With Christmas right around the corner, three Canadian kids better not ask for anything Fortnite-related. Instead, their parents will be gifting Fortnite with a lawsuit this Christmas.
In a joint lawsuit against Epic Games, three parents say the battle royale game is why children stopped showering, eating, and sleeping. One of those children racked up 7,700 hours of game time in just two years.
Now I was a bit of a gamer during my childhood, too, but mama love wasn’t having that. Especially not showering. She’d pull a power cord with one hand and smack you with a washcloth and Irish Spring in the other hand.
At some point, parental discretion plays a part in a child’s behavior. Epic Games released a statement calling attention to their parental controls.
“Parents can receive playtime reports that track the amount of time their child plays each week, and require parental permission before purchases are made,” the company stated. Likewise, they dismissed the lawsuit calling it meritless, and they intend to prove this in court.
In contrast, the parents referenced the World Health Organization classifying video game addiction as a behavioral disorder. WHO defines gaming addiction as a behavior that disrupts a person’s family, work, social and personal life over a 12-month period.
Quebec Superior Court Justice Sylvain Lussier acknowledged the dangers of gaming addiction, comparing it to smoking.
All things considered, video games are more immersive now than in years past with the evolution of the internet and technology, but that can’t be an excuse to be hungry and funky.
Children buy video games with their parents’ money. Considering Fortnite’s pay-to-win business model, parents need to stop paying.