There are strange occurrences to report from the adult world: Mothers walk around with bulging handbags, controllers for the Playstation rattle against each other inside. So that they cannot be used at home. Fathers murmur insecurely to each other: “Is your child allowed to . . . ?” It’s about Fortnite, a computer game that is spreading like a virus in children’s rooms. It’s the topic of conversation in schools, in clubs, at parents’ evenings. The game has such a strong appeal that ten million new users have registered in just two weeks. Why the panic now? The game is free and has been approved for players over the age of twelve – even though it’s full of gunfire and fighters are killed in rows.

Two million players were online at the same time the other day

Parents’ fear that their children will lose themselves in virtual worlds, be confronted with violence in them and eventually become computer addicts is nothing new. Nor is the fact that guardians come up with the most imaginative hiding places for wifi plugs, controllers, XBox &Co. so that the dear little ones are forcibly put offline. However, this helps less and less – youngsters can switch to their smartphones and look over the shoulders of Youtubers, who play “Fortnite Battle Royale” in hordes on all channels. Or the kids go to their friends’ houses and play there. With a total of 40 million downloads worldwide, which the game company Epic Games proudly reports, the probability is quite high that the fictional landscape of Fortnite is flickering on the screen in the neighborhood. The other day there was even a record. Two million players were online at the same time.

The eye of the storm in the middle of the children’s room: the principle of the game is that a hundred players shoot at each other until only one remains. Initially, a battle bus with heroes flies over the island, each player decides where to jump off. Weapons, traps and healing potions he looks for himself in houses and chests. From trees and rocks, the controllable characters hack out building materials with axe and hammer to build bridges and defenses. Always on guard against other shooters, the space becomes smaller and smaller, the tension comes to a head. Blood does not flow: downed enemies disappear in a blue cone of light.

Young people can play Fortnite alone or with up to three other players, talking via headset. The American Wall Street Journal quotes teachers who say that the most they have experienced a comparable passion for gaming among students is the computer game Minecraft. Since the free version of Fortnite has been available, poorer young people are at least no longer excluded. That sounds like gallows humor. What has been causing teenagers and their parents to fight for screen time in the U.S. since July has been spilling over into Germany since the beginning of the year.

Media educators advise parents to simply play along

At the North Rhine-Westphalian “Spieleratgeber” initiative, which tests games, media educators are closely following the boom in Fortnite Battle Royale. They say it is a comic-style shooter version with fun elements. The violence present against other players is not exaggerated, they say, “but despite the futuristic setting, there are realistically leaning weapons. For sensitive teenagers, the nerve-wracking gameplay could be overstraining,” says tester Saskia Moes. The fact that in-app purchases are possible is also problematic. By purchasing so-called skins, players can change the character’s appearance or make them break dance, for example.

This sounds briefly friendlier through the living room than the staccato of machine guns when a sniper needs to be quickly taken out behind the hill. When things get too noisy again, media educators advise concerned parents to enter their children’s world – and play along.

Clear time limits also help: For eleven- to 13-year-olds, the initiative from NRW gives 60 minutes a day as a rough guideline. And advises: “Do not use games as a means of educational pressure.” Computer games should neither be used as a reward nor as a punishment. Because that would unintentionally give them an even higher status in children’s lives. Instead, they should establish this rule together: Homework first, then a break, then playing Fortnite.

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