Fortnite is quickly taking over the world as the most popular video game, but experts warn of an impending addiction crisis.
Fortnite has hit 125 million players worldwide just a year after it was first released, with an estimated 40 million playing monthly.
The unrivaled popularity of Fortnite among players has partly been fueled by its availability for free on smartphones as well as on traditional home video game consoles, making it popular among teenage gamers as well as seasoned players.
Fortnite is one of the most popular video games in the world, attracting more than 40 million players worldwide to its battle royale-style tournaments. It has now hit 125 million players worldwide in just a year after its launch
However, experts warn that the popularity of the game is turning into an obsession.
‘It’s quite the phenomenon among kids in my practice,’ said child psychologist Randy Kulman to Live Science.
Many psychologists have described patients who are ‘obsessed’ with the game, playing it thousands of times, sometimes through the night, and even becoming violent when their parents intervene.
A nine-year-old girl from the United Kingdom is in now rehab after becoming so addicted to Fortnite she wet herself to avoid moving and hit her father when he tried to stop her playing.
However, some psychologists are pointing out that obsessive tendencies regarding video games have long been a problem.
‘I do see a similar pattern among the patients in my practice,’ said Emily Gifford, a clinical psychologist in Westchester, New York to Live Science.
She told the publication that some of her Fortnite-obsessed patients are having difficulties managing their time and constantly fighting with their parents about playing the game.
‘That said, I’m not sure I can say that, statistically, I am seeing the pattern with any greater frequency or sense of urgency than I have with other video games that came before it.’
Fortnite combines elements from several popular types of games. It has the shooting styles of war games, but the scavenging and building components of Minecraft, the number two best-selling video game of all time.
‘Taking what I hear from my patients, Fortnite does seem to fill a void in the current video-game selection,’ Gifford said.
‘There was, on one end of the continuum Minecraft and, at the other end, Call of Duty. Fortnite is a third-person shooter game with a social component along with building and strategizing.’
Many psychologists have described patients who are ‘obsessed’ with the game, playing it thousands of times, sometimes through the night, and even becoming violent when their parents intervene
Dr. Leonard Sax, a family physician and psychologist in Exton, Pennsylvania told the publication that any more than 40 minutes of gaming a night on school nights and an hour a day on weekends can interfere with school and social life.
‘That adds up to 6 hours a week. If you spend 6 hours or less playing games, research suggests it doesn’t impact school performance or real-world relationships,’ Sax said.
‘But if you spend more, and there are many who play 20 hours a week, then you’re more likely to see an impact.’
Some parents believe that due to the collaborative nature of Fortnite, the game can actually improve social skills. Experts disagree.
‘Parents tell me, ‘My kid is learning to collaborate, isn’t this a useful skill?’ The short answer is, ‘No, it is not,” Sax said.
‘Collaboration in the real world is about listening to your colleague, making eye contact, understanding what they are trying to say and working creatively together.’
‘Killing people is not fundamentally a social skill,’ Sax said.
Fortnite is a battle royale-style survival shooter where players create a superhero avatar and compete against each other on a dystopian island.
Each game, or ‘match’ as each competition is known, starts with 100 players.
The aim is to be the last one standing, with users able to form allegiances and play in small groups.
However, the style and graphics of the game can disguise the violence inherent to it.
‘It seems to offer a middle ground, perhaps where parents are more comfortable saying OK, rather than drawing a hard line in the sand about a more aggressive game,’ Gifford said.
The game is designed in a ‘sandbox’ style, where players can roam and change a virtual world at will with minimal character limitations placed on the gamer.
Fortnite games also tend to last only around 20 minutes, making it easy to jump right in.
‘The sandbox games tend to engage kids for longer and longer periods of time,’ Kulman said. ‘And in ‘Fortnite,’ if you lose you can just come right back in.’