly disturbing things in the early 1990s.
What has changed are the options on how kids can be put under machine supervision (which is problematic in itself), and how this kind of absolves parents from the responsibility of actually watching what their kids are doing.
I don't think the content on the Internet was any more or less bad back then compared to today.
The availability and ease of access today have dramatically changed things.
I have come across some truly disturbing things in the early 1990s.
Even leaping to the early 00s, I wouldn't expect the average child to have their own personal internet-connected device. If they had access to one, it was most likely the family computer in the living room. Some lucky few may have, but they'd be few and far between.
The time any child could spend connected to the internet unsupervised wasn't just limited by parenting or their family's financial position, but also physically. The internet was only accessible at physical places on specific devices. Now, it's everywhere. Not just metaphorically, but literally.
From the 90s to the early 2010s, a significant deterrent for children accessing adult or graphic content was just the fear of embarrassment or getting caught. While a particularly techy pre-teen could escape, mild supervision over a shared internet history was enough for most. A 9-year-old too embarrassed to search "boobs" is far less likely to be a 14-year-old about to develop an addiction to sexual content.
Today, the average teen in the US and Europe has a smartphone at all times. They're likely to know more about their device than their parents, and what they want to see is limited only by their curiosity. It's likely harder to find children without immediate unsupervised access to the internet.
Recommending parental supervision isn't enough. It's the best method but we can't expect every parent to be able to have that level of involvement or knowledge.
Nahh cell phones changed things
Man, my parents were something else.
I created a steam account when I was 9 aswell and bought Left4Dead and screamed obscenities on online matches. I would go hungry on school and save lunch money to buy steam gift cards to buy a bunch of games that my parents probably wouldn't want me to play.
Bravo on you mom, for being a more responsible parent than mine were back in 2008.
Thanks, it’s not easy staying on top of all the things he wants to get into. It could be a part time job, setting up accounts and what not.
If it makes you feel better, most of us had none of this parental supervision when we were kids but we turned out...okay
Killing tons of people on the pier in gta sa 🤐
The hospital in GTA4 💀
Just don't worry too much about it. Even if your kid gets exposed to stuff he isn't supposed to see, he will be fine. I'm sure you are doing your best.
I think the best way to approach this is as a way to engage with your son's interests and also as a learning opportunity for both of you. Instead of just setting up the account by yourself, include your son in the process (aside from sharing the master account's password), or even have them do most of the work while you supervise.
That way, they'll understand the account restrictions and the boundaries you set so it becomes less of an argument.
Haha it was truly a different time. 90s kids seen it all and heard it all.
u/satoru1111 has a really good start for you, but I'll continue with a warning regarding the 'communities'.
Anyone who's ever played COD on an Xbox will tell you there are way too many children spouting curse words and other profane/disturbing content. This type of behavior and environment is not limited to adult or teen games.
Your kid(s) won't like it, but heavily restrict/disable voice chats where possible and review/monitor text-chat within games. You won't know what the community is like in a game until you're in it, but you can get lucky and find out if it's toxic by asking about certain games or looking for player feedback.
Your kids can still do voice communications in something like Discord, otherwise things like 'video calls' to known friends using Facebook Kids, or similar tools will help them keep in touch while playing online games together.
The above is not limited to Steam btw.. this is a general 'online gaming warning'.
Steam specifically, you should follow satoru's advise and setup a Steam Family to restrict features and content to what you deem to be appropriate.
Steam is safe for children with parental supervision. Otherwise no, it's definitely not.
But I guess that's the case for almost everything on the Internet actually.
This is the BIGGEST reason kids end up in a bad space online. Parents don't properly monitor what their child is doing.
I think VR not very safe for 9yo...
It’s not meant for 12 and under, I believe, but there are several apps that are fine if voice chat is disabled.
I think VR not very safe for 9yo...
It’s not meant for 12 and under, I believe,
Age limits vary by manufacturer.
Meta says the Quest is ok for 10-12 year olds with parental supervision.
Valve Index says not under 13 years old
Sony PSVR not for kids under 12
I'm talking about the fact that children have a pretty small head, and it's impossible to adjust most headsets for them. I'm not sure, but it could be harmful to their eyes.
Vr is not good for younger kida because of their eyey, this can cause huge issues in the future
several apps that are fine if voice chat is disabled.
Absolutely disable voice chat in gorilla tag.
