Fortnite has taken the gaming world by storm since July 15th, 2017 and will only advance in popularity with its soon-to-be OG Fortnite update, so players better bring their medkits for this upcoming season of nostalgia.
The last season of Fortnite was known as “Fortnite Remix”, although not numbered it was the 5th chapter of the 5th season of Fortnite. Fortnite works in seasons where during each “season”, for a duration of time there is a Battle Pass which contains in-game cosmetics that can be earned through gameplay. Playing the game and gaining experience will earn you battle stars, with these battles stars you can unlock different cosmetics like character skins, new music for the lobby while you wait for your next match to start, “back bling” which are cosmetics that attach to your characters back, gliders which safely carry you to the ground from the battle bus which you came from as well as pickaxes or other items that function to break down structures for building materials.
All of these items are solely for aesthetically pleasing looks, and don’t impact play whatsoever in any technical sense. Of course, some players argue that other skins give more “camouflage” than others, but skins in Fortnite (at least typically) are not intended for such a thing at all so that players can thoroughly enjoy a free-to-play experience in fairness, and can choose whether or not they want to spend money on the game to look good and how much they want to spend too on its in-game currency known as “V-Bucks.”
But, of course, players are well aware of this fact and anticipate every new Battle Pass, picking apart what skins look the best and either working hard and playing for hours to get ones that are far ahead in the pass to earn, or if they should just put extra money into the pass for more battle stars so that they can unlock them earlier than usual through the purchasing route.
However, many players even will hardly play and just earn a few skins rather than the whole Battle Pass, or not even buy it at all. It’s great to have this option to play without pay, but usually the reason a player doesn’t buy the season’s pass is because the player doesn’t want to waste approximately ten bucks or can’t afford it due to being younger, or if they buy it and potentially barely play because they are busy with school or work and can’t dedicate mass amounts of time to grind it out and earn all of its rewards. Recently, however, many players have experienced dissatisfaction with the skins in the last Battle Pass, refusing to purchase it as a result, even as dedicated players, saying that they lack creativity or originality in the designs of the cosmetics.
“I started playing that game [Fortnite] in September 2017 when it first came out,” says John Aubert, Broadcast teacher and OG Fortnite player. “My brother in law and I actually just re-downloaded the game and we played on Saturday for the Chapter Two [Season]. The original map came back. We are amped because we’re gonna be playing all winter break. It’s gonna be great. It’s gonna be like living old memories,” Aubert says with enthusiasm.
Fortnite has brought back it’s “OG” map from its humble beginnings when it took the leap to attempt at being a “Battle Royale” label game, where 100 players are dropped onto an island and expected to fight to the elimination of every other enemy on the island, either going solo, in duos, trios or squads depending on how many players there are from 1-4 in participation.
Currently, however, the “OG” map isn’t completely restored, it holds modifications to keep the game engaging for new players or old players who appreciate more variation and thrill. Rappers Eminem, Snoop Dogg, Ice Spice, and Juice WRLD were featured in the game as buyable skins in the Fortnite item shop last season which is something worth mentioning for sure, given future collaborations of this type may be present going forward. They all also act as fightable bosses in the game that upon defeat, will give you a hug, give you their weapon and become your ally until they are eliminated, you’re eliminated or you win the game.
Many fans of the rap industry undoubtedly see this as fun and comedic, with Fortnite sporting several other past collaborations and skins with other people, companies and series such as Dragon Ball, Attack on Titan, Jujutsu Kaisen, My Hero Academia and Naruto for anime. Fallout, Elder Scrolls, Metal Gear Solid, God of War, Halo, Street Fighter, Borderlands, Resident Evil, League of Legends, Doom, and several more for video games, totalling in the dozens.
Fortnite has even done collaborations with TV shows and movies. Some of those being from the Marvel universe, John Wick, Stranger Things, Rick and Morty, Star Wars, and Pirates of the Caribbean just to name a few.
The list truly goes on and on, with many loving these collaborations, and others having negative opinions of it. MCHS students have much to say regarding their thoughts and feelings on game skins and gameplay overall.
“[It] just isn’t like the old seasons.” says Abigial Cermak, a student at MCHS who plays with their friends frequently. Cermak disapproves of the recent skins in the game and sees them as uncreative, much like Broadcast teacher John Aubert, but has an issue with one of the particular dances in the game known as an “emote.”
“Snoop Dogg’s walk is kind of like the Crip Walk, and if you’re in the wrong neighborhood, you’re gonna get shot for that.” Cermak says with worried intent. One of Snoop Dogg’s dances added to Fortnite is known as the “Snoop Walk” and it highly resembles the “Crip Walk”, a dance coined by aforementioned rapper Snoop Dogg based around the original Crip Walk dance that is slightly differentiated and involves unique footwork done by Snoop. This dance in addition to Snoop Dogg were formerly purchasable in the game’s item shop likely for the remainder of that season, although they can always come back at a later date so long as they were not included in the Battle Pass.
Many people worry about kids replicating this dance in the wrong place where rival gangs of the “Crips” reside.
Although there is a minimal chance of this kind of bizarre incident happening, there is an ounce of humor found in this conundrum of whether or not this dance is appropriate given the fact that it only resembles the initial dance that Snoop modeled his dance after, and isn’t entirely the same.
There are many popular emotes included in Fortnite that many players love that are undoubtedly appropriate, on the other hand. Some of them can be bought in the item shop while others have been frequently included in the Battle Pass.
