The Game on Everyone’s Minds

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With 45 million players worldwide, “Fortnite” has become the most popular video game on the market. The online shooter was officially released on Sept. 26, 2017 in conjunction with the multiplayer mode “Battle Royale” which enables players on platforms such as Playstation, Xbox and PC to play with their friends. Astonishingly, “Fortnite” made its debut on the videogame world stage with a price of zero dollars, making its rise to global success even more seamless.

Now, six months after the games release, “Fortnite” has become the “talk of the town” in the Wesleyan community. With GPA’s dropping at a more rapid rate than ever before, as well as the large number of “Fortnite” players at Wesleyan, the standard of academic excellence at Wesleyan is only getting better.  Senior Drake Bursa said, “Fortnite” is the most fraternal game of our time and will go down in history as the GOAT.” [Editors note: GOAT is an acronym for “Greatest Of All Time”] As the excitement continues to build and the hype behind “Fortnite” grows, players continue to chase the ever illusive “Victory Royale”, or as many say, “Another day another dollar.”

The Best and Worst “Fortniters” of Wesleyan

   Some consider Wesleyan School a pantheon for the most gifted “Fortnite” players around. My subordinate and I took a poll of a variety of Wesleyan students and came up with these results: (Please note, all results are entirely subjective and in no way reflect the views of the “Green and Gold”)

[Poll taken from a variety of grades and genders]

  1. OvO ANGRYpirate (Senior Drake Bursa)
  2. ConBoy1W (Senior Willem Conley)
  3. ileus (Junior Miller Thomason)
  4. trashcanmatt (Junior Matthew Williamson)
  5. StripyElf53552 (Senior George Bielan)

However, as we all know, with the good comes the bad. There is no good without evil, no light without dark, no hope without suffering. For this reason, we must also take count of the worst and most dastardly players at Wesleyan.

[Poll taken from a variety of grades and genders]

  1. AbledBuffalo832 (Senior Matt Adent)
  2. Senior Maddie Lloyd (Gamertag or PSNID not available)
  3. FranticSloth24 (Senior Tyler Sommer)
  4. BillyRockTheKid (Junior Stone Ramsey)
  5. WRP21 (Junior Will Parrish)

 

How “Fortnite” Cultivates a Community

   Forget sports, theater, chicken “tendie” day or any other activity that bring people together at this wonderful school we call home. The only true activity that is able to turn students from strangers to brothers in arms in a moment is a nice game of “Fortnite”. In fact, if I am not mistaken, my parents actually met over a game of “Fortnite” back in ’09. One of the most infamous crews at Wesleyan is the junior squad consisting of BillyRockTheKid, Brydawg7 (Junior Will Bryson), Big_Chief_Daws15 a.k.a. Svwankyboy (Junior Dawson Carr) and formerly Bossgamer123 (Real name unknown). This squad has a tradition of choosing one “rando” (A player chosen at random by the “Fortnite” algorithm) per game. BillyRockTheKid is notorious for always “having beef with the rando”. According to BryDawg7 and Big_Chief_Daws15, BillyRockTheKid is by far the worst on the team but what he lacks in skill, he makes up for in heart. He considers himself “not good, but fun to play with.” His motto when it comes to the game is “team over loot, team over kills, team over dubs.” If that is not a testament to the power that this game has to bring groups closer than they ever thought they could be, I do not know what is.

 

The Underdogs of “Fortnite”

   “Fortnite” is chalk-full of different items, weapons, areas and more. With over 50 different weapons to choose from, some are bound to get overlooked and not be appreciated for what they are truly worth. To help combat this negligence, we have put a list together to show Wesleyan students what has been keeping them from getting those prized “Victory Royales”.

  • Lonely Lodge:
    • As I was interviewing the clientele of Wesleyan, I kept hearing one name come up time and time again, Moisty Mire. Moisty Mire or “Moisty” as many like to call it, resides on the northeast side of the map tucked between Tomato Town and Lonely Lodge. WarmCloud88 (Senior Davis Moreland) loves it because it is a “definitely slept upon location” and Ctyler9 (Junior Grace Tyler) is a fan because she “can load up on weapons and materials and have little competition.”