I played the game when I was 15 in 2021. I've encountered hundreds of kids ranging 5-15 saying some vile stuff. Teenagers teach the younger players some vile things, they'll put it ideology you might not want your kid worrying about, fear mongering, etc. Make sure you ABSOLUTELY go into your child's gorilla tag look at some of the settings, be sure to monitor who he talks to and what hes saying.
it can be physically bad, limit how long he can use it, like 2 hours a day MAX (i personally wouldnt let more than 1 hour a day) otherwise it can be really bad for his eyes
in his age its critical that he sees a lot of sunlight every day, otherwise he will get eye problems.
It’s about physical health for using the headset. Not about content safety
Please keep him away from VrChat it's a cognito hazard and full of degeneracy and weirdos who make it their life
Gorilla tag is based on voice chat, the exact he was asking for. Gorilla tag has a weird community that likes using slurs and cusswords
My 9yo and I LOVE playing games on Steam together, it's super awesome father/son bonding time. It's a brilliant time to get started with Steam with the 'Summer Sale' on for the next couple of days, you could get a heap of great games for next to nothing right now. Steam is super awesome with a bit of setup as a parent.
You want to filter out mature content, and block the social features if you're not willing or able to more closely monitor. We allow our son the Friends and chat features but we also monitor closely and his Steam friends are literally only relatives and close IRL friends.
I personally find the Steam parental controls to be quite good and it's all more than worth any 'hassle' of getting set up and not onerously restrictive on the kids. To contrast with YouTube it's not even close how much less concerning or toxic it is compared to YT which is almost impossible to allow responsibly without constant close monitoring - Steam is at a point now where it makes me happy when he's on there compared to any time allowed on YT I know I need to watch or the algo will spin him off into some horrific awful nightmare inducing crap.
To get started setup a Steam account for yourself, then setup a Steam Family, and then create your 9yo their own account and add the Child account to your Steam Family. This enables more controls and restrictions to keep it a safe and 9yo friendly space to be. Good luck and have fun :)
Thank you 🙏
Steam is just a platform for buying games. There are communities on it where people also share and upload content or discussion games and such relevant to a given game. Steam has parental controls though so you can just use that to restrict the games he can view or buy and who he can talk to and even how long he can play
It's way safer than Roblox and has more variety (if your kid plays that)
I don't let my kids play online multiplayer anything. That solves 99% of problems right there. No interacting with internet randos. No discord or game chats. None of that.
They can play all the offline stuff they want given it's relatively child appropriate. Couch Co-op stuff with each other or having friends over? Sure. Probably the worse game I let them play is Goat Simulator 3. Lots of single player VR stuff too.
My nephew expressed interest in Overwatch and Rocket League after watching me play it while I was babysitting for his mum, He is around 6 years old.
I let him play, but I turned off all multiplayer chat options, sat with him the entire time, and only had him play against AI opponents. Pretty much the only real humans were his 5 other teammates. Rocket league was much easier because you can play with all AI players on both teams so I was comfortable with leaving him alone on that while I make dinner.
The constant supervision is what usually makes it easier to make sure they have a good experience, but I get that isn't always possible for all parents. Any other time I would likely not allow him to play alone until he is much older.
Thing that worries me is, is that one of those games that allows you to upload a pic or an avatar on your profile? I used to play COD mobile and still play Forza Horizon. The former would have dick pics as their profile picture and the latter has naked Hentai chick's as vehicle skins literally showing up in the "recommended" vehicle skin section. Not to mention racial slurs written out on cars, profile names, references to Hitler, etc. Playing against bots? Sure. But others. Naw.
Hell I saw a post on here a few days back that older COD multiplayer games have an exploit where you can have your PC hacked just by ending up in a lobby with a hacker. Nice.
I don't want to set a precedent for my kiddos to go into any online sections of games. They may do it when I'm not home and someone else is with them not paying attention. If its anything like old COD Black Ops, you had to go into the online multiplayer lobby to set a bot match. They're told not to go online period. We don't trust strangers and they may not be nice to them. My kids don't like higher stress PVP games anyway. More building and sandbox style stuff where you can't die.
I met one of my best friends on the game lol but dont let your kids communicate with randoms on videogames until they are like 13
Have an authenticator, check his friends list regularly, mature language filter, and limit access to games by tags(some are adult only). Also, don't save payment information at checkout when making purchases, you don't want your CC bill to blow up from skins purchases 😅 Most games are relatively harmless but several touch more mature topics that should come with a "stern talking to".
