AIBU to ask if you let your primary school kid play the new computer game 'Among Us?'

[Sundiamond]

Our near 10yr old DS wants to play this. But from what i've read you have to play it with chat, as it's a team game, and there are stories of inappropriate teenager comments, swearing etc.

What do people do/think?

@ReginaGeorgeIsAFuglySlut

I play it with my 11 and 13 year old. Quite often in a private game with friends but some times public. You can mute swearing but it is easy to unmute. Occasionally there are inappropriate things said, my kids have told me and just left the server but if you don't feel that your child would do that, it is probably not a good idea unless he is using it completely supervised. Also to who ever said they rarely hear swearing, you wouldn't because the chat is typed, the only way you would hear it is if your kid was also using an app like discord.

My DS only plays with friends and they use voice chat on discord. They never use the typed chat. That's how I know there's hardly any swearing in his games.

I think the main safety issue is children seeing inappropriate language. With Among us, you don't set up any sort of personal profile with name, email, age or anything, you literally just choose a username. So you have no clue who is who, how old, girl/boy. The opportunity for chat is limited, there's no private chat function, it's as a group and only for limited times in the lobby or when someone presses the emergency button during the game. Once everyone has voted, or someone wins/loses, the chat disappears.

[quote Sundiamond]@TheWindowDonkey That's shocking and exactly what I'm against[/quote]
Teach them how to deal with it

My 8 year old watches people play it on YouTube but he's not allowed the game and he has child lock on so no sweats get through

Another one saying yes in a private game with friends or family but not with strangers. To be honest I think it is more fun with people you know anyway.

Honestly I wouldn’t. I play this myself and it concerns me that a few times (not the majority thankfully) I’ve had to say to people either it is a game no need to swear or please stop sharing/asking for personal details because it’s not what the game is for. I’d save it for high school and even then make sure they know to tell you any inappropriate conversation!

No

I play the game. I have left public games because of other users. The chat is an essential part of the game.

I would only let a 10yo play in private games
With people you know.

I play with my dd.
She started just private games but was then limited to when mates were available.

We play public games together to start with and I haven't seen any problems, you can set the chat to filter inappropriately language and I've found other users will boot players who are rude or wronguns.

You can leave a game at anytime.

Same rules as anything on the internet- never give out any personal details and leave if you feel uncomfortable.

It's a fun little game. Have a play yourself if you are worried then make a decision

That the chat disappears after the game is another concern. There is no way for parents to be review what transpired. The odds of someone getting personal info from a child during the short game are low, but there is nothing stopping an adult from using the chat to enjoy writing awful things for others to read (and I’m not talking about swearing, if swearing was all I was worried about, my dd would have free reign online)

I agree with @Leaannb - I am constantly reiterating to my ten year old that no one is necessarily who they say they , creepy men exist and are on your games/ Tik Tok vids etc, anything dodgy come and tell me.
Swearing I admit I’m not too bothered about as as soon as they start Year 7 they will absolutely hear ALL THE SWEARS

Three of my DC play it, aged 7, 9, and 11. The 7yo is only allowed if there is an adult with him and chat for all three is censored. Usually all three play together so will happily snitch on one another if there are any shenanigans going on and they all know I can look at their screen at any time. DH and I join in with matches too and all five of us will set up in one game then open it to allow five randoms to join. I've never seen any inappropriate behaviour or chat but my DC tend to play during the day or early evening and it seems tamer then, DH and I have had matches together later in the evening/night and in my experience that's when the more colourful chat begins. However most people are quick to kick out those acting offensively.

I'd recommend dowlading it and having a few matches for yourself to see what you think, that's the best way to judge whether you want your DC to play it or not and is also the best way to learn the features of the game so you know what things to keep an eye on if they do play it.

DD10 plays it... At first with me, later on her own as well. It's pretty tame most of the time, and when there's swears she doesn't know (like koon/coon) above, I just explain them to her and tell her why they are offensive. We haven't had that one, she has asked about mong.

Like a pp above, there's very little on there that she isn't exposed to at high school (she is there 1 day a week despite being in year 6). I think the fun factor significantly outweighs the risk, but I'm not bothered by her learning about swears etc. It's heavily redacted and at 10 I think a good 'safe' introduction to the risks & dangers of the web.

It’s not worse than games like ‘wink murder’ in the respect of ‘killing people’ but yes private games are better as you don’t get unknowns.

I work at a secondary school and what has disturbed me the most is the amount of kids that think it’s called a ‘mong’ us because they don’t know what the word among means 😱😨

No. I have let my 14 yo have it and it turns out to be very addictive. She plays it with her school friends, they connect together to the same game and chat. I am hoping the novelty wears off soon.

I play it and my son does too. He uses my phone amd we play 'together' so he's always under supervision. The chat has a swearing censor and I've never read anything bad. I'd suggest playing it a few times and seeing for yourself. Honestly as far as online gaming goes this one is low risk and pretty innocuous.

The best thing any parent can do is teach their children about online safety and monitor their activity. Try to ban them and they'll find a way, only you won't know what they're up to

@Feministicon 😂 Oh dear 🙈🙈

The spelling is definitely more upsetting than the swearing 😄

I would let a younger child play it if it is a private lobby. Some of the chat is gross and people acting out sex scenes which is plain weird.
There was also an issue with hackers but this seems a bit better now. A script kiddie changed my chat to 'I'm the imp and I'm gay' so obviously a young teenager or something.

[quote TweeterandtheMonkeyman]@Feministicon 😂 Oh dear 🙈🙈

The spelling is definitely more upsetting than the swearing 😄[/quote]
Exactly! How could so many of them not know the meaning of the word 😱

My 11 year olds plays it. They shouldn’t be playing anything online if you haven’t had serious conversations about safety and that people can be rude, could be anyone etc.

People get all worried about Fortnite and among us but let their children play freely on minecraft for hours chatting to randoms. Much more likely to be groomed building an entire minecraft map than a round of fortnite or among us.