“Among Us” Game Review
“Among Us” 9yrs+ is a popular online game where you must find the impostor among your crewmates on a spaceship. However, some players have been using the chat feature to abuse and harass others or even groom children. To protect younger players from this harm, the developers of Among Us have introduced some new features and updates.
First, they added a new chat filter called “Quick Chat Only” that limits players' typing. This way, they can only communicate about the game and not send inappropriate messages or links. This is set to default on all under 13-year-old accounts.
Second, they have required parental or guardian permission for players under 13. Parents and guardians can enable their desired settings to disable free chat and change display names (as some are provocative or abusive).
Third, they have partnered with Schell Games to release Among Us VR in December 2022. This virtual reality version of the game was nominated for Best VR at The Game Awards 2022. Schell Games has also announced a roadmap for 2023 that includes a new map, custom lobby settings, and improved moderation.
Fourth, they updated the game with new roles, maps, modes, and skins in February 2023. These add more variety and fun to the gameplay.
Among Us has been gaining popularity during Covid19 lockdowns, especially among primary school children. Knowing the potential risks and benefits of playing this game online is essential. I hope this post helps you stay informed and safe while enjoying Among Us.
Among Us has 4 modes:
Local private free-play games
Online self-hosted invite-only games
Online public games
Online modded games
Is Among Us Safe For Kids?
Among us has low-level graphic violence that might be too graphic for younger children. The age rating of 9 seems slightly low for the potential risks of inappropriate chat and behaviour. Among Us requires close parental supervision and the strictest settings for privacy.
Dangers:
Chatting with strangers: Without safe settings, the game lets children join and chat with other players they don’t know. The lobby often has chat where players try to hook up with other players. Some players use code to communicate to evade the filters.
Offensive chat: Whilst the chat has some A. I powered moderation; there are no live moderators for the conversation, so children might see or hear rude or mean words from other players that get around the filters. There is an option to censor discussion in the game settings, “Censor Chat On”, but your child can quickly turn it off without you knowing. Monitoring your child’s conversation and reminding them to be respectful and kind online is essential.
Offensive gamer tags: Some players might choose inappropriate names, there are some filters, but they don’t always work 100%.
Violence: The game is not very realistic, but it involves killing other players with knives, which may scare some younger children or make them think violence is okay.
Screen time addiction: The game is designed to keep children playing for a long time by offering rewards and new games. Set time limits and give incentives for safe, balanced gameplay. Limiting your child’s screen time or getting them to do other activities might make it hard.
About The Safety Settings
Quick chat only filter
The “Quick Chat Only” filter means that if you input your age as under 13yrs of age, you automatically are assigned as a filtered player and can only select preassigned comments that are game-friendly, like “Where” or “RIP” or other related responses. This will protect younger or vulnerable players from replying to other players who ask personal questions that are often things like “Are You A Girl”, “Where Do You Live” and “Can you follow me on Twitter?” “What is your number?”
If children want access to Free Chat, parents must allow it via email if the player is under 13 on sign-up.
There is another filter you can enable called “Censor Chat” through settings, but I haven’t seen it stop some of these types of questions, and it doesn’t block the rude user names that float above the heads of the player avatars.
What The Filter Does Not Do
Your child won’t be able to chat in the game, but you can certainly see the discussion from other players, many of whom don’t have the chat filter enabled. Other players can also have abusive user names that will not be filtered out. Unfortunately, these filter settings don’t block abusive or grooming-style chat from being seen.
Changing Your Age
Your child can no longer delete the app and reinstall and change their birthdate. They will be prompted to “Merge Accounts” if they try, and the account will default to the youngest age settings. The age settings can be changed in the PC version, it’s tricky, but if a child searches for this solution on Google Search, they can be guided step by step, so make sure you check every now and then if they are playing on PC.
If they choose to play without signing into an account, they will be assigned “Quick Chat” not “Free Chat” They won’t be able to choose a name and will not be able to have a friends list.
Reporting Abuse
If a player is spamming or impersonating someone, or being abusive, players can request to kick other players out of the game for abuse when in chat. Here is how to report abuse.
its about murder
Some gameplay can be scary for a 9-year-old
Safety and Privacy.
This game does not have many features that help parents protect their children from online risks. But there are some things you can do to make the game safer for your child.
Please make sure your child has their correct age on sign-up. Suppose your child is under the minimum age of digital consent in your country (for most countries, 13 is the minimum age). In that case, a child under 13 must get permission from a parent/guardian to access things like “Free Chat”, custom usernames and building a friends list.
Please turn on the chat filter and check it regularly. To do this: open the app, tap the settings button at the bottom of the screen, and tap the censor chat button so that it says ‘Censor Chat: On’.
Set boundaries for who your child can play with, and use open conversations to discuss game behaviour and privacy. Ensure your children have a safe space to report to you if they see anything in the game they are concerned with.
If you allow the friend list option, please know exactly who your child is playing with.
Encourage open conversations around gameplay and reporting concerning behaviour.
Play Among Us with your child occasionally to learn about new gameplay and mods and to build rapport.
More information on Among Us Here:
My Parent Guide, "Happy And Safe Online", has a more extensive guide for parental controls and ideas for safe searching.