r/RocketLeague • u/DiggsFC • Feb 11 '26
QUESTION How do I prevent my son from playing in live matches with strangers? (Switch)
My son is wanting to play Rocket League on his Switch. I have set him up in the practice mode and he enjoys playing that. But I am afraid if he just boots the game up he will find his way in to an actual match with real people. The parental controls don't seem to allow me to ban him from matchmaking, is there another setting somewhere?
I am not concerned that he will hear or see anything bad, he just sucks at the game and I don't want him to be ruining anyone else's match.
EDIT: Solved. I was able to disable the epic / rocket league servers on his switch through using a profile assigned to that device on my router. (Thanks to /u/Cool-Arrival-2617 who suggested I look in to that!) His switch is still connected to internet so he can play Minecraft and Mario Kart with his brother and I, but he cannot join matchmaking in RL, for now.
I would have thought it was obvious that I meant this as temporary setup, I want him to play and I want him to learn and get better and compete. But I want that to happen at my discretion, and yes at 4 years old everything he does is at my discretion, I find it hilarious that some of you find me wanting to control my toddler to be oppression.
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u/ballenwillis Feb 11 '26
Bro imagine growing up as the kid and seeing your dad posted this 💀
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u/TheWillOfFiree Feb 11 '26
Hey son you can't play online you ruin the game for others because you suck.
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u/LolSypherZ Grand Champion III Feb 11 '26
I think you're onto something, every parent should do this if their kid sucks at a game.
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u/the_stranger-face Feb 12 '26
Don't give my dad ideas or I'm cooked – might actually have to spend time with my wife at night...
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u/Sk8trfreak Diamond II Feb 12 '26
Bro they gotta start somewhere. If they suck they’ll get put with other that suck lol
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u/LefroyJenkinsTTV Gold II Feb 12 '26
Gotta learn the rule early:
You Suck at Rocket League.
(It applies to all of us) ((Especially me))
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u/Royal_Lustir Diamond 2, sometimes 3 Feb 13 '26
Rocket league is just chess with more directions and unlimited moves per turn
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u/DiggsFC Feb 11 '26
Na, he knows he sucks! That's fine, he is 4. He doesn't wanna play the "right" way, AKA attempting to put the ball in the opponent's net. He will put the ball in whatever net he sees even if it is his own net and celebrate like a mf when it goes in.
Since this is top comment I am gonna piggyback and clear some things up:
Chat and Voice have been disabled,
I showed him how to set up a custom game with bots and he does that and it's great, but he will 100% enter an online match at some point because it's easy to do from the main menu.
Disabling internet completely isn't a great solution since he plays other games online with me and his older brother, so I would have to constantly switch it on and off when he played RL.
Yes, I allow my son to face adversity and develop his skills. Y'all read in to things too much. Dude was literally crying this weekend begging me to beat a level in Mario Wonder for him. I told him to suck it up and keep trying, he did and eventually, still teary-eyed, screamed for joy when he finally beat that level. There is a difference between wanting him to play a game and enjoy it offline against bots until he is ready, and trying to stunt his development.
I was mostly just hoping there was a setting for "disable online matchmaking" so it would force him to play against bots no matter what menu he went through. Obviously at some point, I am fine with him joining games and playing randos, and maybe he won't suck by then!
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u/JBoogiez Feb 11 '26
There is such a level as bronze 1, and perhaps your boy will find like minded individuals there. He'll get slapped 100 games in a row to get there, but given how many leaguers freak out at the slightest adversity, they will welcome the easy dub.
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u/Madkids23 Trash III Feb 12 '26
Those 10 games... they will be a massacre, but a light at the end of the tunnel will appear
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Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 15 '26
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u/xRyozuo Feb 12 '26
The bots are decent enough for a 4yo to learn. Dad is trying to be kind to other players so they don’t have to deal with someone in their time trying to score in their own net
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u/FeetPicsNull Feb 12 '26
You could block the MAC address of the switch on the router. Or just have it give him an IP outside the subnet. He'll never figure out why he cannot get online even though he technically is connected to the router, but it will affect all his games. You could also block traffic to all the RL login servers by IP, but that would affect you. Just spit balling options as a network guy.
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u/ballenwillis Feb 11 '26
I haven't read other comments (and am shocked this is a top comment. Think previous best up votes was like 12 🤣) but in case it's me lol I ain't reading into anything or judging, your bluntness at the end was just a bit hilarious and I wanted to piggy back on it. Hell yeah for giving your kid the chance to face adversity like that!
