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First Steps Into Online Video Games

One of the most exciting aspects of modern video games is playing with other people online. It's a big step from playing something like Mario Kart with family and friends in the same room to going online to play with people you don't know.

With the benefits and opportunities of online play come the issues and potential dangers of children interacting with people they don't know. We've worked with the Breck Foundation to create this list of games that are great for parents, carers and children to take first steps online together.

The Breck Foundation is a charity founded by Lorin LaFave after the tragic murder of her 14-year-old son, Breck Bednar, in 2014, through online grooming. Breck was groomed while enjoying his passions for computing and gaming. The foundation aims to ensure that no child is harmed through grooming and exploitation while enjoying their time on the internet.

After speaking with Lorin on BBC Radio, together, we hatched an idea to offer this resource to help anchor online gaming as a part of family life. By playing online with your child from an early age you create a context where mistakes are made together. This establishes an open conversation where your child is more likely to tell you if something happens online that doesn't feel right, and more likely to listen to your ongoing advice and guidance.

This works with Breck Foundation's, ‘Play virtual, Live real’ motto that reminds children to never meet up alone in a private place with someone they have met only online, to ensure that online play is safe, enjoyable and connected to attentive adults.

The games in this list offer small steps to go from local play to online play. Some games, like Roblox are designed for young players with lots of special safety settings. Other games, like Sky, are designed to lead players into cooperating with each other with in-game purchases you give away, and interactions that start limited and expand as you gain experience. Then there are cooperative games like Ibb and Obb where you work together and communicate with gestures on the screen.

You can use Family Settings and Parental Controls on your system to limit how your child interacts with other players online. As well as finding the right games to get them started, it's also important that you play with them and keep game screens in shared family spaces so you can see what they are doing.

This list includes 65 games from the last 31 years, with 2,656 likes. They come from a range of different genres and play-styles and are all good games if you want to dip your toe into online games.

List Details

PEGI Ratings: PEGI 3 to PEGI 16
ESRB Ratings: ESRB EVERYONE to ESRB MATURE 17+
Australian Ratings: G to MA 15+
Genres: Action, Adventure, Battle, Brain Game, Collecting, Communication, Creative, Fighting, Narrative, Physically Active, Platform, Point-and-Click, Puzzle, Race, Rhythm, Role-Play, Sequencing, Shooting, Simulation, Sports, Stealth, Strategy, Traversal and World Building
Total Likes: 2,656

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Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

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Release Date: 14/03/2012, updated in 2019

Out Now: PC, PS3, PS4 and iOS

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World

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Mario Kart 8 Deluxe

Release Date: 27/08/1992, updated in 2018

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, DS, GameCube, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

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Apico

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Out Now: Mac, PC, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Day and Night, Grid and Pixels

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The Crew 2

Release Date: 02/12/2014, updated in 2018

Out Now: PC, PS4, Stadia and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 11+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night and Open World

The Crew 2 is the latest in a series of open-world racing and exploration games set in a scaled-down version of the United States. The emphasis is on enjoyable and exciting driving more than realism. It's a lot like Forza Horizon, although can be played...

Ibb and Obb

Release Date: 01/08/2013, updated in 2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS3 and Switch

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On and Cartoon

Ibb and Obb is a puzzle game where you run, jump, land on enemies and solve momentum puzzles. The novelty is that it's a game designed for cooperation. One player controls the green creature, Ibb, and the other controls the pink creature, Obb. The world...

The Tomorrow Children

Release Date: 06/09/2016, updated in 2022

Out Now: PS4 and PS5

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

The Tomorrow Children is an online strategy game where you collaborate with other players to build, explore and develop communities. Unusually, it uses social economics and a Soviet Union-themed post-apocalyptic dystopia as the setting. You play a clone...

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Release Date: Coming soon

Coming Soon: PC, PS4, PS5, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon, Open World and Weather

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Orchids to Dusk

Release Date: 03/12/2015

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 13+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World

Orchids to Dusk is a short wandering adventure. You are an astronaut stranded on an alien planet, with only a few minutes of oxygen. You explore the world and discover fantastic gardens on the planet.

Sticky Terms

Release Date: 01/03/2020

Out Now: Android and iOS

Components: 2D Side-On and Text

Sticky Terms is a puzzle game where you construct words from other languages with portions of letters. You rotate, drag and overlap the different elements to create words, once you do you are rewarded with a drum hit and a definition of the word.

Blanc

Release Date: 14/02/2023

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Hand-Made

Blanc is a black-and-white adventure for two players. You play a fawn and a wolf cub stranded in a vast, snowy wilderness. As you use each other's abilities to progress through the world, you form an unlikely partnership and hope to find both their...

Lego 2K Drive

Release Date: 19/05/2023

Out Now: PC, PS4, PS5, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Blocks, Cartoon and Open World

Lego 2K Drive is an open-world racing game made out of Lego. There are races, as you'd expect, but you can also freely explore each of the worlds, collect parts and upgrade your cars. It stands out for updating the popular Lego destruction and...

