Sometimes I decide not to do parent guides for games because they are so obviously geared towards adults that it should be a no-brainer for parents. This game was on that list until I saw the download/purchase records it broke on release. Cyberpunk 2077 is one of the biggest video game releases in history and is sure to have your kids’ attention. The following review is short but is intended to inform parents and allow them to make quality decisions for their families.
Cyberpunk 2077 is an open-world, action-adventure story set in Night City, a megalopolis obsessed with power, glamour and body modification. You play as V, a mercenary outlaw going after a one-of-a-kind implant that is the key to immortality. You can customize your character’s cyberware, skillset and playstyle, and explore a vast city where the choices you make shape the story and the world around you. – cyberpunk.net
This video game is filled with everything that makes a game mature. There is nudity, sexual innuendo and content, violence, blood, gore, extreme language, adult themes, drug use, and mature plot and story features. In my informed opinion, there is no reason anyone under the age of 16 should be playing this game. It seems to be made for adults and has all the features that adults will look for in a video game.
I am not sensitive or prudish when it comes to movie or video game content. I am, however, cautious about content that will cause young gamers to think frivolously or casually about very serious and complex topics. The themes in Cyberpunk 2077 include gender identity and body modification, political corruption and corporate greed, violence against all types of people, enemies, police, criminals, and basically anyone else. While these topics are real and important in this day and age, there is good evidence that they should be explored by young people in the safety of trained counselors and people who have their best interest at heart. Whether it be the opinions of friends on social media or the developers of a video game, a 12-year-old isn’t equipped to unpack these complex issues as presented in this content.
What Parents Should Know
As I said, the M rating for this game is well earned. It is likely that most parents will keep their kids away from the game as much as possible. There are, however, always those parents who don’t pay attention or believe their child when they say, “Ya it has all that stuff but I just play it to have fun. Its no big deal.” I truly believe that any content consumed by our children develops their attitudes and beliefs about their world. A game like Cyberpunk 2077 is set in a world of very absolute beliefs that could be contrary to those you’re trying to instill into your family. For that reason, this game is on my no-play list for any kids or teenagers you don’t think are mature enough to handle this kind of mature content and these kinds of controversial topics.
This is a Parents’ Guide to Among Us This guide is intended to inform parents to help them make quality decisions for their families. The rating is based on my opinion of playing Among Us and viewing others playing the game as well.
The rating below is based on the game content. Online interactions will always increase the risk of unwanted content.
Violence – 3
Language – 4
Sexual Content – 5
Positive Message – 2
Monetization -2
Total Score – 16out of 25
(The higher the rating, the safer the game is for kids.)
ESRB Rating – Among Us has an ESRB rating of 10+. It is rated 9+ in the app stores and Common Sense Media gives it a rating of 10+.
About the Game
Among Us is an online multiplayer game of social deduction, teamwork, and betrayal. You play as crewmates on a space ship or space station who are trying to prepare the ship for take off. You have tasks that you all must complete to win the game. The catch is that there is an imposter Among Us. This (or these) imposter(s) can sabotage your efforts to prepare your ship, they can also kill you or your crewmates. When a dead body is found, a meeting is called. The entire crew discusses what has happened and what they’ve seen that could give hints as to who the imposter is. They then all vote and if someone gets a majority of votes, they are ejected from the ship. If that person was an imposter, the crew wins, otherwise, it’s back to the ship to complete your tasks and hope the imposter doesn’t get to you first.
This game has a little bit of everything. There are simple puzzles, social interactions, mystery, and even some opportunity to be a little dark by killing your friends in-game. The graphics are simple and a bit silly, but the gameplay is so fun that it doesn’t matter. This is truly a social game and cannot be played on your own. There is a “freeplay” mode in which you can explore the map and get familiar with puzzles but it is really just for preparing to play online multiplayer.