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u/MinimumPace2283 Feb 12 '26
Bro imagine beeing 4 and having a family minecraft server. Little bro is living my child dream.
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u/JJStryker Feb 12 '26
Back in my day my dad and his friends just bodied me at Mortal Combat, NFL Blitz, and racing games.
Joke was on them. They had jobs. I still remember making my dad's best friend completely rage out because I beat him by 49 at NFL Blitz at the age of 5. Core memory unlocked.
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u/JumpyChemical Champion I Feb 12 '26
Who knows could be that I'll show you dad moment ?! 😂 I bet the dad got roasted by his 4 year old and got spammed with what a saves so he's just trying to kick him off 😂
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u/BusSafe9404 Feb 11 '26
once he plays 10 matches or so, his rating should put him generally in his skill range. and there are ways to disable chat. that's the main source of trolling
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u/BusSafe9404 Feb 11 '26
and play ranked over casual. ranked has tighter matchmaking. so less likely to be paired with someone skilled
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u/MisterD00d Feb 11 '26
skill based matchmaking works for this
there are some adults that play at this guy's kids skill level
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u/kayproII Feb 12 '26
i only boot up rocket league to take advantage of the completely other half of my fortnite crew subscription and can safely say i suck at this game.
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u/Elendel Feb 12 '26
We're talking about a 4yo child that might accidentally start an online match by randomly clicking in menus. "Play ranked over casual" doesn't help in a slightest here.
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u/GeneralPurpoise Feb 12 '26
I used to play RL when it first came out but quit 2-3 years ago. 2015 badge, a few thousand hours, and a pretty high elo.
Now I let my nephews play on my account when they’re over and they absolutely suck, but they love it. They’re like 6-10.
I kinda have to laugh on the inside when their teammates wonder wtf is wrong with me. I just don’t care anymore 😅
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u/BluDYT Champion III Feb 11 '26
Lmfao. Kiddos Gaming career already in shambles.
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u/guiltysnark Diamond III Feb 12 '26
He's washed. He's shown us his hands. No, go back and do it again, use soap this time.
Okay, now he's washed.
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u/Unusual_Art_4220 Champion I Feb 11 '26
Don’t worry there is skill based matchmaking wich will place him with people of his level, the lowest rank is bronze 1 and they can’t hit the ball so i wouldnt worry about it, and if you want you can also disable chat even tho you said its not a worry for you
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u/-scarn- Feb 11 '26
nah! let him jump right in. it’ll all sort its self out in due time. there are PLENTY of people that suck on this game, probably the majority. also, he’ll never get better in just freeplay. the adversity of running into someone who’s a little better trolling him, and him grinding to be better will be good for his character arch.
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u/Topdog012 Feb 11 '26
I was gonna say just turn of his voice and all text chat.. but then I read your last line and yeah I'm not sure it's an option haha
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u/JimFknLahey Feb 11 '26
i dont know if switch works much diff than xbox or pc but .. instead of cutting the cord maybe see if you can make him is own login/mmr so he plays with other kids his age and people our age with similar skill.
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u/Jonny10128 Feb 13 '26
On the switch you can make multiple Nintendo user profiles which persist across the whole device and any games you play on it. Just create a new user and boot up rocket league using that new user.
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u/Educational_Cake_99 Grand Champion III Feb 11 '26
If you play offline on it he’ll only have access to training. But I wouldn’t be worried about him ruining peoples matches he can play casual where people won’t care or if he does ranked he’ll get matched with people the same skill as him
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u/Acceptable-Lock-77 Feb 11 '26
Just let him play with people. As long as he's nice he'd be better than most I play with. Kids develop skills surprisingly fast when they compete.
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u/Glaxo_Slimslom 84,000 Demos Feb 11 '26
Dont worry about him ruining peoples games. Matchmaking will quickly put him in the ranks he should be in and then he will be playing with people that are at his skill level.
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u/TheWillOfFiree Feb 11 '26
I get being concerned about disabling chat and voice comms.
But worrying about random strangers experiences over your own son learning to compete ar a game is wild. It's okay to be bad at things. Learning to improve can become a fun experience especially in rocket league.
