In the years leading up to 2018, fortnight was once used to refer to a period of two weeks; however, thanks to the rise of the new video game Fortnite, it became known as something entirely different.  

Bustling around the halls of BHS or even logging into social media accounts, students can see the rise of this vastly popular video game Fortnite. However, for those who haven’t heard of this game, Fortnite is a battle royale genre that places hundred of players against each other with the goal to be the last one standing. For students like C.J. Thorne, Fortnite is a huge part of their gaming experience.

“My buddy Matt Rousselle told me about the game,” said Thorne. “We started playing and that first day I got better than he was.”

With this game only out for a few months, students have already stocked up on hours playing. Each game lasts roughly around 30 minutes or depending on how long it takes for someone to reach victory royale.

“I played for like four hours the first day,” said Thorne. “I’ve been playing every day since then.”

This highly addictive game soon caught up with Thorne, where now he spends most of his free time playing the game or every chance he can get.

“A day-I probably spend three-four hours on it,” said Thorne. “A week, around 15 hours.”

For some students like Bryce Pray, this game consumes more of their free time away from school and friends.

“I’d say I spend about around 20 hours a week on it,” Pray said.

Although this game has consumed much of the students’ time, they could not quite pinpoint why this game is so addicting for them.

“I guess winning is pretty addicting; everyone likes to win,” Thorne said.

For Pray, he has different views on the game. Since the arrival of Fortnite, Pray considers it one of his favorite games, which is why it takes over his free time.

“Hundreds of thousands of people play it,” said Pray. “It’s probably the best game ever.”

However other students say Fortnite does not have the same effect on them. For sophomore Alexis Thompson, Fortnite just seems pointless to her.

“I probably spend about 30 minutes a week on it,” said Thompson. “I just don’t get the hype of it.”

While most people spend most of their day playing this game, many girlfriends had an outcry as to how this affects their relationships.

“They ignore us a lot when they play,” said Thompson. “We just want attention, but most of the time they’re just too busy playing [Fortnite].”

This game does have its down side, but Thompson does believe there is a good side alongside the bad.

“I think it is just a way for them to all talk to each other,” said Thompson. “They all play it together and just seem to really enjoy it.”

When the game first became available for download, there was definitely a huge hype and take over, but as the months soon draw by, the storm has now cooled down.

“I used to post it all over my [Snapchat] story, but then I saw it everywhere and stopped,” said Thorne. “Now everyone does. It’s pretty annoying.”

Despite the game starting to cool down, the makers of Fortnite just launched a mobile version for playing on the go. Sharing his views, Pray says the mobile version won’t help players, but in fact make them worse.

“I haven’t even tried it yet, but I guarantee you it’ll be harder,” said Pray. “In my opinion, it’ll make you a worse player just because it differs so much.”

Other players like Thorne, agree and decided to stick with the Xbox version rather than switching over to mobile.

“The mobile version hasn’t really changed up the game for me,” said Thorne. “I still play a lot on the Xbox version.”

Besides making it hard for players, some other changes have risen to differ the mobile version from the others such as graphics.

“The graphics not as good, so it’s not as fun,” said Thorne. “But, I’ll probably still get it so I have something to kill time.”

From xbox to Mobile, Thorne continues to play everyday and recommends others who haven’t gotten into the trend do the same.

“If you’re not playing [Fortnite] you’re definitely missing out.”