How to Get Started with Ask About Games' Step-by-Step Safety Advice

Ask About Games lays out a four-step path for families: agree on ground rules with the Power Up Pact, open the conversation with the Conversation Guide, set up parental controls using its walk-through guides, and pick games with the free game guides. It is aimed at parents and families who want to navigate video games and the wider online world safely, and it is powered by Ukie, the trade body for the UK video games industry. The steps work best in order, because each one builds on the last: you agree the rules first, then talk them through, then enforce them technically, then choose what to play.

Step 1: Agree the ground rules with the Power Up Pact

Download the Power Up Pact and use it to have a conversation with your children, mutually agreeing parameters around three things:

• In-game interactions (who they play and communicate with)
• Spending
• Time limits

The point of doing this first is that the pact is an agreement, not a set of rules handed down. Agreeing parameters together gives you something concrete to refer back to later, and it means the parental controls in Step 3 are enforcing a decision your child was part of, rather than something imposed without warning.

Step 2: Open the conversation with the Conversation Guide

Download the Conversation Guide to start discussing online safety across video games and their wider digital world. The site describes its scope as running from daily check-ins to critical thinking deep dives — so it covers both the quick "how was your game?" habit and longer conversations about what your child encounters online.

Use this step to cover the ground the pact can't: what to do if someone behaves badly in a game, how to judge whether a person or offer online is trustworthy, and how to talk to you when something goes wrong.

Step 3: Set up parental controls with the walk-through guides

Set up parental controls across the layers where they actually exist:

Ask About Games provides easy walk-through guides for each of these. Work through them in the order that matches your household — if your child plays mainly on one console, start there and add the other layers as needed. The controls are what make the Step 1 agreement stick when you are not in the room.

Step 4: Choose games with the free game guides

Find the right game for your family using the free game guides, which indicate what is most appropriate for each age range. Examples of games with guides on the site include:

• EA Sports FC 25 and 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
• Bubsy 4D

Check the guide for a specific title before you buy or allow it, rather than relying on the cover or a trailer.

What Ask About Games is, and who it is for

Ask About Games is a decade-long campaign powered by Ukie, the trade body for the UK video games industry, and supported by games businesses and industry stakeholders. Its stated mission is to support parents and families in navigating the world of video games safely. The site's framing is that children are spending more time than ever online and it can be hard to know where to start — so the four steps above are designed as that starting point, combining top tips, expert knowledge and answers to questions about video games and the wider online landscape.

A practical order of work

If you only have one evening, do it in this sequence:

1. Skim the Power Up Pact and raise the three topics (interactions, spending, time) at your next family conversation.
2. Read the Conversation Guide and pick one daily check-in question to start using.
3. Set up controls on the single device or console your child uses most.
4. Look up the guide for the game they are currently asking for.

Then extend to the remaining layers and titles over the following weeks.