Proving to my Mom that online gaming won’t get me hacked

[chunkymunky0]

Here’s my problem, I play rocket league on my pc and my mom recently realized that I play with random people online. She then decided to ban me from gaming online because she said that I will get hacked from interacting with others I don’t know. Can you guys please help me with reasons why I won’t get hacked so that I can convince my mom to let me play online again? I’ve given her a few reasons already but she is very stubborn. I’ve told her that Rocket league is a very big game and my information won’t be leaked in any way, and how I never put personal information online. She then said that big companies are getting hacked all of the time to which I said that rocket league hasn’t been hacked before. She said that there’s always a first for everything. Please help me guys, rocket league solo against bots is very boring.

[xAcid9]

Wear a tin foil hat. 

 

I think she simply doesn't want you to play it and use hack as an excuse. 

[paddy-stone]

Wow, just wow!

 

You better tell her to stop using online banking, facebook etc etc too then.... j/k, don't do that, she'll probably freak out and disconnect your house from the internet entirely!

 

I don't think anything you say will convince her. Maybe do a bit of research about a link between online gaming and hacking, and show her the results printed out... from trusted sources that she might listen to... that's all I can think of.

[chunkymunky0]

Just now, paddy-stone said:

Wow, just wow!

 

You better tell her to stop using online banking, facebook etc etc too then.... j/k, don't do that, she'll probably freak out and disconnect your house from the internet entirely!

 

I don't think anything you say will convince her. Maybe do a bit of research about a link between online gaming and hacking, and show her the results printed out... from trusted sources that she might listen to... that's all I can think of.

I was planning on doing this after I got some responses from the forum and was going to use this as a last ditch resort. Thanks for the responses though

[Skiiwee29]

Just because they havent been hacked yet.. does mean they wont.. nothing is ever hack proof no matter how much they claim and try. Its never a matter of IF... but always the question and matter of WHEN... 

[Eigenvektor]

8 minutes ago, chunkymunky0 said:

 Can you guys please help me with reasons why I won’t get hacked so that I can convince my mom to let me play online again?

Unfortunately, there's no way to prove a negative.

[chunkymunky0]

9 minutes ago, xAcid9 said:

Wear a tin foil hat. 

 

I think she simply doesn't want you to play it and use hack as an excuse. 

I don’t think she’s using it as an excuse, I think that she’s legit worried that it will get me hacked

[Eigenvektor]

1 minute ago, chunkymunky0 said:

I don’t think she’s using it as an excuse, I think that she’s legit worried that it will get me hacked

Your best option is to convince her that you're being responsible. The game holds no personal information about you, you have an up-to-date firewall/antivirus etc. Problem is, the less she understands about computers, the harder it will be to convince her with technical reasons. You could ask... why should someone hack me? What are they going to gain from it? There's no personal information, no bank info etc. that someone could abuse. But, as I said, as long as her reasons are emotional, you'll not get to her on a logical level.

[chunkymunky0]

4 minutes ago, Skiiwee29 said:

Just because they havent been hacked yet.. does mean they wont.. nothing is ever hack proof no matter how much they claim and try. Its never a matter of IF... but always the question and matter of WHEN... 

You could basically say this about anything that’s done online though. Yes nothing is hack proof, but some things are better protected than others. And being that rocket league hasn’t been hacked yet, is a better argument for it than something that’s been hacked countless times before.

[chunkymunky0]

2 minutes ago, Eigenvektor said:

Your best option is to convince her that you're being responsible. The game holds no personal information about you, you have an up-to-date firewall/antivirus etc. Problem is, the less she understands about computers, the harder it will be to convince her with technical reasons. You could ask... why should someone hack me? What are they going to gain from it? There's no personal information, no bank info etc. that someone could abuse. But, as I said, as long as her reasons are emotional, you'll not get to her on a logical level.

This really helps, thanks! I have told her already that I never use personal info online, but that's a good idea asking why I personally would get hacked. I’ll try this out, thanks again!

[chunkymunky0]

8 minutes ago, Sushimus said:

Tell her shes more likely to be endangered by her own facebook account than your game by a large margin

I have but she didn’t listen

[gloop]

Tell her that her Facebook account is collecting more data and selling it online then the game.

[Windows7ge]

When it comes to people who are stubborn like that especially a parent it's a mother of an uphill battle to make them change their mind especially when they're the boss of you.

 

Technically she's not wrong but at the same time her concern is also very misplaced. In a video game like that getting DDoS'd is a bigger concern than losing any personal information. As patty-stone said you might as well tell her to stop doing web banking, facebook, any other social media, throw away here e-mail, stop using Google, unplug her computer from the web, and throw away every IoT device she owns like Alexa or the Ring doorbell because all of these will sooner get you hacked in a way that could leak personal information sooner than a game of rocket league will.

