Random: Fortnite Has Supposedly Contributed To Five Percent Of Divorces In The UK

Mario Party: Ruining friendships
Fortnite: Ruining marriages

This is a kids game people! It shouldn't be ending anyone's marriage!

@HollowGrapeJ Bah, more like ruining outdoor activity time.

Last person to defend Fortnite but if people are going to get divorced over that something else would have caused it I'm sure.

Addiction in all forms is horrible. I Would hope that anyone who plays video games wouldn’t neglect their spouse just to get a victory Royale. Moderation in everything.

Interesting. Fortnite is one of the few games my wife will actually play with me, so I guess I'm safe on that front!

@saintayu Yup, this. If something as simple as a game could ruin it then chances are there wasn't much there to begin with.

@JayJ Ah yes, a game about people killing people is so fun for the kids, eternal darkness for those who fail and pain for those filled with lead. But hey, as long as it's fiction, cartoony and there is no blood right? ( ͡° ͜ʖ ͡°)

Rather misleading headline.

It states that Fortnite has "supposedly ruined five percent of marriages in the UK." Yet the actual article says that it contributed just to "five percent of divorces".

Two very different things. As claimed by the headline, we'd be looking at a huge number of marriages that were ripped apart in-part because of a videogame. Yet the actual number is a mere 200.

If you would divorce someone over a video game, any game:

1. You are a horrible person.
2. Your marriage was already doomed.

And I am not saying sorry for being rude, because if this applied to you, you deserve someone being rude to you.

@HollowGrapeJ Or Overcooked

addictive behavior can ruin anything really. When you make your vice your whole world you often look up one day and find you’ve lost everything. Priorities and responsibilities. No one should have to endure the fallout that addiction incurs for any reason. A spouse isn’t a thing that you can neglect (and with some of these cases abuse) and then expect them to be right there waiting for you to become an equal partner in the relationship. A spouse is a person, presumably according to modern traditions, the person you choose to walk through life with and cherish.

If one can put a vice before that person that they pledged to “love, honor and cherish”, they and the vows they made have no worth. And the spouse should move on and perhaps both parties will love more wisely next time.

@Ryu_Niiyama beautiful comment

I know a lot of people are dismissing this and they are right that the relationships probably were struggling in other areas. However, I do think we need to take a serious look at game addiction.

Fortnite is a unique game and it has uniquely captivated people. For 200 divorces have mentioned this game, and I highlight, ONLY this game, is not something to ignore.

Certain people are obsessed with the game. They spend all their free time in it. They neglect their duties. Neglect friends and family. Some people even lose their jobs over it. All of these things can put a massive strain on a relationship.

Like most people commenting here, I don’t have this problem. I game a few times a week, probably 5 to 10 hours total, because I have a wife, kids, work and other responsibilities. Half my gaming time is with my kids anyway, so it’s playtime with them.

My kids don’t play Fortnite. Some of their friends do. And if you don’t intertact with kids you won’t realise the phenomenon this game really is. They play it whenever they can. They watch Youtubers playing it when they can’t. They talk about it all the time with their friends and whenever I take the kids to the park, other kids there are talking about Fortnite or reenacting it in their playtime.

The fact Fortnite is the only game mentioned in all divorces registered this year should tell us something.

This game is unique. It is highly addicted. And for certain individuals that becomes a massive problem. I think it should be something we learn from instead of dismiss.

Where we dropping the kids?

Ha, these guys show know how to drive publicity through a good press release. It's just made up to get them attention. Don't feed the PR troll, folks

I'm in the minority of gamers who are not in love with Fortnite. It's the multiplayer game of the moment, but give me Splatoon 2 any day.
As for gaming trashing couples, there were and are underlying issues in any relationship that can be torn apart by gaming. The game itself is just an outlet, a way for the spouse to avoid the other.

@klingki said: "
Fortnite is one of the few games my wife will actually play with me, so I guess I'm safe on that front!"

So I guess that's not a battle front for you then, eh, eh?

joke's on them, I don't have a wife!

