Technology

A new online game taking Kiwi kids by storm has been labelled "irresponsibly addictive".

About 40 million people worldwide have downloaded Fortnite, which has been compared to the cult teen film and book series The Hunger Games, since it launched late last year.

The concept of Fortnite is essentially survivial of the fittest - players join a match of about 90 to 100 people and shoot at each other's characters.  The last person "alive" wins.

University of Waikato's Dr Gareth Schott, who has studied gaming for 15 years, said although Fortnite wasn't overly violent, children who played the game with strangers could be exposed to other inappropriate content.

Netsafe recommended parents of children who wanted to play Fortnite supervise them for a match or two and have a discussion about the violent content, the other players and rules around chatting online.