2019 was an incredible year! Thank you, our readers, for supporting our organization by reading, watching, listening to, and sharing our posts. We have been able to help thousands of families be internet safe in 2019. The infographic below is a celebration of the advancements our organization has made this year. Be sure to watch the video above to hear about all of the exciting new things in the works for 2020.
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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 – 7 out 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]
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 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.
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.
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.
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.
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.
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Listen to any of the current top ten songs and you’ll find all sorts of content that may not be considered appropriate for children. Profanity, sexual content, violence, and suicidal ideation abound in today’s popular music. How can we, as parents, keep an eye on what our children are listening to without having to go through and read lyrics for every song on every playlist? Bark is offering a pretty good solution with their latest update. The AI-based message monitoring system now monitors lyrics on Spotify.
Connecting your accounts to Bark is pretty simple with the Android app but demands a bit more tech expertise to connect to iOS (due to Apple’s strict anti-monitoring policies.) You have to download Bark’s software to your computer and then set your child’s iPad or iPhone to back up to that same computer in order for Bark to monitor the device. Spotify, however, connects on the account level which means set up is a simple as logging in to Spotify and giving Bark permission to access data in the app. That does mean that shared accounts will be monitored as one so your listening habits will be monitored as well and then reported to you as if your kids listened. We raised our Spotify subscription to the 14.99 price in order to set up separate accounts for our kids. This means they can be monitored separately giving us more accurate reports.
Reports from Bark are notifications about specific songs with the lyrics listed along with recommendations for discussing the songs with your children. We saw immediately that some of the songs our son was listening to had some lyrics that were a bit more violent than we would approve of. We were able to discuss this with him and he removed them from one of his playlists immediately. The songs were in no way “explicit” since we have turned off access to explicit content on his Spotify app but the Bark system allows you to set the sensitivity so that it will report songs that even hint at innuendo, violence, or other adult content. Our approach is to always err on the side of caution so we have sensitivity turned all the way up.
Bark’s message monitoring has also resulted in quality conversations with our children, even within just a few days of activating the software. We were notified that our daughter had been “bullied.” It turned out she was just telling her brother to stop texting her over and over again. The AI noticed that she was asking him to stop and he was continuing to message her and it flagged it. That is EXACTLY the kind of thing we want to be notified of. Her brother was just being annoying but if that was some older boy asking for pictures or a friend telling her something inappropriate or mean, we want to be notified. For us, a false alarm is evidence that the software is working and we are happy to weed through false reports so that we’ll be sure to get the one that could save us and our children from a lot of trouble.
Song lyrics, videos, messages, and social media posts are helping shape our kids’ worldviews. We should be on guard against the kinds of content that don’t meet our family’s standards. Bark allows you to do that without your kids’ privacy being interfered with. You don’t see all their messages, just the ones that Bark flags as potential dangers. This means they can have their phone or tablet, message their friends, watch their shows, and listen to their music without you always asking what they’re doing. You won’t have to ask because you’ll be alerted if they do something you don’t approve of. Just remember that we never recommend spying on our kids without their knowledge. Talk with them about Bark and any other software you use to report content. Let them know why you are using the software and talk with them about any reports you receive. This is how we help them build a healthy attitude towards tech.
You can get Bark by clicking THIS LINK, using the promo code: BF56WBD, or clicking the banner near the top of this article. We are an affiliate of Bark and will receive a small donation when you pay Bark for your subscription. Thank you for protecting your kids and for supporting this blog and our ministry.
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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
Total Score – 14 out of 20
(The higher the rating, the safer the game is for kids.)
ESRB Rating – T for Teen [for blood and violence]
Dauntless is made by Epic Games, the same developers who made Fortnite. The world is called “The Shattered Isles,” floating islands make up the landscape and the Behemoth are too close to civilization. You are a Slayer, one of the defenders of the cities, you must hunt and kill these beasts, using their parts and armor to create new weapons and armor of your own, thus making you more effective at slaying the monsters of the Shattered Isles.
