(A number of people who spoke to me for this article requested anonymity, either as a matter of privacy or because they were not an authorized school spokesperson.)
In the spirit of transparency (kind of) I know two boys who along with their friends are clearly hypnotized while thinking about and playing Fortnite.
It’s hard to tell when something moves from popular to cultural phenomenon. The students, teachers, and parents I’ve talked to the past week said they haven’t seen something grip the children around them since Minecraft (another video game). But, this is way different.
Kids who have never picked up a controller are playing Fortnite because, well—it’s what everyone else in school is doing. Some feel you need to play Fortnite to remain relevant in school.
When Fortnite went mobile, it became invasive. Students began battling with classmates, friends in other school districts, other states and other countries – DURING CLASS!
It’s also become part of the social fabric, by which peers are judged. “They link their wins to their social status a bit,” said a Coral Reef High School teacher. “The hip kids are not necessarily the best Fortnite players, but they all know who the best ones are. Doesn’t matter how old they are, they talk about kids they wouldn’t otherwise know, by their wins.”
A number of teachers echoed this, observing how some of the biggest introverts are also some of the best Fortnite players in their class, and their expertise has transformed them into bona-fide extroverts because everyone’s coming to them looking for advice on how to play.
“One of my shy kids has become a walking strategy guru for the other kids,” said a Palmetto High School teacher. “He loves it.”
Teachers notice more and more kids hanging out with students often associated with being “smart but with low-self esteem and very quiet.” All of a sudden, people hang on to his every word during recess and he is suddenly gaining friends.
Young women aren’t just being pulled into Fortnite by way of prom invitations either. The primary demographic of shooters tends tend to be boys and young men, but phenomenons operate differently, and Fortnite is crossing traditional gender lines.
I heard from plenty of parents and teachers who said their daughters were into it, and in some cases, Fortnite became the first time they’d bonded over a shared interest in games.
Unsurprisingly, wider complaints include how the game has utterly taken over the lives of every single boy they know.
One student said it’s made the guys she regularly interacts with “less social.” Many more admitted to becoming familiar with the game—basic rules, strategy, and popular memes—so they could participate in the daily conversations their guy friends were having.
But this collective obsession over Fortnite is a mixed bag, depending on whom you talk to. One high school teacher has students who say they are outright addicted—playing it, watching other people play it—and their grades have sharply declined.
Based on what the students say, it appears they boot up the game the moment they leave school until they pass out playing sometime in the middle of the night.
It’s also led to teachers having an opportunity to bond with their students by giving them a common language. Talking Fortnite, the teacher is no longer an uninformed authority figure.
“When I said that I had and demonstrated knowledge of the game, they were surprised and immediately grilled me on how many wins, what kind, and where I played. It’s been very helpful in establishing a relationship with the students, which in turn makes it easier when I ask things of them,” said a teacher from Palmetto Middle School.
Fortnite embedding itself into the lives of everyday school children comes at a time when the discussion around them has been draped in tragedy and anger.
On February 14, 17 students were gunned down in a shooting at Stoneman Douglas High School in Parkland. The country’s most recent encounter with mass violence has teachers and parents on edge about what it means for a game with guns to be so prevalent in the minds of kids.
Fortnite is cartoonish and over-the-top, especially compared to other brutal, realistic, and deeply violent games. But Fortnite is still a game that involves players running around with guns—assault rifles, shotguns, sniper rifles—and it’s a point that hasn’t been lost on parents—so take a few moments to talk to your kids about the game. I did and the answers were interesting.
I will leave you with this…winning in Fortnite is all about knowing how far away things are.
How far away is that other player? How far away is the storm? And just as importantly – how far away is that building I want to be on?
But most importantly, it’s showing kids how this obsession might be pushing them farther away from success in school.
This column is by Ritchie Lucas, Founder of The Student Success Project and Think Factory Marketing. He can be reached at 305-788-4105 or via email at ritchie@thinkfactory.com and on Facebook and You Tube as The Student Success Project.
