Hello everyone,

I've noticed a disturbing amount of hate speech and inappropriate language in LiveForSpeed. My 9-year-old son (S3 licensed) loves this game and even created his own server to play. He's trying his best to be polite and follow the rules, even though English is not his native language and he may not understand all the rules in races.

I'm attaching a screenshot as an example of the kind of language and behavior we've encountered. It's disheartening to see this kind of behavior in a game that my son loves so much.

I understand that it's an online game and it's hard to control what others say or do, but I believe we can make a difference. I'm reaching out to this community for advice on how to improve his experience in LFS.

Are there any parental controls or moderation tools available that can help filter out inappropriate content? Or perhaps there are child-friendly servers that we can join?

Any advice would be greatly appreciated. Let's work together to make LFS a safe and enjoyable space for all players, regardless of their age.

Thank you.

[a Concerned Parent]

Hello,
I am not qualified to answer you. You will need to discuss this with the developers and administrators. I can only give you my opinion as a parent.
I often played online with my son and his friends in the early years of LFS. The atmosphere was better and the exchanges more cordial. But my son was already much older than yours (about fifteen). 9 years old seems a bit young compared to other players to play alone online.
By the way, to be completely honest, at first I thought your post was a joke .

Hello Avraham,

Thank you for your opinion. I understand where you're coming from and I appreciate your perspective as a fellow parent.

I agree that 9 years old might seem young to play online alone, but I assure you that my son is supervised and guided while playing. I'm also aware that the atmosphere might have changed over the years, which is why I'm reaching out for advice.

I understand that this issue might need to be addressed by the developers and administrators, and I plan to reach out to them as well. However, I believe that the community also plays a crucial role in shaping the game's environment.

And no, my post wasn't a joke. I'm genuinely concerned about my son's experience in LFS and I'm trying to find ways to make it better for him.

Thank you again for your response.

It's been far too long since I stopped playing online to really be able to help you. Sorry.
Maybe you could find a well run server where other players will know your son's age and be kind? Or find him a league, so he can be chaperoned? Or organize only private races?
Someone will probably end up offering you something concrete.

People are dicks on internet, always have, always will be.

Best bet is to get in touch with server admin i guess, insim applications running on the server can be confugured to have a word filter and autokick players for triggering it, other than that i don't know of any 'parental control' options.

You can also block chat messages altogether from the player side, but i guess this is not ideal.

Unfortunately, there is no parental control in LFS whatsoever. The best thing you can do is just to block the chat completely, with a "-" button on the keyboard.

Second, join our AirAttack GTi server. It's quite child-safe and we have admins online most of the time. We have an inSim system that autokicks anyone using bad words. We try to prevent bad language and insults by moderation using punishments like kicks or bans. We also try our best to create fun and competitive casual racing for everyone, from beginners to pros. Many of our admins are patient enough to give driving lessons and share car sets. If you see anything inappropriate just contact our admins online, or use our discord.

Hello, Leo's concerned parent.

I can't prove if you are Leo's concerned parent or Leo himself, but here is some explanation. I have banned him from our Freedom Factory server because we received multiple complaints of him abusing teleport into people and crashing. He kept misbehaving all while not listening to stop. This ruins the experience when people just want to drive and not have to worry about someone crashing them and abusing teleport inside their car. After I banned him, he went and created a server in a name very close to our Freedom Factory server and loaded the "Just a Ride" server's layout without permission. Multiple people in the community as a whole know him as an annoyance currently. I can understand their frustration as they don't want to tolerate your son's behavior anymore. Thus, he is banned from Freedom Factory, Just a Ride and likely other populated servers.

If your children are allowed to go on the internet, they WILL run into this type of stuff and see it fairly regularly as you agree. As a parent of two young children myself, it comes down to the parents whenever there are games or areas of the internet that that aren't filtered. If you really don't want him around this behavior and language, it sounds like he should be confined to singleplayer until further notice from LFS moderators about filtering.

Sincerely,
~ RefleX

Hello.

I do play a lot on Freedom Factory and also with your son, Leo.
A couple of months ago I met your son while playing on Westhill layout and he has being a mess since there.
Later, I became an admin on Freedom Factory and one day I asked him his age (this can be a bad thing and I'm sorry if it wasn't good, but I did it to understand the situation since he never answers to the messages we sent him to stop using tp).

I wouldn't mind to give him one more chance, but further in time, he is too young and the only "parent control device" existing in the game is blocking messages, which would worsen the situation because he wouldn't see the stop messages

Quote from johneysvk :

People are dicks on internet, always have, always will be.

Undeniably, you know how to find the words to motivate people to play online. If on top of that if we risk getting flattened by net terrors like Leo, who confuse LFS & Destruction Derby, better to play solo against the AI.

To Leo's parents: No joke, this seems to confirm that 9 years old is a bit young to play online with adults in a somewhat serious and competitive car game. Or, you have to find a LFS server that acts as a daycare center where Leo can let off steam quietly with children his age

If Leo and Leo's parents are one, it's ugly (and scary) to pretend to be a 9-year-old just for the sake of ruining other people's gaming experience