What resources does Ask About Games offer to parents and families?

Ask About Games is a UK-based campaign run by Ukie, the trade body for the UK video games industry, with support from games businesses and industry stakeholders. It is aimed at parents and families who want practical help navigating video games and the wider online world. The site's resources are free to access and organised around four starting steps: a family agreement, a conversation guide, parental controls walk-throughs, and age-based game guides.

The four core resources

1. Power Up Pact

A downloadable agreement designed to be completed with your child rather than imposed on them. It covers three areas:

• In-game interactions (who they play and communicate with)
• Spending (what can be bought in games)
• Time limits (how long they play)

The site positions this as step one because it establishes shared parameters before any technical setup. The value here is the conversation itself — a written pact gives you something concrete to refer back to when a limit is tested.

2. Conversation Guide

A downloadable guide for talking about online safety across video games and the wider digital world. The site describes it as spanning everything from daily check-ins to deeper discussions about critical thinking.

This is the resource to reach for if you don't know how to open the subject, or if previous attempts have turned into arguments. Regular short check-ins tend to work better than one long lecture.

3. Parental controls setup guides

Step-by-step walk-throughs for setting up parental controls across:

• Networks
• Games and consoles
• Devices
• Apps and platforms

Because controls live in different places on each platform, these guides are organised by where you need to make the change. Expect to work through more than one guide if your family uses multiple devices and consoles.

4. Free game guides

Age-based guides indicating which games are most appropriate for each age range. The site's current guide list includes titles such as EA Sports FC 25, EA Sports FC 24, Marvel's Wolverine, LEGO Batman: Legacy of the Dark Knight, Knack 2, Heave Ho 2, Dungeons of Hinterberg, Drink More Glurp, Denshattack!, Darwin's Paradox!, Cobalt Core and Bubsy 4D.

Use these when your child asks for a specific game and you want a quick read on whether it fits your family's rules — or when you want to suggest something suitable instead.

How to use the site

The site lays out a suggested order:

1. Download the Power Up Pact and agree parameters with your kids on interactions, spending and time limits.
2. Download the Conversation Guide to start discussing online safety across games and the wider digital world.
3. Set up parental controls across networks, games and consoles, devices, apps and platforms using the walk-through guides.
4. Find the right game using the free game guides, which indicate what is most appropriate for each age range.

You don't have to follow this order, but it makes sense: agreement first, then conversation, then technical controls, then game selection. Technical controls are more effective when your child understands why they exist.

Who it suits — and who it doesn't

What to know before you start

• The campaign is described as decade-long and industry-backed, so the guides reflect input from games businesses as well as safety-focused material.
• The game guide list rotates and expands; check the latest guides rather than relying on an old bookmark.
• The site does not present itself as a review outlet — the guides indicate age appropriateness, not quality.
• No pricing or login requirements are stated on the page, so treat access details as something to confirm when you arrive.

If your goal is a repeatable family routine rather than a one-off answer, start with the Power Up Pact and the Conversation Guide, then work through the parental controls guides for each device you own.