Genuinely curious about the range here. My 7yo is asking for Fortnite because all his friends play it. I haven't let him yet - I've read the stuff about the rating and some of the toxic chat behavior. But I also don't want him to be the weird kid at school who can't play with anyone. Is there an age where it just becomes unrealistic to hold the line? What did you do?
We waited until 8 with ours. Puberty era seems to be when the rated T stuff becomes less of a concern and more about establishing healthy gaming habits, which is the real battle.
All his friends play it at 7? That's actually pretty normal now, the social element matters. Just maybe set time limits and make sure you understand the game enough to talk about it with him.
We let our 7yo play Fortnite with strict rules. 30 mins on weekends, never before homework, he plays it with his older cousins mostly. It's fine as long as you're actually monitoring what he's doing and who he's talking to.
If all his friends play it that's actually a legit reason to let him play. Missing out socially is a real thing. Just set clear boundaries on time and chat settings.
Honestly 7 is pretty reasonable for Fortnite if he can handle the 'losing' part. Our 6yo played it and just got mad about every death, so we switched him to Minecraft creative mode instead.
Sign in to join the conversation.
I'd be more concerned about the online interaction with randoms than the game itself. Fortnite has a lot of kids but it also has a lot of jerks. Maybe start with offline games or games with limited chat.