According to a recent report by Mirror one Fortnite fan has taken their affinity for the game one step too far.
An unnamed girl was recently put into “intensive rehab” due to her addiction to Epic Games' famous battle royale.
In a bulleted list of the infractions committed by the girl - while typical cases usually involve late-night gaming sessions or the game jeperodising her education - some extreme issues are brought up.The girl in question was reportedly neglecting her own basic needs and physically lashing out at her parents.
Here's the list of offences:
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Secretly got up in the night and played until dawn.
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Neglected to go to the toilet because she could not bear to leave the screen.
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Hit her father in the face when he tried to confiscate her Xbox gaming console.
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Dozed off in class because of her night-time addiction.
Apparently the young gamer spent at least 10 hours a day playing Fortnite, and while that may seem insignificant to some calloused, long-time players, it's quite a bit for somebody at such a young age.
The gamer's mother elaborated on the situation:
We had no idea, when we let her play the game, of the addictive nature or the impact it could have on her mental health.
She is in therapy for the addiction after she became withdrawn, agitated and disturbed from playing up to ten hours a day – sometimes playing until dawn, wetting herself so she didn’t have to leave the screen.
The parents mention that the breaking point came after the parents were made awarer of multiple charges on their credit card. The girl is said to have made over-$50's worth of in-game purchases, for Fortnite, per month. It's this monetary issue which prompted the parents to confiscate the young girl's Xbox One - which led to the afformentioned physical violence.
The girl was taken to an addictions counsellor, Steve Pope, who stated that this wasn’t the first case of parents raising Fortnite-related concerns to him.
What do you think about this case of dependancy? Have you ever experience similar issues? In any case, be careful you're affinity for video games isn't negatively affecting the rest of your life.