You also have access to purchase history and refunds(within the 2 hour gameplay window) which should help with monitoring expenditure
Just remember that its the internet, and it comes with 2 things. Stuff that wouldnt pass as kid friendly, BUT, it has parental controls. Use them, they exist for a reason
While I dont think a 9 yo should have VR (the screens and weight of the headset can really damage small kids in the long run) I dont think that I have the right to comment on your parenting; so I wont.
Instead, ill just answer your question lol. Basically, you can open a steam family and then invite your kids account on there. You can then set up parental controls and manage what your kid can or can not play. Basically, as far as I know, this works like a request system. If the kid wants to play a new game or buy a new game, he cant do it before you dont answer the request mail sent to you.
LET HIM PLAY TEAM FORTRESS 2 🗣🔥🔥🔥🔥
Don't let your nine year old mod the game unless you're planning on only using mods that are safe and unbanable ingame. Some mods may get him banned and he will be upset😕.
This for sure. Note that even many "safe" or "legal" mods are still risky to use and may also result in a ban.
I was using Steam when I was 12 in 2004.
I think the steam age limit is like 13, it doesn’t really matter however, I’d recommend making his profile private to avoid any unwanted people. There’s tons of profile settings to make steam as safe for him as you can!
Yes steam is safe for kids. You'll just have to put on parental control.
If I were you I would make myself an account, then make an account for my child. Make a family add my child's account as a child. Remember to log into your childs account to exclude NSFW/adult content etc. There's a lot of different things you can tailor to the liking of you and your child :)
Here's a link you can follow while setting it up.
https://help.steampowered.com/en/faqs/view/6B1A-66BE-E911-3D98
Have fun, and remember good Internet etiquette is the best weapon against scam/fraud ! :)
Steam is not a sketchy mod site, it’s a game store!
Steam is merely a platform for PC gaming. By itself it’s no problem for kids. That being said your credit card info would be attached to it as well as access to some….. unsavoury titles. So steam has parental controls that you can turn on to help keep your kid on the straight and narrow
Create his account in his birthday, you’ll thank me later
Just set up accounts for my 5 and 6 year olds, both family tied to my account.
I share very specific age-appropriate games for them to access (LEGO franchises, Planet Zoo, etc) and they have no access to store, social, chat or anything besides the games I allow for now.
Edit: Rewritten for clarity.
I strongly advise against considering steam given your likely situation.
First, a crucial clarification: Steam is a platform for PC games. It runs on a desktop or laptop computer and NOT the VR headset itself. If your child is using a standalone VR headset like a Meta Quest, Steam won't run directly on it, which makes any discussion about that version of Gorilla Tag (and the associated mods) irrelevant unless you already have a powerful gaming PC set up for VR.
Steam itself is basically just a digital game store and library with some built-in content filtering and parental controls for families. It is only relevant here since mods for Gorilla Tag really only work on the PC/Steam version of the game.
Speaking of which: Most Gorilla Tag mods are used for cheating, even if some aren't intended for that. Also, note that using mods at all can still get accounts banned. And, many of the features that used to require mods are now built into the game, so there's less genuine reasons to mod anyway.
From experience, I'd guess that your child saw someone using cheats in-game and got curious. That's often how younger players learn about Steam or "needing a PC." Since it's s quite common for cheaters (often kids themselves) to brag about their mods.
To be clear: modding Gorilla Tag would require technical steps a typical user is not going to be familiar with, and in my opinion, is pretty pointless in the first place.
So, to answer your original question: Steam isn't inherently dangerous, but it's likely not even relevant here.
If you'd like help understanding other aspects or wish to hear my thoughts on VR safety for kids in games like Gorilla Tag, please feel free to ask.
Thank you, I’ll ask him about why he thinks he needs the account for gorilla tag. He can get scammed easily.
Today I learned there are millenials and GenZ out there old enough to have 9 year olds yet somehow so sheltered they never heard of the biggest video game retailer ever.
doesnt neccessarily mean sheltered, just different hobbies.
I've been in conversations like "you know XY music artist, they have 1 billion+ views on youtube" and I'm like: who?