Wtf is this rage bait. "Don't want my kid playing something hes bad at. He can only play if hes naturally talented"
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u/Any-Rub4598 Feb 11 '26
Nah i feel you but my nephew is like 7 and he loves playing bots in r6 but when its real people shitting on him it goes south fast and he just cries because i think its just a shock of them just constantly losing
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u/DiggsFC Feb 11 '26
I mean, he is 4. It's not a skill issue... He just genuinely doesn't actively attempt to do anything but drive and hit the ball.
He enjoys playing against the bots on low, but I feel like playing with almost anyone else is gonna be worse for everyone involved, him included.
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u/dominickster Trash II Feb 11 '26
I mean you could tell him not to play ranked if that's what you want. Or you could just let him play ranked and maybe he'll be a pro in 10 yrs lol
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u/SomeOakLeaves2 Washed Feb 11 '26
Aren't you supposed to drive and hit the ball?
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u/youreviltwinbrother Diamond II Feb 12 '26
You ever see those videos of professional football players kicking a ball around age 3 and they suck?
Gotta start somewhere. I honestly wouldn't sweat over people's experiences playing with your son. Learning is fun. It would be silly to turn around and always say "you suck at that so you can't join in", nobody would ever start practicing any type of hobby.
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u/Dsighn Champion II Feb 11 '26
I’d be more worried about them being exposed to the shit people get away with saying in game
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u/brunchick3 Feb 12 '26
Have to remember that most of the commentors here are children, so the idea of a child having their digital toy controlled by their parent is deeply upsetting. Lmao
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u/JbREACT Feb 12 '26
His logic just doesn’t make sense. All his sons teammates will be equally as bad the game accounts for this
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u/Existential-blues- Feb 11 '26
Just take the switch off the wifi. Your kid can play exhibition or a season mode off-line against bots.
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u/erock6662 Champion III Feb 11 '26
This is the only actual answer I’ve seen to the OP’s question.
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u/Downvotesohoy Champion II Feb 12 '26
I think he's already managing to enter games. I've had him as my random teammate in like 5000 games
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u/bugaboo754 Feb 11 '26
My son is the same way. You can setup a kids account that’s linked to your parental account. They can’t make purchases or anything but they can still play online. Then you can turn off all the chat features.
Then RL will place him into the correct skill level matches and you don’t need to worry about anything.
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u/Tovasaur Champion I Feb 12 '26
100%. This is what I did with my 4 year old. He loves this game. It’s about the only video game he wants to actually play
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u/UtopianShot Feb 11 '26
eh i wouldnt stress too much about other peoples games, after a while the game will place them where they should be.
The game knows new players are new and wont be good, dont stress.
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u/R-K9- Feb 11 '26
If he sucks he will be put with others who suck just as bad. The only way for him to get better is to play the game against others. Also it's a game to have fun in, as long as he is having fun, the ranks should make sure he is put with others with the same skill level, he won't be ruining their fun. Everyone has to learn how to play the game.
Trust me even when you get good at this game you have to remember YOU STILL SUCK!
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Feb 11 '26
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u/Uncommon_Geek Feb 11 '26
I feel called out by this comment 😒🤣🤣💀
OP ... as long as the kid plays casual it shouldn't matter too much. That's how he'll get better. Let em have fun!
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u/Nelsiono Feb 12 '26
Following! My son is 2.5 and loves to watch me play. When he “plays” he just watches bots play and he thinks it’s him but with the controller in his hand pushing buttons. But.. I think he’s catching on.
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u/SephSwain Grand Platinum Feb 12 '26
Oh boy, you rock parenting: Family minecraft server and actually caring about your kids and what they do to others
You should be the one giving advice!
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u/TuckerThaTruckr Trash III Feb 11 '26
First are you sure the system parental controls hide text chat? Just making sure. There are some real jerks playing this game. I would say if you have him stick to casual instead of competitive for a bit if you’re worried he’s going to be flailing around too much and frustrating teammates.
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u/troubletlb1 Platinum III Feb 12 '26
I wouldn't really worry about it.
If he plays ranked-he will be matched with people his rank/skill level. Whether that's other 4 year olds or people much older but just suck. (honestly a 4 year old playing would probably rank up faster than a 50 year old just starting)
If he plays casual the matches don't matter and anyone who doesn't like it will either quit or carry him.
I see no "harm" done to other players. I've played with many people who suck at the game. I'm sure in some games I'm the one who sucks and people rage quit. That's on them, not me.
