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Ban Fortnite, Says Prince Harry (gamespot.com)
Prince Harry, Duke of Sussex, is calling for the ban of popular battle royale game "Fortnite." The prominent member of the British royal family visited a YMCA in West London and spoke to mental health experts about addictive games and social media, saying that the latter is more addictive than drugs or alcohol. From a report: "[Fortnite] shouldn't be allowed," he said. "Where is the benefit of having it in your household? It's created to addict, an addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It's so irresponsible. It's like waiting for the damage to be done and kids turning up on your doorsteps and families being broken down." He also suggested that social media is "more addictive than alcohol and drugs." Further reading: Fortnite Creator Sees Epic Games Becoming as Big as Facebook, Google; and 'Fortnite' May be a Virtual Game, But It's Having Real-life, Dangerous Effects.
Fortnite actually is deliberately designed to be addictive. Tencent bought 40% of Epic games back in 2013 with the explicit intention of making addictive games such as Fortnite that could wring as much money out of players as possible. In 2018 Fortnite brought in $2.4 BILLION in revenue, for a game that is ostensibly "free to play".
4 prominent employees including Cliff Bleszinski left Epic after the merger due to Tencent's involvement in the company, their plans for monetization of games or both.
This video covers the general structure and psychological manipulations that the game uses to get kids to keep playing and keep spending money and also talks about the 'in-game concert' that Slashdot had a story about last week: https://www.youtube.com/watch?...
20 Years ago...
"[Everquest] shouldn't be allowed," he said. "Where is the benefit of having it in your household? It's created to addict, an addiction to keep you in front of a computer for as long as possible. It's so irresponsible. It's like waiting for the damage to be done and kids turning up on your doorsteps and families being broken down." He also suggested that social media is "more addictive than alcohol and drugs."