Voice Privacy Settings in Fortnite
I know I'm supposed to title this "THE MOST IMPORTANT SETTING FOR PARENTS TO KNOW BEFORE THEIR CHILD IS ABDUCTED BY FORTNITE PLAYERS?!!?!!", but I hate clickbait titles like that.
TLDR; I made a tutorial video showing how parents can set privacy settings inside Fortnite so their kid can't talk to strangers on voice chat AND so their household's conversations aren't broadcast to a stranger on voice chat in Fortnite.
Depending on the thumbnail you see, one of the A/B tested version is very obviously AI generated.
How Voice Chat Works in Fortnite
When playing a game of Fortnite with random people (up to 3 others currently), it's fairly customary for one person to turn on their mic and ask "anyone else got a mic?" to see if... anyone else has a microphone and wants to voice chat. Sometimes people respond with variations of "yep", other times the person asking is met with silence. And usually they then turn off their mic and the squad plays together in silence.
I've never personally been the one to initiate the "anyone got a mic?" conversation. I prefer to wait and find out who else might talk, what they sound like, and if I think it's worth engaging with them on voice chat. I play Fortnite for fun and giggles, not for competitive ego, and so I need to know if the other folks are also going to just have fun and not get bent out of shape when I run the wrong way or throw a shield pot instead of shooting the gun, ok?
Anyone Got A Mic?
The other day I was playing with a squad and someone turned on their mic and asked "anyone got a mic?" but we could all clearly tell it was a kid. I didn't know how old he was, but then he said "I'm 7 but I can play pretty good." I decided not to turn on my mic, but didn't mute voice chat just to make sure nobody else started saying inappropriate things to him during the game.
Somebody else did turn on their mic and said "hey" and struck up a bit of a conversation with the kid. All good and innocent enough. The other adult seemed friendly enough so I turned my mic on and joined in the conversation, mainly about the game.
But every so often this kid would drop information about his personal life... his siblings... their pet... the fact that they were getting a new sister soon... and it was awkward. Both me and the other adult kept saying things like "I don't think you should be saying that in a game to strangers" or "do your parents know you're talking on here?"
We could also hear background noises from the kid's home. A dog barking. An adult talking far enough away that we couldn't make out words other than the occasional part of a sentence.
Wasn't it Just a Voice Changer?
I should pause and say a common way to generate views is for a streamer or YouTuber to play a video game online with a voice changer mod installed so it makes them sound like a kid who says crazy stuff and then is amazing at the video game. Publish clips of that on TikTok or Shorts and you get tons of views apparently.
So I acknowledge this kid could've been that, but if so, he wasn't really trying to say anything outrageous. I haven't run across a lot of kids on voice chat in Fortnite games, but it's happened enough that I can safely say that either they've got a really elaborate set up with background sounds running to make it seem legit, or they're genuinely just kids playing the game and talking to strangers on the internet. Another kid I was matched with basically narrated his whole game which sounded incredibly cute and funny to hear a 7-10 year old verbally processing a Fortnite game, but was also really weird that their parents were ok with that. Especially because, as with others, I could hear their normal family life in the background.
And if the kid is using a headset / mic combo, then the parents aren't hearing what anyone else is saying to their kid.
That time I just muted the kid so I didn't hear it and we both died shortly after.
Do You Want to Be My Friend?
Going back to the game with the 7yo and the other adult—we actually ended up winning the match. And normally when you win, you try going again with the same squad to see if you can repeat success. Fortnite has a "Stay with same team" option at the end of a game, or you can choose to go back to Lobby. When we won, the 7yo said to us "Want to be my friend? Can I add you?" and both me and the other guy said "Uh no I don't think so. You should find friends your own age." and left back to the lobby.
As much as I want to be a good guy, I don't want to babysit someone else's kid in Fortnite.
It really boggles my mind that parents aren't aware of what their kids are doing online, and who they might be talking with. As I said in my video above, I don't want to spread fear and conspiracy theories around it, but I do think it's smart to check in on parental settings for the games and apps our kids are using.
I'll be adding more videos to my @GamingWithALemon YouTube channel as I get questions or come up with other things to help parents understand about Fortnite, etc. My kids are older now but still very much in thick of learning about internet conversations and social media. It's still very much a world wild web.
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