As a gamer, Fortnite is my favorite video game ever

A reader explains why he started playing Fortnite with his son and how, despite not particularly enjoying it, it has become a family favorite.

As a 40+ year old gamer there are certain things you take for granted when talking to other people of a similar age, in terms of reminiscing about the Xbox 360 days, reminiscing about the earlier days when online wasn’t really a thing. was, and hating everything our kids play today. Games like Minecraft and Roblox are the bane of many parents, but they’re even worse if you’re into video games because it’s extremely frustrating that your kids are playing them and not what my friends call “real” games.

They include Fortnite in that description and I have to admit that for a long time I did too, but my son is now 12 and like most kids he is interested in games. He has a PlayStation 4 on which he plays, but has shown little interest in most traditional games. He prefers to stick to free-to-play games that he can play with his friends and that are also on a smartphone.

Fortnite is a bit more of a normal game compared to Minecraft, and since he isn’t really interested in my games, I decided to join in and play with him, initially in split screen mode. I’m not going to pretend that Fortnite is a great game – in my opinion it’s a fairly mediocre shooter in terms of the action itself – but bonding with my son was something else entirely.

The success of Fortnite and other games like it is clearly due to the fact that they are free, but that’s not the whole story. Minecraft isn’t free, but that’s even more popular, and while I see my son playing it quite often, he’s never created anything particularly impressive and never seems to take survival mode very seriously.

Instead, he just uses it as a place to hang out and chat with his friends. I’ve never seen him play the game without his headphones, because talking to his friends at the same time is the whole point. From what I’ve seen the game is just an excuse to meet up so that’s not really the point. All his friends say they like Minecraft, but it really seems to be about the social interaction they enjoy, rather than the game itself.

At 12, he’s starting to get a little old for Minecraft, which I’m sure will soon be considered “for babies.” Fortnite has increasingly become the favorite game, but still seems to play the same role. He plays it well, although he often seems to be looking for secrets or just doing crazy tricks instead of actually trying to win. And just like Minecraft, it’s always with the microphone on, so he can chat and laugh with friends.

We don’t need that when we’re in the same house, so he showed me the ropes (I let him explain the controls, as if I’d never played a third person shooter before) and we started playing as a team. We actually did well because he had practiced a lot and I turned out to be better than he expected.

I ended up enjoying it a lot too. It seems repetitive at first, but with all the side missions and challenges, which are all secrets hidden around the map, there’s a little more to it than I realized.

Paying all that money for skins is still awful (I secretly worry that he was only so keen to get me involved because he thought he could convince me to buy more), but as a game it’s okay. As a social experience, though, it’s great. My son jokes that it’s my favorite game now, and in a way that’s because it meant a lot of quality time together.

So instead of scoffing, I would advise all gaming parents to get on board with Fortnite rather than dismiss it. All I have to do now is get him to appreciate the joys of Civilization (the game, not the outside world).

By reader Wrex

Reader characteristics do not necessarily represent the opinions of GameCentral or Metro.

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