 

  • Traps:
    • When most people think of how they earn their eliminations in “Fortnite” they mostly confine themselves to weapons. I have taken it upon myself to liberate their dull play style by implementing damage traps. They have been referred to as “super clutch” by Drujames128 (Senior Dru James Douglas), also stating that, if placed correctly, they are “guaranteed to finesse a few people.” WarmCloud88 added that if one wants to know more about trap usage “to see Drake Bursa for the Advanced Guide to Trap Kills.)”
  • Scoped AR:
    • What gun is so underrated that it deserves ExplainedKhan50’s (Sophomore Holden Wilder) appraisal of “the most slept on gun in the game?” The Scoped Assault Rifle is the perfect combination of a long range and short range weapon. It has the scope for those distance shots but the fire rate for any close encounters you may have. ileus was also quite passionate about this rifle, stating that “if you have consistently good aim with it, it melts.”
  • Dishonorable Mention:
    • Senior Maddie Lloyd (Gamertag not available) is shunned for stating that the most underrated strategy is “to float in the air as long as possible”. This is a coward’s way of life and we don’t endorse cowards here at the “Green & Gold”.

 

The Females of “Fortnite”:

   Although, female players are few and far between, these lovely ladies are coming out of the woodwork to partake in this thrilling gaming experience. Franticsloth24 (Savannah Sommer) said, “Each battle royale game is different with different players and new challenges which keeps it from getting boring. Although, I do not engage in battle very often (I would describe myself as a bush wookie) so when I do, I usually die. But, on the vary rare occasion that I do defeat another player in battle, it feels really good.”

Not only has this video game ignited the community and the world, it has also diversified the videogame community by creating a “Fortnite” female crowd. Although, there will still be several cringe worthy moments (like when senior Caroline Gross referred to “Fortnite” as “nite-fort”) “Fortnite” has unified Wesleyan and maybe given more time, it will lead us to world peace. Junior Grace Tyler said, “‘Fortnite’ has changed my life. I can honestly say that my junior year would be drastically different if ‘Fortnite’ had never come out. The game offers companionship, problem solving, and small talk between once strangers. The game is a bonding agent that brings friends and enemies together through the joy of virtual survival and killing. It is something about getting a squad win at 3 a.m. on a school night with some peers that just brings people together. ‘Fortnite’ tears down social, political and economical walls that I never thought would be able to tear down. I just want to thank the creators and their families for making such a deep impact.”

 

“Fortnite Mobile”:

   “Fortnite” has now taken over the mobile platform, available on IOS devices. In the first three days of its release on the Apple app store, “Fortnite Mobile” generated over 1.5 million dollars in microtransactional revenue, making it one of the most popular free games of all time, contending with “Pokemon Go”, which made 4.9 million dollars in its first four days on IOS. Thus, “Fortnite” has once again reached a global standard of popularity on a new platform, completely monopolizing another part of the gaming industry.

Now only days into the release of “Fortnite Mobile”, dozens of Wesleyan students have purchased the app, furthering the decline in our GPA’s. However, many would agree that it is for a good cause. Senior Alva Jones is “so glad Epic games found a way for us to play ‘Fortnite’ during class.” This is just another example of how “Fortnite” is slowly achieving world domination.

 

“Fortnite” YouTuber Spotlight:

   With the success of “Fortnite”, Tyler Blevins, also known as “Ninja” has also become an enormous success as “Fortnite” YouTuber and Twitch streamer. Before his gaming career took off, Blevins worked a minimum wage job at Noodles & Company while he was attending University at Silver Lake College in Wisconsin. From there, he began competing in several major league gaming tournaments in Dallas, Columbus and Anaheim. Now, Blevins has accumulated quite a following with over 5 million YouTube subscribers, and 200,000 Twitch subscribers, making him the most popular “Fortnite” streamer. Ninja is also the highest paid “Fortnite” professional gamer, making over $560,000 a month.

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