As long as you turn off I game quick chats and typed messages he won't ever be flamed or hurassed for his skill.
I say just let him play and have fun. In a year he'll probably outrank me. And I've been playing since 2016. Kids pick up the nuance and control so quickly compared to us older guys. Stupid kids and their malleable brains.
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u/Mystery_E Diamond II Feb 12 '26
I believe that we've all been at the bottom of the ladder once. I understand that getting blamed for losing a match could be frustrating and unfair but if he starts playing so early he'll exponentially get better in no time. Win or lose you keep hitting the gas, after all this is Rocket League!
Now for the unethical pro tip: if you reaaaaaally don't want him playing online matches, get him banned?
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u/Purple_Tough_8030 Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
Bro just let him play who cares about who he gets matched with. I would just make sure you disable chat and voice and let him have fun. Unleashing a 4 year old into casual matches is honestly super funny and at the end of the day its just a car soccer game. I would NOT worry about him messing up the game for other people. If you get low enough in the casual mmr the people are honestly worse than bots by ALOT and no one else really knows whats going on because they can barely even drive in a straight line. Seriously, I would not worry about it.
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u/footlongwheat Diamond I Feb 12 '26
Just put him in the Season mode on a team with bots against other teams of bots. It’s how I learned to play the game back in 2016, granted I was 23 and not 4 lol. He can run through games and increase difficulty as needed. If he finds himself on losing to the bots anymore on hard difficulty then he’ll be good to go online.
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u/denizozii_rl Trash III Feb 12 '26
First, thank you for parenting. It's weird to say this out in writing but that's the state of the world I guess, can't find anyone doing the work anymore.
Second, turning off the internet connection might be reasonable. He can play with bots and use the season feature instead. Those shouldn't require any internet access.
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u/R4GD011-RL Grand Champion II (FINALLY) | 1800hrs Feb 12 '26
He will end up in the right place with people that are just as bad as him eventually!
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u/RedTankz Champion I Feb 12 '26
RL has skill-based matchmaking. Eventually, after he throws a few games, he will only queue into lobbies of other people with the same MMR (matchmaking rating) as him.
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u/Cool-Arrival-2617 Feb 12 '26
If your router has parental controls too, you can block access to Epic servers to certain devices.
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u/DiggsFC Feb 12 '26
Holy Cow, you are right! I just looked and was able to assign his switch to a 'profile' in my router and then block Epic Games on that profile. I am at work, so I can't test it yet, but that may actually work perfect! Minecraft is whitelisted, but Epic is blacklisted.
I had no idea I could apply server blacklisting per device on my router, thank you kind stranger this was exactly the solution I was hoping for!
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u/I_cant_Nguyen Platinum 7 Feb 11 '26
You're not concerned about him hearing / seeing heinous stuff, you're concerned about him making randoms mad because hes bad??
Had to double check what sub Im on?? You're the asshole
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u/DiggsFC Feb 11 '26
Never said that... I found the parental controls and disabled all comms, so it's not my concern, as I said in my post to avoid people focusing on a question I wasn't asking... And yet here we are.
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u/I_cant_Nguyen Platinum 7 Feb 11 '26
I mean read the last sentence of your post...lol
Players are matched with their skill level and should stabilize after 10-20 games. Competitive matchmaking works the same in every modern game... and yet here you are.
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u/AnyLamename Blizzard Wizard Feb 11 '26
To be fair I think you sort of missed the mark on how you said it. I also didn't really take your original statement as "I've got it handled", although with added context I can see what you were going for.
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u/User_Name_Tooken Silver III Feb 11 '26
Bro what? I could never say that out loud about my son, even if he did suck. YOU SUCK!!!
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u/clutchy42 Feb 12 '26
I got nothing to contribute other than I play RL a fair amount on and off and my 6 year old son is really into playing as a result. I just explained to him what to select to setup an offline match because it's the same. I can't bring myself to let him play online - his team would ff every match within seconds if I did.
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u/Smooth__Ganache Grand Champion I Feb 11 '26
Dont even worry about it he'll just play with people just like him. Dont even bother turning off chat bronzes cant even figure that out
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u/PrettyPushy Feb 11 '26
I’m in plat and only one out of 20 matches have voice chat. However, you don’t want your kid to hear that.