Chessplosion

Release Date: 21/09/2021

Out Now: PC

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Chessplosion is an action, puzzle game where you drop chess pieces on a board to trigger bombs in the shape of their related chess moves. Your aim is to use the different pieces (and bomb attacks) to trap opponents like Bomberman. No prior chess...

Minecraft

Release Date: 23/11/2017, updated in 2019

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, Amazon Fire, Android, Mac, PC, PS Vita, PS3, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person, 3D Third-Person, Blocks, Day and Night, Open World and Weather

Minecraft is an open-world adventure where you collect, craft and construct structures and items. Play involves exploring the world to find resources and good locations to build. Some of the best aspects of the game are less well known; along with the...

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Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

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Out Now: Switch and Wii U

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Cartoon

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Out Now: Android, Switch and iOS

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Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon and Open World

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Just Dance 2022 (Series)

Release Date: 17/11/2009, updated in 2020

Out Now: Android, PC, PS2, PS3, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Web, Wii, Wii U, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 3+ year-olds

Components: 2D Side-On

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Roblox

Roblox (Series)

Release Date: 15/06/2016, updated in 2022

Out Now: Amazon Fire, Android, Mac, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Roblox is a series of games where amateur game-makers create simple online games that often mimic real-world grown-up scenarios, like working in a pizza restaurant, surviving natural disasters, escaping prison, scuba diving or playing hide-and-seek. The...

MeepCity

MeepCity (Roblox)

Release Date: 23/02/2016

Out Now: Android, PC, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon and Open World

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Royale High (Roblox)

Release Date: 04/10/2017

Out Now: Android, GBA, Mac, PC, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

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Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon, Day and Night and Open World

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Release Date: 12/12/2017, updated in 2021

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

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Out Now: Switch

Components: 2D Side-On

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FIFA

FIFA (Series)

Release Date: 15/12/1993, updated in 2021

Out Now: 3DS and 2DS, Android, DS, Mac, Megadrive, PC, PS Vita, PS2, PS3, PS4, Stadia, Switch, Wii, Wii U, Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, 3D Third-Person and Cards

FIFA is one of the two main football video games (the other being Pro Evolution). Each year it's released with improved visuals, more realistic physics and enhanced competitive play. For those that follow the game closely and play it a lot, it offers a...

Skyblock

Release Date: 01/01/2011, updated in 2020

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Wii U, Xbox One, Xbox Series X|S and iOS

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person and Blocks

Skyblock is a game played on Minecraft servers where you start on a bare island floating in the sky and must gather resources to thrive and reach other players. It's the Minecraft equivalent to being washed up on a desert island and is hugely popular....

Feather

Release Date: 05/04/2019

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Open World

Feather is an adventure traversal game that brings you, as a bird, to a beautiful island. You can explore freely, collecting items and soaring on the breeze. Often, other players will join you to create a flock of birds to fly together, making music on...

Star Stable

Release Date: 01/01/2011, updated in 2022

Out Now: Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 6+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon, Day and Night and Open World

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Hotshot Racing

Release Date: 10/09/2020

Out Now: PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 3D First-Person, 3D Third-Person and Cartoon

Hotshot Racing is a simple and fast racing game where you have to drift around corners and hit the apex on razor-sharp bends in coastal, jungle, alpine and Las Vegas desert environments.

Build A Boat for Treasure

Build A Boat for Treasure (Roblox)

Release Date: 02/11/2016, updated in 2022

Out Now: Amazon Fire, Android, Mac, PC, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Blocks

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Horizon Chase 2

Horizon Chase 2 (Series)

Release Date: 20/08/2015, updated in 2022

Out Now: Android, Apple TV, Mac, PC, PS4, Switch, Xbox One, iOS and iPhone, iPad

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person and Day and Night

Horizon Chase 2 is the latest game in the Horizon Chase series of arcade racing games with a focus on competitive fun rather than realism; its graphics make it look like it was plucked from the nineties’ arcades, with a nod to Outrun and Lotus Turbo...

Bad Business

Bad Business (Roblox)

Release Date: 29/05/2019

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Xbox One and iOS

Components: 3D First-Person

Bad Business on Roblox, is a first-person shooting game. It's similar to Call of Duty and Battlefield with shooting, running and sniping with different weapons.

Hypercharge: Unboxed

Release Date: 31/01/2020

Out Now: PC and Switch

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person

Hypercharge: Unboxed is a shooting game where you play a small toy from the 1990s in human-sized arenas like a toy shop, back garden and a garage. It combines base defence play with exploration and collection running and jumping in a wide range of...

Railbound

Release Date: 06/09/2022, updated in 2022

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, Switch and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead and Grid

Railbound is a track-bending puzzle game where you lay track, switch points, and use tunnels to get the carriages to the engine in the right order. Although it's the puzzles that keep you playing, there's also a real joy in connecting tracks and seeing...

Unrailed!

Release Date: 23/09/2020

Out Now: Mac, PC, PS4, Switch and Xbox One

Skill Rating: 9+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Blocks and Grid

Unrailed! is a co-op strategy game where you work with friends to build a train line across endless landscapes. Along with finding the resources to build tracks, bridges and tunnels, you need to deal with local inhabitants, upgrade your train and watch...