Violence
One of the key themes in Among Us is murder. The imposter is trying to sabotage the ship by whatever means necessary. This usually includes killing crew members. You kill by simply tapping or clicking an icon when you’re close enough to a crewmate. There is then a short animation of your murder. Sometimes you slice them in half, sometimes your small companion (in-game purchase) will shoot them, and sometimes a spear-like tongue will come from you and pierce them in the face. While the animations are a bit graphic, they aren’t really bloody or gory, and they very cartoon/silly. The characters don’t look like humans, they are better described as colorful walking spacesuits so when they are killed, there isn’t much realism.
Language
There is no dialog or narration in Among Us. This means that there is no adult language in the game itself. This is a game, however, that is meant to be played with other people over the internet. When you play a multiplayer game online you are always opening yourself up to unsavory language. In Among Us, this happens in the chat which is used to discuss murders and vote out crewmates. There is a censor mode that is on by default. This censor will use symbols to block out adult language and other inappropriate comments. This doesn’t mean that players don’t use these words. You’ll often see sentences with words asterisked out and most of us can tell by the number of symbols and the context of the sentence what words were meant. It is nice that a censor is included and on by default, it is simple to deactivate with one click/tap and is not password protected.
Sexual Content
Again, there is no sexual content in Among Us. The style of the game doesn’t lend itself to that kind of material. This is another issue, however, that is greatly impacted by online play. While the censor mentioned above will block some sexual comments, most make it through. While playing the game I saw many players with suggestive usernames. Nothing obvious but definitely innuendo. When these names were commented on in chat, however, they were mostly met with annoyance by other players who just wanted to play the game and were therefore not amused.
In other words, there will always be people who think their immature sexual jokes and comments are funny but in such a social game you’ll also find a majority of players who aren’t interested in that kind of humor. These players usually kick out or shut down the inappropriate players pretty quickly.
Positive Message
I guess we can talk about teamwork and trust here but in reality, this game is just all about having fun. There is no real moral to Among Us, it is intended to be a clone of the classic party game Mafia but set in space. Playing with friends is easy through their local or private game settings and this allows for kids to have fun with friends even though we can’t be around each other all of the time these days. I think this is what made Among Us the breakout game of 2020 even though it has already been released for two years.
Monetization
Among Us does have in-game purchases but they aren’t game-changing. You can buy packs of costumes, skins, and even pets. The prices are between $1 and $3 per pack and the game is definitely playable without spending more than the $4.99 it cost on the PC. The mobile version (free for Apple and Android) has ads that can be removed for $1.99. I recommend removing these ads because some of the games advertised should, in my opinion, be rated for adults only.
What Parents Should Know
Among Us is a game that I have been playing quite often lately. It is easy to pop in and do a ten or fifteen minute round and then log off. I have played in public rooms with friends as well, that was quite fun as we were able to work together (trying not to cheat) to complete tasks and win. It can be a time drainer as you always want to play another round. I find myself saying “one more round” a few times before I actually quit the game. Like Fortnite or other online multiplayer games, kids aren’t going to want to drop out in the middle of a game so giving them a warning about getting off their screen will be better than saying, “Put it away, now!” Trust me, you’ll have less conflict if you say “Be finished after this round, alright?” and then hold them to that.
The only real danger in this game is from strangers online. While that is always a concern with online multiplayer games, rounds are so short and fast-paced in Among Us that there isn’t much time for “grooming” or bullying especially since there is no private or direct messaging. You can stay in the same “Lobby” to play with the same people but it is so easy to back out and go into another game if you need to that I wouldn’t expect too much trouble from people in chat in Among Us.
As with most games, my recommendation is that parents understand Among Us, how it works, and what their kids like about it. Know who they are playing with online and if they are playing with strangers, be sure they feel comfortable coming to you if they see something that makes them feel strange. This game is simple enough and quick enough that many parents should be able to play along with their kids some as well. Do this. It would be really fun for you to get into their world a little bit, plus you may just enjoy the game yourself.
