Online gaming is increasingly under scrutiny as experts warn of rising behavioural and psychological risks for children, including addiction, exposure to strangers, and uncontrolled in-game spending.
Senior Information Security Engineer at the Sri Lanka Computer Emergency Readiness Team (SLCERT), Charuka Damunupola, said the shift from offline to online gaming has significantly changed how children engage with games, especially through real-time interactions with unknown players across the world.
He noted that unlike traditional offline games, online platforms now allow users to interact with strangers in live environments, which can lead to stronger emotional dependency. Children, he said, often spend long hours in these virtual spaces and may begin seeking emotional support from unknown players, even forming personal connections online. “They seek emotional support from these unseen individuals and start sharing personal information and personal problems,” he said.
Damunupola warned that this behaviour increases serious risks, including the sharing of sensitive personal data and private images with strangers met through gaming platforms.
He also pointed out that although most games carry age ratings and content warnings, monitoring remains limited. He referred to PEGI (pegi.info) as one system that provides age classifications and content descriptors for games, adding that parents can use it to check suitability. “There is an age group for each game. Parents can check ratings through the PEGI website, pegi.info, although it mainly includes popular games,” he said.
He added that the system also identifies content such as gambling, sexual themes, fear, discrimination, drugs, and bad language.
Damunupola further said modern online games are increasingly designed with reward-based systems that can encourage compulsive behaviour similar to gambling. “When games become highly addictive, children start purchasing items within the game. In some cases, parents have reported children using credit cards and spending up to Rs. 400,000 to Rs. 500,000 on games,” he said.
He added that parents have also observed behavioural changes in children, including aggression and emotional distress when access to games is restricted.
He noted that regulating online gaming is difficult due to the global nature of these platforms, making enforcement challenging.
Instead, he suggested that parental controls and screen-time limits are more practical tools to manage children’s gaming habits.
These concerns come amid growing public debate on children’s smartphone use and online gaming, following the death of a 16-year-old student in Kurunegala, which has renewed attention on digital safety and parental supervision.
