To play or not to play: Parents face 'Fortnite' debate

TAMPA (FOX 13) - A hundred people parachute to an island and fight to the death. Only one person is left standing. It's a video game captivating kids who play for hours on end. 

It's called Fortnite, and it's the most popular game on the planet, boasting 40 million players worldwide.

Some parents are concerned their kids are playing too much. With its cartoonish look and almost campy costumes, it's easy to see why the game is so appealing to children. 

"Our kids are going to play video games. We live in a culture where that's a part of it. So if it wasn't Fortnite it would be something else," Becca Tieder, a mother of two, told us.

Her two sons play Fortnite, but they have a limited budget of hours to play each week. 

"Everything needs boundaries, Becca continued. "I love my children but they're not my friends, so we establish a boundary."  

Another draw for kids is the price. Fortnite is actually free to play on just about any device. Fortnite's creators make money selling so called V-Bucks: Virtual currency buys gamers custom costumes or advances them to higher levels of play. 

When asked why she would allow her kids to play such a seemingly violent game? "We have very open conversations all the time about guns, safety," Becca explained. "When there's an incident going on in the news we want our kids to be informed, and so we wouldn't treat this any differently because any opportunity we can take to talk about gun safety and gun responsibility we take it."