The violence in Dauntless is player vs monster or monster vs player. You go out on missions to destroy these monsters and swing your sword, hammer, axe, or pike or shoot your blaster at it. There are some sprays of blood sometimes but mostly it is just to add flavor, there is no gore to speak of in this game. Even when you slice off a part of the behemoth, the appendage looks more like a T-bone steak than any kind of disgusting severed body part. The intensity of the violence can be high but it always (at least early on) feels like you’re going to succeed at defeating the monster. You just want to score as highly as possible while you do it.
There is some minor (Rated PG) language during the intro cinematic of the game. Beyond that, you aren’t going to hear any language at all, except for other players while playing online. Most of the communication with non-player characters in the game is through text and it is usually just lore and mission details. Not a lot of flavor text, therefore, not much by way of adult language. Language doesn’t make the list of reasons Dauntless received a T for Teen rating.
There is no sexual content to speak of in Dauntless. Unless you come across another player being inappropriate in the chat or on voice chat, you won’t see or hear anything sexual. I was even impressed at the design of the costumes and armor. All of the female characters are tastefully dressed. There is some “mid-drift” here and there but nothing over the top, sexually.
Besides fun, the message of this game could be teamwork. Hunts are measurably easier with friends. It is also easier if you learn how to strategize your weapons and armor so that your team can work together in the best way to defeat the monsters. The “freemium” model for this game is par for the course for Epic Games since they’ve made so much money off of their “free” title, Fortnite. You will be asked by your kids if they can buy something within the game.
Remember that this game is online. It is easier and more fun to fight monsters and level up when playing with other people. You can hunt alone or create a hunting party full of your friends but random matchmaking is the default mode for going out on a hunt. Kids should be a bit older or at least know how to handle themselves properly on the internet before playing games with strangers online. Talk to them about their behavior and that of others online before allowing them to play a game like Dauntless.
You should also be careful if your credit card number is accessible on your child’s game system or computer. The items that you can purchase for Dauntless give you a really fun edge in the game and look super cool so kids will want to buy them. Like in Fortnite, they sell a pass that gives you a bunch of content and bonus loot for defeating monsters. These are all appealing and will cause your kids to ask you over and over again if they can spend some money in the game.
Finally, keep an eye on screen time. I found myself wanting to play “just one more hunt” over and over again late into the night. It is easy to pour hours and hours into a game like Dauntless and not realize how long you’ve been playing. You can use built-in parental controls to set time limits or limit internet access to the game system or computer. Since the game is fully online, disconnection from the internet will make it impossible to play Dauntless.
I think Dauntless is a pretty good alternative to the battle royale shooter games that are so popular today. I even think some of us parents can get involved, play with our children, and flex those video game muscles we built playing so much Zelda when we were young.
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Violence – 1
Language – 1
Sexual Content – 4
Positive Message – 1
Total Score – 7 out of 20
(The higher the rating, the safer the game is for kids.)
ESRB Rating – M for Mature
You’re a soldier in a war against “The Authority.” You fight against human enemies and mutants both small and large. Your weapons are futuristic and powerful and cause violent gory death for all who cross your path. You choose between a male or female character and play as a “Ranger” with a suite that gives you special abilities. You are able to fire rapidly and kill the seemingly never-ending onslaught of enemy hoards that are thrown at you.
Rage2 is a chaotic semi-open world first person shooter. Fighting is nearly nonstop and the violence and gore is at epic levels. Gamers will like this game for the intense gameplay, simple story, and open world exploration. Missions often end with fighting some kind of boss, many times the boss is a gargantuan mutant creature who explodes into showers of blood and gore when killed.
This game gets an overall 7 out of 20 on the BecauseFamily parents guide. Here’s the break down.
