Safer Internet Day 2022: UK Games Industry Activity

Ukie and its membership is releasing lesson plans, content for parents and promoting safe online play for this year’s Safer Internet Day.

Along with the information and posts for Safer Internet Day on the site, we wanted to bring you news about the UK games industry backing Safer Internet Day with a range of content and activities aimed at supporting safe online play.

The theme for this year’s Safer Internet Day is ‘All fun and games? Exploring respect and relationships online.’ It aims to explore the way that young people shape the interactive entertainment spaces that they are part of and help celebrate the role that young people have in creating a safer internet through the content they make or interactions they have online – including in games.

Ukie has become a partner of Safer Internet Day and is supporting the initiative this year through the following ways:

• Ukie’s Digital Schoolhouse  together with Nintendo UK, has collaborated with SafeToNet and Computing At School (CAS) for its Safer Internet Day Schools Competition to encourage children to come up with the next great game idea that has safety at the heart of the experience.

• The programme has also teamed up with Lloyds Bank to launch a range of lesson plans to help young people understand how to avoid the risks of financial harm online with the support of the Ukie backed SHIELD initiative.

• Ukie’s responsible play site www.askaboutgames.com is hosting content from Ubisoft’s Customer Relationship Centre (CRC) team providing parents and carers with advice on how to watch out for phishing schemes in games as part of the organisation’s Get Smart About PLAY campaign.  The CRC team, based in Newcastle, UK. handles Player Interactions, Community Management and Player Experience for Ubisoft across the globe.  

• The Ukie team has also supported a range of events aimed at promoting Safer Internet Day, including Catch-22’s event exploring the intersection between playing online games and developing skills in the workplace.

In addition to these activities, Ukie’s Education programmes and a range of members will also be promoting activities of their own or messaging from the Safer Internet Centre to help show its support for the day.

The industry’s support comes ahead of its Westminster Games Week event in March 2022, which will include a day dedicated to fostering fun and sensible play in line with the messages of Safer Internet Day.

“We’re pleased to back Safer Internet Day and its positive efforts to empower young people,” commented Dr Jo Twist OBE, CEO of Ukie. “We know from research that young people who play games online with friends are better equipped to navigate the digital world safely and we’re looking forward to showing how much the games industry cares about supporting young people in the digital world.”