In case you missed it, this year saw the very first Fortnite World Championships. And they were a Big Deal. The headlines were a $30 million prize pool, an estimated 40 million players attempting to qualify, and a whole raft of pro-gamers and celebrities competing in competitions alongside the World Cup. In short, it was one hell of an event.
But has the event exposed a worrying trend in gaming?
Any player could try to qualify during ten weeks from April to June. They had to play up to ten games as a solo player/duo team, earning points for eliminating opponents and winning matches, to qualify in their geographic region. The top three thousand players and teams from each region then duked it out in ten further matches during what Epic called the ‘Sunday Event’. Top scorers qualified for the World Cup.
The prizes almost sound too good to be true. Every player who qualified for one of the 100 spaces in each event was guaranteed $50,000. The winning player/team would walk away with $3 million.
There were a range of other prizes between those two. It sounds too good to be true for any aspiring gamer – but when you consider that some estimates put the game’s total revenue at $2.4 billion for 2018, it really is just a drop in the ocean.
But interesting details began to emerge about those who qualified – and I don’t mean foul play.
Every single person who qualified was under the age of 18.
I have enjoyed spectating a number of games that have a ‘professional’ element. Starcraft 2. Company of Heroes. Overwatch. Counterstrike. DOTA. World of Warcraft. What has always struck me is the amount of time that those players have needed to invest to get to that sort of level. We’re talking 10 hours plus per day.
Which brings me to my concern. At the risk of sounding like my father – what the hell are the kids doing spending all their time playing Fortnite?
Before people angrily take to the comments, I am massively pro-gaming. I see the value in it, and it is definitely a pastime I invest A LOT of time in. But that’s not the point I’m making. Growing up, my ZX spectrum and later my MegaDrive were wet-weather devices. If it was sunny, I was out with friends building forts, playing army and generally making a bloody nuisance of myself.
I don’t think it’s a secret that the games console and the PC (and now the smart phone and the tablet) are the best baby-sitting devices out there. Kids don’t get bored with them. They’re quiet for hours. And there’s no risk of coming in the room to find the kids have been drawing on the walls/floor/sofa/tv/cat for the last hour or so.
But consider this – Twitch streamer Ninja, who at one point was making $500,000 a month streaming Fortnite, spends twelve hours a day streaming. Much of that is playing Fortnite. And he did not qualify.
15-year-old Jaden Ashman, who along with his Fortnite partner won $2.25, (£1.8m) stated after he won that he was playing 8 hours a day minimum, 6 on school days. Mum Lisa said that his grades had suffered as a result of his gaming, and not just in preparation for the World Cup. I know someone will make the point of having to go for it, and to follow your dreams, and look how it’s paid off for him. All valid points.
Yet the fact remains that gaming isn’t just part of his childhood. Gaming is eating his childhood whole.
Gaming is a great hobby, as long as it isn’t the only thing you’ve got going on. There needs to be some real source of fulfilment and a connection to the real world. Let me put it this way. If your mates are calling up to head out, and you’re turning that done to stay gaming, you’ve got the balance all wrong.
The average time I have spent gaming has gradually increased as I’ve gotten older. But my formative years were spent doing all the things a kid should do, not glued to a computer screen for the better part of a day, every day. Gaming done wrong will certainly contribute to a lack of social skills, possible addiction and a lack of direction and feeling of having a purpose.
Fortnight has over 250 million players as of March. Clearly, not all of those are under 18, but it’s not the only game out there. How many times is this being repeated with Minecraft, or Call of Duty, or Halo, or whatever. It’s a safe bet to say that Fortnight has only uncovered the tip of this iceberg, and it doesn’t bode well for gaming.
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