X box 360 x box live advice please

[jase 07]

Hi Everybody

My 10 year old son has an XBOX 360 and I have recently set him up on X BOX live so he can play his mates etc. The problem is that his mates are either on at different times or play different games. He wants to play FIFA 11 and FIFA World Cup against other people online, I have set him up at his correct age and when he tries to go online to play people he doesn't know the security settings don't allow him and a message pops up saying he is too young. He tells me all his mates at school are set up as 18 plus so they don't have a problem, he is pestering me to change his settings but I don't want to do anything that may be unsafe. Is there a way I can allow him to go online to play people he doesn't know anonymously ? I don't know much about this sort of thing so any help / advice you can offer would be much appreciated. Thanks

 

[barryfullalove]

Umm, not sure. If his username is his real name then you may be scuppered without setting up a new account or paying to change his username. Make sure he doesn't bother with the ear piece thing though, whenever I've played online on FIFA it seems like I always end up against racist and obnoxious c*nts. Strange really because all the other games I've played online seem to be fine.

Without having a poke around on Live I can't really offer much advice, it's not something that I've bothered looking at.

 

[Dobley]

Unfortunately not. I believe part of the T&Cs for XBL are that you have to be over 18 to own an account. Now of course, half the XBL population is school age, and Microsoft have no will to enforce this stipulation, but by saying you need to be 18 to have an account, it does do away with the 'need' for security and safety measures on their part.

Alot of games will allow you to set up game playing sessions (or "lobbies") which are private (i.e friends only), but this has to be selected and set up every time you turn the game on - its more of a "I just want to play with my friends because I'm tired of getting tubed" thing rather than a "stay safe" thing.

Otherwise it'll just throw you into public lobbies to play with the great and the good (and the bad) - if you change the minimum age.


A few things to consider - your username is your identity. At no point will anyone be able to access any "true" information about your son online, unless he chooses to fill it out in his profile. Age, location, name everything is hidden unless you choose otherwise. Also, because it is all content controlled (of course the actual game aside), the worst things he will be subjected to will be people being idiots and shouting abuse and the like. You can either turn off or mute them, or leave that particular lobby and go find a quieter and more civil one.

For example, my username ("Gamertag" in xBox lingo) is BillBobbySmith*. I go into a public lobby of Fifa 2011. Im listed only as BillBobbySmith and thats the ONLY information anyone will ever get about me as I have purposefully lefft all of my biography information blank. The only thing which I believe IS put up automatically is your country (United Kingdom etc).

* May or may not be a real Gamertag

Hope that helps.

 

[jase 07]

Thanks very much for your help and taking the time to reply.

 

[memoman]

You can change the family settings on the profile bit in the menu.

Your son can play me if you like, my gamertag is bertie06

...BEWARE THOUGH - I PLAY AT WORLD CLASS!!

 

[jase 07]

You can change the family settings on the profile bit in the menu.

Your son can play me if you like, my gamertag is bertie06

...BEWARE THOUGH - I PLAY AT WORLD CLASS!!

Thanks, I will have a look at that, didn't think Bertie played these days.