Nintendo DS Wi-FI

[mom23boys]

Does anyone know anthing about this.

Now before anyone flames me for inquiring about my 9 yo DS doing this, yes I have been to two online preditor seminars, our school district ran one and the ADA for our county came to our HSA meeting to do a seminar about how easy it is to find kids on the internet. I got so flamed by the ADA when she asked if anyones kid had a computer not in the common area in your house, so much so that I wanted to crawl under the table she treated me like Child Protection Services was going to take them away from me. I mean it was horrible.

All my DS wants to do is trade Pokemon (he has pokemon diamond) with the neighbor kid and have battles with him and some of his friends from school. He would never do any battles in wi fi unless I approved of the friend and I told him I want to call their parents and get their screen name.

So I told him I would post it on the DIS and if they did not think it was a good idea, or if I did not, it was a no go. He said he would be okay with that.

Again no flames please, my DH works in computers we have all the security we need in our house to make sure they are not doing anything inappropriate.

 

[saraheeyore]

u're probably doing the right thing you are monitoring what he is doing
you can't just totally ignore the fact that kids want to use these things else they will use them without you anyway. I don't think they can get into much trouble on the DS anyway and as long as you know who they are communicating with they will be fine

 

[lucas43068]

with the ds, you have to know he person youre playing against. you have to have their friend code, and you cant get into chatrooms (not counting the pictochat program, but with pictochat, you have to be within 30 feet ofeach other) or websites. id say that the ds is pretty harmless when it comes to online creeps, im sure it happens, but just check out the friends list and as who they are and eveything will be fine.
hope this helps, im a video game nerd, and a parent, so if you have any other questions just let me know.

 

[TriMom]

I think that to actually "talk" to anyone you have to have a friend code. And if you are just playing WI FI without a friend code then it's like playing the computer. The random people don't actually have any way of contacting your DS.

And I understand the importance of keeping our kids safe, but seriously, a major flaming on having a computer in your DS bedroom? I guess I would get it to, my 5 yo has a computer in his bedroom, and he can get online - the horror - the horror - the horror - oh wait, I have his computer locked down to sites I approve, and he can't install any programs. Sounds like you have your bases covered too! No flames from me!

 

[pixiewings71]

My girls are allowed to do Wi Fi with their DSs and with the Wii. I haven't noticed any opportunities for predators to track them....I'm more worried about them being on the actual internet and chatting. We do monitor their usage tho, and we do talk to them about being careful.

 

[mom23boys]

with the ds, you have to know he person youre playing against. you have to have their friend code, and you cant get into chatrooms (not counting the pictochat program, but with pictochat, you have to be within 30 feet ofeach other) or websites. id say that the ds is pretty harmless when it comes to online creeps, im sure it happens, but just check out the friends list and as who they are and eveything will be fine.
hope this helps, im a video game nerd, and a parent, so if you have any other questions just let me know.

Thank you, I think I understand, he has to know the friends code to trade or battle, is that correct? Hi does pictochat with his brother or when friends are over.

I think that to actually "talk" to anyone you have to have a friend code. And if you are just playing WI FI without a friend code then it's like playing the computer. The random people don't actually have any way of contacting your DS.

And I understand the importance of keeping our kids safe, but seriously, a major flaming on having a computer in your DS bedroom? I guess I would get it to, my 5 yo has a computer in his bedroom, and he can get online - the horror - the horror - the horror - oh wait, I have his computer locked down to sites I approve, and he can't install any programs. Sounds like you have your bases covered too! No flames from me!

Thanks for understanding. My bolding, it was horrible, I felt like the worst parent ever and everytime the ADA would make a point about the dangers she stared right at me. This son I am asking about, just got a laptop for christmas, I put his favorite websites on his favorites.


Thanks both of you for explaining this to me.

saraheeyore, I was thinking DS was pretty safe but I was not too sure about it. And I will monitor him.

Again thanks.

 

[peytonsmomie]

Sounds like the ADA flaming incident was another one of those "this way of child rearing is the only *good* way" maniac moments. You know your household, you know your child, and you know what you are capable of ensuring is safe. If you feel comfortable, then by all means go ahead. Too many parents allow themselves to be cowed by the "experts." You know what? *YOU'RE* the expert for your family. Anyone who challenges that needs to be told in no uncertain terms where to take a walk to.

 

[jennifer293]

DS has WIFI??? Both of my dd's have one and I had no clue..I thought it only played games...I knew they could pictochat, but it does other stuff??

 

[mom23boys]

DS has WIFI??? Both of my dd's have one and I had no clue..I thought it only played games...I knew they could pictochat, but it does other stuff??

Apparently from what my DS said some DS game are wifi, like Pokemon Diamond and Pearl, games like Build a bear are not.

So with wifi, he can get a code from a friend, put it in his DS and trade pokemons and battle with friends.

 

[lucas43068]

yup, you have to get a code, from your friends, and only then can you interact with them, o you dont have to worry about strangers just messageing you or anything.

 

[MommyBoo!]

Our kids play MarioKart (I think that is the one) with their cousins who live across town. It's really funny because they play better together on wifi than in person.

 

[jennifer293]

Thanks for the info..I was clueless...lol I will have to see which of thier games they can play on Wifi...how neat!!!

 

[Scurvy]

With some of the DS games you can play with lots of people, not just ones you've exchanged friend codes with. However, you can only chat with the ones whose friend code you have, so there's no danger of any predators interacting with you. So with Mario Kart, for example, you can race against a bunch of people at a time even if you've never traded codes with them. But you can't interact with them at all other than just racing against them - no voice or text chat at all.

 

[NotUrsula]

With some of the DS games you can play with lots of people, not just ones you've exchanged friend codes with. However, you can only chat with the ones whose friend code you have, so there's no danger of any predators interacting with you. So with Mario Kart, for example, you can race against a bunch of people at a time even if you've never traded codes with them. But you can't interact with them at all other than just racing against them - no voice or text chat at all.

Yep. My son likes to do this on planes.

 

[mom23boys]

With some of the DS games you can play with lots of people, not just ones you've exchanged friend codes with. However, you can only chat with the ones whose friend code you have, so there's no danger of any predators interacting with you. So with Mario Kart, for example, you can race against a bunch of people at a time even if you've never traded codes with them. But you can't interact with them at all other than just racing against them - no voice or text chat at all.

Op here. Wow you guys have been so helpful thank you and you have eased my mind about the dangers.

We did set both boys up with wi fi last night. I had no idea the DS had a microphone in it. The were playing Pokemon on it and battling eachother.

Good to know about Mario Kart that sounds like fun, we do not have that game but maybe I will look into it.