THE GOSS ON THE FLOSS

Food for thought

If an adult started playing and chatting with your son or daughter in the park, you’d be rightly concerned.

What are they talking about?

Skin a stylish outfit for your character Emote a victory dance. The floss is one of the most famous emotes Squad a group of up to four players all playing as a team Rando a random stranger you invite to top up your squad ■ Fortnite is played by an estimated 125 million people worldwide ■ In May 2018 alone, Fortnite made Epic Games an estimated US $318 million ■ The average player spends

US $85 playing the game

HERE’S WHAT YOU NEED TO KNOW ABOUT FORTNITE

BY SIMON HARDING

Fortnite. You could be forgiven for thinking that nothing else in the world existed. It’s fast becoming the only topic in the school yard, and even children who’ve never played it talk of little else.

But what is Fortnite? And should your child even be playing it? Only you can answer the second question, but here’s some insight that I hope will help you to reach a decision.

First, let’s talk about what it is. Fortnite: Battle Royale is a free game produced by Epic Games. It’s so successful because it bridges the gap between Minecraft—a ‘sandbox’ game, so called because it’s about building a world and utilising resources that the player discovers—and the graphic shoot-fest that is Call of Duty. Its premise is that groups of up to 100 competitors parachute into an ever-shrinking island, gather weapons, ammunition and other resources, and fight it out with each other to be the last person standing.

Sounds violent, doesn’t it? But the cartoon-like graphics and distinct lack of gory detail make it more child friendly and that’s why it carries a Pan European Game Information (PEGI) recommended age of 12 and over. Don’t be fooled by the rating though. Fortnite is not a child’s game in the way that you might think of Minecraft. Epic does not collect ages when players sign up and cannot therefore release demographic data on those playing the game, but a few searches on the internet will show you that Fortnite is very much played by adults, in large numbers.

What should you be concerned about?

■ Fortnite has cartoon-like graphics, but it’s still a fight to the death. ■ The chat options in the game mean anybody could be messaging your child. ■ Your child will be desperate to spend money in this free game. ■ Like all free video games,

Fortnite is designed to be addictive.

And that’s the first problem. It’s by no means one that is exclusive to Fortnite, and nor is it one that should induce blind panic—after all, the vast majority of adults are just there to play the game. But let’s be clear, the ability to chat with others at the very least exposes your child to conversations that may not be appropriate for their age. And with the sheer volume of players, there is a chance your child is going to come across some pretty unpleasant people at some stage. So it’s really important that your child is aware of the chat and default settings in the game. Voice conversations can be easily limited to a defined ‘party’—the squad of up to four friends that your child is playing with—but, according to UK’s leading children’s charity, the NSPCC, in-game text messages cannot be turned off and therefore represent a risk of stranger danger.

An under-prepared, naïve child could certainly find themselves out of their depth when playing Fortnite. Scan the web and you’ll find warnings about gamers trying to steal personal information— presumably to forge identities— hackers and bullying. Epic does allow users to report poor behaviour when they come across it, of course, but regardless of the effectiveness of that approach, a child would need to be informed and aware enough to recognise poor behaviour for what it was, before being able to report it.

Now let’s talk about addiction. There is no question that Fortnite is designed to be addictive, and your child will feel totally immersed in the world in which they’re playing. But once again, that’s not a problem unique to Fortnite, and if their use of the game is moderated, there’s nothing to suggest your child will become an addict.

Of course, we’ve all heard stories of children regularly playing Fortnite into the early hours of the morning, and that’s a real concern, but do we really need to look beyond parenting for that? The Australian Institute of Family Studies (AIFS) recommends situating computing devices somewhere where you can see the screen, and agreeing limits on screen time. But ultimately, if you have repeated concerns about your child playing online games when they should be asleep or doing homework, don’t forget the wireless router has a power switch! In most cases you can use your router to limit the amount of time spent playing games.

Each full game of Fortnite is relatively short, no more

than 20 to 25 minutes, though it’s highly likely that your child will be ‘killed’ in the first few minutes. It’s worth knowing this because if you insist on them leaving the game half way through, they will probably feel aggrieved. Unlike other games, there’s no option to pause. To put it simply—you snooze, you lose. And be honest, if you’d invested time trying to achieve something and had to just throw it away to go to the shops or get dressed, you’d be pretty miffed about it too!

Finally, there’s the issue of spending. And the question is whether your child has access to your credit card or PayPal account. Because although the game is free to play, they will be tempted with all sorts of extras that they’ll be pestering you to fund. Outfits – or ‘skins’ as they are referred to in the game – look fantastic, and they’d need to be at a cost of up to $20. Whether or not your children are able to purchase these or not is down to you as a parent. To them, it’s probably no different to wanting to buy Lego or music. Because, as far as your child is concerned, they are in this game for the long haul.

But Fortnite is not all bad. If you can look past the concept of having to kill everyone to win, then it forces your child to be strategic, to communicate and to learn. It’s also a lot of fun to play, and you could do worse than try it with them. The dances—or emotes as they are referred to in the game— can be contagious. After all, who would have thought that teenage boys would so readily learn a dance like the ‘Floss’?

Fortnite is free to play and can be downloaded on virtually any device. So it may be difficult to stop your child from playing if they really want to. But what you can do, is make it safer. How to make Fortnite safer

Have a conversation with your child about online safety ■ Never give out personal details ■ Never ‘friend’ someone they don’t actually know ■ Be clear on what is appropriate behaviour, and what is not Restrict play to public areas of the house Avoid the use of headphones. It might be more annoying to listen to the sound, but at least you’ll know what’s happening Research the chat settings and set clear boundaries Agree a time limit for gameplay Engage your child in conversation about the game and if you’re up for it, try playing with them

Useful links

■ esafety.gov.au ■ aifs.gov.au ■ fortnitehelp.epicgames.com ■ commonsensemedia.org