Epic Games provides constant updates to Fortnite. The Fortnite OG update recently led to a surge in players including the return of players who may not have played the game in years. It eventually set a new record for player engagement. While the OG event will come to an end on December 2, other changes to the game have caught our attention.
The first we would talk about is the new age ratings for every experience. New updates to Fortnite have added age ratings to every experience in the game. Consequently, some outfits can no longer be used for experiences rated “Everyone” or “Everyone 10 Plus”.
For Example, Jay Peters of The Verge tried playing The Game Awards-themed experience using the Renegade Rustcat outfit but got the message “Your selected outfit can’t be worn in experiences of this age rating”. Peters found it annoying considering the fact that nothing about the outfit appeared offensive.
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According to a message posted by The Fortnite Team on November 16, 2023, the use of age restrictions will “help parents and players make informed play decisions about the thousands of games and other experiences in Fortnite”.
Furthermore, Epic advises parents and guardians to make use of the company’s Parental Controls to adjust the game’s content age rating limits depending on their family’s preference. Epic wants to give parents and guardians full control over what their children are playing. However, this has come at a huge cost to older players.
Epic later updated the post to mention that “about 7% of Fortnite Outfits can only be equipped in islands rated Teen (or regional equivalent)”. However, they promised that by next year they “will enable most of these Outfits to be compatible with all ratings by having them auto-adjust appearances based on the island you want to play”.
In other words, instead of the ugly experience where your outfit just disappears like Peters mentioned, your outfit will be automatically adjusted to be suitable for the island you want to play. For example, the gun attached to the leg of Agent Peeley’s outfit may be automatically removed according to Epic spokesperson, Jake Jones.
A new Fortnite tool allows audio clip submission when reporting in-game abuse
Epic has also added a new tool to Fortnite with voice reporting. This tool allows players to submit audio evidence when reporting in-game actions that violated the community rules. The new tool adds to the various layers of player protection already available in the game including the ability to block or mute a player. However, there is a caveat.
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The voice reporting tool only captures 5 minutes of audio. When the feature is turned on, only the last five minutes of the conversation can be sent. In other words, as new audio files are captured, the previous ones are erased. Therefore, you must submit your report within 5 minutes of the abuse or harassment, or your evidence may just be erased.
“Epic has no way of accessing any voice chat audio unless voice reporting is on and a participant submits a voice report”, the company explained.
All submitted audio evidence will be “auto-deleted after fourteen days or the duration of a sanction”. However, if there is an appeal, the audio evidence may be retained for a longer period. Also, Epic may retain audio clips for as long as legally required to comply with legal obligations.
While adults can customize their voice reporting preference, the feature is always on for voice chats involving players under 18 years. However, under 18 players who don’t want their voice captured have the option of either muting themselves or turning off voice chat entirely.
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