Dad Against Multiplayer Games

Hi gamers,

I'm a 14 year old male, raised in a Christian family. Last summer my parents let me build my own PC, they were both very supportive of the idea and my Dad seems quite proud of me. Anyway, since building it, I started looking into gaming. I have GTX 750ti GPU that I can't really use fully. I would like to start playing games like that new game Ubisoft was coming out with, I forgot what it was called, Planet Side 2, and Team Fortress 2. I think FPS would be a lot of fun!

However, in the past my Dad has been quite vocal on how he does not want us playing multiplayer games. I think he thinks that someone could hack us. He seems to be fine with other games, just not multiplayer games. I really, really want to play these games, but I'm afraid I won't be able to convince him that no one can hack you through a game. And the games can't be rated M, unless it's just for violence.

He is by all means NOT a gamer and I would be very, very surprised if he ever did get into the hobby. He doesn't like us spending a lot of time on the computer or iPad or Wii. But the thing is, they're homeschooling us and we hardly know anybody. And those that we know are in another town 45 minutes away! So as you may suspect, it gets really, really boring around here.

So, do any of you have any advice? Should I just present my "case" and see how things turn out or should I try to forget about multiplayer gaming and just try to find some fun single player games.

Thanks,

-Chuck

@chuck38: Maybe sit your father down with you in front of the computer, research together how most "hacking attempts" occur (nowadays it's all password stealing), search together ways to protect yourselves (it might be useful for him as well) and when he is satisfied explain to him what kind of games you're going to be playing and what kind of interactions you are planning on having with other people. It's probably also worth mentioning that while you don't have any control over other people's actions, you were taught well enough (buttering him up is never a bad idea =P) to not let other people's potentially bad behaviour influence you.

Good luck Chuck ^_^

Parents, especially highly religious ones, can be stubborn and oblivious to reason so I'm not sure if there's anything you can do.

Thank-you for the advice @korvus. :)

@Storm_Marine, he is not stubborn or oblivious to anything. I think he's just worried that some one could hack into our computers. I'll try to talk this through to him in a couple of days, we usually meet at the end of the day to go over school and other things. However, tonight and tomorrow night are movie nights so we won't be "meeting".

I respect his points of view and if he says no, it's no. Again, thank-you for the advice Korvus. :)

-Chuck

Paranoid about technology then? My point is that it's possible that you could-as you said-present your "case" and he'll refuse to even consider it. That's how some parents are, especially religious ones, and ESPECIALLY homeschooling ones. Maybe your dad's reasonable, but be prepared for futility.

Paranoid about technology then? My point is that it's possible that you could-as you said-present your "case" and he'll refuse to even consider it. That's how some parents are, especially religious homeschooling ones. Maybe your dad's reasonable, but be prepared for futility.

@chuck38: No problem; without knowing your upbringing and your father's personality and convictions it'll be hard to give you any detailed advice but maybe those will do =)

@Storm_Marine

I'll talk to him on Sunday and see what he says.

Would any of you have any links to where there might be information on how people have been hacked in the past? Or is it true that the only way you can be hacked is by giving out your password?

What do you mean by "hacked" you mean actually being hacked or just having your game account stolen?

@chuck38: It's not the only way but that's normally what they want. Hackers aren't normally interested in what's in your hard drive, but more on hijacking the services you have an account with. This happens a lot with MMO's because stealing your account can get them quite a bit of money when they sell it to someone else so they either brute force their way and "guess" your password (by a couple million automated tries) or they trick you into downloading and installing something in your computer saying it's a mod to the game or something to that extent but in reality it's a leylogger that will steal your login information when you type it in. Obviously your games will be in danger but so will every other login (like an online bank login).

Rule of thumb is, don't use simple passwords (and if you're a bit paranoid, change them often), don't use the login anywhere but the official page of the service you're using, and don't download anything that you're not 100% sure is clean and official.

@Storm_Marine I think he's thinking hacking the network and or taking control of my PC.

@korvus The only games I would like to play can be downloaded through Steam. From what I hear that the best way, right? I won't be downloading any mods or patches. I think Steam keeps their games updated. I don't really plan to spend money at first, Plant Side 2 and Team Fortress 2 are both free, but later I may want to buy some games.

I was also wondering about the chat boxes in these games. I know many people will use explicit language, is it possible to disable the chat box?

-Chuck

@chuck38: I have to say I never tried doing so in an FPS (I don't pay much attention to chat anyway) but I know it's possible to remove the chat box on MMO's so there's a possibility it's also true for FPS...Also, some games include a profanity filter that is on by default (not sure if that would be good enough).

