What is Apex Legends and is it safe for kids?

Apex Legends is a battle royale shooting game with some similarities to Fortnite. However, its gameplay is a little more realistic and geared towards an older audience.

It launched in 2019 by Respawn Entertainment and Electronic Arts as a part of the Titanfall series. Over 100 million people play the game across consoles.

Similar to Fortnite, Apex Legends is free to play but offers in-game purchases to access particular character designs and visual enhancements.

Minimum age requirements

In the UK and Europe, Apex Legends is rated PEGI 16 because “it features sustained depictions of violence towards human characters.” In the US, the ESRB rates it T for Teens for similar reasons.

Apex Legends is, by its battle royale nature, an online game. It’s enjoyable because of the competitive play with up to 60 total players. Generally, users play with pre-made characters on teams called squads of 3 or fewer. Users can create their own teams or join other players they don’t know.

The game starts with each team on an aircraft that goes over the game’s map. The squad’s jumpmaster decides when each squad member skydives into a location. Players can follow the squad’s path or go their own way.

Once players are free to move around the map, they can scavenge for different items to enhance their strength. They must keep track of their squad as well as other nearby squads.

Apex Legends includes nonverbal communication options as well as through headphones and mics. Communication is an important part of defeating other squads. The last squad remaining in Apex Legends wins.

Communication

Players communicate with each other with headphones and mics. This audio interaction is not covered by PEGI ratings, so although the game isn’t rated for profanity, its online nature could expose younger players to offensive language from strangers via the voice or on-screen text chat.

Although you don’t hear opponents talking, communicating with teammates is an important, and enjoyable, part of the game but does mean that by default it allows you to talk to strangers. However, Apex Legends offers a way to communicate with teammates without voice chat, by triggering a “ping” about items found or enemies shot. This makes it possible to play without talking to strangers.

If your child is playing with strangers in their team, you can mute them in the inventory screen during play. On consoles, players can join a lobby of friends before they play to permanently mute players, not in their group, who they don’t know.

In-game purchases

Apex Legends is free to download and start playing, meaning that no purchase password is required from parents. As signified in the ratings, the game includes purchases. These purchases range from £7.99 to £79.99. While this money will only unlock cosmetic improvements, it is also a way to gain access to all the playable characters in the game more quickly.

Apex Packs that can be earned in the game or purchased with money, offer a “loot box” style chance to win items of varying rarity. This is not classed as gambling by the Gambling Commission in the UK as these items don’t have any monetary value outside the game.

Regardless of your child’s age, there are a range of risks to navigate with Apex Legends. Remember that taking precautions can help reduce the chance of these risks leading to harm.

Overspending

Without spending limits in place, your child could accidentally overspend. Purchasing items and access to other characters can help enhance user’s gameplay and give them an advantage in some battles.

If a credit card is connected to your child’s account, the likelihood of them spending without knowing increases. Make sure to set spending limits, require authorisation and talk to your child about responsible buying.

Violent content

Even if your child is 16, the visuals could negatively impact them. The PEGI 16 rating comes from depictions of violence towards human characters. There is also depiction of a range of weapons and guns.

There are the finisher moves that specifically execute defenceless enemies. There are also other special moves that use chemical gas attacks on multiple enemies before finishing them off.

Research found that violent video games don’t necessarily lead to violent behaviour. However, the impacts on each child is unique. So, it’s important to limit exposure to violence when a child is too young to think critically about it.

Screen time

Because Apex Legends is multiplayer, many young people like to join games with their friends. So, they need to all go online at the same time.

This means that there is some pressure to play at a certain time when their friends are online. It also means that quitting in the middle of a game is detrimental to their teammates. So, they might play for extended periods to avoid letting their friends down.

Additionally, interrupting your child’s gameplay during pivotal moments can cause them to react negatively.

Make sure to set clear boundaries around playtime and use parental controls wherever possible. Most consoles have features to help with this, but regular conversations is important as well.

Online interactions

If your child plays multiplayer modes, they are likely to interact with a range of people on Apex Legends with voice chat. Voice chat cannot be moderated as closely as text chat, and players are likely to hear inappropriate language.

Additionally, if a young person doesn’t play well or makes a mistake, other users might troll or harass them. There is also risk of hate speech in some cases.

Ensure your child knows how to block and report behaviour which breaks the rules. Also, talk to them about appropriate behaviour to make sure they are remaining kind during gameplay.

Apex Legends has some safety features you can use to keep your child safe. You can also set controls with the EA app, Steam and Epic Games Store to limit spending and screen time.

In the game settings, you can also turn off voice chat and customise multiplayer settings.

Additionally, set up your console or PC to limit access to games rated for older players. You can also control the sort of interactions your child can have with other players online in these settings.

It’s a good idea to ensure you have passwords and payment limits set up on any credit cards associated with gaming accounts. Also, make sure that these accounts are set up with emails that you check regularly to get timely information about payments

You can also set up time limits for playtime. Use this as an opportunity to encourage children to play a wide range of games and activities rather than simply controlling their play without discussion.

If Apex Legends is rated too old for your child, the following games offer a more age-appropriate alternative:

• Minecraft Server Games (PEGI 7+)
• Roblox – Phantom Forces (PEGI 7+)
• Splatoon 2 (PEGI 7+)
• Plants vs Zombies: Garden Warfare 2 (PEGI 12+)
• Fortnite Battle Royale (PEGI 12+)
• Overwatch (PEGI 12+)