People have been aware of football widows and now it seems like there already Fortnite divorcees.
According to CNBC, over 200 couples have filed for divorce in the United in 2018. They cited the reason on addiction to the earlier mentioned online survival game. While Fortnite is being the cause of divorce these days, other online games are also the reason for several couple's parting ways. The information, revealed by the abovementioned source, was from Divorce Online.
It was a reported UK company offering divorce services and other resources. For those who are not aware, more than 125 million registered Fortnite players globally. The game has also gained over $1 billion revenue since it was launched in 2017; this was according to the developer Epic Games. However, there are the increasing number of people who would wish these gamers would spend lesser time playing.
Divorce Online's recent blog post revealed notes how the company compiled all their records of the divorce petitions mentioning addiction to Fortnite and other online games. The company has conducted this process after noticing the uptick in couples, citing the game when they inquired about the services.
To specific, the 200 couples from the UK who cited Fortnite and other games after filing divorce petitions through Divorce Online. This only presented a small fraction of the total number of divorce proceeding this year. In a statement, a spokesperson from Divorce Online wrote, "These numbers equate to roughly five percent of the 4,665 petitions we have handled since the beginning of the year and as one of the largest filers of divorce petitions in the UK, is a pretty good indicator."
Aside from online games, the spokesperson also cited the following reason for divorce:
1. Drug Addiction
2. Alcohol Addiction
3. Gambling
In the end, the modern times have introduced more addictions to the society. Even the World Health Organization has officially recognized the gaming disorder as a mental health issue. This has been afflicting gamers as they lack in control over their own gaming habits for a period of months at a time.
WHO considered these cases if a person has given a major priority to gaming over other activities. Sometimes, it comes to a point that gaming takes precedence over other daily activities, interests, and continuation of gaming despite its negative consequences.
As for Fortnite, over one-third of the players have averaged between six to 10 hours playing per week. While this is the average from an August survey of the financial education site LendEDU, 38 percent of the respondents say they play over 11 hours per week.
