Entry 06
Online safety and parental controls
The three layers of control available around an online game, what each one can and cannot do, how in-game reporting works, and which Australian body to approach when something goes beyond what a household can handle.
Safety around an online game is often discussed as a single setting to be found and switched on. It is not one setting; it is three separate layers, each owned by a different party, and each capable of things the others are not. Knowing which layer handles which problem is most of the work.
The three layers
- The game's own controls
- Set by the operator inside the game or the account settings. These govern chat availability, who may send a friend request, what is visible on a profile, and the in-game reporting tool. They are the only layer that can act on another player's behaviour inside the world.
- The platform or store controls
- Set in the operating system or the app store: screen time limits, purchase approval, app installation restrictions and payment controls. This is the layer that reliably prevents unexpected spending, because it sits between the game and the payment method.
- The household's own arrangements
- Where the device is used, when, with what agreement about who the child may talk to and what they do if something unpleasant happens. The least technical layer and the only one that works when a child is on someone else's device.
What each layer cannot do
Game controls cannot stop a purchase made with a saved card at store level. Store controls cannot moderate a conversation. Neither can substitute for a child knowing they can tell an adult without the game being taken away — which, in practice, is the control that most determines whether a problem is reported at all.
Setting the store and device layer
These are the controls most worth setting before a game is first launched, because retrofitting them after a purchase dispute is considerably less pleasant. The exact menus move between operating system versions, so the following describes what to look for rather than a fixed path.
- Require approval for purchases. Every major platform offers a setting that requires a parent's authorisation, a password or a separate approval before a purchase completes. This is the single most effective control in the entire list.
- Do not leave a payment method saved on a child's profile. A stored card turns every purchase into a confirmation rather than a decision.
- Use a child or family account type where the platform provides one, rather than an adult account used by a child. The controls that matter are usually only available on the former.
- Set app installation controls so that new installations are visible to a parent.
- Check the controls after major updates. Operating system updates occasionally reset or relocate settings.
The eSafety Commissioner publishes device-specific guides for parents covering these settings across the common platforms, at esafety.gov.au. Those guides are maintained and platform-specific, which is why this entry describes the principles and points there for the steps.
Chat, and what moderation actually means
Where a game allows players to communicate, the operator usually applies some combination of a word filter, an age-based restriction on who may use open chat, and a reporting tool backed by human review. None of these is complete. Filters are evaded routinely, age settings depend on an honestly entered date of birth, and human review happens after the fact.
The useful consequence is that a reporting tool should be treated as the main mechanism rather than a backstop. A child who knows where the report button is, and that using it is expected rather than dramatic, is better protected than one relying on a filter.
How in-game reporting generally works
- The reporting control is usually reached from the other player's name or profile, or from the chat message itself.
- A reason is selected from a list, and a short description can often be added.
- Many systems attach a transcript of recent chat automatically; where they do not, a screenshot taken before leaving the conversation is worth having.
- Blocking is a separate action from reporting, and doing both is usually appropriate: the block takes effect immediately, the report goes to review.
- Outcomes are generally not disclosed to the reporter, which is a privacy consequence rather than an indication that nothing happened.
Patterns worth recognising
- Moving the conversation elsewhere. A request to continue a game conversation on another platform removes it from the game's moderation and reporting tools. This is a recognised grooming pattern and is covered in the eSafety Commissioner's material.
- Offers of items, currency or accounts. In-game gifts are routinely used to open a relationship or to obtain account credentials.
- Requests for personal details. School, suburb, surname, timetable, photographs. None of these are needed to play together.
- Secrecy framing. Any suggestion that something should be kept from a parent is itself the signal, irrespective of what the something is.
Where to go when it goes beyond the household
Three Australian bodies have distinct roles here, and approaching the right one saves time.
| Situation | Where it goes |
|---|---|
| Serious online abuse or cyberbullying affecting a child | The eSafety Commissioner, Australia's online safety regulator, which accepts reports and publishes the reporting routes. |
| A scam, a fake game site, or a phishing attempt | Scamwatch, run by the National Anti-Scam Centre. |
| A compromised account or device | The Australian Cyber Security Centre, which publishes guidance and takes cyber incident reports. |
| Immediate danger to a person | The police. In an emergency, triple zero. |
A note on screen time
Live service games are built to reward returning: daily tasks, timed events and streaks all exist to make a session today more valuable than a session next week. Recognising those mechanisms is more useful than treating a long session as a character failing. Where a household wants limits, platform-level screen time controls enforce them more consistently than a conversation at the end of each session, and setting them before the game is installed avoids the sense of a privilege being withdrawn.
It is also worth knowing that a limit set at platform level and a limit agreed in conversation fail in different ways. The platform limit is consistent and impersonal, and it will end a session mid-event, which a child will experience as unfair even when the rule was known. An agreed limit accommodates the event but depends on the agreement holding when something is almost finished. Most households end up using both, with the platform control as the boundary and the conversation as the part that handles exceptions — which works considerably better than the reverse.
What applies to Star Stable Online
The material available to this publisher describes Star Stable Online as an online horse-riding adventure game available on desktop, mobile and tablet, in which an account is created and activated to play. It does not describe the title's chat features, moderation arrangements or parental control options, so this site does not state them. Those are published by the operator, and the three layers set out above apply whichever title a household chooses.
Visit the Star Stable Online website A paid link: the advertiser pays Infiniti Hub a commission for an account created after it is used. There is no extra cost to you, and the safety guidance on this page is independent of it and applies to any game in this category.
Related entries
- Classification and age suitability — what a classification covers and what it leaves to these controls.
- Accounts, sign-up and activation — the account settings that sit underneath the game's own controls.
- Consumer rights and refunds — what to do after an unexpected charge.