A report about Fortnite was broadcasted on the private channel ProSieben, which speaks of “slaughter” in connection with the game. Many viewers are upset about this portrayal. An expert also distances herself from her statements shown in the clip. She refers to it as “scaremongering.”
Fortnite is currently experiencing a hype that reaches an extremely high number of households – including in Germany. Among them are people who hear the name of the game often but do not engage with it further.
ProSieben addressed the topic in its format “Newstime.”
Fortnite report in ProSieben Newstime
That the battle royale hit “Fortnite” is growing bigger cannot be denied. Gamers regularly play the game and compete online with others. Over 45 million players are now registered for the free game.
For those who do not play themselves, there is plenty to watch. Today, over 600,000 viewers simultaneously tuned in live when the renowned Fortnite streamer “Ninja” streamed Fortnite alongside rap star “Drake.”
Now the private channel ProSieben has decided to publish a report about Fortnite. The report was introduced with the words “… and now youth protection advocates raise the alarm.” You can watch the segment of Newstime here – skip to about 9 minutes and 12 seconds. We will embed a YouTube mirror here for you (the title is ironically meant here and chosen by the operators of the mirror).
Fortnite Battle Royale as a wild slaughter
Besides neutral comments, statements and claims such as “Fortnite Battle Royale as a wild slaughter” or “enjoyment of the killing scenario, which worries many parents” are made in the clip.
Moreover, ProSieben explains in the report that the basic version is available for purchase from age 12, but the “significantly more brutal online variant” can be played freely online.
The report features educator Linda Scholz, who explains her opinion on the topic. However, she is dissatisfied with the ProSieben video, as a sentence was taken out of a longer interview and placed out of context through the introduction and editing. She speaks of sensationalist scaremongering and addresses ProSieben, Sat1, and others via Twitter.
As a result, Linda Scholz, together with Spieleratgeber NRW, has written a statement regarding this questionable reporting by ProSieben.
“Even if in Fortnite: Battle Royale, gun violence is the only means of conflict resolution, it is a very fictional setting without detailed depictions of violence. […] Although realistic weapon names are used, the cartoon-style graphics give it a fictional appearance.” We have given the game a pedagogical recommendation from age 14 after editorial deliberation. This is a guideline for parents who can, of course, allow their children to play the game earlier. We always welcome a discussion regarding our recommendations, but we ask for a respectful and appropriate tone, which was unfortunately missing in the discussion about the television report.
Furthermore, it states “For this reason, we distance ourselves from the context of the report ‘wanting to warn parents’ or ‘raising the alarm’ . Parents can only fulfill their educational responsibility if they can rely on various information sources.”
More on the topic:
“Help, my child plays Fortnite!” – What parents should know about it