 

Hackers who are out for personal information most frequently don't try to do it through a video game. Has it happened? Yes. Is it likely to happen to you, especially if you're responsible/smart about it? Highly highly unlikely.

 

You've got yourself a tinfoil hat mom who listens to too much of the scare tactics other fanatic parents post on social media and what you see reported on the news. If she doesn't do her own research she's gullible.

[eeeee1]

i bet basically no one in Rocket League knows how to penetrate into your system let alone the basics of hacking.

[Windows7ge]

1 minute ago, Sushimus said:

I beleive the hip term for this is Karen, but I could be misjudging

Ha, Karen is the woman who wants to talk to Rocket Leagues manager.

[Guest]

Get a VPN.
Write a paper about VPN & then say you won't use a microphone so they can't know who you are & show her that your screenname is completely not your name. If it is.... change it & show her that that can't be it.


Or ask her to buy you singleplayer games because all you have are online games & use that as an excuse to spend like $100 on like 30 games for the steam summer sale coming up.

[Nine Tailed Fox]

Typical boomer behavior lol

[Worstcaster]

Most "hacking" is really social engineering attacks.  Someone will try to obtain your password by, pretending to be a mod or sending an email.  Usually there will be some dire warning of being banned, having your account locked, etc.  They will then request your user name and password (the company your have your account with already has access to your account, so there is no reason for them to need that from you), in order to "help you clear this matter up".  Usually a company like Steam would be a higher value target than an individual user.  You can't get much from an individual, but if you get a master list of user names and passwords you can sell them or use them for identity theft themselves.  See Google, Facebook, Yahoo, Equifax, etc, data breaches.  The best protection against this kind of "hacking" having a strong password, not using it on multiple sites (so if one is compromised is doesn't effect others.  ie.  Using the same password for banking and email), and knowing enough not to give that information out.  Even people that are truly hacking the games are usually just using mods like an aim bot which effects the output from their machine, but does not effect yours directly.

 

 

 

[Soag]

Context is important. Actually how much does she know about computers? How much does she know about hacking? How much do you know about her reasons? How have the two of you been talking about the subject you brought up here? Think about answers for all of those. When you do, proceed with my message.

 

So, first off, if you want to achieve anything in that matter you need to be calm and collected. I suggest you ask her when she has some time to talk because you would like to discuss one thing. When she does just go and sit somewhere where you can calmly talk. A couch in the living room, a kitchen table, whatever place you can discuss in without any distractions and simply bring the subject. Start off with something like "Mom, remember like you banned me from playing online? It's been really bugging me. I've done some research (and actually do that research! We don't know what's your knowledge on the matter and there's probably lots of stuff you don't know anyways) and I don't think that's probable. Why do you think it's an issue? I would really like to understand". And then proceed with the discussion, I won't be giving you any script for various reasons. It needs to be natural and you need to convey all of the points you might have. Answer her questions and provide arguments. You need to show her that you are reasonable, calm, know more about the subject than she does (show, not brag! She needs to understand that on her own). And most of all:

1) reiterated - be calm; Don't get excited. When she raises voice you don't raise yours. Use arguments, not emotions.

2) listen and try to understand her point of view; she might really be concerned (most likely due to limited knowledge on the matter) or that "online aspect" might be just an excuse cause you either get too excited playing it or spend way too much time on it

3) don't rush her; Even if she doesn't change her opinion during the discussion end with something like "OK, my opinion is different but I understand you point of view, just please think about it some more and get back to me if you change your mind"

 

As for the actual arguments: explain her how the game is launched, what type of data is stored on either side and which parts of it are being transferred (Psyonix and Steam) - I don't play RL so have no idea if you need to create a Psyonix account or what is stored on their end, explain how every player connects to their server, so there's no direct connection between the players, make sure she knows you never share your both account and vital personal information (like name is fine, but an address or credit card details definitely not), if it's about your game-related behaviour negotiate the terms and promise to make a progress in that area (and actually do, if you easing her approach and hence continue playing). She needs to understand both the technicalities (even if just a little bit - enough for her to be cool with it) and where you're coming from.

 

If you will need some more detailed help feel free to PM me. But most of all try to learn as much as you can about methods of effective communication. Especially as it's a very useful skill you will find yourself using throughout entirety of your life.

[Soag]

12 hours ago, Nine Tailed Fox said:

Typical boomer behavior lol

Typical generalization - find an answer on your own as to whether that's smart or not.

[JabroniBaloney]

Might be easier to just get emancipated.

[SkilledRebuilds]

This won't help the cause.... but its something for her to be mindful of regardless and might open up a dialog.