With the release of season six this September, Fortnite: Battle Royale is now over a year old and doesn’t seem to be going away anytime soon. Fortnite, an online battle-royale style game, took the world by storm and can been seen on the screens of millions of video game players.
In Fortnite: Battle Royale, you are one of 100 players dropped into a map and your goal is to be the one player (or team) left standing. Players can collect weapons and items and then use them to kill opposing players. In order to keep the game moving, a storm will eventually push everyone into a center area until the game is won.
Fortnite has made appearances all over media, from memes on Instagram to a spoof on Saturday Night Live. The game has been played by seemingly everyone, ranging from three-time Grammy winner Drake to Grammy nominee Travis Scott to star NFL wide receiver JuJu Smith-Schuster.
But the game isn’t just all about the fun. Tyler Blevins (better known by his alias “Ninja”) is the most famous Fortnite player in the world and he earns a great deal of money off of the game, whether it comes from streaming on Twitch or winning Fortnite tournaments. Epic Games, the company that created Fortnite, is now worth over eight billion dollars.
People are raving about the game and its popularity seems unsurpassed in video game history. Back in May, the game earned 323 million dollars, the most for any video game in a single month ever.
So what’s causing this craze over a plain old video game?
One place to look for an answer is Fortnite’s list of unique aspects, which seems almost endless, especially when compared to other games. These distinctions may well be the primary reason why the game is so loved.
To start, getting the game is a piece of cake, as it is easily downloadable on up to seven platforms. To add to that, the Battle Royale part of the game (the part that most players care about) is free to play, something Junior Yoni Bierig credits to Fortnite’s dominance.
Once you get the game, each player has the ability to customize his or her player, from their skin color to the weapon their character carries around with them. Finally, the graphics of the game are spectacular and the world you’re dropped into is mostly bright green, making the world around you as peaceful as a shooting game can get.
If that’s not enough to attract you, there are countless unconventional in-game possibilities. Junior Justin Eichel believes that the building aspect of the game is one of the crucial aspects that make it so popular.
Unlike other popular shooting games like Call of Duty or Players Unknown Battlegrounds, Fortnite allows players to build structures during the course of game play. This allows players to climb mountains, take quick cover, or build strategic bases.
Furthermore, while running around the map, players can do fun things like find llamas, ride shopping carts and golf carts, play basketball and golf, and plenty more.
This not only goes directly against the idea of Fortnite being all about violence but also makes the game more fun and appealing to the wider audience. “The dancing and costumes adds a funky aspect to the game that most games don’t have,” says Bierig.
These amazing things are all found on the game’s regular mode. But Fortnite has also created special limited time modes that are even sometimes adjusted according to the suggestions of the fanbase.
Examples include 50v50, where all the players are split into two teams culminating in a huge battle of the two sides, or Playground mode, where you and your friends can do whatever you want on the map for an entire hour. These game modes add something new to the regular fighting you’re used to and help keep Fortnite atop the gaming world.
Arguably, the biggest attraction of Fortnite is the social aspect the game offers. “You know how some people socially drink or socially smoke? I socially play Fortnite,” says Junior Yoni Weinreich.
Whether you want to jump into a game by yourself, hop on with a friend, or get a whole “squad” of four together, Fortnite offers it all. A majority of other video games only offer the ability to play alone or the ability to play against your friend. Fortnite lets you fight with your friends, and (in some modes ) go against them.
You and your friends can be in different continents and playing on different devices, but Fortnite still allows all to join together and play. Junior Sam Weinberg claims the game is great because “You have the ability to interact with friends in a setting that is so different than what you’re accustomed to.” This sentiment is shared with so many fans of the game. Who wants to be left out when all your friends are playing together?
With that said, every hot trend has its critics. For every supportive thing people say about Fortnite, it seems that upset parents and uninterested kids will say something negative. There has been a high amount of opposition to the game.
This resistance can be broken down in two ways: 1) people who are upset about the game itself and 2) people upset over what the game causes.
Most parents are in the latter group, having never played the game themselves. They simply don’t like what effects the game may cause. In contrast, youth who object to the game usually do so because they feel it’s a bad game rather than feeling the game is too violent or too much of a distraction.
While many teens seem to be interested in Fortnite, the vast majority of young people probably isn’t. Among that majority, there are those that just don’t play and there are also those who played but no longer do.
These former players are usually upset at moves by Epic Games within the game itself.. “I have been playing this game since early January and although the game has made some really good changes, recently it has not,” says Bierig.
Bierig added, “Epic Games is constantly making it harder for better players to take advantage of their skill and is rather appealing to the new players to get any advantage they can. From making weapons to counter building and especially the new addition of being able to redeploy gliders.” According to Bierig, changes like these have ruined the game.
Ninja himself even tweeted his complaints, saying, “Game doesn’t need to grow to new players with changes like this considering they have over 45 million downloads I am pretty sure the formula is working.” Obviously, Epic Games can’t make everyone happy, but I feel these players are justified in their complaints and in their decision to abandon the game.
As mentioned above, there are also many complaining parents who are very realistic in their objections. These parents feel the game promotes violence and aggression and are upset that their kids are have been brainwashed into playing such a barbaric game.
This complaint is highly disputed amon parents and players. Fortnite aficionados such as Weinberg, Justin Eichel, and Bierig all call this claim outlandish. However, Mr. Steven Eichel, father of Justin, believes the game definitely causes aggressiveness. He calls it “a cartoonish version of the Hunger Games.”
The most often heard and most reasonable complaint by parents is the claim that the game is a huge distraction.. “As a player myself, I admit it’s a big waste of time,” says Bierig. On the other hand, Bierig sees the game as a great outlet for escape and only a problem when people play too much.
But parents like Steven Eichel say the game’s addictiveness causes huge problems. “Instead of focusing on studies and talking with their friends, too much time is spent playing the game,” Eichel says.
Although he’s never witnessed it himself, Eichel observed that the game opens itself up to the possibility of players being bullied or being introduced dangerous strangers. Finally, Eichel noted that although teams work together, the game forces players to work toward the negative goal of killing everyone. Many other parents share these concerns as well.
In the end, there really is no answer to the question of what this game really is. The parents will most likely continue to see the game as a problematic “epidemic.” Teens, on the other hand, will continue to play the game, with many continuing to enjoy it. Bierig sees the situation from an interesting standpoint. He says the game itself is harmless, but he does believe it has taken over the world in a way.
Personally, I enjoyed the game for many months but ultimately stopped playing it because I’m very upset with recent changes and additions to the game. I definitely concede that it’s a huge distraction. That being said, I don’t view the game as an epidemic or as promoting violence, and can see why many will continue to play and enjoy the game.