Parents! Why is Fortnite so addictive? And what can we do?

Hi, everyone!  This is Lara Hammock from the Marble Jar channel and in today’s video, I’ll talk about the latest viral video game, Fortnite: Battle Royale, why it is so addictive, and as parents, what we can do about it. 

My son just turned 16.  Around last Halloween, he scraped some money together and bought himself an early Xmas present — a PlayStation console.  That’s when he fell over the Fortnite addiction cliff. I didn’t quite understand the impact, until a couple of months later when every single one of his grades has fallen by at least a full letter grade and he was walking around with huge bags under his eyes. It’s highly addictive, way more fun than schoolwork, and tough on a high school sleep schedule.  We had to make some changes. But before we talk about that, let’s talk about Fortnite and why it is so addictive. 

Game Concept

First let’s just cover the Fortnite basics.  It’s loosely based on the Hunger Games premise. You and 99 other people parachute into a world and then battle to the death. Whoever is the last one standing is the winner. You also get significant brag points by finishing close to the top of the 100 players. Fortnite encourages engagement with other players by shrinking the world geographically as the game goes on.  You start out with full health points, which you lose by getting shot or falling off stuff. You can regain health points by using “shields” which are like magic potions or medical kits.  You find the “shields” along the way in treasure chests or from people you’ve killed. In addition, you need to find weapons and ammunition to use and collect building supplies to construct defensive forts (thus the name), towers, or ramps. The object of the game is to kill other players and be the last player standing at the end of the game. Or — as they call it, Victory Royale.

So, why is it so addictive?

It’s clear that video game developers are getting smarter about what makes a sticky game — or one that is hard to quit and that players come back to day after day. Here are a couple of the elements that make Fortnite a raging success in this respect:

• Appealing and fun - on the face of it, Fortnite sounds like any other shooter game, but it’s not. It’s more fun and takes itself WAY less seriously.  Instead of a gritty and realistic aesthetic like Call of Duty or Grand Theft Auto, Fortnite employs a colorful, cartoony look that is super appealing. The named locations in the world are all strikingly different, but more importantly, the characters themselves are fun. The developers deliberately chose a third person shooter perspective — so instead of looking down the barrel of a gun, you are looking at your own avatar — so that they could build more fun (and ways to spend money) into the game.  You can buy or earn new skins for your character — some of which are complete silly or absurd.  This is my son’s favorite skin. His favorite backpack is shaped like a bow, but he likes to wear that when he’s using a hyper masculine skin. It just gives lots of opportunity for silliness.  And of course, the dances. If you buy dances for your character, they can dab, do the floss, and any number of hilarious and silly dances to communicate to the other players.  Not surprisingly, these dances bleed back into real life as these teenagers learn them from their avatars.
• Free, but not really - it’s totally free to get started in Fortnite. And sure, there are kids who manage to keep it a free experience, but it is highly tempting to use real money to buy virtual stuff for your Fortnite experience: new skins, accessories, and dances.  And even the way purchases are structured are addictive. My son bought the seasonal pack which is $10, but in order to unlock all of the goodies of that pack, you have to play a lot to move up all of the tiers — and each one unlocks new elements. 
• Multi-player - game developers know that this is key to game addiction.  Video games are no longer a solitary pursuit. Fortnite allows you to play solo, but it also has duo and squad modes where you can play with friends as a team. In duo mode, 50 teams are dropped into the world — and you communicate via headsets to protect each other, gang up on others, and manage each other’s health points. Not only are you hanging with friends, but you are working together in this super appealing world.
• Lose by a little, win by a lot — game developers are using gambling psychology to make their games sticky.  This game has a higher than average “Just one more” mentality.  Here’s a reddit post that sums it up:
• It’s one of those games where you say “ok, one more game.”
• And then you die. “Ok, that one didn’t count”
• Then you play like 6 more games and get a win. “Alright, let’s try to get back to back wins.  Then it’s 5am.”
• And how have they created this drive to keep playing?  I got much of this from an Internet article that I’ll reference in the notes section (https://byrslf.co/how-fortnite-became-the-most-addicting-game-in-history-eea67159220).  As slot machine psychology tells us, players who know that they were very close to winning will play the slots again quicker than those who believe there was less chance of a big payout.  In Fortnite, when you are killed, the first thing you see is the health points of the guy who killed you. Many times, his points are super low. What this means is that, as you are killed and leaving the game, you are thinking, man, I was so close to killing that guy when he killed me. In many of the gun battles, the makers of Fortnite ensure that the winner only wins by a hair.  And that makes you want to reup for another game — immediately. This is the psychology that made Candy Crush such a phenomenon.  In addition, the game winners only average about 5 kills per game, so at any given time, you could win big. Psychologically, the game is rigged to keep you coming back for more. 

Parents, what do we do about Fortnite?

• It’s not all bad - I am not someone who thinks that video games are a scourge upon society.  Now don’t get me wrong, I’m not a big fan of gory, first-person shooter games. I put off getting those until my parenting logic started to fall apart. But Fortnite is not a first person shooter game and it’s not gory at all.  I think video games can stimulate your brain and encourage a different kind of socialization. I’m always impressed at this generation’s ability to plunk down in the middle of a game of any sort without any instructions and figure out what to do and how to get to the next level. It requires a flexibility of thinking that my generation hasn’t really been trained to do. 
• Play with your kids - I’m busy, we’re all busy.  I don’t really have the time or the inclination to sit down and play hours of video games with my kids. That said, I think it is important to understand the worlds they are immersing themselves in. For several summers in a row, I would try out whatever game the kids were playing. I become hopelessly addicted to the Nintendo DS LEGO series. And my son stopped playing Dragon City with me after I got too obsessed and competitive.  Fortunately, I have no talent for shooter games, so I’m less likely to get hooked, but let’s face it — 16 year old boys are notoriously tough to find common ground with. I find that knowing a little something about his interests makes our relationship much richer. Plus, he will LOVE showing you how to play the game with him as the expert. My son actually had to leave the room at times as i was playing since I was just SO BAD. 
• Rules - knowing how addictive this game is makes it clear that there have to be rules around when and how long they can play. Otherwise, it will always be more appealing than homework, family dinner, or really anything else. I am not one of those smug parents that suggests this should be easy. IT WILL NOT BE EASY. Enforcing the rules can trigger full toddler-style meltdowns.  My only piece of advice is to hang in there — it should get a little easier after the rules have been established and in place for a while.  Our rules are that there is no PlayStation during weekdays and play time is earned on weekends (by things like good study habits and chores being done).
• Enforcement - almost every game console has a way of setting time limits and parental controls. At some point, I will probably look into using those.  I have a kid who will figure out a way around most tech solutions. So, right now, I’m using a low tech combination lock box. I stick the whole PlayStation console in here on Mondays and it doesn’t come out until Friday.  The other thing is — with Fortnite, setting strict time limits might increase emotional volatility.  Fortnite is played game by game.  If the PlayStation goes dead in the middle of a game, we would have a full meltdown our hands. The problem for me is when they say just another 5m to finish the game, I have to stay on top of that. I use timers to remind myself.  Or sometimes I’ll just sit and watch the remainder of the game to make sure that he turns it off afterwards. 

Let me know what has worked for you!  Comments are always appreciated and thanks for watching!