What are Steam Parental Controls? How to Make Steam Safer for Kids?

Steam is a popular platform that has been treasured by gamers as it offers downloading, selling, and buying games.

Despite the fact that most of the games are kid-friendly, there can be certain games that are not suitable for young minds. Also, your children can interact with other gamers on the platform.

Hence, as a concerned parent, I would recommend setting up Steam parental controls to ensure a safe and harmless gaming experience for your kids.

Going into details, I’ll help you understand why you need to consider such an option and what steps you can take.

Quick Answer: Steam offers Family View as parental controls that allow you to set your own rules and restrict access to any content you feel is inappropriate for kids.

Sorry kid you are not the hero the TR needs. TIL Steam has a nice suite of parental controls. pic.twitter.com/hWHUWVgnxa

— Genna Bain (@GennaBain) September 23, 2014

Why Is It Important to Set Steam Parental Controls?

I bet most parents have no idea what does Steam mean, and they’re surely unaware of the potential dangers on the platform. Unfortunately, the platform is prone to these online threats:

• Exposure to violence and mature content – Once your child signs up for Steam, they can come across all sorts of games based on themes that involve violence, gore, aggression, abuse, and more. 

• The presence of scammers – With the popular Steam trading system, it is possible to come across an unfair deal that will most likely be a scam.

• Use of inappropriate language and Bullying – As the platform allows players from across the world, you may never know if users are abusing, harassing, or swearing on your kid’s profile wall.

How to Set Parental Controls On Steam?

When it’s about whether Steam is safe or not, the good news is that you can decide what games and content will be accessible to your child.

The feature is called ‘Family View‘ and to enable it, follow these steps:

• From the homepage, click on your profile name, which is in the top right corner.

  

• Then, click on Account details.

  

• Scroll down to the bottom and click Manage Family View under Family Settings.

  

• Now, the Family View Wizard will open, and you can select the content and features accessible by your child. Simply set the pointer to those that suit your safety requirements. Click Next when done.

  

• Enter the recovery email address.

  

• Then, enter the four-digit Family View PIN for the account. Re-enter it and click Next to proceed ahead.

  

• Enter the Secret Code received on your email ID and click Next.

  

• That’s it, you’ll now see the message ‘FAMILY VIEW IS NOW ENABLED‘ on the next screen.

  

With Steam Family View enabled, your kid can only get rid of it until they know the PIN.

Summing Up – What Else Needs to Be Watched Out?

Setting parental controls on Steam can be an effective measure to keep children away from mature content and online bullying. However, you must keep an eye on the games your children are playing and for how long they’re engaging with gaming.

Wasting too much time on gaming and leaving the essential tasks is not an option, even if the safety factor is maintained. So, as a parent, monitoring your child’s activities is important.

Gaurav Rathore