The violence in Rage2 is extreme and gruesome. It may be considered over the top to the point of silly but I would consider it far too intense for younger audiences. The violence alone in Rage2 definitely earns the game the Mature rating from the ESRB. The story mode opens with intense combat. You see the explosion of heads and bodies as mutants kill your allies and you blast them in return. At one point you see a character that you identify as Ranger Jersey get killed by a giant mutant who bites of his head. The body is thrown, headless, to the ground and you then look through the first person view as your character picks up the headless body, examines its armor and then loots the armor for yourself. That pretty much sums up the brutality and intensity of Rage2’s violence.
Every word on the list is in Rage2. The intense combat situations and battle hardened characters result in realistic adult language throughout game play. Mature language is also used during the brief moments of down time in which you communicate with non-player characters and receive new missions.
There is no direct sexual content or nudity in Rage2. There are suggestive comments and innuendo as indicated by the description in the ESRB Rating. There are some strange scenes with men and women wearing only underwear and acting in some sort of sexual trance. It doesn’t result in sexual content, however, but in, not surprisingly, more killing.
It is hard to imagine a positive message coming from a game like Rage2. Set in a post-apocalyptic, war torn world, this game is basically just brutality and violence. You do lose some folks that you cared about but your response is vengeance. Some of the side quests and other missions seem gratuitous and meaningless. I can usually pull out some sort of redeeming quality from the stories in these games but Rage2 has such a short story mode and the side quests are near pointless. This makes it hard to find any more intention in the game than just driving around, killing mutants, and blowing stuff up.
Rage2 is a game that is intended for older audiences. The profanity, violence, and innuendo are at R or NC17 rating levels. Parents should be aware of these ratings if their children are asking to play Rage2. Should you decide it is ok for your child to play this game, you should discuss the impact the gore and violence may have on them or kids younger than them. It is important, also, that parents remember that games with an open world component can be hard to step away from. There is often a sense that it is never complete. Gamers who have that desire to finish every game they start could end up pouring hours and hours into games like Rage2. You should also keep in mind that some of your kids’ favorite YouTubers and Twitch streamers are going to be playing this game.
Remember, also, that first person shooter games have been found to increase problems for kids with ADD or ADHD. The adrenaline that is released from the intensity of games that feature such combat can become a problem for kids if they don’t have a chance to release that adrenaline through physical activity. My goal with these reviews is to give you an idea of what a game is all about. Some games seem obviously adult oriented to many people and I think Rage2 is one of those games. If your child has you on the fence about whether or not to buy this game for them. Hopefully this article helps you with your decision.
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Net Nanny features one of the strongest filters available, custom settings, time management, alerts, and much more. In this video, I walk you thought the NetNanny website and we discuss its pros and cons. I share some of the set up woes I experienced with NetNanny but why I think those have been updated.
You can learn more at NetNanny.com
Here is the next installment of our Lets Review video series. In this video I look at Life 360. They advertise themselves as “Your new family circle.” The app provides location tracking, driving behavior monitoring, arrival and departure notifications, and in app family messaging. All of these features are good and important. You may be surprised, however, at why I don’t recommend the app.
Features that are available in other apps, hard to find price
I get asked a lot about how I handle my kids’ technology in my house. It is easy to answer this question because I am pretty active in my kids’ tech lives and also because my kids are pretty young. Below are three of our most important rules for keeping our own four kids safe online.
My kids don’t have their own tech devices. We have a shared iPad 2 and iPad Mini and a couple of old iPhone 4s that our kids use. They often try to claim one of the devices or another as their own but we quickly remind them that they don’t own any of them. We tested it with our ten year old for a few weeks and it caused too many problems. Him thinking he could do whatever he wanted because it was just his device led to a lot of frustration when we tried to enforce our boundaries. The solution was simple. All of these devices are shared, you can’t tell your sister not to use it and you can’t take it to bed with you at night. Done.
