Can someone please help me with online memberships to Playstation and Nintendo

[SpideyMom]

Sorry to sound silly but I need to get my head around them to justify needing them.

The annual costs are very reasonable and the playstation one is currently on offer.

The only real purpose of me wanting these is because I understand some games require it to play them at all, and other games can only be played in story mode otherwise and without an online membership it means you dont really get much out the games.

I am not a massive console user myself and it will be for my child and it will be monitored. He only plays childrens games and always asks, however I worry that giving him online capability will make it easy for him to click on things to purchase them, which I do not give my permission for him to do. I only want to open up the online part of games for him to be able to enjoy the game properly.

Will taking on annual memberships mean he will easily be able to make purchases using my card connected to the account when playing the games online? Splatoon 2 is one of them.

He is very good and has never made purchases before when on the tablet etc but I dont want to take any chances.

TIA x

Yes, you can remove payment methods for PSN and Nintendo. Nintendo you can hide payments behind a parental authorisation PIN code too, don't think you can on PSN.

Best if you never add a payment method and always use top-up cards or voucher codes always, to be honest.

Speaking of which, Nintendo Online code for just £13/year rather than the normal £18 at www.cdkeys.com/nintendo/switch/nintendo-switch-online-12-month-365-day-membership-switch-cd-key just now. They also sell top-up cards at below face value for PSN, and at-price for Nintendo eShop.

just so I have this right, if I added his friends and family to his account he would still require an online membership to play with them?

Yes, unless they're physically in the same room and then you can play local play. But if they're at home etc then it would need an online membership.

thanks, I've decided against the Playstation one. My Brother and Dad think its brilliant and I don't doubt its value for older children and adults, but in terms of my son I don't think its necessary for now. It only come about from reading various reviews that online membership is necessary. But as long as he can play single player then he is fine. Being able to play split screen will be an added bonus for him and I'd prefer him doing this playing on the same console as the other player.

I have seen these memberships online, mainly the nintendo one abit cheaper. I was wondering if they are legit? I think I'm more inclined to get my son a nintendo one, but I imagine that will depend if his friends have a membership and the same games? Even if he has only a handful though, £13 for the year is very good

They're fully legit - they're issued by Nintendo (or Sony, MS, etc). I've been using cdkeys for years, originally they'd email you scans of scratchoff cards! I think they need you to show some ID when you set up the account to help avoid being moneylaunderers.

There are many code shops that aren't. g2a.com are a money-laundering fence, and anyone offering "free" codes in return for taking a survey etc are worse than dodgy. Run away.

Yes, it does need his friends to have Nintendo Online membership and matching games to play. The only games I've ever used online are Animal Crossing, Splatoon and Tetris 99.

For your £13/year you get a few things (I'm not shilling for Nintendo, honest!) - a whole library of ancient NES and SNES games, the online game Tetris99, access to cheap(ish!) "two games for £84" vouchers for certain eshop games, and Nintendo backup for your save games to their servers in case your Switch breaks. That last is the main reason I bought it!

I bang on about the vouchers over in www.mumsnet.com/Talk/_chat/3936734-Anyone-got-a-Nintendo-switch so won't repeat here :D

Well CDKeys is the way I'm going. I'm just checking which friends has one first.

He has, Pokemon Go, Pokemo Sword, Mario Kart Deluxe, Mario Party, Minecraft, Ghostbusters, Mario Odyssey, Mario and the Rabbids, Captain Toad, Luigis Mansion 3, Ninjago, Yoshi, Donkey Kong, Super Lucky, Mario and Sonic at the Olympics, and I've got him Splatoon 2 for his birthday. Don't know if any of those can be connected with friends?

Sorry one of the moms has just asked if there is any way on the switch to not allow any strangers to try and connect, so she can only add her sons family and friends? Sorry if this has already been covered but I too want to be able to block out anyone who I don't approve/accept

Splatoon 2 is primarily online, so you basically have to! There is a single player adventure but it's really just training for the online. Pretty good though.

Mario Kart, Minecraft and Luigi's Mansion all have multiplayer online. Not sure about the others.

