Schools worried new popular online game is distracting kids

BROOKLINE, Mass. — A new online game that's becoming increasingly popular among kids has school officials questioning its potential for distraction.

The game, called Fortnite, has become an obsession for millions of kids worldwide, where even celebrities like Drake are in on the fun.

"The people who are behind this did a very good job with this," said David Gerzof, a social media and communications professor at Emerson University.

Fortnite's virtual world has an appeal unlike any other, slowly helping expand the new gaming genre known as "battle royale".

Battle royal games essentially mix survival, exploration and scavenging elements of a regular survival game into an interactive gameplay where users start with no items or armor and have to find them along the way while battling opponents.

In Fortnite's case, there can be up to 100 players in the same battle, where users from all over the world can connect into the same game, much like an online chat room.

The accessibility of the game is another aspect that helped make it viral. The game is free for download on most platforms, such as Xbox, PC, Mac and even on handheld devices.

The issue, however, is that the virtual world of Fortnite doesn't stop when the user logs out. Kids are reeled into the game because they fear they might be missing out on important aspects of the game.

"It may be that something's going on in this virtual world at the same time as math class - and that can be very conflicting," said Gerzof.

With the possibility of that conflict in mind, Fortnite creators threw in a sort of "warning" to mobile users of the game. Users now see the following message:

"Mister Hillman says stop playing in class."

Fortnite's maker says "Mister Hillman" is a real-life teacher who praised the game, but not for it's potential for distraction.

However, Gerzof said it's not Mister Hillman who's going to stop kids from playing the game in class.

"The notion is FOMO, or Fear Of Missing Out, like what's happening in this virtual world that I helped build and there's a battle going on and I'm missing it because of chemistry," said Gerzof.

Fornite is as popular at the Xaverian Brothers High School in Westwood as it is anywhere else, and, like in most other institutions, gaming is not allowed during school hours.

"After school you'll see quite a few guys lined up in the hallways playing Fornite for sure," said Assistant Principal Stephen Dacey. "It's really important to get a good night's sleep - and staying up gaming all night is not going to be productive to your next day."

Cox Media Group