• This topic has 26 replies, 20 voices, and was last updated 2 years ago by Gunz.
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  • Fortnite for a 9 year old
  • bsims
    Free Member

    First post or comment in a while.
    As the title – Mini would like to start playing this as some of his friends are allowed. I know nothing.

    What is the hive mind’s view on suitability, anything to watch for and any setting of boundaries that helped.

    Thanks

    alcolepone
    Free Member

    Every situation is different, but i wouldn’t.

    I have a 8 year old and 5 year old boys. both nearly a year older. They love Nintendo games, which are nice and self contained with no in app purchases. There isn’t much online play with friends, but it does make it easy to monitor their play time.

    Although Fortnite maybe ok, (its rated Teen as there is guns and killing), i feel like it starts the process of acceptance of in app purchases and the trickle of constant spending. as a result, i want my kids to have a firm grasp on money before being exposed to the manipulative systems these games use to get people to spend.

    anagallis_arvensis
    Full Member

    My son is 10 he doesn’t play any online games at home, he’s played Fortnite a bit at friends houses. Those that do play it at home seem to spends hours and hours on it.

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    Drac
    Full Member

    It’s cartoon like, no gore or blood. Just watch how much time they spend on it, make sure they can’t do in game purchases and chat is limited to friends and family. Contrary to popular belief kids will stop playing when asked and don’t spend hours on them if asked not to, even then not all do.

    sc-xc
    Full Member

    My lad is 20 and only plays with a hoop and a stick. I can’t believe these parents who think it’s acceptable to let their children play online games with their friends.

    (fortnite is fine in my opinion)

    sgn23
    Free Member

    Contrary to popular belief kids will stop playing when asked and don’t spend hours on them if asked not to, even then not all do

    😂😂😂
    You must have very compliant kids
    😂😂😂

    Warning to the OP: once you let the genie out of the bottle, you’ll never get it back in.

    Drac
    Full Member

    You must have very compliant kids

    Not always no but it’s easy to take the controller off them. My youngest only plays a few hours a week by choice.

    tartanscarf
    Full Member

    If my kids don’t stop playing games after I’ve asked them nicely few times the technology is removed and they get it back next day if they behave.

    Needless to say they don’t normally need a second telling!

    mechanicaldope
    Full Member

    My 10 year old girl has now pretty much grown out of fortnight! Perfectly fine for a 9 year old in my opinion. Make sure that the online chat settings are either disabled or set to friends only would be my only suggestion really. She’s polite, stops playing when asks, does well at school, very active and sports several nights a week and hasn’t stabbed or shot anyone to date. Online games are a part of childhood and growing up.

    As for micro transactions; the game is free and the devs deserve to earn a wage. None of the items are performance enhancing; it is all cosmetic only so you don’t have to pay to win. After playing it for a while my girl wanted the battlepass (cost about £7 I think) which gives you loads of items for ‘free’ but also lets you earn the in game currency. Play it enough (which doesn’t seem to be an excessive amount) and you earn enough to buy the next seasons battlepass without having to spend any other real money. Just make sure that you don’t buy the battlepass the first time right at the end of a season.

    tartanscarf
    Full Member

    Ps my 10 year old plays it and it’s fine. Chat with friends only and he wanted to use his pocket money for some skins once. I let him do it and he’s not bothered again. He really enjoys it but I don’t think he goes overboard with it.

    PiknMix
    Free Member

    Have a watch of one of Typical Gamers YouTube feeds (it’s PG friendly) and see for yourself. I can’t see an issue with a 9 year old playing it, it’s very inoffensive but is also very addictive and expensive if they need the latest skins, pick axe and emotes.

    kimbers
    Full Member

    My 10 year old only just allowed, and no chat

    (my 8 year old nephew got into some trouble for bullying, with classmates and it caused a right stink with parents etc)

    Fortunately my kids love Minecraft, Minecraft dungeons and Mario games, so not too bothered

    Obsessed with Among Us tho!

    scamperjenkins
    Free Member

    I must be Victorian Dad. Had to think twice about my 9 yr old getting into minecraft 😆

    keefezza
    Free Member

    Slightly different experience with my now 10 year old.
    Whilst the game itself isn’t gory and I don’t really have an issue with him playing from that perspective, it’s actually quite stressful especially for immature minds.

    My lad has had it taken off him altogether, he’s limited to 1 hour per day max. He started to get obsessed and very quickly, I’m talking a few weeks of no more than an hour per day, he was getting very worked up at the game and wouldn’t recover well for hours up to the point it was a real and genuine health concern.
    For info, he’s played an hour a day of Minecraft and other games for a while and never had any issues.
    The time period also coincided with the 2nd lock down, he got the game for Christmas.

    So by all means it can be fine for kids to play, depending on how their minds have developed it can be very damaging too. He hasn’t played it since sometime mid/late January and his personality returned back to normal with no issues.
    A really worrying time as a dad, so be very aware of that. All parental controls where on so there was nothing bad happening from that risk, just purely down to the stress of the game.
    I’ve played it and also spent far too long playing warzone which is basically the same thing but full of gore so I speak for myself when I say it’s a very stressful game.

