Most online games let players talk to each other: voice chat in a lobby, text messages, friend requests, even drawings or emotes. For adults that is part of the fun. For a child it means strangers can reach them through a game they thought was just about racing or building. The good news is that every major console lets a parent decide who can get through, and the settings take a few minutes.
The key idea is that chat is not one switch. A game can have voice chat, text chat and friend requests, and each one is a separate door. You can lock one and leave another open.
Imagine a busy lobby of 100 players. Five are people your child actually knows. The other 95 are strangers. Change the settings below and watch who can get through. The numbers are an illustration, not real statistics.
The names differ, but the idea is the same on each platform. All of them are managed from a parent or family account that you control.
Xbox: in Family Settings (app, console or the Microsoft Family website) you can set online communication to Everyone, Friends Only or No One, which covers voice, text and invites. You can also require approval before your child adds friends, block communication outside the Xbox network, and allow or block cross-network play.
PlayStation: parental controls let you restrict communication with other players and restrict viewing content created by other players, including whether photos and videos can be exchanged.
Nintendo Switch: in the free Nintendo Switch Parental Controls app you can restrict communicating with others. The restriction covers voice, text and other ways of sending messages to other players, and you can allow it only in specific games, though how it applies varies by game.
Menus and options change with system updates, so check your platform's own support pages if a setting has moved.
Console settings are only one layer. Many popular games run their own accounts and chat systems on top, for example separate voice chat and friend settings inside the game itself. If your child plays on a PC or phone as well, those platforms have their own controls. After you set up the console, open the game's settings once and check that voice and text chat match what you chose.
Settings reduce the risk, but they do not replace a conversation. A few simple habits help most families:
Agree on a rule: if someone online asks for personal details, wants to move the chat to another app, or makes your child uncomfortable, they tell you straight away and nothing bad happens to their gaming time.
Show the tools: most games let players mute, block and report others. Practise using them together so your child knows how before they need it.
Play together sometimes: hearing a lobby for ten minutes tells you more than any menu.
Match the setting to the age and the child. For younger children, No One for voice and text is a sensible start, with chat opened only for games and people you have approved. For older children, Friends Only plus parent approval for friend requests keeps most of the social fun while keeping strangers out. Whatever you pick, review it every few months, because children grow and games change.