I have suspended fortnite account indefinitely

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DS became obsessed with the game. Wanting to be on it constantly and even going downstairs at 5am to play it. He was shouting and screaming into his headset, using bad language (not an issue otherwise), not wanting to go out and being disrespectful to me and his dad. Final straw was when I turned off the wifi and he threatened me. I messages Epic Games and got the account suspended. He has lots of games and this is the only one that has this effect. I have spoken to him and asked him to delete it. But he's hanging on and won't do it.
He's been off the game about a week and half and already he has changed for the better. I never want him back on fortnite again.
Has anyone else had this circumstance? Any advice appreciated

DS (10) played it for a while and used to get so angry! He never wanted to go out either, so I quickly nipped it in the bud. It helped that some of his school friends who also have xboxes were also banned around the same time, so the rest of them lost interest in playing fortnite altogether. Now they play Minecraft together and it seems much more co-operative and calm. They build little houses for their animals and go hunting together! DS is allowed 2 hours maximum a day on any devices (although not in one block) and he and his friends text each other to say what time they'll be on. When they're not playing together, they go out and build dens in the field/woods that surround our village. I presume they recreate whatever they've been playing online because DS came back one day and asked if I had a spare cooked pork chop

12yr old DS's Switch is currently locked in my car for that very reason.

DS became obsessed with this also. Exactly the same. I banned him from playing it and he immediately improved, although you would think I'd removed a spleen. I now allow him to play for small amounts of time only and the initial obsession seems to have passed. Also, he knows that if I hear one single utterance of any bad language then it is instantly unplugged, no questions asked. Good luck!

I wonder what it is about that particular game that affects their behaviour so much? I've never seen DS like it before he's usually a calm and happy boy but it just seemed to drive him potty.
I imagine it's the battle royale mentality.

There really must be some sort of subliminal messaging within this game, I don’t know anyone who hasn’t had issues with their kids playing it. Godawful thing.

i banned it last year after ds broke the telly in rage.
Wish id done it sooner. Id made him take breaks before and always tried to talk to him about reactions etc and coming off when its not fun anymore etc, but something about that game just made him so wired. I was almost glad of the telly breaking because it was a major line crossed and he knew it and barely argued about it after that.
Now hes all judgy and superior to his friends that still play lol

I made DS watch some of the parliamentary committee meeting with the makers of Fortnite . He did rein it in a bit after that.

Yip, my usually laid back DS turns into a wee horror when it comes to Fortnite. I actually removed his XBox altogether recently. He has it back now hut for much shorter periods of time and I've noticed he's back to playing minecraft again so is much calmer.

Its definitely Fortnite in particular that seems to be an issue.

DH ended up smashing ds’s x box because of all the issues we were having. He was warned!

ds and his friends are much worse on fifa!

we have never banned him from the games for this reason but, after some encouragement/suggesting, he now self regulates and will take himself off and do something else to calm down for a bit if he finds himself getting too wound up.

Any ideas how to persuade him to delete it?

My son hasn't played this much but I do remember an incident at a camp site last summer where a mother completely lost it (verbally and fairly politely) with her young teen about fortnite. IIRC the conversation went something like 'we are here for 3 nights as has been planned since Easter, are you seriously expecting us to cut our family break short so you can go home and play Fortnite?' The child then did a huge flounce down the field

We just had my son's friend over for a play date. They are 7 years old. My kids don't have a games console (I bought a Nintendo switch but it's still on the cupboard). This kid spent 3 hours going on about how we didn't have a games console, and fornite this and fortnite that. My son wanted to play air hockey with him so I turned the table on but that wasn't good enough for him because 'fornite is so much better'. I sent them to play basketball as it's lovely out but no, because "fornite would have been much more fun".

I can tell my son is annoyed his friend doesn't want to just play but he's also looking really sad because he doesn't have a console to play. I don't want to give him his because I don't want him turning into that friend!

Lulu why can't you get the switch out of the cupboard for him?

Not to play fortnite on obviously though after this thread!

