A Guide for the Parents of Fortnite, The DC Kids Brains Game

Are your children coming out of strange dance moves? Do they refer to their bags as "back bling"? Are they talking about meeting friends at Snobby Shores? These are all signs that they are fans of Fortnite: Battle Royale. The multiplayer fighting video game has become a real sensation since its launch last fall. More than 40 million players face each month, and the game is free to download and play on all gaming platforms and mobile devices. Its publisher, Epic Games, makes money selling related items, including new characters, props, and dance moves. It is interesting to note that all of these optional features are purely aesthetic – none of them have a competitive advantage.

The format is simple. Up to 100 players are dropped from a blue bus flying on an island where they continue until there is more than one leftover. Players can remodel elements of wood, metal and rock in fortifications and ramps. No game lasts more than 25 minutes, and periodically, a destructive storm sweeps the landscape, pushing the players together and forcing the action. Think of it as a cross between The Hunger Games and Minecraft. If your children play Fortnite, you may not have seen them since school was out.

"It's an obsession," says Cindy Phillips of Silver Spring. During the school year, his 12-year-old son, Kellen Campbell is allowed to play an hour a day, but he receives two to three hours during the summer holidays. His parents use the Disney & # 39; s Circle device to limit when and how many games as well as how much he can spend on in-game purchases. "He wants to spend everything he earns," Phillips says. 19659002] Players see their characters in action rather than behind a weapon. "It makes a difference," says Robin Brannan a married and family therapist in Kensington. "You look rather than act." In fact, "there is no blood," says Kellen. "The character just disappears."

Fortnite has a strong social component. As I spoke with Kellen, he played with two friends while chatting with them on FaceTime. They developed their strategy as the game unfolded, and their dialogue did not resemble the usual conversation you hear in multiplayer video games.

"The Fortnite community is so welcoming and positive and so much fun," says Ben Kuchera an editor at the game publication Polygon. With a lot of games, he says, "there are people who talk about nasty racist and badist things, just trying to make sure you do not have a good time." In Fortnite, it's the opposite. "

If you're concerned about the time that children can spend with Fortnite, Brannan recommends respecting the screen time settings suggested by the American Academy of Pediatrics . In addition, she encourages mothers and fathers to consider the opportunity cost of video games: "Because they do not do the things necessary for social-emotional development, such as social interactions in person, outdoors, free play and social development. romantic relationship with parents. I have a hard time believing that you can do all these things and play video games more than an hour a day.

How do mothers and fathers know if their child is having a pbadionate hobby or an unhealthy obsession? "If your child becomes frantic when playing the game, do not enjoy doing other things, or constantly ask when he can come back," says Brannan. "Sometimes the dopamine shot that they seem to get from the video game seems to turn into an addictive quality."

But you do not need to worry if some of the Fortnite culture is going through their lives away from the screens. Dancing, for example, can be a very good exercise

This article is published in the August 2018 issue of Washingtonian

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