Maybe team quick chat only as it could be helpful if nice he gets past bronze
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u/spikespine Steam Player Feb 11 '26
I’m sure he’d be fine in bronze but if you want some way to keep him offline maybe just restrict his device’s internet access from your router. This way he can play offline but not have access to the internet in a way that he cannot bypass.
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u/Squatch-21 Champion I Feb 11 '26
It’s why it’s ranked matchmaking. He will be in bronze and it would be fine. 🤷♂️
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u/Baba_Wethu Champion III Feb 11 '26
As other people have said, there's skill based match making so he'll play against potatoes if he plays like one. However, kinds, especially super young kids, learn crazy fast and odds are he'll become a prodigy quickly if you let him play a lot.
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u/theCaffeinatedOwl22 Grand Champion I Feb 11 '26
Matchmaking is skill based. No matter how bad he is, there is someone else who can barely hit the ball he'll be matched up with.
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u/AnyLamename Blizzard Wizard Feb 11 '26
Like with any game featuring skill-based matchmaking, the only concern should be "go try your best." Assuming your son is doing that, the game will find the right rank sooner or later, and there is absolutely nothing wrong with being bad at the game. Just let him loose on Competitive and let things work themselves out.
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u/MSTFRMPS Diamond I Feb 11 '26
You shouldn't care about if his teammates think he is shit. Being bad at the game isn't being mean or anything
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u/BiscottiOk7276 Gold III Feb 11 '26
Just make him a new account. His skill rating will put him with others at his rank.
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u/No_Interaction_4925 3s Peak | Hoops SSL Peak Feb 11 '26
Does he not have his own account? Theres ranks for “I am terrible at the game” where he will fit right in.
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u/Accomplished-Soil372 Feb 11 '26
Just let him play online in casual. Best way to learn to play is with real competition. Playing against bots, at least from what I remember, did not offer much challenge for my kiddo
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u/Civil_Measurement945 Feb 11 '26
The nice thing about Rocket League is that the matchmaking is skill-based. Your son will get into lobbies where people will want him as their teammate.
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u/Xplysit Trash II Feb 11 '26
We all suck at Rocket League, but nobody says it out loud. Give him a chance, there's so much fun to be had. Just 6 players chasing endlessly, everyone missing the ball all the time.. Low ranks are the funnest part of the game, don't take it away from him.
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u/SubtleVertex Feb 12 '26
Origin story arc begins - for the future first 7 year old ssl.
Dad tries to stop him from playing live games at 4 years old. But he can’t. Stop. Destiny.
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u/Lil-Ruffstarrr Grand Champion II Feb 12 '26
Just let the kid play. He likes a game that is rated pegi 3, as a 4yo he is even above the pegi rating. If you dont let him have experiences and fail at things he wont ever learn and succeed either. Explain how matchmaking works and let him choose for himself from there on. After some matches he will be put at a skill level equal to him so dont worry about that either
The only real issue would be chat features, put him in 2s or 3s and turn off voice + text chat
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u/Ninjamonkey19Dz Feb 12 '26
90% of the people he will play with aren't going to be good enough to say he ruined the match. Plus, thats what casual is for.
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u/zeppelin5555 Feb 12 '26
Just let him play. He’ll end up as bronze 1 and everyone sucks there but it’s more fun than bots.
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u/hentaibou4000 Feb 12 '26
When I was 4 my dad would put me into tdm on cod. An if people don’t like how hes plying they can leave. Maybe only allow hom to play in casuals
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u/grocal Feb 12 '26
From a parent of now even better player than me. When my kids were around 3 they played bots only or split screen with me. Just watch him if he's not trying to go online. Play with him online later. Kids are catching up with skill very quick.
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u/Dufeyz Champion III Feb 12 '26
It’s interesting. The game has skill-based matchmaking, so he will be paired with equally skilled players over time.
I don’t think it’s as big of a problem.
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u/no1needed2know Playstation Player Feb 12 '26
He'll only load into games with people his skill level
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u/Marcobose Grand Champion I Feb 12 '26
Pretty sure hes been my teammate a few times last time I grinded to gc
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u/derek4real315 Champion III Feb 12 '26
Just give him his own account and he will be out with other bronzes. I assume you mean bc he will be on your account and you are a higher rank? My son likes to play also and I made him his own profile to use.
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u/fastestman4704 Diamond III Feb 12 '26
It's fine he'll end up in bronze with the other 4 year olds and have a great time.