I'm not sure since I don't PC game much but I think when games are hacked it's not quite what he thinks.

The gamers that are hacking have downloaded programs for the game that give the player special advantage in the game, but I'm pretty sure it doesn't actually effect anybody else's computer who is playing the game, except in so far as ruining the experience of a fair competitive match.

I think the only thing you have to worry about hacking hurting your computer is if you use them yourself. Just like anything you get on the seedy underbelly of the internet there runs the risk of malicious viruses that can harm your computer, so just as long as you avoid downloading hacks yourself you should be fine.

Yeah, and like Korvus said, people would probably be more interested in hacking into your account than taking control of your computer. I would say though maybe you can avoid the risks that come with this by taking precautionary steps. For instance, to prevent your account from being hijacked and purchases being made against your credit card on that account, you can say go to GameStop and maybe buy Steam cards, so like spend $50 at the store to get credit for $50 on Steam, that way if your account is highjacked people can't make purchases on your account, or if so the damage is limited.

And just be careful not to give people more info than they deserve to know. Also try not to tick anybody off, swatting seems big these days. But I doubt a young man of your strong Christian character will be inciting anybody to such anger.

Create strong and varying passwords for your email, your services like Steam.

@chuck38: Print your post and hand it to him.

Also it is generally doable for ui changes in most games as far as chat removal. Just remember to disable inbound voice chat through your game options. Would be funny for us, but not you, if you convinced your dad and the first thing you hear after loading into a match is "**** you bitch!"

Also in the end it isn't about trying to convince your Dad to trust Planetside 2, but Sony. Don't come at him as a gamer if he isn't one. You wan't, and need, to establish a sense of security even if Sony isn't exactly the first name when it comes to reputable security.

For valve and team fortress 2 just go from the angle of Valve through something such as Forbes and push that. If he can respect Valve as a reputable company then that might/should go a long way towards establishing team fortress as a first rate service rather than some cheap dark corner selling bootleg shades.

Hackers are only interested in credit card info associated with accounts but theirs so much security that it's impossible to hack it anyways so it rarely happens, is your dad an IT expert or something? Does he even know anything about hacking and multiplayer games, computers? My mom is deeply religious and used to think this but I told her that she doesn't know anything about IT and computers to make that claim and she never said anything about it ever again, I've been playing multiplayer games for 12 years and my credit card info has never been hacked.

Also, just so you know, if you haven't gamed online much you might be in for a surprise as the online community can sometimes be mean, antagonistic, vulgar, and downright offensive. If I were your father I'd be more concerned with you picking up bad social habits from the online communities.

Gaming on PC is cool if you make yourself a nice machine, digital services like Steam and GOG give you access to so many great games cheap, and depending on the PC maybe even the best performance. But, as far as multiplayer gaming goes I feel you should focus on maybe trying to make it a more engaging experience with your peer groups, who I'm assuming probably game on consoles like Xbox 360/One, PS3/PS4. But for single player games, you're probably going to like them on PC a lot more.

I'd explore console gaming if possible. If you do that, find out what your friends or the kids at school game on. You and your dad can casually local co-op in the living room together, and maybe go into online multiplayer together (depending on game). With your friends for instance, you can party chat in your group to cut out all the annoying or offensive chatter that typically comes in multiplayer. It may make for a more enjoyable multiplayer experience.

Thank-you very much for all the replies! :D

@lamprey263 I will tell him that and kinda work from there.

CreasianDevaili, I would, but I don't think he'd be all that happy to know that I mentioned him in a forum. He's kinda paranoid. :P And yes, the last thing I want is someone cussing some one when I join. However, you can disable the voice chat in the settings, right?

@aretilda No, he is not an IT or computer person. I probably know more about computers than he does. He is knowledgeable of some things, at least he seems to be. I really haven't talked about this subject specifically with him. So I'm a bit nervous.

@lamprey263 Yes, I do know how the community is. I've played a little of TF2. Speaking of that, it's making me feel kinda guilty that I've downloaded and played TF2 without asking my dad. That's why I want to ask him now. I could easily go on playing TF2 and download Planet Side 2 and he would never know, but I would feel better if he knew.

Consoles: The problem is that I just spent $800 on this PC and I can't afford a console. Most of my friends just play games like Minecraft, which bores me to death anyway. And like I said before, my dad is not a gamer. He's one of those people that could sit in a corner and read a book for hours. Not that there's anything wrong with that, it's fine/ It's just a different personality and a different generation.

dont tell him its multiplayer, say others are bots, lol, but this might bring other problems in the future