Has something been getting in the way of your relationship lately? Is your man taking longer to respond than usual? Don’t jump to conclusions ladies, because he may just be busy with way more important things. Which is probably just playing Fortnite. Fortnite has been all the rage lately. In case you have been living under a rock, Fortnite is a video game which starts with approximately 100 people and ends with just one. Being the lone survivor is the goal of the game and one of the biggest accomplishments one can achieve. This win is known as the victory royale and only the greatest can understand how that feels. But have no fear when someone wins, it is almost guaranteed they will post the victory royale on their Snapchat story making it very well-known.
          As someone who has never been into the shooting style video games like Call of Duty, I did not understand the hype or what made it special compared to other shooting video games. One day at the library, my group for a school project was talking about Fortnite. My group consisted of 3 guys who loved Fortnite and me someone who knew nothing about it and would probably rather just play Fire Boy and Water Girl than play Fortnite. But I did not feel like working on our assigned task so instead, I asked them to explain Fortnite to me in the most basic SparkNotes version they could give. This conversation inspired me to understand Fortnite and actually try playing the game to see if it was worth the hype. Â
          The game starts off with your character in a school bus with a hot air balloon on top of it, which sounds like a very strange plot of an episode of “The Magic School Bus.” From the bus, you jump out but don’t jump out immediately and under no circumstances should you jump out to go to tilted towers. Almost immediately, there is a warning that the storm is approaching which means if you are not in the circle you need to get in the circle because if you are outside the line when time runs out you will die in the game. When you jump out you are only given one weapon which is an axe. From here you basically run around, stay within the circle, collect materials (brick, wood, and metal), collect weapons, and kill your opponents. The guns you can collect in order of worst to best are gray, green, blue, purple, and orange. Once you have enough materials you can build walls, steps, or pyramids which can help with defense against other competitors.
          I have only played 3 times and the first time I think I had a little bit of beginner’s luck because somehow, I ended up in 20th place. The 2nd and 3rd time I played I came in 40th place, so clearly, I need some practice. According to the guys, the fewer people left in the game the more intense it gets. When you are close to the win I can only imagine the intensity is described in the words of Eminem, “palms are sweaty, knees weak, arms are heavy.” Personally, since I am not that good I can not relate to this feeling but I’m hoping one day I can celebrate a victory royale on Fortnite and don’t worry I will post it on my Snapchat if I ever win.