To any adult, the newest battle video game looks like any other – fighting, shooting, and violence. But the latest craze, Fortnite Battle Royale, has several features that are keeping millions of young adults addicted.

The main objective of this game is to reach Victory Royale, which is obtained when you are the last one alive. You, along with 99 other players are dropped off the battle bus onto an island containing different types of terrains, buildings, and a dangerous storm that’s increasing size shrinks the island, posing a dangerous threat to the players.

When a player is first dropped off on the island, their only weapon is an axe.  But scattered throughout the island there are different types of guns, medical supplies, and power juices that all players are on the hunt for.  While searching for these supplies, the dangers come from the other players. By eliminating each other the number of players decreases, while the chance of winning increases, and stress on the gamer intensifies.

This game may come across as an average battle game.  Its uniqueness comes from the ability to build and create structures.  With the axe tool, players can chop down trees and buildings to add to their wood supply.  This gives them the ability to build a fort whenever they need a break or want to protect themselves.

“It’s become so popular because you’re taking a game like Minecraft where you can build forts and crossing it with an action game where you shoot other players, so with Fortnite you’re getting the best of the two things people love to do,” said JD Nozemack  (’18), an avid Fortnite player, said.

The ability to build different structures allows for creativity and provides an element many video games do not have.

Another popular characteristic of Fortnite is how long each game takes.  If you are killed immediately, your game will only be a few minutes; whereas, if you get Victory Royale, your game could last as long as 30 minutes.

“It seemed like a fun game,” said English teacher John Raduazzo, who plays the game with his son. “It’s quick and not like a long adventure game so you don’t have to get stuck in it for hours and hours if you don’t want to.”

While it is convenient these games are short, many teenagers still play for hours.

“I used to hate it because it used to be a trend that everybody followed,” Bree Gobell (20’) said. “And then I got involved in it. It’s really addicting because once you started playing you couldn’t stop because you wanted to win.”

Fortnite’s bright colors, animated features, and crazy dances can make it very appealing to children and teenagers.  It’s different from a classic war game such as Call of Duty, due to the fact it doesn’t use graphic and bloody scenes.

“It’s more kid-friendly. There’s no blood or heavy action–it’s more animated,” said Nick Page (’19), who says he has clocked around 200 hours on Fortnite.

The experience, animation, and journey of Fortnite makes it attractive.  But it’s most significant feature is that the game can be downloaded for free.  Parents aren’t even made aware their children are playing this game because the games only requires being downloaded, rather than being bought like most games.

While the game is free products can be bought in the Item Shop such as outfits, harvesting tools, gliders, and emotes (victory dances). Addiction to this game has some teenagers spending lots of money just to enhance their appearance.

An article on Forbes.com says that Fortnite Battle Royale brought in a total revenue of $126 million in February, showing that teens are spending large amounts of money on this “free” game.

Fortnite Battle Royale seems fairly innocent; it’s not overly gory, it’s free, and it even requires some creativity.  The concerns that could possibly come along with this new fad are the hours and hours teens are now spending in front of their TV, monitor, or phone.

“It’s annoying to see it all over Snapchat stories all the time,” said Stephanie Joyce (’19), who thinks the amount of time people play Fortnite is excessive.

Hours that could be spent studying, working, or even just socializing have been replaced with pulling all-nighters playing Fornite on Xbox One or PS4.  Now that Fortnite’s accessible in the App store for Apple devices, the game is played in school.

“I see people playing on it as much as other apps or games,” Raduazzo said.