Is Your Child Old Enough for Fortnite?

If you have a kid over the age of five, I’m sure you’ve heard of Fortnite: Battle Royale . I’m sure you’ve heard a lot about it actually, like every time they open their damn mouth. This is one of those universal current trends that every child from the first world is familiar with. Every child either plays it, or wants to play, or has already played it and moved on to the next trend. But is the child old enough to handle this?

What is Fortnite and why did it take over my child’s mind?

Epic Games’ Fortnite: Battle Royal has been the leader in online gaming since its release in Summer 2017. Every month, more than 40 million people enter a player versus player battle royale where up to 100 fighters enter a closed arena and 99 are killed.

Much like Minecraft , Angry Birds, and Pac-Man in the olden days, Fortnite architects have created a game that’s perfect for addictive gaming. Vibrant colors, cartoony action, crazy dance emotions and light-hearted presentation attract kids like the first free kick from a neighbor’s drug dealer; Perfectly tuned, infinitely strategic and action-packed gameplay will captivate them forever. Plus, it’s free and available on all major platforms, from Nintendo Switch to PC, Android, and iPhone.

But is it enough for an adult my child Fortnite?

Fortnite’s official rating is 12+, but like all ratings, this is a loose guide, not a set of rules. Neither rating (or a stranger on the Internet) can not tell you whether or not your child is grown enough to play Fortnite. It’s really about your individual child and your own values.

If you are a gamer, you should download it and play a few rounds. When my then ten-year-old son first asked about it, I gave him my back and found that while there is nothing particularly egregious about Fortnite, there are some aspects of its design and content that gave me pause. In the end, I gave him the go-ahead to play it, and I check it periodically to make sure everything is in order and properly innocent. However, if you’re not a gamer parent, it’s a little more difficult to determine its relevance, so here’s a quick guide to what you should be aware of.

It’s cruel

Fortnite’s violence is cartoony , closer in tone to Roadrunner than the realistic gore and guts of many video games, but like the old cartoons, it’s very, very violent. The shots, explosions and attacks of the pickaxe occur all the time, all problems are solved in combat, and no real consequences of chaos are presented. If you have trouble dealing with feigned abuse like this, or don’t think your kid will handle it well, stay away from Fortnite until he gets a little older.

It forms a habit

Fortnite is insanely addictive. Whether you attribute the game’s “play again” addiction to the nefarious intentions of its designers or the amazing game design, it grips people and doesn’t let them go. If your kid has an addictive personality, or the problem of balancing an immediate gratification dopamine rush with responsibility, you can wait a bit until they can master Fortnite’s mainlining and you should definitely set some clear boundaries for the screen of time.

When it comes to time management, Fortnite’s saving grace is the rounds. Each game has a ticking clock and is approximately 20 minutes long, so the games are short and get even shorter if your child kicks out early. This makes it easier to set time boundaries.

When he was going through the tough phase of Fortnite , my son Dexter responded well when he was told “two more rounds and then it’s time to go to bed.” This gave him a warning and determined the end point of his session, although it occasionally led to controversy over whether a kill at the start of the game was “valid.” I told him that if he hadn’t sucked that much, he would have played longer. Look, you have to give them motivation and inspiration whenever you can.

It is designed to suck money out of players.

While Fortnite is free to download and play, it is not a charity. Epic Games, the developers of Fortnite , have created a money printing machine where your kid’s pixel violence addiction pays off in very nice office chairs and drops 401KB for many, many gaming industry nerds.

Tons of aspects of the game are monetized. Players can buy character costumes, flamboyant weapons and pickaxe skins, backpacks, dance moves, season passes to access new levels, and more. None of this will help your child play better. They are cosmetic, but there is still a strong desire not to look like a rookie with a standard skin and lame dance moves.

You can get all of this content without gambling, relying on Fortnite’s in-game reward system, but you’ll have to grind playing for hundreds or thousands of hours, and who has time for that?

Unless you want a surprise invoice for hundreds of dollars worth of weapon skins, make sure your credit card is restricted. Offspring has an excellent guide to blocking your Visa card that covers every platform you can play Fortnite on . Read and follow the instructions!

You have to play this with other people

Other players really are the worst part of Fortnite , especially when it comes to kids and safety. Any game that attracts so many people also attracts the bottom-feeders who prey on these people – from pedophiles to crooks and legions of garden jerks. While the chances of encountering child molesters or swindlers while playing are slim (despite the hysterical media coverage), if you don’t turn off the chat, your child will talk to countless trolls, bullies, losers, people who play loud music in their games. mic, YouTube celebrities and other villains seeking to teach them exciting new curses, sex positions and racial slurs. Luckily, if you turn off voice chat, attackers won’t be able to disturb your child.

How to disable voice chat in Fortnite

I highly recommend disabling audio chat in Fortnite before your child starts playing.

Here’s how:

• From the Fortnite title screen , open Settings by clicking the gear icon in the upper right corner of the screen.
• Select the “audio” tab at the top of the screen. It looks like a speaker.
• Disable voice chat.

“But Steve – I can hear you asking – how will my child create effective team strategies and long-term friendships when chat is disabled in the game?”

They will have to be really good at timing emotions. Or you can choose a group chat. In my setup on Xbox One, voice chat is completely disabled in Fortnite , and party-only voice chat is allowed through the console. Since Dex can only party with friends and his friends need to be approved by me, he can still talk to his friends from school while playing Fortnite .

How to adjust your privacy settings varies from platform to platform, so you need to do your research on your own device.