Does anyone know the age you should be to play Fortnite

[Pibplob]

Have looked online but can’t see yet and thought the answer may be quicker here! My 9 year old wants to play and need to do some research! Thanks.

Well of course it's violent (!).

But lots of things are violent including kids cartoons, nature documentaries, meat eating etc. so it's more about how much violence your child can cope with. The boys culture trash talk would be more of a concern for me.

The Venn diagram of 'children who swear and bully other children' and 'children who are allowed to play Fortnite' at my child's school is pretty much a circle. Not suggesting it's causative, but there's definitely a correlation

Could you link me to your research proving the correlation, please? My research hasn't shown this at all. Thank you.

It is horribly addictive, especially for younger tweens who are allowed to play it. We have had children at our school (age 7/8/9) conspiring to be 'sick' so they would be sent home and able to play. We had a parent turn up with a black eye after her 8 year old hit her when she turned the game off. We've also had bullying over rewards, skins etc. I would stick to the Pegi rating in the hope that an older child would be better able to regulate their playing time.

And our school sent a letter out saying children were tired in class staying up late playing the game. That is entirely the fault of parents who aren’t enforcing a bedtime not Fortnite imo. Children would be tired if they were allowed to stay up until all hours whatever they were doing.

Oh and our Venn diagram would be the same - especially for the bullying over V Bucks.

And kids who go around bullying and being violent to their parents aren’t going to magically turn into little angels because they don’t play a video game. They’ll just be little shits playing something else.
My child manages to play a limited and supervised amount of Fortnite without being violent, argumentative or doing badly at school as do many of their friends.

its a bloody animated video game with no blood just stop sheltering your precious little shits

Well aren't you lovely.

It's utter crap, Yulelog. Utter crap.

Really? Nearly everyone in my child’s class plays and none of them are bullies or attacking their parents!
Children behaving like that have more serious problems than a video game.
And I’m still waiting for someone to explain how their child can become addicted to any game if you enforce screen time limits?

Same as above. Son plays it, no issues, we give him fair warning when it goes off. Might be a small moan but he knows he won't be playing again if he doesn't comply. People letting their kids stay up late to play can blame themselves, not the game.

And kids who go around bullying and being violent to their parents aren’t going to magically turn into little angels because they don’t play a video game

If this was aimed at me, you've got it arse backwards. The kids conspiring to truant, and the lad that hit his mother were 'little angels' (up to a point) before they got addicted to this game...and have reverted since it's removal.

Says 12 but parenting websites like common sense media say 13 up.

The mumsnet review guide is very lenient.

Lots of my son's friends have been playing from seven up and I've heard of even younger children playing it. I think each child has different I know for a fact that I'm not letting my 8 year old son play it. On the odd occasion that he has played it he's come home being quite horrible aggressive. It doesn't take much.

The style of gameplay is designed to be addictive. It's a battle royale where the gaming area shrinks. It's not the violence that you want to worry about or all the guns and the shooting, axe hacking, or the fact that you are pretending to killing real people ( you are only knocking their avatar out of the game). Seems to result in aggressive and violent behaviour and lot of children that play it and a lot of addicted behaviour. Can cause lots of family arguments.

My next door's neighbours son spent over £1,000 buying things on it. She's just stupid though she should never have linked her credit card up to it. He accidentally spent £300. Then she let him back on it and he spent over £1000. Then she held a fortnight birthday party for him!! Go figure.

It can't be that addictive. DS chose to spend his screentime today on Just Dance.

There are no older children in my family. What is fortnight?

Sorry Yulelog I'm agreeing with you. I'm saying the only reason children are badly behaved "because of Fortnite" is due to poor parenting.

Most parents I know haven't banned it due to the content but due to the addictiveness of it and the fact it turns some children into total devils. Bad behaviours, huffiness and tantrums when they lose, are asked to turn it off or told they can't play.

I know nothing of Fortnite, despite being a teacher (secondary). Doesn’t seem to have raised its head in my school. However, I’m concerned by all the posters saying it isn’t violent or unsuitable for younger players because there’s no blood and if you shoot someone they ‘just fall over’. I think this is really dangerous. If violence is going to be part of a game, players should understand the real world consequence of it. Thinking guns don’t cause blood, guts and pain is not good.

