While PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds may have recently graduated to becoming available on mobile globally, however, a report from Kotaku suggests that Fortnite: Battle Royale has reached new heights of popularity post its launch on iOS devices last week.
According to the report, Fortnite’s launch on mobile is causing chaos in school premises as students are pulling out their iPhone mid-class to try a hand at being the last man standing. And not just that, they’re also teaming up with classmates, playing matches and then squabbling over losses or victories after class.
In conversation with Kotaku, a high school AP computer science teacher revealed that,
There has been a rise in the number of incidents with students walking into classes while playing the games. They started a match during lunch, or before school, and need to finish the 10-15 [minute] long matches. I have noticed in my room students sitting next to each other trying to play while pretending to do work.
The problem is evident from the ton of response from teens, as well as teachers, who have taken to social media to express their views on this pressing matter. The reactions are both positive and negative, depending on the perspective. Here are a few tweets:
The only thing that happened in school today was fortnite mobile
— Kaite Klasinski (@KaiteKlas) March 23, 2018
https://twitter.com/Bxllard/status/977303990508687360
at least in my school the wifi needs a password. so pretty much all the students of that school have access to fortnite mobile (until they can block it or something), which wrecks the school's servers (which are pretty shitty)
— inconexa (@inconexa21) March 23, 2018
While many schools impose a ban on the use of smartphones in classrooms, or even the school premises itself, but you can see that it hasn’t stopped the teens from sneaking a game or two between periods. This dedication (or addiction) to the game is the sole reason that Fortnite: Battle Royale has reached the top of the charts on the App Store.
The mobile game has become such a massive headache for some schools that they’ve outright banned the game from being downloaded on iPads. There’s another school that has blocked the game on the Wi-Fi network in the premises, according to a student’s tweet. The teachers are particularly not thrilled with this outrage towards a mobile game, which is the next big thing to attract teens after fidget spinners.
Sneakily playing a game or texting during class is nothing new for students or teachers as it has become quite casual for them by now. However, when a game takes over your whole life such that it becomes a distraction for those around you, then there’s certainly an issue at hand. What are your views on this? Did you play games in your classroom? Let us know in the comments below.
