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A mum says her son has become so obsessed with the online game Fortnite that he regularly spends up to six hours a day playing it - and even smashed up his TV when he lost a game.

The game - which sees people playing as individuals or teams trying to become the last survivors on an island - has been a massive success, with the most popular Battle Royale version downloaded more than 40 million times.

But it has also caused concern because of the amount of time that young boys, especially, are spending playing the 12-rated game.

Zoe Godber, 47, from Broadlands Close in Sutton-in-Ashfield, said her nine-year-old son Jacob started playing Fortnite about six months ago.

"Before this game came along, he was fine. He was playing Roadblock [an online puzzle game] before that, then all of a sudden Fortnite popped up and that was it. Nothing else mattered."

(Image: Mansfield Chad)

She said that Jacob usually starts his day watching a YouTube video of Fortnite gameplay, and then when he got home he was usually on the game itself from 4pm to 10pm, or sometimes 9pm.

"Even if he's not on the game, he's watching YouTube videos about it. He doesn't watch telly downstairs with us anymore. We don't see him, and that upsets us.

"But if I didn't let him on it, he'd kick off. He'd have a fit on the floor, and scream and swear at me. He's run off and I've had to go and find him."

She said her husband Jamie, 40, a postman, was less of a "soft touch" than she was, and would stop Jacob playing at 9pm. She also said her ten-year-old daughter Layla plays the game without any of the same issues.

But on one occasion Jacob actually smashed his TV screen after failing to win a game.

(Image: Handout)

"He was getting really agitated," said Zoe, a bartender at the Nag's Head in Sutton-in-Ashfield. "Layla came down and said Jacob had broken the telly. He had taken his controller and smashed the screen.

"He didn't play on Fortnite for a few days [after that], but it was a nightmare. He was crying, and being naughty at school."

She let him play again, and he now has a new TV in his room.

She said that Jacob had previously not been eating properly because he was on the game, but she now made sure he came down to have his dinner.

However, she added: "I feel like I can't get him to be normal with the game. He's got loads of toys under his bed, but he's not touched them since Christmas.

"I'm not looking forward to the summer holidays."

Dr Mark Griffiths, Distinguished Professor of Behavioural Addiction and Director of the International Gaming Research Unit at Nottingham Trent University, said that Fortnite was not especially addictive.

"People who have a genuine gaming disorder or addiction tend to play role-playing games, where they play for 10 or 12 hours a day and then the game carries on without them," he said.

"Fortnite is short 20-minute games. It does have a very 'more-ish' quality, because you get rid of your frustration [at losing] by playing another game, but it's actually a very social and co-operative game.

"People have to work together to kill people on the island, but it's a very innocuous type of killing, there's no blood or gore.

(Image: NTU)

"Games are designed to be engrossing. They are not designed for you to pick them up and then put them down five minutes later. But there's no evidence that Fortnite is any more addictive than any other game."

Dr Griffiths said that he was a parent to three 'screenagers' himself, and appreciated it was sometimes difficult for Fortnite players to walk away in the middle of a game they were usually playing with three others - but that he would give a time warning if, for example, dinner was imminent.

He said that there was no reason to stop children playing video games, but what was important was that they were also fulfilling other areas of their life, such as homework, helping around the house, being physically active and having peer friendships.

He added: "Get them to do their chores or homework first, and the gaming comes afterwards. That's responsible parenting.

"Parents have every right to take the console away. And I'm not an advocate of video consoles in bedrooms for young children.

"It's about educating parents that they need to monitor screen time."