Playing games online is a favourite pastime for many of us, but that doesn’t mean there aren’t risks to contend with. Navigating these is key to ensuring you can have fun now and long into the future. Safety in the online gaming space can mean many different things, from how you interact with players to securing your accounts.
This article will take you through why it’s so important and how you can stay safe online while gaming.
Why is online safety important for gamers?
Online gaming is usually safe, but it’s not without risks such as abuse, hacking, theft, data breaches and exposure to potentially harmful content. You’ll likely connect with a wide range of individuals, some with the simple aim of playing games but others with more malicious intentions. Stolen information can be misused by cybercriminals to commit fraud and even identity theft.
The competitive gaming landscape can sometimes see harassment and online abuse, mainly fuelled by anonymity. While you may be able to deal with this sort of environment, some may find it impacts their enjoyment of the game. Staying safe when gaming online is vital to ultimately having fun.
How to stay safe while playing games online
You can take a number of precautions to keep yourself and your information safe online. Here are the most important:
- Secure your accounts: Always use strong and unique passwords for each gaming platform and account. If this is difficult to manage, password managers are great tools to help keep things secure. Use two-factor authentication (2FA) if it’s available too. This adds another layer of security to your accounts and prevents unauthorised access.
- Be cautious with personal information: Be mindful of the personal information you share on gaming platforms. Avoid sharing sensitive information such as your full name, address or phone number anywhere in the public eye. Only input your details into official, trusted websites and apps, such as fully regulated bingo platforms.
- Use secure and reputable connections: The internet connection you use is important for your security too. Try to use a secure and private connection wherever possible and take extra precautions such as a VPN if that isn’t the case. Unsecure and public networks are hotspots for hacking attempts.
- Regularly update software: Keep your games and software updated as much as possible to avoid any security vulnerabilities. Patches often fix issues that have been found by hackers, so updating when they’re released should be a priority.
- Manage privacy settings: You should have privacy settings on all platforms, accounts and games you play on. These determine your level of exposure to other players, profiles and activities. Review these if you haven’t recently.