Technology is a significant part of all our lives, but more so for our children. After all, they grew up in an era surrounded by technology. In fact, our previous post on what your kids do online found that most, if not all, older children are very much inclined to spend their money on tech, such as new smartphones, Netflix subscriptions, and finally, video games. If given the opportunity, younger children may be equally invested in these things as well. Here is what parents need to know about the latest gaming tech.
Of course, that’s not to say that gaming is bad. Multiple studies have emphasized ways that video games can benefit your kids, from better coordination to sharper cognitive ability. But there are aspects that every parent should look out for when it comes to gaming tech, and we’ll introduce those in a bit.
What gaming tech should you expect your children to be on now?
Video games and technological advancements are heavily intertwined, and new technology comes and goes every year. This year, we’ve witnessed the next generation of consoles, with the newest Xbox and PlayStation coming out for the holidays. The metal core PCBs on these devices are built out of materials that allow for better heat dispersion, ensuring smoother performance even for high-end games. They also boast a lot of neat features like haptic feedback and motion-triggered 3D audio that aims to boost the gaming experience. Your children are definitely going to want one.
However, with new technology comes new threats, and you have to pay attention to what they are doing if you want to ensure they game safely.
What should parents be wary of?
Data Privacy
Users give a lot to access online gaming stores, such as birthdates and mailing addresses. The former is there to check the age of the user, which is needed to block them from certain games until they’re older. Mailing addresses are asked so the system can accurately compute for taxes when the user buys a new title. Both are equally dangerous when exposed. It’s highly encouraged that you get physical copies from your nearby GameStop or Best Buy instead.
“Always On”
Since much of the modern consoles’ features are tied to the Internet (such as streaming, social sharing, and online play), they will always have the option to have their built-in wireless connection turned on automatically. While this is convenient, it could also leave your kids vulnerable to breaches. Since a lot of games are single-player, have them turn off this feature when they don’t need to be connected to the Internet. This will lessen the chances of someone hacking into the console.
Motion Tracking
As mentioned, upcoming consoles will have a feature called motion-triggered 3D audio. This is where the console tracks the user’s movements so that the game’s sound is projected to where they’re seated. The biggest downside to this is that the game will ask for permission to track human movement in your house, which you shouldn’t give. Turn off this feature when it comes. If your kids want to experience 3D sound, you can always have them plug in some earphones.
Protecting your kids is not about taking them away from things that you deem dangerous. This will only make them want more, sometimes going behind your back to get them. Instead, support their hobbies. Work with, and not against them, to thwart the dangers that they pose.
I have written nearly 400 articles since 2016. Most of them are still relevant in today’s social media and internet safety climate. While we are all being asked to limit our social contact and kids are staying home from school I thought it would be helpful to put together some Family Tech Safety Tips. Here is a list of articles that can help in this time of social distancing. These articles speak for themselves as to how they can help your family during this time. Feel free to contact me on our Facebook Page if you have questions about keeping your family safe online during the next few weeks. Please use these links to help you keep your kids healthy and safe during this time. Our prayers are with you and your family as we all work together to make the right decisions to protect each other.
Doodlematic lets you take a picture you’ve drawn on paper and turn it into a playable mobile game.
I met Martin Horstman, the dad who developed Doodlematic at CES2020. He talked me through how you can take any kind of art, as long as it uses the colors the APP recognizes, to create a real playable mobile game. They sent us their box set and we were able to play with it. My son had a blast drawing out games, especially platformer games that you had to jump from platform to platform an achieve goals.
To use Doodlematic, you simply draw the game on paper, take a photo of it, the APP processes it, and then you play. You can then share it in the Doodlematic app and other people can jump in and play your games if you’ve allowed them to be public.
How it Works
There are two types of games you can create on doodle matic. You can make the platformer, like I mentioned already, or you can make an Angry Birds style launch game where you shoot your “avatar” over to knock over targets. It’s all based on a series of different colors that create different types of objects in the game. Anything black is your platform or your ground. Red is obstacles, things that get in your way and end the game when your avatar touches them. Blue items are your goals and anything green is your character or avatar.
