Top 10 top tips for parents to keep their kids safe online when playing Fortnite this half-term
WITH half-term fast approaching, parents across the country will be fretting over keeping the kids entertained.
As much as we’d all love to pretend that our darling angels will be outside in the garden from dawn till dusk, we know the reality is a little different.
Despite our best intentions, it’s not long before they are reaching for the gaming controller to fire up the console (PlayStation 5 in our household, sorry Xbox fans).
And we let them – because it’s only human to want a little break from all the chaos.
And with 650 million registered players on the video game Fortnite, chances are your kids are playing it too.
So it’s vital for parents to understand the game and the parental controls that come with it.
Yes, you really do have the power to limit their fancy flossing and Mythic machine gun looting.
Here, Epic Games – who created Fortnite – offers 10 top tips for parents so their kids can “ready up” for Fortnite safely.
KNOW YOUR GAME
Fortnite is a hub which offers more than 190,000 different gaming experiences, from Battle Royale – where players fight it out to be the last one standing – to Rocket Racing, a neon-crazy car racer.
All experiences have a PEGI age rating from 3+ to 12. So make sure your kid is playing an appropriate mode.
CABINED ACCOUNTS
If your child is under 13 – below the legal age of digital consent in the UK – they will be placed in a Cabined Account. This is designed to create a safe and inclusive space for younger players.
Gamers in a Cabined Account will have restricted access to certain Fortnite features, like voice or text chat until a parent provides consent. This can be done via an alert to an adult’s email or by entering a pin code.
CUSTOMISE CONTROL
Social permissions allow you to manage who your child talks to on Fortnite. Friends Only means they can only chat with pals who have had a friend request accepted. Friends & Teammates extends this to anyone in their squad (on your kid’s team) and Everybody means your child can talk to anyone on the game.
Or you can disable voice and text chat entirely. You can also adjust any mature language filters too.
TIME LIMITS
This is a brilliant way to ensure the kids aren’t spending all day on Fortnite. Set a window of gaming which kicks them off after a certain period – and allows you to kick them out into the garden. It repeats daily so you only have to do it once.
There’s also a summary of the total time spent on the game each week in the Time Reports tab of Parental Controls. This can be a reality check and decent nudge to introduce time limits. It’s a great way to manage screen time.
WHO’S WHO
One of the biggest worries for parents is knowing who their child is communicating with online. This fear is easily conquered by setting up a parental pin. This has to be inputted to accept every friend request received.
This way you can check with your kid to make sure that SillyGoat2018 is actually annoying little Johnny next door – and not a complete stranger.
SPEND WISELY
Purchasing permissions within Fortnite are a useful way of budgeting those highly-prized V-Bucks, an in-game virtual currency that can buy extras like skins (outfits), emotes (special dances) and gaming bundles – I mean, who doesn’t want to play as the Giant Chicken.
Parents can set purchasing permissions to approve any real-money buys using Epic Games payment.
FRIENDS AND ENEMIES
Make sure your child is aware of over-friendly offers while playing Fortnite. In fact, this is a big red flag for any online game – FC (aka FIFA), Call of Duty etc. If you’re not sure who’s in your child’s gaming party/lobby, find out.
If another player is offering gifts of V-bucks or other items, make sure your child knows who it is. It’s an innocent and easy mistake for them to make – befriending someone who has showered them with gifts, only to find out it’s a phisher or scammer.
Cut out the risk with pin-request befriending – drop those unwanted nasties like a Legendary Sniper Rifle headshot.
GET INVOLVED
Fortnite isn’t just for little kids, it’s for big ones as well. There are plenty of split-screen modes which you can play along with your child like LEGO Fortnite Odyssey or jam along Guitar Hero-style on the Fortnite Festival music stage.
It helps to dispel the myth that Fortnite is “The Devil” and really bad for children. It helps to calm any fears you might have had of what content they are being exposed to (see, Peely the giant yellow banana isn’t that bad after all!).
TOP OF THE BOTS
You can choose whether your child can interact with AI features in the game. This includes talking to non-playable characters (NPCs), like Darth Vader in the latest Battle Royale season.
Gamers can have an interactive chat where the NPC responds. You can switch this off in the Parental Controls section – just find the “Allow voice and written communication with AI Features” setting and turn it off.
GET SET UP
You don’t need to be a gaming god or YouTuber to set up these parental controls. Head to epicgames.com/id/login and sign in to your child’s Epic Games account. Or simply access Parental Controls directly in Fortnite – just click on the account icon in the top right corner.