Fortnite – does this game bother you as a mother?

I was cooking dinner one night when I heard my younger son crying loud …..I rushed to see him with fear and asked, “what happened?” He had tears falling from his eyes and he yelled, “Mom, I lost my player in Fortnite!!“…… What?? seriously, that’s it?? A video game player was killed and he was crying for this……. OMG!! Video games attract kids of all ages and today it does bother many parents. As a I mother, I do get concerned about this game.

I assume most of us would have come across this situation in one or the other way. In my case my kid was crying, in your case he/she would have banged the door or in anger would have shut down the game or would have cursed the other player who killed his/her player, there could be more outcomes of losing the game 🙂 The important thing is how we as parents deal with this situation.

If we don’t allow our kids to play this game then, they feel ashamed or embarrassed in front of their friends, who comment saying, “Oh, you don’t know Fornite.. so bad….unlucky you … ” and what not. On the other hand, if you allow your kids to play the game then, they end up hours playing…. in any case there are repercussions. The key thing is that “we” as parents need to deal with this situation smartly. But how?

To share my experience, I initially did not like my kids playing Fortnite but, gradually I found a way out. I started considering this game as a platform to educate my kids about life and how to deal with it in the read world. Fortnite’s mission statement is “Last one standing ….wins the game“, this coincides with Charles Darwin’s Law – “Survival of the fittest“. Interesting…. isn’t it?

To start with, I made a rule in the house wherein I defined hours for playing the game – like an hour in the morning and an hour in the evening or two hours in a row. Later, I spent time to understand this game and how my kids play this game. That’s where I started teaching the “Lessons from Fortnite” to my sons 🙂

Lesson I -> Work as a team !!

My boys play the game with their dad and they play in “Squads”. While playing in a squad, I keep telling my kids that listen patiently to other players, think of a plan and then work on the plan. Funny part is when all of them are playing together they revive each other in case their player is fading out or is about to get killed. They also protect each other as they proceed in the game. While they learnt this art themselves, they did acknowledge the reality that, “team work makes dreams work”. They either win together or fall together.

Lesson II -> Use your resources smartly

Each player starts the game with an axe and they need to collect weapons as they move in the game like guns, rocket launcher/rpg, sniper, short guns, presents and they need to protect their player from being killed. Did you observe, I have learnt so many new names from this game 🙂 Well, coming back… during the battle, the player needs to switch weapons as per the circumstances …. and this needs wise decisions to be made quickly …choosing the right weapon for the right situation, like using a long range sniper to eliminate a player who is at a long distance….. or …. using a short range weapons like shotguns to eliminate someone near by. So, its all about using the right weapons, the right resources at the right time. I explained this scenario to my kids as how in real life – our decisions, our thoughts affect us. Making smart decisions at the right time always helps us, thinking before we speak is also important and most relevant…. one should be able to survive with limited resources.

Lesson III -> Not every enemy is worthy of fight

Fortnite teaches us that we don’t need to fight with each and every player. We can lay low and try to survive the fight, so that we only fight the enemies when it is really required. Similarly, in life we don’t need to take on each and every bully coming our way, we should ignore them unless and until it gets to our nerves. When this happens, we should take help from our team members ….in real life these team members are our parents… our guardians. Discussing issues with parents enables kids to take the right decision in life. Everybody has to struggle in life and should be able to find a way out. Discussing with parents does help, they are always there when kids need them 🙂

Lesson IV -> Have patience

This is something kids do have it already when they are playing since they will never quit playing if not asked, they can play for hours … But, when it comes to reading, writing…. their patience shortens up… reason is the interest. Taking this as an example, I encouraged my kids to follow the same practice like reading fictional stories, writing a summary about it, watching science series….its just that if something is made interesting, kids will patiently follow it. And this is the trickiest part.

Lesson V -> Learn from mistakes, observation and planning is important

This is what I keep telling my kids, its ok if you lost the game. If your player is eliminated, then take this as a learning. Find out why were you eliminated, was it your mistake, was it your team member’s mistake? And remember not to repeat that mistake when you restart the game. Definitely you need to observe…analyse and plan !!

So, this was my story, what is your story on Fortnite?