KartRider

KartRider (Series)

Release Date: 31/05/2020, updated in 2022

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC, PS4, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead

KartRider is an online kart racing game. You race and customise your kart on a variety of different circuits. Along with the usual fantasy vehicles this includes real cars. It's similar to Mario Kart and has power-ups and drift...

Work At A Pizza Place

Work At A Pizza Place (Roblox)

Release Date: 28/03/2008, updated in 2021

Out Now: Amazon Fire, Android, Mac, PC, Xbox One and iOS

Skill Rating: 7+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Blocks and Day and Night

Work At A Pizza Place is a strategy game where you take on the role of a team member in a pizza restaurant. When you start you choose a role and work with other online players to fulfil orders, cook pizzas, manage stock and other aspects of the business.

PK XD

Release Date: 15/07/2019, updated in 2022

Out Now: Android, Mac, PC and iOS

Skill Rating: 5+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon and Open World

PK XD is an online open world game where you connect with other players as you build houses, choose your appearance and play mini games. Like Roblox, it's a social-first experience driven by ever changing content and seasonal themes. It creates an...

Temtem

Release Date: 21/01/2020, updated in 2022

Out Now: PC, PS5, Switch and Xbox Series X|S

Skill Rating: 10+ year-olds

Components: 3D Third-Person, Cartoon and Open World

Temtem is a role-play game like Pokemon but played online against loads of other players. You collect and train Temtem creatures (of which there are 161) while exploring the world. You encounter other creatures controlled by human or computer players...

Clash Royale

Release Date: 02/03/2016

Out Now: Android and iOS

Skill Rating: 8+ year-olds

Components: 2D Overhead, Cards and Grid

Clash Royale is a real-time strategy game where you collect cards to gain units and powers for a player vs. player battle. It's like a simpler version of Clash of Clans.

Curated lists:
Game genre:
Style of Play:
Components:

How long to play:
User-generated content:	No
Accessibility features:	Yes

Controls
Gamepad:
Mouse And Keyboard:
Touchscreen:
Motion:	Motion Aiming Motion Pointing Motion Tilting Motion Gesture Motion Camera
Remap Controls:
Button Combinations:	Holding Down Buttons Optional Rapid Repeated Pressing Optional No Simultaneous Buttons
Controller Vibration:
Sensitivity:

Getting Started
Onboarding Before Play:
Assistance Getting Starting:	Tutorials Practice Area View Control Mapping Assistance With Controls Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Adjust Speed No Jump Scares
Assistance For Progressing:	Guaranteed Progress With God Mode Bank Progress With Frequent Checkpoints Assisted Progress With Boosts Assisted Progress With Hints Assisted Recall for Characters Assisted Recall for Narrative and Dialogue Save Progress Anytime

Reading
Reading Level:
Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text High Contrast Text
Subtitles:
Captions:
Voice Acted:

Navigation
Clarity:
Head-Up Display:
Menu Navigation:

Visual
Contrast:
Interactive Elements:
Visual Distractions:
Audio Cues for Visual Events:
Narration for Visual Elements:
	Motion Sickness Friendly
Colour Options:
Play Without Sight:
Violence:

Audio
	Balance Audio Levels
Audio Events:
	Play Without Hearing

Communication
Player-to-Player Online Communication:
Online Communication Assistance:

Difficulty
Difficulty Options:	Simple and Full Version No Memorisation Advantage No Hidden Information No Deceit Advantage No Colour Advantage No Mathematics Advantage No Weighing Decisions

Getting Started
Assistance Getting Started:	Clear Manual Electronic Version of Manual Electronic Version of Manual for Screen Readers Getting Started Video Digital Version Reference Aid
Assistance Progressing:	Play Order Tokens (Or play order doesn’t change) Reaction-Time Not Critical Low Pressure Low Impact Catch Up Rule

Reading
Reading Level:
Necessary Text Visibility:	Large Clear Text on Board (Or no text required) Large Clear Text on Cards (Or no text required) High Contrast Text (Or no text required) QR Code For Text (Or no text required) Primary and Secondary Text Distinguishable (Or no text required) Information Orientation Clear Icons

Physical
Pieces:	Components are Distinguishable by Touch Components are Replaceable No Non-Standard Dice (Or No Dice) No Tiny Pieces No Paper Money No Sprawl
Cards:	Large Card Size Standard Card Shape Limited Hand Management No Excessive Card Shuffling No Right-Handed Advantage
Placement:	No Unbound Placement Player Components Not Shared No Fiddly Placement Easily Verbalised Actions

Visual
Printed Visibility:	Colour Blind Friendly Design Double-Coding Colour High Contrast Colours
Component Identifiability:	Outline Key Elements No Busy Backgrounds Easily Verbalised Game State No Close Inspection Disadvantage Playable Without Sight

Audio
Communication:	Audio Cues Mirrored Visually (Or no critical audio signals) No Pressured Reveals No Pressured Communication Playable Without Hearing

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First Steps Into Online Video Games

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