@Kienda it's confusing to me to hear such bad rhetoric form a gamer parent. the media has been saying stuff like that for years, it was mortal kombat, wow, call of duty etc.. fortnite is now the preferred target because of its popularity

This article is extremely misleading. What Divorce Online completely fails to mention can be found in this example divorce petition, that I’ve managed to source:

GROUNDS FOR DIVORCE
"Fortnite. 100% Fortnite. You just wouldn’t believe the ear’ole my missus gives me whenever I try to play the bloody thing. Well I’m sorry 'darling', but enough is enough!"

😜

@sleepinglion You are far from being in a minority lol!

I remember when original Counter Strike or Quake were under fire for similar issues.

Wow i think i'll never understand why people like this game so much. It's a great game don't get me wrong but i can't understand how most people on my friendslist have sunk hundreds of hours in this.

For better or worse 😂

I won't judge as I turned on Spiderman on my PS4 for the first time yesterday and was playing the game until half 2 this morning when I had to be in work for 9!

But thankfully I am single so no real consequences.

What a game by the way!

The wife complained that since the game came out she's only seen her husband once a fortnight.

@Undead_terror Are you one of those people claiming that videogames make people violent? I don't know about you mate but I played a lot of shooters and violent games growing up, yet never hurt anyone in my life. Nor do I feel the need to do so.

I didn't realise so many 12 year olds were getting married these days.

All joking aside I've told my wife to divorce me if I ever download Fortnite 😆

@SonOfVon I’m sorry, what bad rhetoric? I haven’t said anything bad about gaming or Fortnite.

I think you have hit the nail on the head as to why people are dismissing this news, though. You have seen my view as a criticism (which it isn’t) and I’m guessing most gamers are not going to accept that a game can be an issue in a relationship because we don’t like our hobby being attacked and because we have all heard the bogus headlines that try to paint video games in a bad light. And we’ve all had to defend our gaming hobby to friends and family because of it.

That doesn’t mean we should dig our heels in and ignore real problems though.

I don’t think Fortnite is the issue. Any game can cause serious addiction, wether it be FIFA, World of Warcraft or Pokemon. The difference is that Fortnite is the most propular game right now so it is getting highlighted.

However, I also think it is a unique game. The fact it is the only game mentioned, not by the media, but by the actual people getting divorced should tell us something. This game is like crack to some people. And we need to understand why it has that affect on that minority of people to help us better understand things.

@Kienda what I've gathered from your original post is that fortnite is some kind of boogeyman, like the media portraits it. now I understand what you were saying. any game can ruin your life if you have no self control. cheeseburgers can do that too on the other hand

Just speeding up the inevitable, doing these folk a favour really. They should be sending Epic a thank you card, now they can get on with their lives and find someone they truly want to be with.

Hilarious!

@SonOfVon yeah, exactly. Anything you can get addicted to can affect you. And because we are all different some people can get super addicted and it destroys their lives.

Weird, because I met someone because of Fortnite 😁

@Stroopwafel haha, yeah! Now Breath of the Wild on the other hand, she was not too fond of that one. That was 250+ hours of stolen attention as far as she’s concerned!

Not suprising seeing the high unemployment rate in rural areas in the UK.
It's either domestic violence due to alcohol abuse ending marriages over there or in this case video games.

Title says 5% in UK. Article says 5% in England and Wales. You might want to fix your title.

If youre leaving each other because of a videogame it probably wasn't a good relationship

@JayJ I agree it shouldn’t be ending marriages - but a kids game is a game that only kids play... That’s just a nonsensical comment. By your logic any game is just a kids game really.. but even if that were true.. it shouldn’t stop people playing it. The addiction is the issue here, not the game.

@cfgk24 Whew. Thank goodness. I gave it a whirl, didn't see the big deal.

@klingki

Haha, to bad she didn't found it a ...Epic.. adventure

I get that! My girlfriend doesn't like it either when I'm playing BoTW, I'm getting totally sucked in by that game.

To be fair, 100% of divorces are done by married couples.

