Is the outrage towards Fortnite justified? Or is it just a part of a wider problem?

(FortniteTM, Epic Games)

Fortnite is a free-to-play battle royal game available on pretty much every device, from gaming consoles to mobile devices, if it can play games, it’ll likely have Fortnite. It’s no wonder it has seen huge success with millions of active players at any given time. Like any popular game, it has not been without its controversies.

Many reports of addiction have been published over the last few months such as from the Mirror reported that a 9 year old girl was so addicted to the game that she wet herself to continue playing and has been admitted to rehab for treatment. Similar articles have been published detailing how damaging the game can be to children, all with a common theme; blaming Fortnite for being “too addictive”.

This made me think, everything enjoyable comes with a risk of addiction. Fizzy drinks, junk food, gaming, all can be addictive if you are not careful. So why do we blame the product, rather than the parents themselves? Since when does the onus of childcare fall on businesses? Surely, if you don’t want your child eating junk food all the time, you don’t let them. If they break the rules that you have set. you punish them. If your child is spending too much time on a game, that they wet themselves, maybe there is a bigger problem in that they lack rules, boundaries, and punishments.

I recently heard a story from a friend that her little brother’s friend has spent £300 on Fortnite skins and seasons passes in the last year. It begged the question; how did this 13-year-old child manage to get £300? He wasn’t working, so of course the money came from his parents. How one can blame the company for making an enjoyable game with optional purchases, as opposed to the parent who likely handed over the debit card for the child to spend so much, makes no sense to me. If I had asked my parents to spend even half of that amount on a digital purchase at that age, I would’ve been laughed out of the room, and rightfully so.

It just seems to me as a way for parents to offload their poor parenting onto others, instead of taking responsibility for their child and the way they behave. Maybe they don’t want to think that they have done a poor job of raising their child, but something needs to be done. You can complain about Fortnite till you are blue in the face, but unless you teach your child how to enjoy life’s pleasures responsibly, then you are doing more harm than good.