A different family in Northeast Arkansas is accusing the computer gaming industry of damaging children's lives by making them addicted.
A parent from Mississippi County filed the most recent case on Monday at the Jonesboro, Arkansas, U.S. District Court for Eastern Arkansas, Northern Division.
The plaintiff, Kushanel Donerson, is submitting the claim on behalf of her 14-year-old child, J.D.
It is one of the three cases that U.S. District Judge D.P. Marshall Jr. has been assigned to address the electronic gaming business. Two more, citing the creators and distributors of well-known gaming platforms including Microsoft, Sony PlayStation, Epic Games, Rockstar Games, and others, were filed last autumn.
The lawsuits claim the software developers intentionally design the games to cause them to become addicted, and cause them to spend money they don’t have to continue playing.
“As a result of the gaming addiction and harm proximately caused by Defendants’ misconduct, J.D. requires treatment, including out-patient counseling and an individualized educational plan (IEP) that includes homeschooling,” Donerson’s suit contends. She said her child began playing video games at age 5. “J.D. specifically plays Fortnite, Call of Duty Warzone, NBA 2K, Roblox, and Grand Theft Auto V.”
According to the lawsuit, the child has suffered from withdrawal symptoms like rage, anger, and physical outbursts; he has also allegedly suffered from brain damage, a stroke, seizures, high blood pressure, severe emotional distress, diminished social interactions, and the loss of friends. J.D. is currently in need of treatment, which includes homeschooling and an individualized education plan (IEP) with outpatient counseling.
In their October complaint, the parents of an adolescent in Poinsett County detailed similar results.
The Gates Law Firm of Little Rock filed Donelson's complaint this week, alleging that the gambling industry has even penetrated schools through its marketing.
“Epic Games touts its game as ‘educational’ and markets it for use in the classroom, including but not limited to offering ‘Free Fortnite lesson plans’ to educators on subjects ranging from history, geography, and programming,” according to Donelson’s complaint. “Engaging- and addicting-children early and in environments such as their classroom serves only to increase Epic Games’s revenue through continued play of young users, at the expense of these users’ mental and physical health.”
According to the lawsuit, medical practitioners have only recently acknowledged the connection between gaming addiction and the diseases that affect their patients, especially those who are neurodivergent, young adults, and children.
The parents in the previously filed litigation are being forced to submit to arbitration outside of court by means of motions filed by the defendants.
