To ask if there is a way to block fortnite?!

[icecreamsundae32]

So my son with asd has become obsessed with fortnite, he would be on it all day if I let him! Despite setting limits or giving him plenty of warnings about coming off we still have explosive meltdowns.... I am torn as for the first time he is socialising with kids in his class on the game using a headset and when I suggest playing a different game he says he can't play with his friends as they don't have that game etc. He's got pretty good at the game and likes to make you tube videos of it and watch you tube of others playing it. BUT he is so addicted to it and obsessed with it and gets really aggressive when I tell him that's enough or he gets killed on it. When I take the PlayStation away he finds another way to access it either by his brother's iPad or phone or goes to a friends house. Obviously I can't stop him playing it at friends' houses but I'm sick of his attitude from playing it at home and the violent meltdowns when I take it away so if anyone has a way of blocking it on all devices I'm open to it! The iPad and phone do have app time limits and downtime but I don't know if there is a way to limit it on PlayStation if I can't get rid of it altogether?

It's got to the point in school holidays he doesn't want to go out anymore he'd rather just play that and even getting him to school is a nightmare - he's an anxious school refuser at times anyway but now he's seen some kid on news that won loads of money playing fortnite he thinks he can do that and therefore doesn't need to go to school anymore lol it's so laughable except it's not as his autism makes his mindset so rigid he'd argue all day long that green is blue etc

Why are you stopping him doing something he likes and gives him some social interaction?

Because he is becoming aggressive and violent when he has to come off and he will not accept or follow the limits set and when it's removed he has a violent meltdown... he's punched hole in a cupboard and hit me and his brother among other things

Why are you stopping him doing something he likes and gives him some social interaction?

Because he's developed an unhealthy fixation with it to the point where he is not functioning in other areas of his life. People with autism often develop obsessions which are very, very unhealthy.

OP, I have a child with HFA and ADHD who went the same way. We ended up having to remove the PS4 entirely. He is simply not able to self-regulate.

So playing isnt a problem, you stopping him for arbitrary reasons is...

Why are you stopping him doing something he likes and gives him some social interaction?
did you even read the post?

OP I'd remove the console entirely for now. If he accesses it at friends then so be it but if he can't use it at home that should remove a big chunk of the time he spends on it overall.
Then serious consequences need to be put in place for the violence.

So playing isnt a problem, you stopping him for arbitrary reasons is... Erm... OK! But if you read the full OP you might be able to offer something useful, rather than a teenage manifesto, a cry for electonic freedom!

Delete it from the PlayStation

Sadly it isn't an isoloted or even a new thing

www.independent.co.uk/life-style/gadgets-and-tech/news/fortnite-addiction-video-games-rehab-children-battle-royale-parents-a8665071.html

gamequitters.com/parents-guide-to-fortnite-addiction/

I hope you find a way that works for your son!

@araiwa either you can't read or are just trying to be a PITA, but OP says it's now becoming difficult to get him to go to school or go outside, to the point where he hits his brother.

@araiwa

Are you being deliberately obtuse?

If you think it's ok for your child to spend as all their time focussed on one subject, is aggressive if you remove the subject and

useboomerang.com/2018/08/02/set-time-limit-gaming-console/

There is a parental control app for the PS4. Can install it on your phone and you can set time limits and see what they are doing on it etc.

As above, I've got an app on my phone which turns it off at a set time, it gives notifications on screen the time he has left to play. That seems to be handled better than me swooping in and turning it off.

I removed it from my son, the difference in his behaviour and attitude was like night and day. Different child entirely.

I do sometimes feel guilty when all hsu friends are playing and he is not allowed to but then I remember why I put the ban in place. He still has PlayStation time but he is much happier to finish when time is up, and play outside, with his brother etc. Whereas previously it was just all about his next fornite fix.

Delete it op.

you can just remove it from the machine op.

and then periodically check that he's not reinstalled (as it's free).

if he can't stick to that, then the machine goes - it's a privilege, after all - not a right.

if he plays at a friends house, this is probably a more controlled way of him having access, as presumably he won't be round there all the time.

we didn't allow it in our house (for exactly the reasons you want to stop it now - i'd read up enough about it to know what it was like).
as a result, our youngest is the only one that's ever played it, as he plays at his friends. he won't tantrum there either, most likely.

I’ll have a play with settings a bit later when I’ve taken mine to their clubs. You might be able to ban it using the age restriction, though I don’t know what that is for fortnite as I haven’t let mine play (to avoid addiction, Minecraft is hard enough for them to come off 🤭).

In the meantime I just found this, you might be able to set a time limit up for now, if we want to go for a restriction rather than a full-on removal.

So playing isnt a problem, you stopping him for arbitrary reasons is...

Arbitrary reasons like school, sleeping, eating. Sure, that's the real problem.

I removed it from my son, the difference in his behaviour and attitude was like night and day. Different child entirely.

Yes, in our son, too. We had to remove the games consoles entirely, just gone. Some friends had to do the same with their son. He's much, much better. He is on medication for his ADHD and also on fluoxetine for anxiety, and I sometimes feel bad because yes, everyone at school has them, but trying to regulate him was not working at all. It also started to get to be where it was causing him more anguish than pleasure and he began ritualising with handwashing and soap. Setting time limits didn't work and resulted in very violent meltdowns.

It was a very unhealthy dynamic.

We removed PS4 before Xmas for a month but then people bought him games for it for Xmas so we ended up giving it back.

Lol we did delete it and he was forever sneakily reinstalling it! I'm going to look at the links/apps tonight. I also feel guilty that all his friends play and he's left out, but like others have said he's like a different child! I'm glad I'm not the only one facing this though! Can I block it from the iPad and phones? He keeps redownloading it on them!

I have taken away the PS4 all sounds very familiar op

Ds thankfully had moved on from Fortnite but still the same issues with Minecraft and down star wars game he played.

Yes I feel guilty as he can not chat to friends but it was impacting his behaviour, his school work and the constant battles

After a week a much better behaved ds. Some children struggle with managing time on it others don’t so much

I will allow time back on just not sure how much at the moment

@LogicallyLost thank you this is what I need!

@PatellarTendonitis how old is your son. We've talked about removing consoles entirely but we have other children and it wouldn't be fair on them and if we allowed them and not him, he'd say that as unfair - even though he'd have been told it's a consequence for his behaviour after playing it that never gets through to him!