I’m not a gamer.
if you trust your 9yr old online then go for it. me and my dad shared a steam account till i was like 14 but i was playing since i was 7 (now 18). Never had any bad interactions past in game chat and i was a cod grinder so thats saying something lol
Steam is not safe unless you make it safe. Disable all of the troublesome features, and monitor what he does on it.
i got steam at 9, i didnt have any parental controls, there are some porn-oriented games and workshops, but you can easily adjust maturity settings. protect your child from scammers, its best to disable incoming friend requests and chatting with strangers - if your kid wants to add a friend they can do it via friend code or add someone from their account instead. theres plenty of ways to get scammed if your kid connects their account to other platforms like discord, its overall best to give them a lesson or show a good video on internet hygiene (dont click random links from strangers, official support wont ask you for your password, etc). screentime is something you can and probably should regulate from the outside, using the least input from yourself possible; i find software screentime limitations to have a negative effect, some of my peers had it since they were young and i remember theyd go wild (playing till 4am at 13) whenever they could bypass the limit/when their parents werent home. i think its pretty bad for building trust
Thanks! Good advice
"According to Steam's Subscriber Agreement, the minimum age to create a Steam account is 13.While parents can create an account for their child under 13, it should be done with proper oversight and parental controls in place." In my opinion 9 is a little young to be playing online with strangers. Although gorilla tag is a kids game I see a lot of nasty adults on there so I'd recommend restricting voice access for now to avoid the worst of it.
Steam is only as safe as u choose it to be. It’s like an online platform for pc etc.
hopping in to say - you're doing great girl! it can't be easy taking care of a kid, but you're working hard and that matters 🫶
Thank you 🙏
One thing to watch out for is the games containing sexually explicit content. Steam does not usually give a warning or make you enter your age before clicking into those types of games.
That said Steam has all types of games and DOES have many games for kids too ! I’d say help them with the account and have clear discussions about appropriate games and why some aren’t appropriate (children need reasons, not just ‘because I said so’)
Takes me back to when I was 11 years old and my dad thought I was installing a virus on the family computer.
Safe but you should definitely change the store preferences otherwise it allows 17+ stuff in store. Its a little button under the account drop down.
Whatever you do, make it a family steam with a block on adult stuff.
I browsed the summer sale and was suggested some games that made my eyes bleed. Some very 18+ material.
Validd I keep seeing these 18+ games on the front page and wonder how the heck they always get there
Its as safe as long as you keep an eye on him, basically i think theres an option for parents to keep track on their kids steam account but make sure he doesnt talk to any creeps online and i think he is good
I don't see many people mentioning it, but I'd be wary about letting such young kids use vr. There have been studies done that show how using vr at such a young age can lead to issues with their vision and the development of their eyes. Also, be sure to disable voice chat with gorilla tag.
I created a shared account for my two nieces, around the same ages as yours, using the family feature. They can only access games I let them. Works nicely 👍
A little bit of advice, I would heavily regulate how much VR your child uses, as it's recommended for ages 13+. Extended VR use can damage the eyes of younger kids, so I'd be careful.
As for steam, My 9 year-old past self can highly recommend it!
That’s lovely he asked! I found out my then 11yr old son had installed a vpn on his pc so that he and his friends could play on the private Minecraft server he’d set up. Minecraft I was ok with, the vpn was his own initiative. I recall we paid for a small hosting server after that. Steam is great. Set up a family account and add him as a child do you can limit the ability to download age restricted games.
Lucky! Even depite me sharing my Steam library with my nephews, they have zero interest in anything but Roblox & Minecraft.
He’s bored!
Yes, as long as you filter out nsfw games
Dont let him play vrchat
yes but turn on parental controls so he doesn't find a porn game or a game with gore
lotta porn games on steam. they have decent parental controls but still, caution
wow, i could never imagine my parents taking precaution on what i did to protect me on the internet, you're a good mom.
Watch. Your. Kids. Activity! Aslong as you restrict his access and monitor what he IS doing and disable voice chat, and text chat (if that's possible for the game, I'm not sure I haven't had my laptop for long), then it will be safe as it can be. Even as a teenager, if he turns around saying it's fine, he knows what to do what to avoid etc, don't just give him free reign. Slowly lift up the restrictions as he gets older.
Your kid might hate your for it but it's important, my mum lifted most of the restrictions because I convinced her I was fine and it was all safe. Que several years later and I've ended up with severe mental health problems because of stuff that happened when she lifted those restrictions. Please just monitor him, it makes the world of difference.
don't let him use it all by himself. with monitoring it should be ok. steam does host 18+ games so be sure he's not accessing any of that.
Steam is very good at being safe surprisingly. Family and parental controls make it easy to keep tight control over the platform as a whole
As long as you're willing to put in the effort with parental controls and check things from time to time... It will be fine, without ANY input from you however... I'd wait a few more years.
