School warns against video game for stranger danger

dubai — A Dubai school has warned parents about a video game that can potentially put children in danger as strangers are able to contact them through voice chat and messages in the game.

GEMS Wellington Academy in Silicon Oasis sent a circular to parents regarding the game Fortnite, which has over 125 million players worldwide.

Last month, the UAE took strict measures against several online games and blocked them to protect children, including games such as Roblox, My Friend Cayla, Blue Whale, Cloudpets and Mariam.

“This is to bring to your attention a warning issued recently regarding a popular cooperative survival game called ‘Fortnite’. The game is available on Xbox One, PS4, PC, Mac, iOS, Nintendo Switch and Android. It is a game set in contemporary Earth, where sudden appearances of a worldwide storm cause 98 per cent of the world’s population to disappear and zombie-like creatures rise to attack the remainder. In the UK, the Video Standards Council rates Fortnite as PEGI 12 for frequent scenes of mild violence. Please review the warning around the game.

“The National Society for the Prevention of Cruelty to Children (NSPCC), a UK-based charity, has suggested that 25 per cent of children playing Fortnite had been contacted online by strangers. The charity has advised parents to turn off the voice chat system in the game through the settings menu to ensure children avoided inappropriate contact. Additionally, the NSPCC has warned that the text messaging system in the game cannot be disabled,” part of the statement in the circular by the school said.

Parents have also voiced their concerns on video games that can potentially expose their children to stranger danger.

One parent, Sarah Taizoon, said parents and teachers need to ensure they are monitoring the behavioural changes of children.

Virtual and social media activities and the child’s behaviour patterns certainly need to be monitored from time to time to avoid unpleasant situations.” Sarah Taizoon, parent

Video games are meant to have fun, but as a parent of an 11-yearold boy, I don’t see games like Fortnite as ‘productive fun’ for the mind or the emotional intellect of a child. Although studies have ruled out the connection between violence in video-games and fierce behaviour patterns, it is often observed that long hours of exposure to such games makes children mildly desensitised. It’s like they are slowly growing to accept such glamourised violence and extreme aggression as admissible responses,” Taizoon said.

“The bigger looming threat in the midst of this all, is possible virtual interactions with potentially harmful strangers, an issue that needs to be dealt with in a sensitive manner. Parents and teachers need to warn children against responding to messages or e-mails from unidentified sources. Virtual and social media activities and the child’s behaviour patterns certainly need to be monitored from time to time to avoid unpleasant situations. It is important for parents to remember that our kids will have many sets of friends but just one set of parents to set boundaries. It is not invading into the child’s privacy — it’s just keeping them secure.”

Another parent, Momina Rehman, said she tries to monitor her kids’ online activity as much as she can. “Things have become so technologically advanced these days that you have to be twice as careful. You never know who your child might be talking to,” she said. “It’s better to completely

Things have become so technologically advanced that you have to be twice as careful. You never know who your child might be talking to.” Momina Rehman, parent

ban chat boxes in games.”

The circular sent by the school also listed some guidelines for parents to take if their children are playing the game, including “let children know that they can talk to them if upset or worried by anything they have seen online, familiarise themselves with their children’s online activities and discuss why they like particular apps or games, agree on family rules on how to use apps, sites and games and use privacy settings and parental controls to keep children safe.”

sarwat@khaleejtimes.com