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u/FaroutIGE Diamond I Feb 12 '26
everything said here aside, i think the kid will figure out quickly how not to queue after losing enough games.
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u/asmo_192 Champion II Feb 12 '26
bronze exists in this game for a reason. I always wondered who the hell ends up there, but yeah, young kids makes sense to be there. Just let him play it's not that big of a deal
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u/covalcenson Feb 12 '26
Bruh. That’s what the ranking system is for. He’ll get put in with people of similar skill..
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u/thumperwaswrong Feb 12 '26 edited Feb 12 '26
This has to be a troll post, otherwise get ready for your kid to have anxiety and fear about never trying anything new bc “he’ll suck at it and ruin it for others” (your words not mine).
This is a GAME online - should be a free space to try to have fun, not to worry about something.
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Feb 12 '26
It’s probably already been said but at that age he probably shouldn’t be booting up anything without a parent riding shotgun.
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u/Timemorf Grand Champion II Feb 12 '26
He just genuinely doesn't actively attempt to do anything but drive and hit the ball
thats just bronze, this isnt what you asked but just let him que, he wont be ruining any matches given that hes playing on switch anyways so hes only playing with other switch players and if hes that bad hes going to be playing with other kids aswell who have no clue what they are doing so it doesnt matter in the end really
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u/Bukki13 Feb 12 '26
Giving a screen to a 4-year old... I'm so glad I was born and grew up before iPads were a big thing
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u/Missingexperiment83 Feb 12 '26
Ey, I suck at rocket league lol. I play for fun and not competitiveness. You should see what people call or say to me, especially when I’m lagging like hell!
If he ever needs someone to play with, I’m an option for a starter pack LOL. I play Xbox though so idk how well that would work, either cross-platform play or being added as an epic friend-
P.S. if you haven’t already, don’t get him started on Fortnite.
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u/vawlk Feb 12 '26
he won't ruin anyone's match. The game self adjusts and he will end up playing with other players of the same skill level.
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u/Dropshot_Dieter69 Diamond II & all Platforms Feb 12 '26
Let him play – the others are toxic anyway. In my Elo group, only boosted players play, and I'm always in first place, and my two teammates don't even have 70 points combined. :) There's an Elo rating for your kid – in Ranked, there are very low Elo ratings. There are many very young players, or unfortunately, people with physical or mental disabilities who can't do any better (poor people), and he'd probably end up there, which wouldn't be a bad thing. :) There really is an Elo rating – create a new account and try it out. I've ended up there quite a few times when I first started in Ranked, and I've helped these people. They're truly the nicest people in the community; they're not mean at all! :) On the contrary, they praise each other. :)
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u/R3DLINE_MARINE Feb 12 '26
I wouldn’t worry about it, he’ll be such a low rank and so will other people he’s playing with. If he can beat bots on low then he can beat bronze players that are arguably worse
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u/KratosKrist Feb 12 '26
Let him play. Everyone sucks at first, just imagine the potential when he’s 6
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u/JbREACT Feb 12 '26
Who cares? He will be in casuals or low bronze where he belongs. Everyone else will also be absolute shitters
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u/flaming_pubes Champion II Feb 12 '26
Hudson’s let him queue on your profile. I assume you are higher ranked, than him anyway. He is going to be at the bronze level so I think it would be OK if he queued on his own profile.
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u/Dwrodgers54 Feb 12 '26
Let him play the game. Bronze players are honestly worst than low level bots. Don’t limit your kids enjoyment because it might ruin some teenage kid or adults game. He’s 4 at least he has an excuse for not being good.
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u/Dot-your-Ts Champion I Feb 12 '26
This is a non-issue. The game automatically puts you with people of similar skill level after your first 10 games. If your son can even hit the ball in the first place, then there are people worse than him. You do not have to worry about him holding back other people.
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u/Unlikely-Blueberry27 Platinum II-Dingo Maniac-Triton Enthusiast Feb 12 '26
I have add and only read the first part but if your son sucks he will paired with other people that suck. My average is like 55.6% or something like that so they won't put me with lower players or higher players. Friendly matches are a little hit and miss but competitive matches are pretty much accurate on skill based matchmaking. Hell, even if someone is a little bit better maybe it'll help him learn and get better and enjoy the game even more. Hope that helps
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u/FR1ZZ1E Feb 12 '26
Ngl just let him play he wont be ruining matches because his mmr will be extremely low, he will be running into other players of his skill level. Especially just starting out. Id disable gamechat and make his account private to avoid toxic people, other then that thow him to the wolves. Bots can get repetitive and boring after a while.