I would say they're too young for their own account since if I remember rightly, TOS is 13 years old minimum. But if you make the account with them and put the right parental controls in place, it should be good.
I also recommend activating Family view. It's a 4 digit code that they would need to enter to go to the store and stuff. My only worry about that is I believe it also makes them basically offline, so it might limit what they want to do in gorilla tag. You might be able to change that, though I can't completely remember.
Basically, yes, it's ok as long as you are responsible. Don't let them talk to strangers online. Keep it to IRL friends until they're at least like 14 or 15, I would say, and even then, make sure they know the rules of never meeting them in real life and things. Try not to overstep their privacy, so they still trust you, but make sure to keep an eye on them.
just keep their profile private and don't let them put any info on it that they shouldn't and it's fine
Me and my 10 year old boy share an account. He gets an allowance to spend on games or dlc he wants. Works OK for us and yes I trust him, but at his age. For me that was early 80’s I was doing a lot worse than playing games I shouldn’t have.
Did you roll model cars down the driveway and blow them up with m80s like my dad?
Steam has many features for concerned parents, i would check those out if you are concerned. steam is one of the best companies ive seen, id hit up steam support if you have any major safety questions if you dont wanna trust reddit.
This kids library will be massive when he grows up. Insane amount of memories.
Man, I had my first pc when I was 12 and now I am 16. At 9 you should stay away from videogames, especially VR since they can cause nausea. But since your son is a gamer, just make sure he asks you if he can download a game, so you can see the age rating. If it is not displayed on steam, you can find the PEGI rating on Google. (The number is the minimum age to be able to play the game). I hope my opinion will help you decide and if you have questions just ask. Have a great day you and your son. :)
I played Fallout 3 when I was 11. Had no problems whatsoever. I watched one video of FNAF when I was 12 and couldn't sleep through the night for a month. I think the rating of a game's age appropriateness should be based on individual people's experiences. If they're into FPSers, then let them play it, even if they're 12 but the game is rated 16, explicit material games are a no-no no matter the age, if they're under 18. But you have a good point, something I would add is that online games will always ALWAYS carry a risk no matter the age rating ✨️ and I'm sure OP and his son hope you have a great day too. :D
Yeah if u are an actual active parent
Last time i saw my buddys little brother on gorilla tag i never heard anything kind being said, so i dont know if people are saying kid friendly things on that game or if its just my buddys brother
Voice chat ruins most things for my kid on VR. He has to mute everyone or he can play with an IRL friend.
Voice chat ruins most things these days and since it's debut. We weren't ready for such things.
Maybe it's the games I play but voice chat tends to be fine for me. Wouldn't recommend it for a 9 year old but I met most of my buddies through voice chats. Been friends with one for probably damn near 5 years now. You just have to be old enough to not let what people say get to you.
Any online game with player interaction can be pretty bad for children. If supervised, though, I bet it would be fine.
My kids have steam. My account is main account then do family share amd link them to me.
It is very safe for kids but i dont think parental controls are a good idea I think you should let or not let him from playing yourself No kid likes parental controls but they can understand they can't play
if the game is installed on your vr's he cannot use the steam mods, unless you're installing and playing through steam.
Steam is awesome. Its like YouTube in a way. Mostly safe but there IS some edgy stuff I hear. Its been completely PG in my experience of one year
Steam is just an app store, the best way to keep your kid safe is your own common sense
tbf i think steam has some of the best (blanking on the word) parental controls that ive seen.
Steam is safe for kids as long as you set it up accurately with kid safety in mind.
Modding Gorilla Tag on the Meta isn't happening, happens on a PC. What your kid wants is a lot more involved then just downloading Steam.
Source: i have a 9 and 12 year old VR gamers
Steam is safe and its good he's going to get Gaben's grace so early. Blessed kid
Yep. And even tho there is some inappropriate slop games, you can just disable that to make it completely safe.
Sure, just have the computer in the living room and keep n eye on it
Yes, it's perfectly safe. You can have parental controls on it and set it to only see games of a certain rating and under including tags for certain games that aren't yet rated.
yes as long as you monitor it and set up parental controls oh and write down the passwords and codes somewhere
It's like any other gaming system/platform you just need to take your time to learn about steam watch a few videos on it learn the parental control's and don't forget your password and when he is old enough you'll remove the parental control and give him free reign of the account
Yes steam is ok ok for kids there are parental controls on it to
Set it so mature games are filtered and it should be fine, keep an eye on him but it should not be a major issue as long as you're a responsible parent
My kiddos use my account. I see everything.
