Fortnite Battle Royale is one of the most popular games with millions of players fighting it out to get Victory Royale. However, it seems like its popularity is causing real-life battles between married couples, leading to divorces. UK-based website, divorce-online.co.uk has cited the game and other online games as a part of the reason for divorce in 200 divorce petitions filed since the start of the year.
A spokesperson for the company notes that “addiction to drugs, alcohol and gambling have often been cited as reasons for relationship breakdowns but the dawn of the digital revolution has introduced new addictions.” Besides this, other reasons cited for divorce include online pornography, online gaming and social media. It was noted that in total, these equated to abou 5% of the 4,665 petitions handed by the company since the beginning of 2018. It should also be noted that these numbers are only from the UK, it there is a possibility that the global numbers are much higher.
Fortnite isn’t the only game that is causing problems in real-life. About a month ago, it was reported that a 15-year-old boy was treated for PUBG addiction and was undergoing treatment. The boy would reportedly play till midnight and had started missing school. He also had over 10,000 friends online, but only a handful in real life. The problem worsened after the boy refused to acknowledge it as a problem.
The World Health Organisation (WHO) has already released an advisory for gaming disorder. It is classified it as a pattern of gaming behaviour which results in impaired control over gaming, increased priority to gaming over other activities. This also includes continuation or escalation of gaming despite the occurrence of negative consequences.
Needless to say, if you tend to spend all day gaming or staying online, it might be a very good idea to get your eyes off the screen and start interacting and helping out those around you in real life.