Nine-Year-Old Fortnite Player Enters Rehab for Gaming Addiction

Playing Fortnite too often has reportedly gone too far for one player with reports emerging that a nine-year-old girl has entered rehab due to her gaming addiction.

Mirror reported today that the unnamed girl in question entered "intensive rehab" to break her addiction to the battle royale game, the player's parents reportedly said. In a bulleted list of the infractions said to have been committed by the girl, the usual suspects like staying up in secret to play Fortnite and having problems in school because of it were there. These alone aren't enough to signify a Fortnite addiction as many gamers go through some version of his, but other symptoms such as neglecting her own basic needs and lashing out at her father were also mentioned by Mirror in the following list. According to Mirror and the girl's parents, she:

• Secretly got up in the night and played until dawn.
• Neglected to go to the toilet because she could not bear to leave the screen.
• Hit her father in the face when he tried to confiscate her Xbox gaming console.
• Dozed off in class because of her night-time addiction.

Saying that the girl spent at least 10 hours a day playing Fortnite – a figure that some might consider a rookie number but one that's still quite a bit for a girl of her age – the girl's mother elaborated on the situation.

"We had no idea, when we let her play the game, of the addictive nature or the impact it could have on her mental health," the girl's mother reportedly told Mirror. "She is in therapy for the addiction after she became withdrawn, agitated and disturbed from playing up to ten hours a day – sometimes playing until dawn, wetting herself so she didn't have to leave the screen."

One of the breaking points for the family reportedly came after the parents noticed that multiple charges were accumulating on their credit card. Adding up to over £50 a month, the girl is said to have made multiple in-game purchases while playing Fortnite. This prompted the parents to confiscate the girl's Xbox One which led to the lashing out that's mentioned in the list above. The girl was taken to an addictions counsellor, Steve Pope, who said that this wasn't the first time that he's had parents raise concerns about Fortnite to him when it comes to their children.