Is Valorant Safe for Kids? Parent Guide

Valorant is a character-based tactical FPS (first-person shooter) by RIOT Games, released in 2020, and now it’s one of the most popular digital games among teenagers. If there is a kid at your home, you may have seen them playing the game several times. However, given that it’s an exciting game with good graphics, there are still safety issues bothering parents and making them wonder: is Valorant safe to play?

Needless to say that Valorant is an exciting shooting game that kids will not want to miss, but there are still some issues that parents should be wary of. Here we will show you the details about the game’s pros and cons and the tips on making Valorant safer for kids to play. Let’s get started!

What is Valorant?

Valorant is a 5-v-5 shooting game that is available on PC. There are two teams of five members each, who take the role of agents with unique abilities. The game revolves around a war zone, where the agents need to plant and protect the bomb until it detonates. If they are successful, they receive some points. Meanwhile, the opponent team tries to find and defuse the bomb, and if they are successful, they get the winning end. It takes a good 25 rounds to determine the final winner.

The competitive nature of the game makes it popular among teenagers. Besides, players also enjoy the liberty to use different game characters while playing.

Valorant Age Rating

Valorant received PEGI 16, which means it’s not suitable for teens below 16 because of the violent depiction of human characters. In addition, there are firearms, blood, corpses, and other damaging representations that can have harmful effects on the child.

The game can be downloaded free on PC, but you need to first sign up on Riot games. However, players do not need to offer identification proof, which means that tech-savvy kids can easily bypass the restriction to enjoy the game.

What Parents Should Know about Valorant?

Given the popularity of Valorant, it’s a little difficult to prevent your children from playing the game altogether. Besides, like most digital games, even Valorant has its good and bad side. Some of its rewarding parts are:

Pros of Valorant:

• Teamwork

Your children will be playing in a group of five, and to win the game, serious teamwork is necessary. According to a Californian organization, the Institute for the Future (IFTF), an excellent multiplayer game can teach your kids the benefit of teamwork in problem-solving. So, your kids can acquire skills like cooperation, collaboration, and even leadership.

• Improved response time

Once you click the play button, there is hardly any time to think and strategies the game. Players always have to be alert and make critical decisions within seconds, which stimulates creativity and prepares your kids for solving complex problems within a set time.

• Helps in socializing

It has been witnessed that kids who are not very good at socializing can easily make friends while playing the digital game. The same can happen with kids who have signed up on Valorant. Valorant has become a platform where teenagers can socialize with their friends without any hesitation and have a good time.

Even though the game is fun and exciting for teenagers, we cannot deny that it also has a wrong side. For instance:

Cons of Valorant:

• It can be addictive

Teenagers find the gaming content and features of Valorant quite engaging, so it’s easier for them to lose track of time. Besides, kids can get more equipment by getting a higher grade. The entire interface motivates teenagers to spend more and more time on the platform. Spending more than a few hours on this gaming platform can eventually become addictive for them.

• It can be a toxic community

Toxicity is everywhere in the Valorant community. You don't want your kids to be exposed to bad language, bullying, threats, and much worse situations. Many users have also complained about receiving threatening emails. These are some issues that hamper the competitive spirit of the game and need to be controlled.

• In-app purchase

Valorant offers the opportunity to make an in-app purchase. Players can unlock Gun Buddies, Player Cards, Weapon skins, etc. For these benefits, they need Contracts which is accessible with real money. A contract is a pass that gets you different types of guns, weapon skins, and profile images. All these gimmicks can attract teenagers to spend ruthlessly. And, if your teenagers have access to your credit cards, it can cause severe consequences, such as being a victim of an online scam.

How to Set up Parental Control on Valorant?

Setting up parental control on Valorant can be the best way to ensure your kids' online safety when allowing them to access the game. But unfortunately, there are rarely safety settings on Valorant, one of which you can use is to turn off the violent content in the game. Here are the steps:

• Launch Valorant, click on the in-game menu, and go to Options.
• Select the Content Filter and disable Graphic Content to disable blood and adult language.

However, the setting is so straightforward to be bypassed by kids. To establish an overall safe online environment for kids, you can always take the help of the Wondershare FamiSafe app. Wondershare FamiSafe is one of the most reliable parental control apps parents can rely on. It enables you to track your kids' real-time location, block the app you don't want your kids to use, give you a report informing which apps they used recently, how much time they've spent on them, etc.

FamiSafe also allows you to restrict the time spent on Valorant. All you need to do is to follow the given steps:

Step 1: Launch the application

Download and install the FamiSafe app on your device and your kid’s device.

Step 2: Create and register an account

Create an account on FamiSafe using a new username and password, log in and check the Pairing code.

Step 3. Pairing the devices

Launch the app on your kids’ device and sign in with the same account. Next, fill in the pairing code you received on your device to complete the connection. Next, follow the instruction to grant permissions and access to FamiSafe; then, you are ready to monitor your kids’ devices now.

Step 4. Set screen time

Find Screen Time option on the navigation bar. Then click the +/- icon to set limit time for your kids’ device. Once the time runs out, the device will be inaccessible anymore.

Here is a video showing you how to use FamiSafe step by step:

Other features of Wondershare FamiSafe that you may be interested in:

App Blocking

Using app usage and blocking features, you can apply the restriction to a particular app or a group of apps by age rating. Without accessing kids’ devices, you can remotely block and unblock the app to ensure your kids are not misusing their digital freedom when you are out.

Detect Suspicious Text

FamiSafe also helps parents detect suspicious text on kids’ devices. The messages shared on chatting platforms like SMS, Whatsapp, Facebook, Twitter, etc., will be seen. Parents will also receive an instant alert as long as any inappropriate content is included. In addition, FamiSafe offers parents a suspicious textbase where you can add and delete words as you like to let the app detect.

Other Tips for Parents

• Advise kids against spending on games

Parents should be wary of kids’ spend on the game as kids can get addicted to buying ammunition within the app. Therefore, we would recommend you not provide your credit card details. Besides, it would help if you also encouraged them to save their pocket money and use it on something of actual worth.

• Play with them

It's challenging to keep up with the evolving technology, but if you want to know what your kids are up to, you need to participate in their love activities. So take out some time, explore Valorant, and play a few games with your kids if possible, which will not just bridge the emotional gap but also give you an idea of what your kids might be facing.

Conclusion

Valorant is a character-based tactical FPS by RIOT Games. Overall, it's a violent shooting and killing digital game designed for kids above 16. Do not let go of your young kids' activities on the Valorant app unsupervised, as there are good chances of being exposed to explicit content and bullying on this platform. On top of it, it's always a good idea to set up a schedule for digital games like Valorant.

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