I was taking speed so I’d stay awake and play all night... but then I started needing more
you want is to move up the rankings for more rewards and better status.”
Carl soon began being absent from college. He stopped playing sport and stole from his parents to pay for the game’s latest weapons and upgrades.
He said: “I was exhausted doing allnighters, so my mates said I should try playing with amphetamines. I’ve always been anti-drugs, but all I wanted to do was play the game more, and this seemed the only way.”
Talking about how Fortnite changed his life, he added: “One morning I urinated in a bottle by my desk and drank from another bottle.”
Suffering comedowns from the drugs, he took speed to get back up.
It all got too much one night in April. He said: “I just had to escape this existence, and the only way how was to kill myself.
“I climbed out of my bedroom window and looked down, wanting to end it all. I was shaking and crying. Before I could jump I felt a hand grab my neck and arm and yank me back.
“My dad had heard the window open, came to see what was going on, and rushed to grab me. In the room I I knew started hitting him, screaming to let me go, but he wouldn’t.
“My mum came running in, watching dad and me wrestle on the floor. My mum was screaming, I was crying, it was complete chaos.”
Dad Rob, 39, says: “The change in Carl over the past year is like a nightmare. We feel ashamed that as good parents it happened on our watch.” Carol said: “We honestly had no idea any of this was going on until the night Carl tried to kill himself.
“Fortnite appears to be so inoffensive and fun that it lures you in.”
Carl’s parents called in counsellor Steve Pope and the lad’s life is getting back on track.
Carl said: “All
Fortnite.
“It’s almost impossible to describe how quickly it happened, the bubble I was in, how my old life felt like a dream. I’m back playing cricket again now and studying for exams.”
US firm Epic Games, which created Fortnite, declined to comment.
The game, in which players can compete live with pals and strangers from across the world in a bid to be the last to survive on an island, has many young fans and celeb admirers such as England footballer Dele Alli.
■ The names of Carl and his parents have been changed at their request.
■ www.stevepopeassociates.co.uk I cared about was