Kentucky has banned Fortnite from being played in high school esports competitions. Kentucky is partnered with PlayVS, which is a competitive esports league for high school students. Several states have partnered with organizations like PlayVS in order to make gaming an after school activity for students to engage in. These leagues give students a chance to hone their skills competitively and potentially prepare them for professional esports.
PlayVS was founded in 2017 with the intention of forming leagues for high school and college students. The company is now an official partner of the NFHS, which means that its leagues can be considered an official school activity, like football or basketball. Currently PlayVS works with over 13,000 schools and has over 80,000 students participating. The current games that students can play are League of Legends, Smite, Rocket League, and the newest addition, Fortnite.
The Lexington Herald Reader reports that Kentucky schools will not be able to participate in any Fortnite matches. The Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) Commissioner Julian Tackett is opposed to students playing shooter games during school functions. Allegedly, no one at PlayVS informed the KHSAA that Fortnite would be added to their lineup of games. Tackett goes on to say in an email to school officials, "I want to personally assure you that we, along with the NFHS Network are proactively taking steps to have this decision reversed. There is no room for shooter games in our schools."
Last summer Kentucky found itself in a similar situation when it came to allowing students to play League of Legends competitively. The KHSAA was very concerned over the level of violence in the game, but stopped just short of banning it state-wide. Instead, in order for a student to participate in League of Legends, they must have a permission form signed by their parents, principal, and superintendent. When relating this incident to the current Fortnite problem, Tackett wrote, “Last year, much work went into the development of permission and authorization forms for Kentucky’s schools to continue with eSports participation. This is not one of the permitted games.”
Esports have become a very important aspect of people's lives, particularly kids and teenagers. Young people are currently playing tons of different games that have no real application to an educational environment. Fortnite though, despite being a shooter, is relatively harmless and frankly no more violent than Smite or League of Legends, both of which are NFHS approved games. This mostly comes down to officials banning games they don't understand. Those same kids are going to go home and play the game anyway. Requirie students to have a permission slip if they must, but prohibiting Fortnite probably isn't the right way to go.
Fortnite is now available for Windows, Mac, iOS, Android, PS4, Nintendo Switch and Xbox One.
Source: Lexington Herald Reader