Your avatar jumps from platform to platform trying to grab the blue goals while avoiding all of the red obstacles. The app uses the colors to develop the Games behavior. This allows kids to basically make the game whatever they want it to be. The best part is there’s a lot of trial and error. I don’t know how many times my son drew something, took a photo of it, and then realized game just didn’t work properly. Not because the app was messed up but because his drawing didn’t allow the Doodlematic to do what it needed to do to make the game playable. Back to the drawing board, literally. Just a few fixes here and there and the games was doing what he wanted it to.
What You Get
Doodlematic comes in a box with notebooks to guide you through the game creation process. It takes you through a step by step tutorial showing you what to draw and how to use that to create the behavior you want in game.
Doodlematic is probably usable for any kid over three years old. Once they can draw a little bit and grab a pen or pencil, they can create a game in the app. There are some advanced controls you can set up that make things move back and forth constantly or make the obstacles do things. You can learn how to do that as you gain more experience in Doodlematic. However, all you have to do to get started is draw with the proper colors and play your games.
Apps like Doodlematic are great for kids because they teach them that trial and error process that’s necessary in developing any kind of technology. If you’re learning to code or if you’ve done any website building or graphic design you know that there’s a lot of times you start to create something that just cannot work. Then you have to go back to the drawing board. Doodleatic gives you a similar experience but it’s also still fun. It doesn’t take away any of the excitement because you know what you did wrong and can fix it.Then, suddenly, your game is working. That sense of reward and excitement is real and kids love it.
I have four kids. All of them have loved Doodlematic. My boys loved it. My Girls Loved it. My twelve year old loved it and my five year old loved it too.? I recommend checking it out at the website below and getting your family into Doodlematic and make yourself some games. You’ll love it.
The rating below is based on the game content. Online interactions will always increase the risk of unwanted content.
Violence – 1
Language – 1
Sexual Content – 4
Positive Message – 1
Total Score – 7out of 20
(The higher the rating, the safer the game is for kids.)
ESRB Rating – M for Mature [for Blood and Gore, Intense Violence, Strong Language, Suggestive Themes, and Use of Drugs]
The Game
Call of Duty has set the standard for realistic first person shooter gaming for more than 15 years. 2019’s Modern Warfare seems to be a tribute to the original games in that the story of the latest release is as good as any in every other CoD game to date. The campaign mode takes you through the story through the eyes of British, American, and Middle Eastern soldiers and insurgents who are fighting to free a country from a Russian general and his armies. The story is rich and the characters include soldiers you’ve fought with in different games, giving an instant buy in and causing you to care about these characters from early in the story. While the game does ask you to make some pretty difficult decisions, the realism is unlike any other FPS game I’ve ever played, mostly because of the gruesome situations you are put in during the campaign. Overall, Call of Duty Modern Warfare, as much as the campaign is concerned, is one of the best games of 2019. I recommend it for those mature enough to play as long as you have a strong constitution.
Violence [1]
Violence is intense in this game. Explosions blow people apart, every bullet hit causes a spray of blood that can be seen from far away. The rag doll effect is used to increase realism causing enemies to fall limply to the ground and fly through the sky when an explosion takes place nearby. Like many of the most recent Call of Duty games there is an option to disable gore effects but this option is in the settings and not password protected. If you set the gore settings to off they can be easily turned back on without any trouble.
Language [1]
CoD Modern Warfare is full of profanity. Every mature word in the book is used in the game and in every mode of the game. Commentary from non-player characters contains extreme language and obviously online multiplayer modes is likely to contain adult language from other users as well. The gore/content filter will turn off language from characters in the game but, again, it isn’t password protection and online play is not affected by these settings.
