Player Safety

How we keep players safe.

ESA members employ a multi-faceted approach that maximizes player safety while working to create positive environments where everyone who plays can have fun and feel like they belong. The industry is continually developing and deploying new and sophisticated technologies and practices to create a positive environment and protect players online:

• The use of advanced technology tools
• Human intervention on networks
• Codes of conduct that set expectations and penalize disruptive behavior
• Tools to control a player’s communication with others, to report bad behavior and to incentivize good behavior through a reward system
• Cooperation with law enforcement and trusted third parties

For 30 years, the video game industry has worked to ensure that consumers—especially parents and caregivers—have comprehensive information and resources needed to make informed decisions about video games.

Tools for parents and caregivers to protect children. 

Our member companies invest in the development and evolution of safety and wellness features, prioritizing player safety above all. The video game industry regularly updates parental controls and other product features and tools to help consumers navigate the ever-changing world of video games.

Ratings for video games

Since 1994, the video game industry’s self regulatory body, the Entertainment Software Rating Board (ESRB), has provided parents with age and content ratings for video games and apps to help them make informed decisions about which products are appropriate for their family. These tools have a high level of awareness and use among parents. 

Parental controls

Offered on virtually all video game devices, parental controls offer parents the ability to efficiently set preferences that are appropriate for their household. These controls enable parents to: 

1. Filter video games by age rating category
2. Manage the amount of money their kids can spend playing video games
3. Limit the amount of time, and times of day, kids can spend playing video games
4. Restrict or block user-to-user communication

Smartphone apps for console management

In addition to being able to set parental controls directly on the console, parents can download easy-to-use smartphone apps for each console to manage what, when and with whom their children can play. ESRB provides a centralized place for parents to obtain step-by-step parental control guides for all the game consoles, Windows computers and other platforms at ParentalTools.org. 

In-game tools

The industry also provides in-game tools to enable players to mute or block other players online and to report unwanted interactions.

Information on violence in video games.

Real-world evidence makes it clear that there is no causal link between video games and violent behavior. 

In study after study, leading independent researchers have found no scientific evidence to link video games and real-world violence. 

Most of the three billion video game players around the world enjoy the same video games—including those containing violent content. Despite this, violent offenses in foreign markets where those same video games are sold are far less common than they are in the United States, suggesting that other factors (e.g. background of the individual, the availability of and access to guns, mental health considerations, etc.) are more relevant to understanding the cause of any particular offense.

Learn more here.

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