Home Gaming Kentucky officials are trying to ban Fortnite from high schools and varsity esports

Kentucky officials are trying to ban Fortnite from high schools and varsity esports

2 min read
2
Ban-Fortnite

It’s amazing to see just how much of an impact Fortnite has had on popular culture. From your dad embarrassing you by doing that godawful floss dance to supermarkets being littered with knock-off T-shirts based on the franchise, Fortnite is apparently everywhere. It’s also most likely in your schools right now, as a free game with that much reach has naturally resulted in esports leagues popping up everywhere.

Many a school in the US of A has a Fortnite league operating, training professional teams for the big leagues and giving students a reason to actually stay behind after the final bell has rung for reasons not related to detention. One curmudgeon who is absolutely incensed at the sheer audacity of having digital shooter games in a school environment instead of regular maniacs with actual guns terrorising the hallways is Kentucky High School Athletic Association (KHSAA) commissioner Julian Tackett, who has made it his life mission to get Fortnite kicked out of schools.

“There is no place for shooter games in our schools,” Tackett said in an email seen by the Lexington Herald-Leader via Games Industry Biz, in response to news of high school esports organisation PlayVS partnering with Epic Games on a competitive national club league for high school and college-level Fortnite.

I want to personally assure you that we, along with the NFHS [National Federation of State High School Associations] Network are proactively taking steps to have this decision reversed. There is no place for shooter games in our schools. This announcement was particularly troubling in that it came on the anniversary of one of Kentucky’s darkest days, the Marshall County incident.

While the ban has been issued, there happens to be some confusion over whether it can even be applied according to The Washington Post. Like most things American, it’s an issue that is currently buried in red tape and an absolute refusal to reach a middle ground on the topic. It’s not exactly without precedent either, as the state of Kentucky has a hate-on for fun that also saw League of Legends banned from state-level competitive esports last year over concerns that the game was a tad too violent.

Like esports?
Check out esports central

Last Updated: February 4, 2020

2 Comments

  1. Well there you have it folks. Either you hate Forknife or you get school administrators who will hate it for you. The way I see it is this guy is the living embodiment of the terror teacher cliché ( I googled just to get that little line above the e and I copied and pasted ) who is allergic to fun and probably needs to smoke a big fat joint.

    The fact that some kid won millions in that world cup comp last year is a game changer for these windbags that hate on e-sports, but maybe kids should also be taught actual education just in-case they end up sucking at their pro-game of choice, cause Fortnite aint going to last forever and there is always a younger flock ready to noscope 360 you while eating cornflakes while uploading to TikTok…

    Reply

    • Mark Treloar

      February 4, 2020 at 16:21

      They are probably just pissed because its more popular that Wrestling.

      Reply

Leave a Reply

Your email address will not be published. Required fields are marked *

Check Also

Manchester United Sues Football Manager Over Use of their Name and Fan Mods

Manchester United, that massive global football brand whose fans are as equally annoying a…