@crustycrab

I got it in a moment of madness. I just think they are too young. They are 6 and 7. I don't want them sat infront of a games console. I thought I'd get it and they could play once a week, but have realised that that's not realistic and they will want to play a few times a week. We're an outdoorsy family and I'm scared of wrecking that and turning them into kids who want to stay indoors all the time. I don't want the fights.

@Lulualla we're outdoorsy too but do love a family battle on mariokart let him have a go, I'm picturing his little face and I'm a softarse

The way you describe your son I doubt he'd want to be glued to it anyway once the novelty wears off.

Ours sometimes doesn't go on for weeks. We last had it on for around 90 minutes on Sunday.

We have family games of Settlers of Catan and Ticket to Ride. I've never owned a games console in my life so I don't know if I'd even be any good! Although I would play Pokemon...

Detox still in progress. He keeps asking when will it be back on? I just keep saying that I don't know.

I have never heard anything good about Fortnight at all.

@Lulualla I would not be pressured into introducing games consoles too early at all. I think, for what it's worth, you are doing exactly the right thing. My DS is coming up 11 and my DD coming up 9 and our compromise was a Wii on which we occasionally have a family dance-off on Just Dance, or bowling nights. Otherwise, they watch telly or read or listen to CDs for downtime. They haven't suffered at all and never ask for anything games related. I think to be honest, my DS has missed the boat for it and is not remotely interested. I think that's a good thing.

I've taken my sons gaming computer equipment off him this morning. I'm sick of it. He plays from getting in from school till I make him turn it off at 9pm. He was on it from 9.30am to midnight yesterday. The weather was gorgeous and he was sat in his room in front of that screen all bloody day. We've had an argument and I've took it off him, probably not the best way to go about it but I'm fed up. He does nothing and goes nowhere and I'm worried for him

Last minute, I’m curious, how did it happen that you feel unable to give boundaries and stick to them? Why didn’t you just switch it off and tell him to go outside?

I really struggle to understand how such young kids have the power to decide their gaming limits rather than the parents?

My 11-year-old DS became completely obsessed with Fortnite for about six months. He wasn't anywhere near as bad as your DS OP, but he used to yell into his headset at his friends (and apparently they were all doing the same as I compared notes with the other parents). Fortunately, Fortnite made some changes during the summer, which my DS didn't like, and so he's now stopped playing it. For him, it was a case of bingeing on it and then getting fed up, I think. He's now playing something else, but doesn't seem addicted to that and I've started being MUCH stricter about how much time he's on the computer. It's now term-time too, which helps. You've done the right thing OP. His improved mood after one week is a clear indication of that.

He's 14 so not a young kid. But you are right, I do need to make him switch it off and do something. But I can't force him to go out with his mates. He says they are all on fortnite anyway! He's currently sat in the kitchen watching fortnite videos on his phone! We have been out for breakfast together and I have tried to explain to him that it's not healthy for him to be on it all the time and I have told him that I'm putting a stop to the amount of time he spends on it a t weekends and where it's possible he needs to organise to go out on his bike, cinema with mates and have told him if he can't then he will spend the time with me and his dad and brother. He's playing football this afternoon after he does his chores of tidying his room and putting his clean clothes away and then we are out for dinner so he won't have chance today much.

My DS is 10 and is allowed limited access with very strict rules, which lead to a ban if broken, arguing about the ban leads to a longer ban
Dd is 14 and she says it’s for younger kids, her (male) friends were all done with it by 12 or so.
I would like to ban it forever but to be honest there are some positives as well. DS talks to his close friends on it and they have formed a “clan”
They all came round last weekend and we designed and made T-shirt’s together for it. He seems to get a lot of pleasure from it and while it’s not causing a problem I don’t mind him playing it in small doses.
Can your DS earn “Fortnite points”? Time playing it for doing other things?

I do think it's an addictive game and should be taken away if the child becomes angry because of it BUT did no-one see the news a couple of months ago about the 15 year old boy from England who entered a fortnight competion against the world and won and walked away with 1.6 million pounds or something like that. His mum said she was so close to throwing the game away because he was always on it but now I bet she had changed her mind! I do think if a kid enjoys something and is GOOD at it and has a passion for it then leave them be.