How safe is it for a 12 year old boy to play xbox live and chat with other players?

Question

I'm a concerned parent. I recently started letting my son play halo 3 online with the live gaming. He is a responsible kid and I trust him...but I'm not so sure about the predator factor. He "yeah, yeahs" me when I bring up the "don't give out personal info." speech. Is there a big danger with this game/live gaming chat aspect?

Answer 1

There's always the danger, but don't do what most people do, and ban the kid from it, they'll just want to go on it more. Instead become....like involved in it. If he thinks you approve he may talk about online friends and such. Besides, most kids are safety conscious anyway, and i saw on Tv police often check chat rooms nowadays to prevent it happening :)

Answer 2

I think as long as he doesnt give out personal info he should be good.  And those yeah yeahs, shows that he thinks he shouldnt have to prove he is safe to you, you should know.

Answer 3

ok well my bro does this too but hes 15 so an age difference yea but he said one time someonee said something he didnt like and the monitor or something reported the kid and kicked that kid off!!! so its very safe i think!

Answer 4

Why are you allowing your 12 year old to play a game that has an ESRB rating of Mature (+17)?

http://www.esrb.org/index-js.jsp

And if the game is for people over 17, do you want your child playing with adults who might be using adult language?

Answer 5

its actually about the same as chat rooms on the internet. you do get people on there that arent interested in the game. my husband used to play a game called fantasy star online. it was hooked through the game system onto the internet. and online games can become seriously addictive. he is now banned from playing online games by me and he made the choice too.

Answer 6

first off there is always a danger when a child has the ability to chat unmonitored with strangers. and second, very few people on there have respect when it comes to a kids age. The cussing on there is outrageous. every other word is F-this or F-you.

You might as well let him Listen to Howard Stern! Online gaming  

is no place for a kid.

Answer 7

I have been playing Halo 3 online for a long time now and I can say in all this time I have never had any problems with predators. Must people play because they like the game and they just want to play. The only thing that some parents do not like though is the other players speech. It happens rarely but cursing can be a regular habit for some players so your son may hear or for some reason may be on the end of cursing or an insult.

Answer 8

the quest-en up there my answer is if your son wants privacy wile playing the game don't let him because he is getting harassed or he is doing something inappropriate. my answer down there is they can take his user name down and contacted him personally with no one to see or here.

be safe have fun

Answer 9

If you're so concerned why don't you do your job as a parent and supervise your child online.  Besides a 12 year old doesn't need to be playing games online, he needs to be outside riding his bike, shooting hoops tossing a ball around, playing tag,