The Bad

By Brayden Nulle '25

According to ActivePlayer’s statistics on Fortnite, the number of players daily is around 30 million across all of their platforms. Fortnite has grown 5% in users, after the new update of the return of the OG Map from Season 1 of the game. But this new wave of Fortnite is not all good with some kids having negative effects coming from playing the game . Despite its popularity, Fortnite has been known to leave children with psychological challenges. 

In an article from the magazine,Maclean’s, published August of 2023,there is an anecdote about a seven year old boy, named Cody, who was a great soccer player before the pandemic; but then he started playing Fortnite to fill in his excess free time.This led to him  skipping showering, eating, drinking water, and going to the bathroom in order to play his game.. During the pandemic, even though he did not want to, many times his mother made him go outside to get some physical movement. After the Pandemic, Cody’s mother took away the game and Cody began to throw temper tantrums and scream for hours for his mother to let him play the video game. This led to much turmoil between the two. He finally was brought to his old behavior through going to a specialist to help him ease out of his addiction to Fortnite.

In the same article that tells Cody’s story, Stanford neuroscientist Andrew Huberman talks about the way that playing a game, like Forntine, gives a dopamine kick, allowing the gamer to feel pleasure and happiness as a reward. In an article by Amazon Web Services (AWS), when the game is turned off, the brain pluments back to normal levels, leading to a sometimes harsh emotional reaction from the player. This was seen in Cody’s case, when the game got disconnected and he lost control of his emotions because of the drop of hormones in his brain.

Although Matt says that Fortnite can be good for kids because it allows for people to form connections with each other,there is still a neurological effect on the dopamine in their brains through the dopamine high that they receive from playing the game. The are alternatives to this with actives like playing a sport, mediating, and listening to music

There is no clear way to fix this problem of addiction to gaming and the dopamine highs that come with it. A possible solution to it, though, is to try and balance the amount of time that you play video games with the time that you go outside or socialize face-to-face with others. Another thing that could help is limiting the amount of time you play the game by putting a timer on your phone. This will help you not get “sucked into” the game and be able to recover from the dopamine kick. 

Have you ever come home after a long day of school and just wanted to have fun with your friends? Normally if you can't reach them outside there would be no way of hanging out with them. Fortnite is a great way to solve this problem. Fortnite is an online battle royale shooter game that is played all around the world. It allows friends to talk and play together without having to meet in person. SmartCitesDive  claims that cities are industrializing and getting rid of parks, crosswalks, and long walk intervals which are needed for kids to get around and meet up. As it gets increasingly harder to hang out and form connections with friends in person, this online space creates a safe environment that is easily accessible.

All video shooter games have this effect of uniting friends, but Fortnite is unique in its cartoony nature. Recently on December 8th, Fortnite added friendly family ratings. Most games seek realism for the most entertaining gameplay, but Fortnite sees this as not appropriate for kids. Because Epic Games wanted to remain as family friendly as possible, they added limitations for children under twelve on certain game modes. Content creators like Nick Eh 30 and Tabor Hill are great examples of the values Epic Games aims to uphold. They do this by maintaining appropriate language, topics, and content. Even though not all Fortnite content creators are appropriate for smaller children, it is not hard to find loveable and entertaining videos. 

A common worry for online game safety is communication with others. If set up, Fortnite makes it impossible for people to communicate with strangers. A player with these settings can only talk to friended players and can turn joinable parties to only friends or completely off.

While protection matters, fun also matters. VintageIsTheNewWorld  says that around 61% of teens have played Fortnite before. School work loads have increased, and so have the responsibility of children. CNN Health claims that schoolwork has increased around three times the length. Therefore, it is only fair to give teens and children a break from the stressful environment of school and its piling amounts of homework to have fun. Like any means of entertainment, it is necessary to have a healthy balance of work and fun. Brayden argues that Fortnite gives children dopamine effects that can cause addiction. However, most enjoyable things can become an addiction (such as food, watching t.v., playing video games, etc.), so people must learn to control themselves. Modern culture and consumerism leads to addiction; so video games are not alone in this dilemma.

In the end, Fortnite is an enjoyable video game for children. It may have drawbacks like the high dopamine effects. But this is universal and Fortnite is not responsible for them because most video games are played inside and don’t have playtime restrictions. 

The Good

By Matthew Cain '25

Have you ever come home after a long day of school and just wanted to have fun with your friends? Normally if you can't reach them outside there would be no way of hanging out with them. Fortnite is a great way to solve this problem. Fortnite is an online battle royale shooter game that is played all around the world. It allows friends to talk and play together without having to meet in person. SmartCitesDive  claims that cities are industrializing and getting rid of parks, crosswalks, and long walk intervals which are needed for kids to get around and meet up. As it gets increasingly harder to hang out and form connections with friends in person, this online space creates a safe environment that is free from the harm or interaction with strangers.

All video shooter games have this effect of uniting friends, but Fortnite is unique in its cartoony nature. Recently on December 8th, Fortnite added friendly family ratings. Most games seek for realism for the most entertaining gameplay, but Fortnite sees this as not appropriate for kids. Because Epic Games wanted to remain as family friendly as possible, they added limitations for children under twelve on certain game modes. Content creators like Nick Eh 30 and Tabor Hill are great examples of the values Epic Games aims to uphold. Even though not all Fortnite content creators are appropriate for smaller children, it is not hard to find loveable and entertaining videos. A common worry for online game safety is communication with others. If set up, Fortnite makes it impossible for people to communicate with strangers. A player with these settings can only talk to friended players and can turn joinable parties to only friends or completely off.

Fortnite is entertaining for kids. While protection matters, fun also matters. VintageIsTheNewWorld  says that around 61% of teens have played Fortnite before. School work loads have increased, and so have the responsibility of children. CNN Health claims that schoolwork has increased around three times the length. Therefore, it is only fair to give teens and children a break from the stressful environment of school and its piling amounts of homework to have fun. Like any means of entertainment, it is necessary to have a healthy balance of work and fun. Brayden argues that Fortnite gives children dopamine effects that can cause addiction. However, most enjoyable things can become an addiction (such as food, watching t.v., playing video games, etc.), so people must learn to control themselves. Modern culture and consumerism leads to addiction; so video games are not alone in this dilemma.

Overall, Fortnite is an enjoyable video game for children. It may have drawbacks like the high dopamine effects. But this is universal and Fortnite is not responsible for them because most video games are played inside and don’t have playtime restrictions. Fortnite provides a safe environment for friends to bond over games and experiences. Therefore, it is good for children and teens, and if balanced correctly can be fun for all.