What Parents Should Know If Their Kids Are Addicted to the Fortnite Video Game

2024 Author: Malcolm Clapton | [email protected]. Last modified: 2023-12-17 03:44

Lifehacker explains why the shooter is so popular and explains how to protect a child from the negative effects of the game.

The video game Fortnite Battle Royale (usually shortened to Fortnite) appeared in September 2017. Within a year, the number of participants exceeded the Fortnite Now Has 200 Million Players, Up 60% From the Last Count mark of 200 million.

And by the beginning of 2018, the game had won unprecedented fame - they even began to make television stories about it, What parents should know about the online survival game Fortnite. They mainly focused on the impact of the shooter on children: Fortnite is incredibly popular with schoolchildren around the world.

There is an explanation for this: the game is fun, colorful, and easy to learn. However, without proper attention, being infatuated with Fortnite can harm a child. We figure out how to protect children from the negative influence of the shooter and what positive aspects the project has.

What is the essence of the game

Fortnite is a Battle Royale game available for free on PC, Xbox One, PlayStation 4, Android, iOS, and Nintendo Switch. In each match, about 100 players land on one large map. They start looking for weapons, ammo, and items like armor and first aid kits.

The play area gradually narrows, forcing the remaining participants to fight with each other. The winner is the last surviving hero or squad.

One of the main features of Fortnite is construction. To protect themselves from enemy fire, players can erect walls, stairs and other objects made of wood, brick or metal around themselves.

On average, matches last about 20-25 minutes, but for most of the participants, they end even earlier.

Fortnite has a cartoonish visual style with no gore or detailed depiction of violence. The characters shoot at each other, but death as such is absent in the game: a special robot simply teleports the loser somewhere outside the arena.

The season changes every three months. New costumes, weapons appear, various interesting events take place - for example, the floor suddenly becomes lava or a famous DJ arranges his own concert.

How Fornite can be dangerous

Microtransactions

In Fortnite, players can purchase cosmetic items (dance animations, character and weapon skins) using the local currency, B-bucks.

V-Bucks can be obtained for some actions, for example, for completing daily challenges. Or purchase with real money starting at RUB 499 for B-Bucks 1,000. You can also buy some character skins for real money.

In addition, a Battle Pass is released for each season, giving you access to unique rewards. And the more matches a user plays in a season, the more cosmetic items they receive. The pass costs 950 B-bucks.

Cosmetic items are one of the most important parts of the game. It's a way to stand out, show your dedication to the shooter, and express yourself. And many Fortnite fans spend real money on Season Battle Passes or individual items.

The child may also have a desire to buy something in the play store. Objects grab attention: character skins are bright, dance animations are expressive, and some things are surrounded by beautiful particle effects (stars, confetti, etc.) or shine.

What to do: in order to protect the wallet from unexpected expenses, it is best not to tie the card to the device and not leave it in a visible place. On mobile devices, you can also turn off in-app purchases in the settings.

Addictive gameplay

There are factors that make Fortnite more exciting than some of the other projects available to kids. For example, due to the fact that visually the game resembles a cartoon. And the process of finding weapons on the map is exciting, because the items are located randomly.

Moreover, the very specificity of the battle royale genre influences the fun. Each match has a clear goal - to be the last survivor. But the likelihood of this is small - one percent.

Nevertheless, defeat is easy to see as a consequence of a stupid mistake. It seems to the player that a little more and he would have succeeded. He immediately launches the next match, confident that he will definitely win this time.

Because of these aspects, children can play for several hours at a time. TechTimes have known cases when a child did not want to be distracted from Fortnite so much that he could not even bring himself to go to the toilet.

What to do: Make an appointment with the children in advance about how much time they will be able to play. You can determine how many matches are allowed to play, given that they are no more than 25 minutes long.

Non-child chat

Fortnite has voice and print chats that are not moderated in any way. In them you can often hear or read obscene language in different languages. Scammers can also use chats to extort personal information.

What to do: voice chat can be disabled. To do this, you need to click on the menu icon in the upper right corner.

Next - on the gear icon.

Select "Sound".

And click on the arrow next to Voice Chat.

Print chat is not disabled. But you can protect the child by explaining to him that it is dangerous to give your full name, address and other data to strangers on the Internet.

How the game can be useful

After the explosion in popularity of Fortnite, research into its harms and benefits began to emerge. Scientists have never found evidence that the game is more dangerous than any other. How ‘Fortnite’ Hooks Your Kid, And Why Experts Say You May Not Need To Worry.

But the researchers found that the shooter could be useful Expert says playing Fortnite could actually be good for your kids - it helps children improve peer relationships and develop skills that will come in handy in life.

Socialization

Fortnite can be played alone or in a squad of two or four. Co-op play can help strengthen relationships with friends or make How My Kid Found Friends on "Fortnite" friends online, as the squad must act in a well-coordinated and consistent manner to win.

Tactical skills

In the battle royale genre, almost everything is determined by chance. The skill level of opponents, weapons and objects that come across to the gamer, the location of the playing area, and so on.

The child finds himself in hundreds of different situations, from which he has to look for a way out. For example, in one match you need to defeat an enemy with a powerful weapon using a weak cannon. In another - to survive, remaining the last of the squad against several teams.

The child learns planning, problem solving, tactical thinking. Thanks to construction, it improves orientation in three-dimensional space and even gets a basic understanding of architectural design.

Fortnite also has a dedicated mode where players can build whatever comes their way - a great way to learn how to express yourself through creativity.

What is the bottom line

1. Fortnite is a very popular game. And due to the specificity of the genre and the cartoon style, it is of particular interest to schoolchildren. And in general, there is nothing wrong with that.
2. However, there are a number of points that can harm a child: addictive gameplay and not always correct communication in chats. To avoid problems, it is worth immediately identifying how much time you can spend in the game, and explaining to children what you cannot talk about with strangers.
3. It is also worth decoupling the card from the device on which the child launches the game, or turning off in-game purchases in the system settings.
4. There is no need to prohibit play, since Fortnite has its advantages: it helps children to socialize and teaches problem solving, planning, tactical thinking, and improves orientation in three-dimensional space. All these skills will come in handy for a child in life.