For those of you, who think that the above title is simply yet another spelling error, it isn't. Fortnite is a computer game, and not one that I particularly like. It has been around now for a couple of years and is a free download that makes it accessible to anyone with the means to play it. It may be free to play but there are in game purchases, which, if you are young and malleable are a vital part of the gaming experience.
I played it once, or attempted to. There are variations in the game but the one I played involved a hundred people parachuting down onto an Island with the aim of killing all the others. There are weapons, and ammunition statues and places to hide, but everything is very fast paced and so I did not survive more than a few minutes. Your opponents are all real people from all over the world, and you can, if you are so inclined, interact with them by message or by talking to them.
I find it a little worrying. Oscar is now nine and he is addicted to the game. He is not allowed to play it on school days, but when he is not playing, he watches Youtube videos of others playing it.
Watching him play is educational. His reaction speeds are quite something, and he knows exactly what he is doing. He only talks to his real life friends and their conversations are quite incomprehensible. Recently he has been more interested to the creative mode of the game, building and manipulating the landscape and setting lethal traps. It has a language and culture all of its own and is a huge moneymaker for its makers.
I guess that eventually the obsession will wear thin and the kids will move on to something new; whatever it is we will probably not approve.
I played it once, or attempted to. There are variations in the game but the one I played involved a hundred people parachuting down onto an Island with the aim of killing all the others. There are weapons, and ammunition statues and places to hide, but everything is very fast paced and so I did not survive more than a few minutes. Your opponents are all real people from all over the world, and you can, if you are so inclined, interact with them by message or by talking to them.
I find it a little worrying. Oscar is now nine and he is addicted to the game. He is not allowed to play it on school days, but when he is not playing, he watches Youtube videos of others playing it.
Watching him play is educational. His reaction speeds are quite something, and he knows exactly what he is doing. He only talks to his real life friends and their conversations are quite incomprehensible. Recently he has been more interested to the creative mode of the game, building and manipulating the landscape and setting lethal traps. It has a language and culture all of its own and is a huge moneymaker for its makers.
I guess that eventually the obsession will wear thin and the kids will move on to something new; whatever it is we will probably not approve.
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