Family account.
Just check regularly what he plays and what he is doing, make use of parental control. Steam is safe actually. Just make sure to check for options avoiding mature content.
Keep in mind if they want to do steam VR, they’ll need a computer powerful enough to run the games. And there are a lot of games especially right now,That are going to be on sale, so it’s a perfect time to get into starting a library👍🏻 I recommend battlefront II
i mean i wouldn’t recommend steam for 9 year olds. also, Gorilla tag is basically for people who are 10+ and your child is 9 years old so you should probably make him wait. you don’t have to though, I’m just suggesting.
He’ll actually be 10 in a couple of weeks, so he’s close.
With a few settings it is safe. You can filter the over age stuff out, so they won't see anything that isn't for them, and the support is really good, and helpful.
Yes and if you dont feel that your kid is safe you can have parental controls on it i think and gorilla tag is safe for kids
There are hundreds of thousands of porn games on steam and they are frequently on the front page of the store, so like others have said i would use the parental controls to block their access to it. No child should see the horrors of such games as “furry hitler”.
Steam is as safe as any other gaming platform for kids
But there are parental tools that make it safe, and can make it even safer than other platforms
Others have offered some excellent advice here so I would follow that
Good to see a responsible parent reaching out for advice rather than just saying fine to the nipper
I have had steam since I was like 11 and I haven't run into any bad things the parental filters and stuff work quite well I think
Steam is the safest market for PC games by a wide margin if you manage it properly as a parent.
Yea it’s totally fine, just watch out so they don’t buy a ton of stuff on your credit card ahahah
I have my son access to steam. Just don't turn on adult content. They more or less won't finding without looking for it.
As much as you make it safe for him, that’s how safe it’s gonna be. Restrict things above his age group like drugs and alcohol mention, nudity and sex (etc.) and it should be fine
Steam is safe. VR in general is not safe for a 9 year old or any kid younger than 12.
Steam is a store, its like Amazon. Yeah you can buy toys and kids stuff there, but there is also some far far less kid stuff. There is parental controlls and privacy settings available to limit what gets shown and Steam Family allows for it to be even more controlled and works great.
Steam is safe, just make sure that he cant buy stuff without you (for example only buy stuff with gift cards)
Yeah steam is safe, there’s been a few 😐 games but I doubt he’s interested in that unless he searches for it, also DONT have your card details saved on the checkout, there’s a tin on hackers out there
I do seem to remember there being kids learning games being added to steam a little while back. Maybe start him there and stick to games that don't use voice chat as a function.
Definitely need to be careful. You can easily burn yourself playing with steam.
Yes, make sure to wear gloves.
safe but watch out
Steam’s EULA limits the age minimum to 13. Not sure you care but that’s what their user agreement states.
if you make a parent account I don't think all that applies. You just have to have your account tied to a legal guardian's.
It's the Walmart of PC gaming pretty much (just a bit more consumer friendly), if your kid gets into PC gaming, using steam will be inevitable. And just like walmart, there are plenty of things in Steam that are kid friendly, and plenty that aren't. It's up to you, the parent, to keep an eye on what they're doing and set boundaries.
Steam is a two-way street.
Just make sure you do what everyone else is saying about content filtering etc.
This might get downvoted but I would download CS2. He'll learn how to hone his reflexes and mental skills IF he mutes everyone he interacts with. Which you can easily. This game can be toxic, so be careful. But seriously, it's a great tool for sharpening your mind.
Steam is sate for children but you need to supervise it
Get him the humongous entertainment games!! Lots of Lego games too
My cousins are kids and the got Steam at that age. Steam is safe for kids, just add the parenting control
On Steam there are also videogames for adults with explicit content that can be seen through embedded videos.
Steam is basically a game store (also has a forum aspect to it too), things for all audiences are sold on steam, but things for adults are always put behind an age verification screen.
Sure there are settings for censoring swear words and remove inappropriate games
I would just be cautious as VR can cause vision based deficiencies to a child until they turn 13.
I mean make an account for him, put parental controls etc etc there are kid safe games so he should be fine if you ask me
As long as you don't connect your card it will be safe for you
Yes
Parental control is all u need
There are free to download sex games on steam. Turn on parental controls.