Probably contributed 80% of the reasons for kids to be grounded as well.

So... moral of the story is gamers should marry gamers?

Did Fortnite end the marriage or did the marriage cause the Fortnite? That’s the question.

Marriage is for schmucks; games are for life.

@gcunit, That made me laugh ., Thank you.
I really tried to like this Fortnite game it was a free download after all but I really really don't I deleted it from my system., what a horrible game I failed to see or get any enjoyment from it to each their own I know but surely this is a fad that some developers are forcing on kids at this point. I think they are using social media to make kids think and believe its a thing and it's working to a degree but outta all the different video games available I am hard pressed to believe that this game is that popular.

@Romeo-75 You don't think Fortnite is popular? Christ, go look at the player count and then come back here and try and say that with a straight face. It's popular with everyone, when I join random teams only once has one of them been a kid. I've even teamed up with a guy in his 50s

I met my girl friend because of this game, she's in her early 20s and I'm in my late 20s

@Atariboy 200 marriages failing "because of" Fortnite is still a lot

Well you know a game is really popular when it start becoming real life issues that makes the news. Just like Grand Theft Auto Vice City with violence acts and Pokemon go with common sense.

@Vepra Talks about a game that has guns in it which older audiences can enjoy....doesn't mention about people actually going out and doing it....

Surely they misspelled World of Warcraft.

Still pales in comparison to the number of marriages ruined by Facebook, however.

@Kienda I think the takeaway in that is probably less the oft bandied "video game addiction" and take a look at that f2p mobile game business model and it's similarity to casino gambling. As you say it's unique and addictive. More specifically like most microtransaction monetized business models, be it gaming, gambling, 1-900 toll phone calls or what have you, it's explicitly designed to be addictive.

Sure some video games have been known for addiction issues in their own right, particularly competitive games, fighters, RTS (Starcraft in Korea), but that seems exceedingly uncommon. Mostly when we hear the word "video game addiction" it's centered on specific games. Nearly always competitive microtransaction laiden and F2P games. MMOs, MOBAs, mobile games, and now apparently Battle Royale. I.E. the business model of specific games is designed to produce addiction, just like slot machines and blackjack. The business model, not the game, should be the main target here.

I tell my wife, if she wants to talk to me she needs to learn to squid party and how to handle a Splattershot Jr. Booyah Baby! — Booyah!

Can't see how it's a god awfull game.

Minecraft with guns.

@gcunit there are women on this site you know. You couldn’t have picked a message for male solidarity that isn’t derogatory to females? How would you like to be referred to as a prostitute merely because of your biological sex? Not cool.

@Bensei Fortnite being listed as a contributing reason for 200 divorces definitely is a lot, but it's a heck of a lot less than the headline about it having ruined 5% of the marriages in the UK.

NintendoLife has fixed it though I see, so good for them for catching it and rectifying it. A lot of sites post something and then that's it, for better or worse.

No offense to those of you who play fortnite, but the only people I've met in person who play this are total bellends who would deserve to get divorced.

@gcunit
spoken like an adolescent

@FTL I call it a kids game because it is somewhat of a social media phenomenon with a young demographic. Kids seem to consider it one of their favorite hangouts these days. Anyone can play it, but the primary audience is definitely kids.

@sleepinglion Splatoon is Life!
But tbh- If FOrtnite was a retail game - it probably wouldn't be popular. . .

This is what happens when you don't thank the bus driver...

@cfgk24 Well it does have the paid-for core game (non-battle-royale) that like 5 people play. You're right though. If you had to pay real money for a core mechanic that is nothing more than thinly disguised dice-rolling, you'd get bored real quick.

edit: not thinly disguised, thickly disguised. They hide it behind the veneer of a 3rd person shooter.

It's so interesting because years ago it was World of Warcraft that was ending marriages and now it is Fortnite. I know a couple of people who spend over 5 hours on this game every day. Too much of anything can strain a relationship and affect other aspects of your life like school and/or work.

Lol. I'd say those marriages weren't stable enough to begin with if a mere video game led to a divorce.