Video games are a great way to escape from the real world and the dangers that they possess, taking you and immersing you into a world with various objectives and tasks to complete. Some of these games can’t help but win over people looking for an escape, and Fortnite is one of these games. Currently, Rocklin High is quite hooked on the game, as I at least hear the mentioning of it once everyday from someone in the halls or a class, or see people bragging about their wins on social media.

Fortnite started life as a generic zombie survival game with a cartoon-like artstyle. It was released on July 25, 2017, costing $39.99 for all systems.

It didn’t gain much of a following until September 2017, when the free-to-play Battle Royale mode was released. Over time, the Battle Royale mode gained popularity by help from PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, also a battle royale game released earlier in the year for PC and Xbox that gained mass popularity.

“One reason that I like Fortnite is the fact that it’s currently popular, you can play games and win one night and the next day you can talk with your friends about how you won games and use it as a bragging right,” says sophomore Casey Miller.

By the start of March 2018, Fortnite had reached over 45 million players and over 3 million people currently playing, while PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds had reached 30 million players and about 2 million currently playing.

“It’s hard to speak on the platform itself, because I’ve never played, but I believe that it is truly amazing how fast it came onto the scene and how pervasive it really is, I have never seen something like this in the sheer number of kids who are playing it,”says broadcasting teacher Ryan O’Donnell.

However, Fortnite does have it’s problems. The main problem with Fortnite is that it’s affecting the students of Rocklin High. With the recent release of the mobile version of Fortnite, students are now playing it everywhere, even in the classroom. Wherever there’s a computer or phone with access to the internet, students are watching videos about popular Fortnite Youtubers or Twitch streamers instead of focusing on their work.

“There are times in class where instead of working, I’m playing Fortnite mobile, or times where I could be at home doing some homework or reading but instead I’m playing Fortnite. And the games take upwards of half an hour if you want to win, so it’s definitely time consuming,” says Miller.

“Fortnite has had, at least in my class, an absolutely negative impact … and that’s kind of why I ‘banned’ it,” he says, “and it has to do with a wider and more broad subject, and that’s the screen addiction … we’re having more and more of a hard time to disconnect from things like our phones, and my frustration has mainly been from when I’m trying to communicate with my class they’re on their phones and the computers not paying attention. I don’t have a problem with the game itself but the distraction element of it,” says O’Donnell.

Fortnite is definitely a problem for our student population here on campus that doesn’t need to be stopped, but definitely needs to be contained and limited for our students. As the problem starts to get even more out of control, teachers need to monitor their students more frequently and make sure that they’re on task, for the students own good so that they don’t drive themselves into the ground and fail their classes.