Why 'Fortnite' Has A Strangely Positive Influence On Kids

Early in the year, the energy shift became palpable. I started noticing kids actually talking to each other. Boys and girls I'd barely heard speak were connecting and clamoring together to watch streams of other people playing a game. "Could it be?" the grown-ups asked, a hopeful glint in their eyes, "Is Logan Paul finally over?" It turns out Logan Paul, Tyler Oakley, and PewDiePie were replaced with Fortnite videos. It's almost as if it's finally cool to be Player 2, waiting your turn to play Luigi, except you're enjoying watching Mario so much that you're happy to sacrifice your turn.

Not only were the teens suddenly obsessing over playing/watching this one game, but they also spontaneously had dozens of new dance moves, and would execute them perfectly for their Snapchat stories. If you're in a public place and see a gaggle of tweens practicing their choreography, odds are they aren't rehearsing for the school play. Dancing is actually one of the cornerstones in this teens-vs-teens Hunger Games simulator. (Would it have killed Katniss to dance a little bit? Probably.) Fortnite dances are even popping up in World Cup soccer, videos of police officers, and professional boxing.

Refusing to transition from "hip young teacher" to "cranky old purveyor of busy-work packets," I had to learn more, because not only had my students become disinterested in coding video games in my class, but the only thing they seemed to care about was this fork knife thing. So I started playing.

In Fortnite, you don't actually "die" -- when you're eliminated, you're just teleported out of the map. At that point, your screen is automatically flipped to the person who eliminated you so that you can watch. You're now empathizing with your killer until he/she is eliminated, and then it changes to the player who eliminated them, etc. Elimination grants the opportunity to learn how to be better by watching how your opponent strategizes for the remainder of their game.

Also, you can't talk shit to opponents with your headset -- you can only communicate with members of your squad, if you have one. (You're playing with 99 other people. Some game modes are you versus everybody, others let you team up with a small squad, or do a game of 50 on 50.) I tried the headset thing once, and ended up helping a high school senior write his valedictorian speech, and even slip in a Fortnite reference. (I just muted everyone after that. The game makes it easy to do.)

Games are constantly accused of bringing out the worst in people -- the abuse and slurs in communication, the brutality and sexism in the games themselves. Maybe you've had a bad experience on Fortnite -- I'm not pretending to speak for everyone -- but what I saw was creativity, cooperation, and so, so much dancing.

But then came Fortnite.

It was suddenly the only thing all of the kids were talking about -- black, white, nerds, jocks, bullies, even the baby MAGA lovers couldn't get enough of this game. In an effort to ride its coattails, I made a new video game to motivate my young programmers. I called it Fork Knife.

Behold.

I continued to play Fortnite (and got my first Victory Royale!) to get a feel for the map and gameplay, hoping to incorporate it into subsequent lessons. I admit, I was instantly hooked (it got so bad one night that my boyfriend threatened to turn off my WiFi). I never played with the kids from my class, because it seemed like an ethical fine line (something seems off about a teacher gleefully pumping virtual bullets into a student's avatar). Whenever they asked me to play, I would divert the question by flipping open my programming app to show them a new pixelated Battle Bus I made, or an exciting new coding function. One morning, my class raced into my room after the first bell, all holding up screenshots on their phones. Fork Knife actually showed up in Retail Row, an area within the Fornite map.

Uh oh.

After a great impromptu lesson on parallel thinking and intellectual property (I was obviously not the first person to think of that utensil pun), the kids were still unconvinced. Now they thought I actually hacked Fortnite, or that we had a reason to sue Epic Games for a billion-trillion V-Bucks. The result: My kids were more interested in computer science than ever.

Also, it had been months since I'd had to help a kid with a cyberbully or a real-life bully. Weeks went by without hearing about any drama on Instagram. Weeks turned into months, and I realized they finally found a reason to stay off their Finstas. United in the virtual world of Fortnite, they were actually cyberbullying each other less. In previous years, I'd help dozens of kids when they were bullied, but they were now all playing together.

Also, Fortnite's Battle Royale format means there's only one winner. That means if you're good at it, it's only because you endured a long, sad string of defeats and near-misses. (As one student said to a peer, "I use to be trash, but now I'm a savage.") Please note that this is also how you get good at something in the real world. It's no wonder that some colleges are actually starting to offer scholarships for talented Fortnite gamers.

Fortnite isn't going to save the world (probably), and this isn't intended to be one giant advertisement for the game (it's not like they need it). The real lesson here is that if parents and educators actually listen to kids and take the time to get in tune with what's important to them, two things might happen. The kids will notice, and we'll be pleasantly surprised by what we find out about them. If you want to make life better for young people, stop being dismissive or afraid of whatever they're into, and start paying attention.

Fortnite friends, you can show love for Vicky V the next time you spend your V-Bucks! Type in Vicki's gamer tag, PickleVic86 in the "Support a Creator" tab in the item shop and she will literally feel your virtual accolades. Follow Vicki Veritas on Twitter. Please send all fan mail to vickiveritas@gmail.com.

Still, please don't let this prevent your kids from learning, we dunno, math?

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For more, check out 6 Acts Of Real-Life Heroism Made Possible By Video Games and 5 Real Skills Video Games Have Secretly Been Teaching Us.

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