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Fortnite is taking over the world… and CHS BY ALLISON SHINSKEY
Fortnite. Chances are, you have heard the name. Perhaps you know that is is a popular video game. You might even play it yourself. No matter how familiar with it you are, it seems that nobody can deny that Fortnite has quickly taken the gaming world by storm, and CHS is no exception. While the game is mostly harmless fun at first glance, like many other video games, there is always the question of how addictive it is, and whether it is affecting students’ concentration in school, especially since it is available on mobile phone. To answer this, we will go over in detail what makes Fortnite so popular, and find out what both CHS students who play the game, and teachers think about this cultural phenomenon.
Fortnite is taking over the world… and CHS
BY ALLISON SHINSKEY
Fortnite. Chances are, you have heard the name. Perhaps you know that is is a popular video game. You might even play it yourself. No matter how familiar with it you are, it seems that nobody can deny that Fortnite has quickly taken the gaming world by storm, and CHS is no exception. While the game is mostly harmless fun at first glance, like many other video games, there is always the question of how addictive it is, and whether it is affecting students’ concentration in school, especially since it is available on mobile phone. To answer this, we will go over in detail what makes Fortnite so popular, and find out what both CHS students who play the game, and teachers think about this cultural phenomenon.
Fortnite: Battle Royale was released by Epic Games for downloading in November of 2017 and already has a fanbase of about 45 million players, which is quite impressive for a game in which the full version, where players fight zombies, has not even released yet. It is expected for 2018, but the date still has not been set.
For now, people are playing Battle Royale, a game mode available for free, which may be the first reason why it is so popular. Epic Games has evidently figured out that kids these days just seem to love free stuff.
In Battle Royale, players play against other players to become the last person standing, like in the Hunger Games. It is classified as a third-person shooter game, but it is still in a category of its own. This is perhaps another reason why people like it so much. It’s different from any other competition out there. It combines shooting skills with elements of the popular video game Minecraft released back in 2009, where players explore an open world and collect and build items to help them survive. Not too many games combine the two.
Therefore, in Fortnite, a player does not have to defeat every enemy with a gun to win the game like in the Call of Duty franchise. They can collect items and hide out until there are only a few people left, and still win by only defeating a few players. In fact, Gabe Shinskey, a freshman at Coventry High who has played plenty of Fortnite, knows from experience that a person has better chances of winning if they hide out for a while.
Combined with a cartoonish, friendly look with no violent blood and gore, this allows for people of all ages, genders, and all types of gamers to enjoy Fortnite. Long-time CHS teacher Mrs. Larocque describes the game as a “generational attraction”. She used to think only the freshmen here played it. “My son and his college friends are playing it now, too,” she remarks.
Epic Games has also done something with Fortnite which no equally popular game/franchise has accomplished: combining all of the consoles. This means that it is available on platforms such as Xbox, Playstation, and PC like other games, but also allows Xbox players to go up against Playstation players, for instance, in the same match. This may seem like a simple thing, but it has proved to make an impact. Friends with Xboxes can now play with all of their friends on Playstation, truly making the game an unstoppable community.
Another reason behind Fortnite’s popularity has to do with the amount players in a match, a maximum 100 across every game mode; solo, with one other teammate, or in a team of four players. With so many people in just one match, the chances of winning are slim, even for the most skilled players.
For example, Gabe says he has invested almost 100 hours of his time into Fortnite, but still has only won about 5% of every game he has played. Actually winning in Fortnite is all the more rewarding than in other games, making the game extremely competitive, which is specifically why Gabe continues to play. Everyone wants to be able to say they outlasted 99 other players, and this is what is causing people to wake up early on the weekends just to play, and turn on their consoles as soon as they get home, some disregarding their homework. Gabe says he still makes sure to get his work done before he plays, but he’s not sure he can speak for everyone.
Additionally, the Fortnite creators have also figured out how to make their players stay addicted. There are constant updates in game, new guns to get every week, and plenty of references to pop culture, as well. The most recent large update even put Thanos, the infamous villain from “Avengers: Infinity War”, into the game.
However, perhaps the one aspect that has recently made Fortnite twice as popular is the fact that there has been a mobile phone version out since March of this year, and, yes, it is still trending in the app store. This is where the problem lies for CHS. Students can now take their favorite game everywhere they go and can sit in the back of their classes playing Fortnite when they should be paying attention.
Mrs. Larocque claims that she has been seeing this happen while she is teaching, and she has other worries for how the game is influencing kids, including concerns about “the obsession, and the knowledge of weaponry people are getting”. That means that this generation of kids now has more knowledge about guns, which will probably not help slow the wave of gun violence going on in the nation right now.
Gabe admits that while he doesn’t play the mobile version of Fortnite, he does know plenty of people who do it in class. “People are getting distracted by talking too much about the game, too,” he says. “The teacher asks us, ‘Are you talking about Fortnite again?’ and we say, ‘Yeah’.”
Gabe also points out that not only are people losing time, they are also losing money. “The amount of money people spend on the game is crazy,” he says. While Fortnite is free, as previously mentioned, it still greatly profits off of kids purchasing skins and other cosmetic items in the game, and some of them cost upwards of $20.00. This should be a warning for parents not aware of what their children are paying for.
Mrs. Larocque’s final advice to CHS students and gamers everywhere is this: “Everyone who uses technology needs to reassess and balance the use of it and living an active, productive life.”