This one is a bit tricky since my kids use their devices to listen to noises or music as they go to sleep. The rule, however, is no browsing once it’s lights out. We often just set it for them and forget it so the device stays across the room. There are studies to show that viewing the glowing screen at night can hinder your ability to rest. Lack of rest can cause serious health concerns in our children. Once I explained all of this to my kids, they have done pretty well to respect the “No tech in bed” rule. They want to be healthy just as badly as we want them to be.
My children aren’t allowed to just grab a device and do as they wish. They don’t have passcodes (because built-in restrictions and a wifi content filter are set up) but if they are caught hiding in another room doing something on a device they lose the privilege for at least a week. We make them ask and when they are playing or watching something we nearly always require that it is in a common area. That part of the rule is flexible when they are doing schoolwork on an app and don’t want to be disturbed or but most of the time they have to be somewhere where everyone’s eyes can see their screen. They always, have to ask though. Mom and Dad must know you are using that device. If we find out they were hiding (and we have our ways) there is a major cost.
We have more rules but these are the simplest and most easily implemented of our plan. They require no software installation or tech knowledge. It’s really just parenting, plain and simple. Your kids need you to set some boundaries. Maybe you can start with these three rules. Do you have some different rules or different ways to implement these same rules? Tell me about them in the comments below.
Farcry 5 S.A.F.E. RatingThe Farcry series is known to feature regular people type characters who are put in extraordinary situations and forced to fight their way out. Players try their hand at fighting crime lords, warlords, and drug cartels. In Farcry 5 you’re a sheriff deputy who is trying to overthrow a cult in the mountains of Montana. You team up with locals, wildlife, and even secret agents to eliminate the influence of “The Father,” a man who considers himself the spiritual leader of an entire group of religious followers.
This game is set in an open world. There is a storyline but it isn’t linear, it unfolds as you explore different areas of the game. You can go around doing whatever you want, liberating outposts, saving citizens, hunting and fishing, all the while increasing your influence over the region through something called “resistance points.” These points allow you to unlock new areas and items and eventually lead you to your final showdown with the leader of the cult. The story of Farcry 5 is very interesting and well told. It is, however, a bit on the anti-religious side, albeit so extreme that it is hard to view it as a serious commentary on religion. The cult is very extreme and a caricature of anything it may be trying to actually represent. I wouldn’t take seriously any complaints about this game being anti-christian or anti-religion.
This game features extreme violence right from the start. You are attacking enemies with a large collection of different weapons. Melee, explosives, firearms, vehicles, and even animals can be used to take out your enemies. You can choose to use stealth to eliminate your enemies or you can go in guns and dynamite blazing and take ’em all out that way. The worst violence in the game takes place during the cinematic cut scenes. There are executions, eye gouging, and self harm/mutilation featured in the cinematic scenes that drive the story. The violence is used to show the extremity of the cult you are up against and it begins with the first cut scene at the beginning of the game.
Farcry 5 scores a 1 for violence meaning it’s meant for Adults.
Farcry 5 has multiple uses of every word imaginable right from the very beginning. It is rated M for Mature because of language and it is obvious early on in the game play.
Farcry 5 scores a 1 for Language meaning it’s meant for Adults.
So far in my current, incomplete, walkthrough of Farcry 5 there isn’t any sexual content. The rating of the games mentions sexual themes but I haven’t seen it yet. I will update this post on this topic once my walkthrough has completed.
Farcry 5 scores a 3 (so far) for sexual content meaning it depends on your child.
Like most 1st person shooter games, Farcry 5 puts you in a position where your only option is to pick up a machine gun and start mowing people over. As mentioned before, this game is full of scripture and even some reimagining of some old church songs. They are used in a context that features the cult in a negative way. There is no positive message in this game, except maybe that you shouldn’t join a violent cult. The themes of this game are very grown up and explore what happens when people give themselves blindly to someone like “The Father.”