Owning VR and never hearing of Steam is certainly… interesting
Steam can be safe. However there is some adult content (adult games) for sale on steam. Of corse so long as your kid can’t just buy whatever game they want then you should be good. I’d recommend checking your kids game library occasionally to see what games have been purchased.
fyi steam has a heavy amount of… adult content coded games so just look out for that.
While Steam as a platform is generally safe and secure, the issue lies with the VR headset and the specific game being requested. They’re asking to play an online multiplayer title one that includes live, unfiltered voice communication with strangers. That inherently comes with serious risks, including exposure to inappropriate language, harassment, or harmful behavior, none of which are reliably moderated.
Furthermore, according to Oculus’ own Terms of Service, their headsets are not intended for users under the age of 13. This is due in part to the potential for physical risks, such as eye strain or developmental issues in younger children. When you combine that with an unmoderated online game, it becomes an environment that’s simply not appropriate or safe for a 9 year old.
While whatever others have said is fine, please once you kid gets to about 14 give them more autonomy(except with money) it will do wonders
Genuinely just curious, but how do you have a VR set without having heard of steam? Almost all playable games are on steam, and if you get them from another site, it's super easy to accidentally run into steam through its market prevalence.
Just get them the portal games as well as the half life games and you will not need to worry about any of that.
Steam is as safe as you make it as a responsible parent
https://store.steampowered.com/news/app/593110/view/4605582245626919823
You should look into using Steam Family to limit how much your children have access to steam, control their access to games, as well as enable parental controls.
Thank you so much!
My siblings use it for their kids. They block access to the store, community and probably some other things. So they don't see any game ads, don't see inappropriate chat, assumingly.
That being said, those restrictions don't apply to the games themselves. So if your kids are playing games online where other people can join them they may be seeing or hearing things from other people you probably won't think is appropriate.
Except for valve games. So if your kid is playing CS2 or TF2 you can block them from seeing profanity in chat XD
Honestly it's already pretty bad if your kid's playing cs2 at 9 years
Perhaps. I played Left 4 Dead 1 at 7 years old and I feel like I came out fine. Granted I never played that game online, only with my cousins, who I watched play Half Life 2.
The bad part about cs is not really so much the gameplay and violence. While still not the best the bad part is really the social aspects. Playing games like l4d2, tf2 hl2 and such isn't as bad offline
I'd argue playing TF2 online also isn't as bad, as long as you mute Voice chat and filter out profanity.
tf2 2fort servers are a fever dream
most people in tf2 are chill
Hightower… oh god Hightower
I mean yeah, with the profanity filter I'd say that's fine. Tf2 is still somewhat violent even if it is cartoony. I feel like anyone under 11 shouldn't play it
Put the kid in a bubble too.
Oh yeah, for sure. My family was big into Halo 3 at the time, and yeah we were sort of left unsupervised and just sorta copied what the older cousins (who were teens) would do, so I wasn't a stranger to teabagging and hearing them rage online. Our parents didn't play video games, so they would only come in and tell us off if we were getting too loud.
Now that I am an adult and grew up playing games, I know what online evironments are like and am much more attentive for any of the kids in my family playing games when I am watching them. Any kids under 10 is pretty much automatic no online without supervision.
Agreed, I'd be more concerned about them being introduced to some of the immature teens that play the game or the online casino and culture around cases
why you gotta do me like that
lol well all of us are on Reddit so we all didn’t come out fine
If he starts now he can maybe be the next Donk, bro is losing elo as we speak
I played online Warcraft 3 and GTA and I turned out fine... I guess? What probably helped is I couldn't speak English yet, so if someone spewed some profanities in chat I didn't know :D
I'm not sure I agree. I was playing Goldeneye on N64 at a youmger age. That said, it's up to the parents.
I remember playing unreal tournament when I was pretty young
i was playing Counter Strike 1.6 at 7
Only way to go pro these days tbf
I think that was the joke ...
The duality of parents thoughts.
You seen the current CS pros? 15k hours at 13-17 years old. Top 5 in the world by 18. One of the best teams in the world atm just started 5 academy teams (Team Spirit) just so they can scout more cracked kids for their lineup/sell to other organisations.
9 is the ripe age for cultivating talent nowadays. /s
I started playing csgo when I was 10 in 2018/2019. I got like 730 hours but most of them were in practice since I sucked in multiplayer lol
Wait you can block profanity in cs2?
How?
Valve games will use your steam chat filter that you can set up in steams settings. Lets you enable their forum filter which covers most swear words, and even lets you add custom words to censor.
Most important is to block sexual / porn Games.