“I really like floss because it’s just such an original. Because when you win the Battle Royale, you can floss and oh- Drake actually also really loves Fortnite. I really like the hype.” says student Madison Rupert, a Fortnite emote enthusiast. “I like the T-Pose too-” she continues. “-and the one by Doja Cat, that one’s really cool.” Rupert says, referring to a previous collaboration with rapper and singer Doja Cat.
Fortnite puts lots of effort into making sure that people such as rappers who are involved in collaborations don’t contribute anything inappropriate for children when they are added given the often inappropriate nature of their music. In game there was a weapon that could be gained from defeating Eminem called the “RG Minigun”, when firing this weapon in game the sound of shooting is accompanied by Eminem’s hit song “Rap God”, released in 2013. In this song Eminem raps at a significant speed, referring to himself as a so-called “rap god” in order to exemplify his abilities and lyrically quick prowess when many listeners of his music criticized him deeply at that time, and would cite him as unskilled and insult him.
His lyrics in this song do contain several curse words, though, which would be alarming for some very young audiences in the opinion of some parents, but fortunately, Em’s censored version of his song is played while in use of his weapon as to prevent any concerns or potentially inappropriate influence. As Fortnite progresses in collaboration appeal towards its fanbase, the question is oftentimes asked what limits can and cannot be pushed with who the company “Epic’ behind Fortnite can work with and add to their game, which is modeled to be constantly changing. Fans are always on their feet and unknowing of what to expect in the coming advances of gameplay, updates and whether or not added skins are yet another collaboration or created originally by the developers and artists of Fortnite.
On a previous note, another avid Fortnite player at MCHS contributes to the dissatisfaction with the current Battle Pass in game. “Me, personally, I’m not the biggest fan of the Battle Pass right now, but I know old ones have been really good.” says Nathan Nottaway. “I like Lebron James. That’s my goat.” he says, nodding at a past collaboration he was fond of, highlighting how sometimes Fortnite collaborations can cater to Fortnite’s very varied audience, and be taken positively.
“I was wearing my LeBron James and beating Cermak in a one v. one.” he says, reminiscing humorously with his friend. “I’m gonna be dropping at Tilted Towers [next season when the map is fully restored]”
“I started playing Fortnite back like Season One/Season Two. I started playing on PlayStation, and then in season five, I got my first computer, and I’ve been playing on it since then.” says Cayden Sims. “I love Fish Stick, or John Cena.” he shares, Fish Stick being an OG skin with the design being that of an orange fish man. John Cena is of course self-explanatory, given John Cena’s previous collaboration with Fortnite as a wrestler.
“I like the collabs. I like the new Juice WRLD one, that one’s cool. It’s good. I like the Marshmello one too. That one was cool.” Sims states.
Sims seems a bit less complacent of the recent collaboration conundrum, but he builds quite the argument against game mechanics. “Weapons that are used in some seasons, some of the weapons are just like – you just sit there and you just hold down a button. Also aim assist on controller.” he explains. Cayden is referring to a mechanic on Fortnite’s console versions in which controller players are given aim assistance by the game’s function in order to supposedly make up the difference of aiming ability between controller players and computer players. Many people argue that computer players can make better use of their dexterity with a keyboard and mouse and aim at enemy players far more efficiently, but Sims disagrees with this feature for console players, citing it as unfair.
In addition, he makes the argument that many weapons in past seasons have been far too simple and easy to use. A couple weapons that fit this description that can be used to support his argument would be War Machine’s Auto Turret and the Auto Shotgun. Both items have a clear resemblance in name, and both share that similar sentiment. The Auto Turret immediately locks onto targets and shoots for you without any need to aim or press fire so long as it is in your inventory. Then, the Auto Shotgun doesn’t even need to be aimed to hit its mark given a ridiculously wide spread. This means that players who use this gun have just about no delay in their firing, and can fire at someone and hit their mark so long as they’re in front of them and they press fire, shooting “from the hip.”
“I think like having the pump [shotgun] to attack and all that, that’s pretty good. [The current season] is a normal season.” says Sims, having an innate preference for the pump shotgun and seeing it as fair.
“It’s a game I’ve been playing for a really long time now, since it kind of first came out, playing on and off, since it very first came out, very fun game. Lots of memories on the game, fun with friends,” says Luke Kapple, an apparent OG player.
“Instead of creating new things, they’re just relying on already established things to bring in players,” Kapple says, “Like, it’s good to have, like, some collaborations and stuff. But like, when you get like, every single celebrity, every single like character in Fortnite, it’s a little like overwhelming, and they’re doing a little bit too much with it,” he elaborates.
Playing from the humble beginnings of the game just to slowly see it succumb to endless collabs probably ruins the originality of the game for some players, something that many of them have attributed thus far.
Regardless, Fortnite is seen as a very solid game by many players to date, especially as they continue to expand the game’s limits and get more creative in terms of gameplay.
Because of the notoriety that Fortnite has recently garnered, OG players have begun roping in their friends who’ve never played the game or aren’t frequent players. One MCHS student has very recently joined the hype for this upcoming OG season, and shares her experiences from her first time playing.
“[I started playing] last week.” says Klaira Workinger. “I like how I can play with my friends,” she continues on, “I like the hammer pickaxe,” she says, in reference to the pickaxe used to collect building materials in game.
“I was playing one night with Luke Kapple and – and then I was driving a car, and then the next moment, it blew up, and that’s about it, then I died,” says Workinger.