{"id":971,"date":"2020-04-10T10:50:08","date_gmt":"2020-04-10T10:50:08","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/demo6.aiwalls.com\/ipapps\/?p=971"},"modified":"2020-04-10T10:50:08","modified_gmt":"2020-04-10T10:50:08","slug":"smash-hit-video-game-fortnite-designed-to-be-addictive-lawsuit","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/?p=971","title":{"rendered":"Smash hit video game Fortnite designed to be addictive: lawsuit"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>            <img decoding=\"async\" src=\"http:\/\/pic1.tadke.com\/imgs\/tech2lims\/0409\/zqwb5433oza.jpg\" alt=\"Fortnight has become the most popular online game in the world, played by some 250 million people\"><figcaption class=\"text-darken text-low-up text-truncate-js mt-3\">\n                Fortnight has become the most popular online game in the world, played by some 250 million people<br \/>\n            <\/figcaption><p>The makers of online video gaming sensation Fortnite were accused Friday of designing it to be addictive, in a Canadian class action lawsuit likening playing to taking cocaine.<\/p>\n<p>        <!-- \/4988204\/TechX_Story_InText_Box --><\/p>\n<p>Fortnite, released by US-based Epic Games in 2017, allows up to 100 players to fight individually or as part of a team to be the last standing on a virtual battlefield.<\/p>\n<p>It has become the most popular online game in the world, played by some 250 million people, including in tournaments with big cash prizes.<\/p>\n<p>A legal notice filed in Quebec on behalf of two children who became devoted to the game likens it to cocaine, saying it triggers the release of &#8220;reward&#8221; neurotransmitter dopamine.<\/p>\n<p>The game mechanics were designed to make people dependent on playing, said the lawsuit, likening the strategy to that used to get gamblers hooked on slot machines.<\/p>\n<p>&#8220;The addiction to the Fortnite game has real consequences for the lives of players: several don&#8217;t eat or shower, and no longer socialize,&#8221; it said, adding that players had been forced to seek treatment for their addiction.<\/p>\n<p>Jean-Philippe Caron, the lawyer spearheading the lawsuit, told AFP the game&#8217;s creators enlisted the help of &#8220;psychologists to help make the game addictive.&#8221;<\/p>\n<p>He said the company failed to &#8220;warn about the risks and dangers inherent in their product.&#8221; Similar arguments were used successfully in lawsuits against tobacco companies.<\/p>\n<p>The Quebec Superior Court could spend up to a year deliberating on whether the class action can proceed, he added.<\/p>\n<p>If the action is successful, the developers could be forced to pay out &#8220;tens, even hundreds of millions of dollars&#8221; in damages, Caron estimated.<\/p>\n<hr>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"<p>Fortnight has become the most popular online game in the world, played by some 250 million people The makers of online video gaming sensation Fortnite<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":972,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"open","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3],"tags":[592,591,440,593,133],"class_list":["post-971","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-apps","tag-fortnite","tag-game","tag-hit","tag-smash","tag-video"],"aioseo_notices":[],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=971"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/971\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/media\/972"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=971"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=971"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.txd9.com\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=971"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}