Anyone can send a friend request; you can set up Parental Controls so that they can only be accepted via the parent PIN.
"Friend Registration – Restricts users from adding friends via the friend list. It is possible to view activity of currently registered friends – for example, you can see if they are online and which game they are currently playing – but it is not possible to register new friends without the parental PIN code."

The parental controls are slightly weird but effective - they're not on the switch, they're on a phone app. www.nintendo.co.uk/Nintendo-Switch-Family/Nintendo-Switch-Parental-Controls/Nintendo-Switch-Parental-Controls-1183145.html

Good writeup here - www.childnet.com/blog/parental-controls-on-the-nintendo-switch

Regarding Splatoon 2 I don't think any of his friends have this game. Does that make it pointless?

It’s risky yes, so I use my card to pay the membership, then remove the card details after so they are not saved on the device for future use

This is a bit of a hassle, but these systems are deliberately set up to facilitate kids using patents’ cards (as ££££ easily spent. My surprise bill was £800, that’s how I learned!)

Splatoon 2 - No, makes no matter. Nintendo have made it a game that works absolutely fine playing with randoms, and is safe to do so. Friends can team up, so if he persuades his friends to get copies they can do it.

Oh my god, £800, I'd cry. I'm defo not adding my card details.

Regarding Splatoon 2 (am I'm sorry for all the questions) so its safe to play online but how can he do this if I will only allow friends?

In Splatoon the other players are not interactable with, except by running around nearby and covering each other with ink (it's like a shooty game except you cover the ground/other players with ink, most ink wins). There's no way to talk or text, can't even do stupid dances at each other.

Sorry, to clarify since I'm not sure that did: There are 7 other players in the game, total two teams of four. The other players are random other people from the Internet and are not necessarily on the friends list, but because there's no mechanism for communication there's no possibility of anything dubious happening. Worst that can happen is that another team gangs up on your DS, but because they can't communicate with each other either that's very unlikely.

Sorry if I'm missing something, but if I don't accept these people on his switch membership then how would he be able to play online? So sorry for the questions

Splatoon doesn't care about 'friend' status for other players, anyone else with the game can play with you because other players have no form of communication so there's no potential for anything untoward. No chat, no gestures, no grooming, no sending of pics... it's all safe.

Nintendo err massively towards protecting kids in their games, and to be honest online play-with-friends sometimes is less good due to it (eg even if DS is playing Splatoon with friends, they still can't communicate in the game! They have to use a phone app or whatever if they want to talk to each other) but their heart and practice is in the right place.

Splatoon randomly picks your co-players for each session, too. So there's no continuity, further preventing communication.

Oh right so he just needs a membership and he can play it online regardless? The lack of interaction makes me happy to be fair. In a sense it will be a shame him not being able to interact with his friends in other games, but really I'm not too bothered about it due to his age

That's right - just needs the Nintendo Online, get the cheapo cdkeys one I linked above (they're a useful shop to keep on hand for cheap game prices and stuff too, often come in below Amazon and whatever particularly for digital download codes)

What I usually do with the Switch is have a phone with a messaging app or voice chat open when multiplaying with friends. The best bit about Splatoon's lack of communication is that dodgy arseholes can't send him their number so there's no worries in that direction.

I relented and got my DS 10 the in-line subscription so he can play with his friends.

He’s an only child and so it’s been great for him and he is also very sensible and will double check who someone is if he gets a friend request and will delete and block them.

@needsahouseboy Might be worth you looking at the links I posted yesterday at parental controls, to be aware of what can be done Just In Case you need to step in at any point.

I'd recommend having him go through and tell you who each of his Nintendo Friends list actually are on an occasional basis, if you want to avoid the heavy-handed remote control security stuff :)

Thank you.

My son is younger than 10 which is why its such a big deal getting the membership however i feel so much better knowing I can only accept his friends.
He is an only child too and I think just know he is playing against his friends will be exciting for him.

Its disappointing that Splatoon 2 has to have online membership however it sounds like its been made very safe. It would have been a shame sending it back. It looks fab and so colourful. We have watched some of it on YouTube and I really like that its not about hurting others but covering the area in the most paint. Those games will come eventually but I like the ones he plays at the moment.

No problem - just ask if you have any other questions.

Splatoon is an excellent game, such joy. I really should play it more.

Out of curiosity are there any other games like splatoon that need online?