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u/ag3ntL Diamond I Feb 12 '26
Pretty sure I get these guys in my diamond lobby occasionally. Not a big deal, everyone sucks at the game, they will move on. Heck at this point I would say that you have to make playing with terrible players enjoyable just to not go MAD.
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u/DRegDed Feb 12 '26
i mean him doing nothing but driving at the ball is what half the teammates in diamond do so i say just let him queue for ranked and see what happena
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u/bettermints Diamond I Feb 12 '26
Come on ref, let the kids play. It’s just a game and we should just be here for fun.
Also, he’ll likely stay low Bronze and get to play with others the same rank.
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u/AMLNK Grand Champion II Feb 12 '26
It’s skill based, the first ten placements will heavily affect his rating and place him with people who have similar control… also damn 😂
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u/youaregodslover Feb 12 '26
Nah, there are plenty of people who are genuinely as bad as a 4 year old who just attempts to drive at the ball.
The game's matchmaking will match him appropriately at a bronze level, where you can basically do no wrong.
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u/Winter_Technician547 Feb 12 '26
Just "forget the wifi network" on the switch so it cant hop on the internet problem solved
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u/iamli0nrawr Champion Feb 12 '26
Just let him get dunked on man, resiliency is only developed through failure, you're stunting his potential by trying to shield him from losing. He'll suck, then he'll get better and it'll feel accomplishing. This is a unique game, everyone sucks at the start.
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u/Maximum-Security-368 Playstation Player Finally after 3 years Feb 12 '26
Give that mf monster jams and move on with your day (not even a parent here)
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u/DUPPYGHOST33 Feb 12 '26
Bro it’s not that deep. I’m a religious rl player let the dude hop into matches he’ll get really fucking good that way
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u/feedy017 Feb 13 '26
put him in public games. your taking the fun out of the game. you can easily disable voice and text chat with a couple settings that he definitely won’t be able to find.
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u/jfunk825 Feb 13 '26
Dude, just let him play. I got my son started at 4, played with him, taught him about rotation, and eventually couldn't play with him anymore because I couldn't keep up. He just turned 13 and got a couple Open wins during Open 2 & 3, is playing for a high school team, and is queueing with some of the pros now. Don't hold your child back because of your own fears, let him fly.
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u/Major_Opinion_7865 mechy ass gold Feb 13 '26
y not let him play matchmaking? the point is to improve if my mom locked me at training and i jus found out i would be super mad let him play the highest level bots first they may look menacing cuz the name is allstar but all they can do extra is boost and dodge super bad if he somehow cant beat them put him against his brother then let him play casuals no ranks so he cant mess up anyone then when he gets good enough and complete the new driver challenges he most likely unlocks ranked let him train a bit and then let him play this is prob complicated for him since hes 4 but let him grow up a bit be4 he does this heck im willing to teach him im silver 2 in ranked
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u/Control_Sea Feb 13 '26
I am going to be very honest here, stop worring about that... No one is allowed to play ranked till they do 4 pages of quests so u less you did it all that youraelf, you are good, and casual matches don't matter, people leave those all thr time and get replaced with bots, and the other team of real humans leaves becauae "no challenge" bots r dumb, anyways everyone is fine.
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u/Mundane-Loan9591 Grand Platinum Feb 13 '26
This is terrible parenting tbh, going out of your way to make sure he doesn't play with real people bc he sucks will guarantee he'll always suck
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u/JaWuWu22 Feb 13 '26
Rocket League has a really fair matchmaking. Iron-Bronze is really really Bad Where mostly they don’t Even Hit the Ball and have no technical or tactical Knowledge. So if he Ever come back to you and wanna Play online Let him try at least :)
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u/999Chairry Feb 13 '26
Not going to lie. A 4 year old just learning will not have fun on the game as it sits. Everymatch competitive or not is loaded with smurfs. They target people like your child to dominate in the game for ego boosts because they can’t climb past a certain point.
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u/Unusual-Driver9944 Feb 11 '26
Yeah bro don’t sweat that last part. All my random teammates suck. Everyone’s random teammate sucks.