Topic: Mum needing help- Headset 9 and 8 year old safety

Hi I have 2 sons aged 8 and 9 who have recently moved schools. They have been playing Fortnite online with their new friends, and they appear to be the only kids who do not have a headset. I really badly want them to fit in as bullying was an issue at their former school, but am worried about their online safety if they were to use a headset. So, my question is- is there any way I could get them a headset and put settings on that would mean they could only speak with/ hear people who are their friends from school? Thanks for reading

@coades If there playing fortnight they would only be able to hear people in there but which would be there friend, but if they were to put voice chat on for anyone that is no in there party they could talk freely, I at most you would have to watch them with it. I hope this helps some body else might know something but this Is all I know Good day (:

I'm not into online gaming but I guess that's where Discord comes in? Granted it may be daunting for multitasking but it's a very versatile platform.

@TheJGG I'm a dummy why didn't I think of that.

@Snatcher Don't worry! I don't use Discord all that much but it's a good solution anyhow...

@coades
I have better suggestion for your kids to play something different and still safe for them.
Better you give them games that not about shooting games all the time. We can have better live without following mainstream too much. I suggest these games for 8 and 9 years old since Fortnite is for at least 13 years old, not for under 13 years old kids.

Rated E
1. Animal Crossing New Horizons
2. Go Vacation
3. Overcooked All You Can Eat

Rated E10+
1. ARMS
2. Dragon Quest Builders 2
3. Portal Knights

@Anti-Matter That's not the question. Fair suggestions but... that's not the question.

@Anti-Matter Thats good in all but I highly doubt that if she didn't want her kids to get bulled I don't think having them play something else will solve the problem.

With Fortnite they can only chat with the people in the game - and if they are partied with friends it's limited to the team. This is where the switch is severely lacking with online features.

They could external apps like Discord or Wattsapp but these are generally unregulated and can be easily exploited for grooming.

Regardless what chat options used they are likely to pick up some exotic phrases (nothing they won't pick up from the same kids in school anyway) but just ensure you tell them not to use them in real life and you should be fine.

@Anti-Matter try telling a 10 year that he isn't allowed to play fortnite because its too violent. FFS, try living in the real world with the advice you give!

@Mr-Fuggles777 @coades Yeah, Discord servers can be safe if one takes good precautions. If a third party moderator is in the picture that's obviously not good though. If it's just between a few people things like that are not a problem.

@TheJGG assuming no-one on the server starts adding randoms they meet online - which is tough for a kid when being promised wins or gifted skins etc for adds to a server.

This is why I prefer my nephews and neice play on Xbox and PlayStation as they only add through the system and anyone acting dodgy usually ends up with a friend request from me so I can monitor them.

I only really used discord when my Destiny clan was active as it was easier to share pics etc - although most of the stuff we shared obviously wasn't child friendly lol. Some of our raiding nights got wild once the beer and / or other substances got pumping lol.

@Mr-Fuggles777
If i am a parent, i will never allow Fortnite and any 18+ shooter games for my kids.
I will give my kids better games, stay away from malicious toxic community / peoples.

@Anti-Matter so you are willfully opening your child up to bullying and exclusion during their formative years, based on your own narrow minded view points of what is acceptable?

That won't lead to rebellious attitudes at all I'm sure. What are you going to do when they are 12 and legally allowed to play Fortnite?

@Mr-Fuggles777
If i am the parent, I will protect my kids from cyber bullying by limiting their interaction with Online playing. I will supervise them while playing and i will make sure they play games with NO risk of bullying by virtual chat.
Also, i will apply rules to NOT play those games for whatever reasons, even when they are already grown up. I will show ALL my games to my kids with their age rating shown and i will explain every single of my games so my kids will understand if their parent also playing games that still safe for them even they are growing up.
I will be happy if my kids can develop their awareness to not get into kind of games like that.

Oh, one more thing.
I heard from other teacher in my school when we have lunch break, she told her experience about finding her boy student when he was grade 2, he was swearing with very bad words in the cafe with his parents and it was like nothing wrong, even his parents also swearing while talking with him. When she figured it out who was the voice behing her, he immediately felt embarrassed and they left from the cafe in hurry. When i heard the story like that, i was shocked and felt a little bit upset and it made me have more awareness with parent's influence with their kids.

@Anti-Matter SO what about school?

@Anti-Matter its not just about cyber bullying, what about school when non of the other kids will play or interact with them and bulky them because they are "babies and not allowed to play games with them".
Most social interaction between school kids is split between online & RL - if they are excluded from one they will struggle being accepted in the other.

As for bad language, they are going to hear that on TV, on the street, in movies etc - to fully protect them would be to completely restrict their lifestyle and social interaction which is much more abusive and harmful for a developing child.

@Mr-Fuggles777 Very good points all round. Children can be very gullible, and in this age it's very easy to trick them and the like. So it'll be important to educate them very well on Internet safety. But one guy I wouldn't pick to teach children on Internet safety is Anti, in fact if there was an extinction, and there was two children, myself and Anti left on Earth, I would still place my own judgement over his.

@Anti-Matter Please listen to yourself. Online play is not all bad. It's almost you had a really bad experience twenty years ago and have not entirely gotten over it. And hey, your future children may not be like you. They may not like video games, and they may want to play games you won't approve.

And as @Mr-Fuggles777 says, your children may be bullied if they say that Para Para Paradise is their favourite game, during their senior year of school. I implore you not to put them through that. And it has nothing to do with your own tastes, but rather your close-mindedness.

@TheJGG OMG I feel you I couldn't if he was the only guy left to teach people about games, all FPS games would be gone, no more MH no more Sonic team racing no more well anything fun about gaming all there would be is I don't even know at this point LOL.

@Anti-Matter Ya your the one to talk about parents influence on there Kids LOL.

@Snatcher Half the games I play wouldn't exist anymore. I had so much fun with Ghost of Tsushima.

I'm squeamish about violence in film but oddly I'm fine with it in video games. But one of the cutscenes involves a man having his head manually ripped off by the Mongol Khan. It's truly disgusting but... not enough to make me scream or turn off the game. Makes the villain so good.