Sexual Content [4]
There isn’t any obvious sexual content in CoD Modern Warfare. Early in the campaign you interrupt a man who is abusing a woman, it is hinted that he was possibly going to abuse her sexually. You kill him before anything happens. There are some character models/outfits that could be considered revealing, especially with cleavage in the multiplayer modes.
Positive Message [1]
Modern Warfare is honest about the cruelty and awful things that happen in modern war. It sets up the Russians as enemies and the US and the UK as the heroes. The campaign story is very dark in places and, while intriguing and well performed, is intended for adult audiences. This game puts players through situations that those who experience PTSD from actual combat often describe as what gave them their condition. Kids who experience anxiety and anxiousness could be seriously harmed by the extreme situations in Call of Duty Modern Warfare.
You could argue that the cruelty shown in this game can be a commentary on how awful war can be but the fact that you spend 99% of your time in the game participating in combat would likely overshadow any lesson the game is trying to teach.
What Parents Should Know
The most important information about this specific game is already mentioned above. I would like to address something I see often when discussing violent video games and first person shooters. There are different schools of thought on the dangers of violent first and third person shooter video games. Obviously there are some who think they are bad for everyone, decreasing sensitivity to violence, and causing people to act out. There is little actual evidence to back up this opinion but there are those who will always feel this way. Another group feels that these games are no big deal. They believe that playing games with violence and blood and gore can help kids understand the true danger of gun violence and lower the risk they they themselves become violent. Many will compare games like Call of Duty to other shooters like Fortnite by saying that Fortnite is too tongue in cheek and puts our kids at risk because it doesn’t take combat seriously enough. As the first opinion there is little to no evidence supporting these ideas either.
The only statements about violent video games that can be backed up by viable research is that they can cause increased anxiety and adrenaline in children, can exacerbate attention problems in children who already have those issues, and that there is far too little research to outline the true effects these games have on our children. It may be difficult for parents to be alright with the fact that there is no obvious bad or good answer for video games like Modern Warfare. The truth is that you have to know your child and their maturity level. You should watch their behavior and pay attention to signs like grades, relationships, diet, and exercise to be sure your child has a healthy balance between life and time on their screens.
I was contacted this week by a parent who was shocked to find that adults had been chatting with her young son in Disney Heroes, Battle Mode, an app rated 9+ in the Apple App store. She sent me screen shots in which players were asking her son if he was a boy or girl. They asked how old he was and where he was from. One of them even confessed, “I am not a kid. LOL.” Obviously, when his mother found these messages she was extremely concerned, she removed access to that game and set some limits for their whole family for a while. Then, just a few hours later I received a link from a concerned parent about an app in which people are posing as employees of the game company and asking children to send pictures “without a shirt on” to prove their age. She asked if this was true and my response was that yes, these things are happening every single day. Here’s why these predators can gain such easy access to our kids.
Disney Heroes Battle Mode
After hearing about the trouble with Disney Heroes Battle Mode I downloaded the app to see what it was all about. After a short cenimatic and then playing through the tutorial you get a notification that the app has purchases built-in and that you shouldn’t be under 13 (app is rated 9+ in the app store. if you want to play. I simply tapped continue and moved right past the warning. No age verification, no password, no face id, nothing. Once in the app I started looking through the settings. I did find controls for the chat feature, including a password protected on/off toggle for chat access. This was good to see, especially since the issue I was researching had to do with chatting.
The problem is that apps like Disney Heroes give parents a false sense of security. The app is made by Disney, the company’s name on anything makes many parents think that the product is made with their kids’ health in mind. This could not be further from the truth. Disney is out for exactly what every other major corporation is out for, their financial bottom line. We have to remember that data is big money and apps that are made for kids collect just as much data as any other app. Data that is personalized to a user is worth more money which means app developers need users to make an account to sort and identify their data more easily. The easiest way to convince app users to create an account is by making it the only way they can chat with friends in the game.
