Help! I've become a Fortnite widow

Lights off, the harsh sound of gunshots, the click of a controller and a neon glow from the TV.

“I got you, mate,” I hear as I watch a cartoon character run across the screen searching for armour. “No, over there - we’re in the clear.”

Fortnite: Battle Royale has become the game you can’t escape. An estimated 3.4 million people are playing it worldwide at any given time, from professional teenage gamers to celebrities including Drake and Travis Scott. It’s even seeped into the world of sport (so I’ve heard), with professional footballers Dele Alli and Antoine Griezmann bringing the fictional characters’ ‘victory dances’ to the pitch.

And in my case, it’s got my 27-year-old boyfriend utterly hooked.

“Do you log onto Fortnite the second you get home every day?” I ask.

The response is "pretty much" (if he doesn’t have plans for post-work pints, he insists). He gets home from a long day’s work in the City, drops his bag, changes out of his suit and turns on the PS4. Four of his close friends - also young professionals in various industries - are usually logged in ready for their next Fortnite challenge, chatting away into their headsets. They work together as a team against competitors who could be anywhere in the world. He’s never been a ‘gamer’ before so where is this coming from?

“It’s cartoony, you don’t have to take it too seriously,” he says. “It’s a nice break from meetings and busy commutes. It’s calming.”

I understand the appeal. For me, reality TV or a good novel are my go-to guilty pleasures to de-stress. But blowing up buildings, hiding behind trees and battling your friends to the death is not exactly what I would call ‘calming’. Gaming in moderation is fine - but playing Fortnite each and every day, taking up our flat’s one TV, has left me with only the report of cartoon sniper rifles for company at times.

It turns out I’m not the only Fornite Widow out there.

Despite many starting as tongue in cheek, dozens of petitions have been launched on Change.org by women who are concerned Fortnite has taken over their partners’ lives -‘Get rid of Fortnite’ has been signed over 4,000 times.

https://twitter.com/miatrueman/status/988811933988999169

https://twitter.com/chelseafaith123/status/991319142866280448

“It was initially a joke but it seems to be a rising issue because everyone has been so addicted to it,” its description reads. “The game has caused quite an uproar with a lot of women and I definitely see how.”

One signatory says “I, too, have most recently become a victim of spousal neglect. Ban Fortnite and make 2018 great again.”

Social media is filled with similar sentiments from women whose partners prefer an evening honing their battle strategies than snuggling up in front of Netflix.

While these video game fads may seem all fun and games at first, there’s proof they can have lasting consequences.

A study by Brigham Young University found that young adults connected video games to poor relationships with peers and parents. A third of couples had different opinions about whether playing video games is acceptable or not, which led to relational distress.

For many, it’s no longer ‘you and I’, but rather ‘you, me and the PS4’.

And it’s not just men who have forsaken all for the console.

Although there are not (yet) specific statistics on how many women play Fortnite, studies show that the stereotype of teenage boys playing video games alone in their rooms is dwindling. A 2014 study of over 4,000 people by Internet Advertising Bureau UK found that women accounted for 52 per cent of the gaming audience.

But for those of us that have not jumped on the gaming bandwagon, Fortnite is a daily occurrence you can’t escape.

I suppose I should consider myself one of the lucky ones. Even though I more often than not arrive home to a dark man cave filled with the sounds of war and bloke chat, usually within a half hour I hear “sorry, lads, I’m off.” The lights flip on and suddenly our cosy flat is back to normal. Like clockwork.

We eat dinner, meet up with friends or head to the pub. Life resumes.

It took a lot of “are you done yet?” and “but really, this game is ridiculous” to get there, but we finally did it. For the sake of Fortnite widows everywhere, I hope they reach that same point.