My older DS (11) plays, my younger DS (7) has seen his brother play but hasn't expressed any interest in playing himself. I'd rather he hold off until 10 or so but we'll see. I think there has to be some balance made with not socially excluding children from stuff that all their friends do.

The violence is very cartoon, there's no blood. It hasn't lead to any violent or aggressive behaviour from my DS. He does sometimes get worked up by/frustrated with the game but we just tell him that if it's upsetting him he needs to walk away from it and he accepts that really well which I think is actually a real positive lesson for him to learn. I also like the way he can meet up with his friends and play with them on there. They live too far apart for it to be easy for them to meet up IRL.

I'd raise my eyebrows a bit at school incorporating stuff from a game that's got a higher age rating. Where I work we will listen to children talk about it then remind them they shouldn't really be playing that yet as they are supposed to be 12+ to play it. That said there are sadly plenty of children playing far more unsuitable games (18+) from alarmingly young ages. Nobody is losing any sleep over the children playing Fortnight.

Well I think parents need to look at how they have let their kids become addicted to a game. My dc have 30 mins screen time per day so no chance of getting addicted to anything.
I very much doubt children who attack their parents are doing it solely because of a video game but if parents are allowing them to become addicted and play constantly they only have themselves to blame for the fallout imo.
Children who have unlimited screentime can experience behaviour issues. And that’s the same if they’re playing Fortnite or watching hours of Peppa Pig on an IPad. Parents need to stop shrugging and saying ‘it’s addictive’ and take responsibility for limiting screentime.

Thinking guns don’t cause blood, guts and pain is not good

Ah, right.

Cap guns? Nerf guns? Laser quest? Water pistols? Paintball? Target shooting? Clay pigeon shooting?

🙄

ICantCopeAnymore - My view of you as a teacher dropped significantly when you referred to another teachers 8yr old as a "poor kid" because she won't let him play Fortnight . That smacks of very limited life experience. It's more than thick to not understand that many parents won't let their young kids play such games and to not see how you are undermining their effort.

Where I live other parents as a general rule seem to have just given up the notion of any restrictions on what their kids play and watch. Its fucking depressing. All warnings around internet safety, screen time, gaming addiction, access to porn, the early loss of interest in toys, sedentary habits....it's like parents are just Teflon to all of it. I find myself baffled and seemingly alone in the face of all my 8yr olds friends who seem to be 8 going on 15. Why the fuck would anyone want a teenager 10yrs?

Why NOT wait until they are older would be my question. What is the rush?

@fuckingyulelog showing she has literally no idea about Fortnite.
30 minutes? That wouldn't even get you a full game.
Good luck hoping yours stay off the ones that take ages.

The game itself content wise is:

Cartoon style graphics.
Use of guns, grenades and other weapons.
No excessive blood and gore.
Once you are "dead" you simply vanish and enter a spectator mode.
It's battle royale so basically fight to the death, last man standing wins.

The main issues with it are:

Rounds are anywhere from 2 minutes to 20 minutes but the game cannot be paused.
Highly addictive, many wanting to "just get further next time".
The public voice chat, like with many online games, is unrestricted and often toxic/sweary and inappropriate for younger players.
It is often incredibly frustrating to play, causing players to get angry at the game.
It's free to play but there are loads of extras you can buy with real life money or you have to spend hours and hours playing to unlock some of them. These include cosmetic items such a outfits, dance or emotes as well as weapons.

Advantages compared to other first person shooters:

Graphics are not realistic.
No portrayal of actual wars like in games such as call of duty.
No overly complex storyline or plot to follow and understand.
No gore or drawn out deaths.
Free to play the basic game.
Rated 12, rather than 18.

My 12 yo had it, couldn't cope with its addictive nature and became rude and grumpy, so now it's gone. I wouldn't risk allowing a 9 yo to play it

Well I’ve just asked my dc and their friend Glitterstick and they said it depends which mode you play on and some games last between 10-15 mins so maybe you’re not the expert you think you are?
My kids also know that whatever game they’re playing when their time is up it goes off. I will let them finish something quick they are doing or save if it’s possible but otherwise it goes off. Never been a problem.