You can’t talk about video game addiction without talking about Epic Games’ Fortnite. The game has been heavily criticised and often blamed for the apparent surge in people who have developed an addiction to gaming, and it seems as though Epic may be taking action.
The game recently received its latest update, v12.10, which has now been picked apart by data miners. Interestingly, a warning message within the files has reportedly been uncovered, and it suggests that some gamers might be penalised for extended play sessions.
The news comes from Dexerto, who reported on a leaker named FireMonkey having found the message.
The warning reads as follows: “You have been online for 3 hours accumulatively. The in-game gainings will be lowered by 50% from now on and challenge progress has been disabled. For your own health, please log-off and get some rest. Appropriate physical exercise is good for your body.”
The line “TencentPlayTimeLimit” has also been discovered, which suggests that the limitations will only be applicable in China, where Tencent publishes Fortnite.
FireMonkey’s deep-dive also uncovered another warning message, which presumably will come into play should you ignore the first.
It reads: “If you do not log off, your health will be harmed. Your in-game gainings is already lowered to zero and challenge progress has been disabled. It will not return to normal until your accumulative offline time reaches 5 hours.”
As of yet, the warnings don’t seem to be in play either in China or the rest of the world. This isn’t the first time China has tried to curb video game addiction. The country has enforced a three-hour gaming ban for some time now.
The issue of video game addiction continues to be a problem – could the rest of the world follow in China’s footsteps?
Featured Image Credit: Epic Games