Fortnite for ASD 9.5yo on PS5

[despondentatwork]

ASD is relevant here as our DS becomes very obsessive about things-not all gaming related, but he's had Minecraft and Fifa obsessions before.
He doesn't play online, but for months now he's been asking for Fortnite to play with all his classmates. They all meet up and play together apparently. I'm very gaming-naive. Know nothing about Fortnite except there are guns and it's violent? His dad has had a look, but we're still unsure if it's something we want him to play. But; he struggles with friends, so I don't want him excluded. If the kids he's friends with are all playing together maybe I should let him? Can anyone tell me their experiences?

My son was about the same age when he started playing Fortnite but he does not have ASD. It was the same situation in that all his friends were playing and I didn’t want him to miss out. I would sit with him the whole time he was playing to check who he was talking to etc. We never allowed him to play with strangers, he just joined his friends groups “parties”

I don’t personally find it too violent (especially compared to something like Call of Duty which I find too gory and realistic), but most the weapons are guns that fire and reload in a realistic, but cartoony way. There’s no blood/screaming etc. However when my son dies he sometimes gets angry and as it can take a long time for the games to load up it’s so frustrating when you’ve spent ages collecting and upgrading weapons to then die and start again.

Overall I like it because he works in a team and his friends are working together and not against each other. But I would never let him play with strangers, only friends because mics are sometimes open and he could hear anything, there’s no way to filter, though you can mute other players.

All you can do is give a try and see how he gets on.

My children play fortnite, similar ages but don't have ASD. I also play it.

Yes it is gun's and shooting but it isn't blood and gore. It isn't realistic like call of duty.

Playing with friends has never been a problem. There are parental controls through EA directly so you can control who they speak with, can hear and who can reach them. They are usually strategising, it quiet good for team work.

Depending on your child's nature, being eliminated can be frustrating especially as other players may emote which my kids either find hilarious our rage invoking.

Mostly the kids become quiet obsessed with levelling up, changing skins, characters, getting emotes etc. This may be the area which could become problematic and costs money.

Very similar here DS has ASD and is 11. I let him play it in the end around the same age (9) try and help him with friendships as he was feeling left out. It’s been good I think, he plays with classmates and does seem to feel he has more of a friendship group now.

There’s no blood or gore it’s very cartoon like. Negatives were constantly begging for V-Bucks and getting angry/frustrated when losing.

He gets pulled off if he’s getting too frustrated so he’s learning to try and regulate himself a bit better. He also isn’t allowed to play for any longer than one hour a day - we set his PS5 to block play once his hour is up.

We also let him buy one battle pass - you get enough free V Bucks in the battle pass to buy the next battle pass as long as you don’t spend it on other things then you can always get the battle rewards.

Just make sure you set up parental controls to make sure he can’t friend randomers. TBH though I think it’s mainly just primary school kids playing Fortnite these days.

Thanks to you all! Great advice-had no idea we could set time limits on PS5.

Ds has asd and adhd and was playing fortnite online at 7. He played online with friends