While in Germany is blocked becorse of a law for safety for children everywhere else has free access to it.
And thank god you can block the store! What a cesspit that has become. My wife and I have a game where we put in a random word and see how far we have to scroll before we see anime titties.
Lol. I just turned off the sex games and don't have the issue anymore.
Definitely make your own account and then them an account. Add them to your family as a child and enable the parental controls.
I’m actually in the process of making accounts and doing this for my 6 year olds
Really make sure you enable parental controls in regard to game ratings. There are actual porn games that have images/vids in descriptions
Worth saying that there isn't granular control for the mods.
You either block community (which is the whole thing, discussion groups, forum, workshop, etc) or nothing. For your case, Steam Family is pointless really. Best that you set up an account for your kid but retain access for it, and manage it for him/her until they are old enough.
Anyway, something doesn't add up.
To use the Steam Workshop (where mods are) you need to own a game on Steam.
I assume your kids already play that VR game so you must have had it from other sources.
Steam won't recognize the game as "his"and won't give you the option to download mods.
Now, there are ways to circumvent that (legally, mods are free) but given that you didn't even know what Steam is... I doubt you would know what to do.
So, take into account that you will have to buy the game again, on steam.
Use the workshop to download mods, don't give your kids access to the account. When the mods are downloaded, you don't need steam to be running to run the game. Set it in "offline mode" and let your kid play.
That way you can also check what mods he's installing and playing. Computers, games, etc are not inherently bad or dangerous but the content they give you access to can be unsavoury. It's up to you as a parent to guide and protect your kids.
Isnt it possible to bring games into steam and sometimes even link the accounts? I remeber adding Star Wars the Old Republic into my steam library so I could stream it via Steam to my friend.
Not in this way. Either it's a non-steam PC game added to steam where the workshop won't register as it isn't an official game or a steam PC game where workshop will work.
Can't add a meta game to steam. As PC and VR headset are two completely different platforms.
also keep careful watch over what your kid downloads, there’s alot of viruses that can claim to be gorilla tag mods, among other things
i think parental controls should keep watch of this, but always be mindful
also you need to check that your pc can run gorilla tag if he plans on running it on steamvr, as steamvr alone is quite CPU intensive especially, and requires quite a good pc to run it
And so you know what steam is all about. Steam is the number one platform for distributing PC games. It allows seamless installation of games, enables players to talk to each other easily, and routinely has great sales on games. It is widely considered the number one most important piece of software for a gamer to have on their computer. That said, by default it's wide open for all ages, but there are substantial parental settings that you should go through before giving your child access. The owner of the company is a great guy who genuinely cares about his customers. He and his company, Valve have single-handedly protected gamers from some of the worst industry practices out there.
Yes because there’s a lot of inappropriate games on there and also group chats and whatnot. ALSO to get mods he may use a website known as nexus mods the steam part is because you can only download mods on pc games and he wants the pc version. Nexus mods is notorious for having a lot of adult content and thus must be filtered and monitored when ur child is browsing. Otherwise it all should be safe. Mods are no necessary thing for gaming tho especially for gorilla tag so to save the headache you could just learn how to download mods and see which one ur son wants and download them for him (no offense but I don’t think he will understand how to in the first place)
I feel like you may have already gotten the answers you're looking for but I'm a very old child who recently switched from console to PC so I feel like I might have some unique insight.
Steam isn't a game or piece of software, it's a service that provides games and software. So asking if Steam is safe for kids is kinda like asking if tv is safe for kids or if YouTube is safe for kids... it all depends on what content they are using it to access.
Having just switched to PC, my finding is that it would be very difficult for me to get the games I like at good prices, get an idea of the quality of games before buying them, and interact meaningfully with my real-life friends without Steam. I would liken it to online shopping without using Amazon... you can make it work but you have to really make an effort.
I set my account up with very permissive settings. I see pornographic games and AI generated shovelware and games with 0 positive ratings etc but I don't see games that aren't in English or dlc for games I don't own or unreleased games... but what I do see every single time I search is a link that says something about "you aren't seeing all the results because of your settings. Click here to fix it". Unless you're actively paying attention to what he's doing, I'm like 99% sure it would be trivial for him to turn that off and get the same results I get.
I'm not responsible enough for children of my own so take this with a grain of salt but if I were you, I'd set up a Steam account that only you have the password to, and you must sign into it each time. You're not around at the moment? Tough. No Gorilla Tag mods for a couple hours.
^ This guy Steams.
Yep true that