What Parents Should Know
I recommend taking a look at the game your kids play on their pones or tablets. Just because the game features cartoon characters doesn’t mean there aren’t adults playing the game. If the game has a social feature like chat or friend-mode you can be sure that your kids will be contacted by strangers. Look in the settings, preferences, or options of the games to see if there is a way to turn off chat mode. If they don’t allow you to disable social features, I would uninstall the game and encourage your child to find a different game to play.
We must remember that the companies that make these games offer them for free because their money comes from in-app purchases and advertising. In order to make money they have to keep people playing the games as long as possible. Research shows that there is no better way to keep someone in your app than social engagement. People will be sure to keep coming back if they have friends in the game to play with or against. This means that they will continue to put these social features in their games and while app stores may rate these games as safe for younger children, my rule is that if it has a social element it should be for kids older than 13. Even then you should ensure that you child understands what they should do if they are approached online by a stranger and encourage them to tell you if someone makes them uncomfortable in any social engagement online. We can do our best to protect them from this software but nothing is more affective in preventing these dangerous encounters than teaching them how to recognize them and end the conversations immediately.
Ninja (Tyler Blevins) switched his streaming content over to Microsoft run “Mixer” on August 1st and has been migrating his viewers over to the service over the past couple of weeks. He took to Twitter to express his disgust over the fact that Twitch was running ads for other streamers on his channel’s landing page. The disgust didn’t stop there though, somehow a channel that was showing hardcore pornography was featured on Ninja’s page and this made him understandably upset. Again, Ninja posted about his frustration on Twitter and the CEO of Twitch was quick to apologize.
There is a lot of discussion in the gaming and streaming world about who owns the channels that streamers use to broadcast and who should be able to decide what is aired on the channel when the streamer isn’t live. Obviously, this affects you, as a parent in several different ways. First of all, your kids are likely going to be watching Ninja over on Mixer now. Secondly, you need to know that pornography can show up on these live streaming services very easily. You also should be aware of the money and politics currently involved in the video game streaming industry. It’s a major business now, and your kids are the target consumer.
What is Mixer?
Mixer started out as “Beam,” a streaming platform that claimed to offer a better service and higher quality streaming ability that competitor Twitch. In 2016 Beam was purchased by Microsoft and in 2017 Beam was rebranded as Mixer. The service still works to compete against Twitch but claims to offer a better ad share program to gamers as well as a better viewing experience for fans. The service has already made a few deals with pro-gaming leagues and now has acquired Ninja as an exclusive streamer on their platform. Just like Twitch, Mixer offers multiple types of streams including video gaming, tabletop gaming, vloggers, IRL (in real life), podcasts and more.
Since being purchased by Microsoft, Mixer is now available on Xbox, and on Chromecast and other streaming devices. It is becoming more and more popular and Ninja’s exclusive contract will guarantee even more growth. Twitch is suffering the same fate that many market leaders share. It can be difficult to balance making the kind of profit that a company that size needs to operate and keeping the same charm that your service had when it gained all of the popularity that you profit from. It seems that there is room in the video game live-streaming market for another service.
What Parents Should Know
Video game streaming and esports are some of the fastest growing forms of entertainment ever. Advertisers are jumping on board and monetizing every minute your kids spend watching other people play video games. When you think about it, the video itself is a form of product placement for the game they are playing. When advertisers get involved, things often get messy. Content creators get tired of their media being turned into a way for someone else to make money. This makes them go look for a better deal. This is what has happened with Ninja.
You need to be aware that when people broadcast on live-streaming services there is usually a live chat going at the same time. Your kids can be in contact with strangers from all over the world. Also, it is very difficult to keep inappropriate content off of live streaming channels due to the fact that is being broadcasted in near real time. You should know what your kids enjoy watching on Mixer, Twitch, YouTube Live, and any other live-streaming platforms they watch. Know that many gamers use adult language and discuss adult topics on their streams. Most of the time those apps are rated 17+ because of the potential for adult content. Keep that in mind when deciding what you allow your child to watch online.