    Drac
    Full Member

    Don’t ever play Ark if you think Fortnite is stressful. That game is brutal.

    Not being dismissive and yes you’re right all kids behave differently.

    northernmatt
    Full Member

    Our eldest is also 9 and wants Fortnite as all his friends play it. We’ll be getting it for him but he has to eat all his veg for a month. I’ve seen videos and frankly it’s not Battlefield or Call of Duty in the violence stakes so I’m fine.

    He’s been on Minecraft for a while now and both his tablet and the Xbox have time limits which do not get extended. He knows how much time he gets and he doesn’t get upset when he runs out.

    garage-dweller
    Full Member

    Both my boys played younger than that. In fact by 9 they’d sacked off Fortnite.

    Don’t let them play on your account (with credit card access), don’t buy them v-bucks, set up their privacy/social settings properly and keep an eye on the time they spend online.

    Microsoft family accounts on the Xbox are brilliant for this as the grown up gets a weekly report on gaming hours etc and I’m sure there’s a bunch of other controls. They might even work on Drac’s iPad.

    The one thing I hate about these “free” games is they reward being on every day with game money and special bonuses so there’s always pressure from the kids to get on … And of course the more they’re on the more they want you to buy them v bucks or whatever.

    MoreCashThanDash
    Full Member

    If my kids don’t stop playing games after I’ve asked them nicely few times the technology is removed and they get it back next day if they behave.

    It really doesn’t take much to stay in charge of kids.

    tartanscarf
    Full Member

    Just goes to show how different kids are keefezza!

    BearBack
    Free Member

    Fortnite ‘violence’ is benign.
    We have fortnite Fridays following a good week at school and possibly an hour on a weekday evening after bike camp or other significant physical exertion.
    They don’t play much else on the consoles so because that’s what they want to play, they’re not always asking for more time on other games.

    keefezza
    Free Member

    The violence is absolutely fine for that age. It’s the way the game works that causes issues and as others have pointed out, the rewards for returning daily. It’s tough when all the other kids are playing it too, you don’t want your kid to be “that” kid. We soon found out a few of his mates went through similar behavioural episodes.
    I never thought it would ever be an issue for him.
    He’s fine now and more obsessed by biking than anything else for the time being.

    Cougar
    Full Member

    My lad is 20 and only plays with a hoop and a stick.

    Jesus, it’ll be oranges next.

    TheFlyingOx
    Full Member

    It’s cartoon like, no gore or blood. Just watch how much time they spend on it, make sure they can’t do in game purchases and chat is limited to friends and family. Contrary to popular belief kids will stop playing when asked and don’t spend hours on them if asked not to, even then not all do.

    Pretty much. My almost 9-yo plays it with his schoolfriends when he gets in from school if the weather’s pish. It’s a little bit “violent” I guess in that it’s basically a battle royale, but very cartoony. Having watched them all playing out in the local woods they’re all miniature hooligans anyway.

    We have Microsoft Family Safety at home and it’s great for a bit of hands-off regulation. He gets 2hrs screen time a day split how he wants between the PC and a tablet, nothing allowed before school. Limited to age-appropriate stuff for under 10s, no purchases allowed, no app or software installs allowed without app approval from myself or Mrs FlyingOx.

    And he’ll happily switch off after the game in progress if we say so.

    LimboJimbo
    Full Member

    Our eldest is 9 and we’re having this dilemma at the moment. I’m not actually sure he’s that bothered but he has couple of pals at school who are obsessed and he feels left out at breaktime, as it’s all they talk about. The other issue is that he’ like a lot of kids his age has a bit of an obsessive personality and can watch Harry Potter Lego vids on Youtube for literally hours, if we let him. He also has a four year old brother that idolises him, and the thought of him being glued to screen instead of them playing together bothers us a bit.

    I suspect when the teenage years hit, we’ll look back at these kind of problems fondly.

    thebees
    Free Member

    Here’s a long term view of gaming in general. Our son has gone through all the gaming obsessions, minecraft, fortnite, call of duty, etc. At secondary school age he spent so much time online gaming with his friends that it was a concern that he might never move on to anything else. We had two neighbours that were man-child 30 somethings and all they did was gaming so alarm bells were ringing.
    Anyway my son left school last year do A-levels at college and it was like a switch had been turned on. Him and all his mates now ride motorbikes and he loves it. They’re planning a camping trip at the moment. He’s got a girlfriend and has a non stop social life.
    The play station is now redundant.

    bsims
    Free Member

    Thanks all, we’re going to get him that stick (with bubble wrapped ends to protect his face) and hoop (broken so it can’t role into the road).

    Lots of useful pointers and advice which helped the discussion. So Fortnite it is, with some ground rules.

    Thanks again.

    Gunz
    Free Member

    As an aside, the idea that video games cause violence is perpetuated by the NRA to divert attention away from the obvious fact that mass gun ownership allows kids to shoot up their schools.
    Fortnite is absolutely fine and, if you take the precautions previously mentioned, is a great way for kids to stay in touch when locked down.

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