Farcry 5 scores a 2 for message meaning it contains very mature themes.
Farcry 5 isn’t meant for your 15 year old son. It’s a game made by adults for adults. It features very adult themes and content and doesn’t apologize for the gruesomeness of the violence or the complexity of the story. While there isn’t any sexual content that I’m aware of, it still ranks very low as far as its playability for even some older teens. I recommend keeping informed on the content of this game and know if your kids are playing it. Many kids will ask for it and some will get to buy it because their parents don’t know what the game consists of. My advice is that you share this review with other parents and let them know what content the game their kid is asking for contains.
Assassin’s Creed Origins is the 11th game in the Assassin’s creed series. The game is set in ancient Egypt around the time of Cleopatra and Julius Caesar. Like other Assassin’s Creed games, Origins is set in a historical alternate timeline in which your character is changing the course of history by completing your missions. The story is complicated because it is also set in modern/near future timeline. In this timeline, you are a researcher who is using the DNA of a historical figure to move into the past and become an assassin. The multiple timelines and characters make for an interesting, while at times confusing, story. In Origin’s you’re working to take out a secret society who is behind the dark times your country is experiencing. Eventually, you make your way to Rome and take part in one of the largest Assassinations in history. If you’re a fan of history, Assassin’s Creed games are interesting even though they’re obviously based in fiction. The setting and politics of the story are well crafted and keep your attention well. Origins is an open world game which means you have multiple missions all over the game world that you can complete outside of the main story. This lends itself to replayability beyond “beating” the game.
Assassin’s Creed isn’t the best game I’ve seen, the controls seem heavy and the combat is a bit “clunky” but it is interesting and seems to be what Assassin’s Creed fans want out of a game in the series.
You take the role of an assassin in this game so obviously, violence is a major part of the gameplay. You kill people in multiple ways including bows, swords, axes, blunt force weapons, and even ships. There is a stealth element to the game that is meant to reward the player by giving them multiple ways to kill their foe quietly. There is a lot of blood involved in every assassination and some beheadings and slit throats as well during cinematics. Your violence is celebrated and is, in fact, considered the goal of every mission of the game. Killing is, after all, the job of an assassin.
The language is interesting in this game. Words that would be considered “adult” are used in some of the dialog but they are often (not always) spoken in Egyptian or Latin. The translation is shown in the subtitles, however. In the modern day/near future timeline there is adult language throughout including F—, Sh–, D—, and H—.
While the main characters’ sexual encounters are treated as PG or PG-13 there are multiple instances of nudity and even sexual situations. Many of the village women are topless and bare breasts are shown while you’re just riding your horse around the game map. One mission takes you to a brothel in which you see many topless women and even a couple in a sexual situation. They are in the background and not the focus of the mission but what they are doing is very obvious. Cleopatra has women dancing for her, some are topless, and she speaks to men about spending the night with her and being killed the next day telling them that it would be “well worth it.”
Assassination is literally the name of the game here. The goal is to kill and do it creatively and effectively. Murdering person after person in a video game has a way of getting satisfying. I believe this is a cause for concern. Especially for younger audiences.
The only reason this doesn’t receive a 1 out of 5 for the positive message is that there isn’t much question that those you’re killing are the worst of the worst and those who work for them. Also, there is a focus on a couple of female characters in this game that I am glad to see. They are portrayed as powerful and passionate and even their costumes are tasteful and make sense. They aren’t just in the game to be eye candy. They play major roles in the story and they are fun to play as.
I recommend that this game is reserved for those over the age of 17, just like the rating says. Blood and gore, drugs/alcohol, violence, nudity, language, and sexual content all make the highlights list and for good reason. The playthrough I watched exhibited multiple examples of each of these themes and they are presented in ways that are very much geared towards an adult audience. When your 13-year-old asks for an Assassin’s Creed game for Christmas, this is what he is wanting. Maybe redirect him to something a bit more age appropriate.