Is Fortnite ruining our idea of gaming for our children?

[hudson]

I didn't want them to play Fortnite, but then my kids would be out of the loop of conversations about fortnite in class and whatnot. I tried educating them by getting them Zelda and Mario for switch, and whilst fun for a while, the social aspects of Fortnite and playing together on other games such as Roblox and Minecraft is winning.

They see me playing an single player game and they're like "who you playing with?" I'm like "oh just, Adol the Red (character from Y's).

I'm down to getting them to creating their own maps in Roblox which allows you to easily drag and drop models to a blank world and apply code such as collision detection etc. I want them to get an understanding of how these games at the very least.

Is the traditional video game in trouble. When the younger generation eventually become the producers of games of the future with experience of Fortnite only?

Dramatic, I know, but...

[Paddy]

Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox are the ones that are popular among young audiences now. Those kids will experience the same thing when the next generation is playing something else though.

Good job on playing Ys and telling your kids who Adol the adventurer is. They might end up playing an entry in the series one day themselves (hopefully Ys VIII if they're fortunate).

[Asura]

Is the traditional video game in trouble. When the younger generation eventually become the producers of games of the future with experience of Fortnite only?

No, not at all.

Gaming has become impossibly broader than it was in the 1980/90s. At one point (after the earliest explosion to mainstream) it contracted to a hobby with niche appeal, and as a result, the industry nucleated around a relatively limited set of ideas about what a videogame was and what it could be. Technology was limited too.

Like, back in 1995, it would be realistic to say that a fairly large proportion of young people never play videogames, whereas today, that would be strange. A 15 year-old who says they don't play videogames would be like a 15 year-old who says they "never" listen to music - not that they're not a music fan, rather, they're saying they literally never listen to a single moment of music. Ever.

What this translates to is that there are more people playing videogames than ever before; just many of them wouldn't go near the "core" gaming space. They play games on Smartphones. They play Fortnite. People at care homes still crack out the Nintendo Wii every so often.

Fortnite is the new TOTP, the new Neighbours, the new NME, the new "supporting a footie team". It's a cultural phenomenon that kids connect over.

Plus I can't blame them. When I was a kid, games like Fortnite were my fantasy. I really hoped that in the future, we'd have these big multiplayer games with tons of players that I could play with my friends. I wrote down sketchy game designs in notebooks that are really similar to what we have today, in Fortnite, Mechwarrior Online, loads of others (because I was extrapolating outwards from the games we had in the 90s; Quake, Mechwarrior 2).

TL;DR, I don't think the "traditional game" (however nebulous a term that is) is going away; it's just going to be a smaller part of the market - but it's a market which continues to grow, so that doesn't really matter.

[hudson]

You speak the truths. Yes, if Fortnite was around when I was a kid, I'd be on it with my mates all the time.

Before my eldest son got into Fortnite, he'd finished Mario Odyssey and Crash Bandicoot, aged 7. I was so proud. I got him Zelda Links Awakening on Switch last Christmas and he hasn't touched it (but I have! Thanks! lol).

It's just a shame from my selfish point of view that he may not ever sit down and play an RPG or something.

[hudson]

Fortnite, Minecraft and Roblox are the ones that are popular among young audiences now. Those kids will experience the same thing when the next generation is playing something else though.

Good job on playing Ys and telling your kids who Adol the adventurer is. They might end up playing an entry in the series one day themselves (hopefully Ys VIII if they're fortunate).

Yeah, I'm enjoying Ys VIII at the moment.

[Asura]

It's just a shame from my selfish point of view that he may not ever sit down and play an RPG or something.

If it's any comfort, my old man was a huge football fan. Dyed-in-the-wool Newcastle supporter. Yet I always hated football, from a very early age.

But he's still going to be best man at my wedding.

[Neon Ignition]

In the years to come I'm hoping to steer mine away from Fortnite by the use of exposing them aggressively to other games... that are good. Makes me sound old but I still don't get Fortnite's appeal, the game is mediocre at best

[cutmymilk]

I've investigated this at work, teaching ICT. For a lot of them, it is the financial investment that they have in the game, having spent a few years worth of xmas and birthday money on skins and season passes. The events bring them back in every time too.

[teddymeow]

Is Fortnite ruining gaming for kids any more than FIFA Ultimate Team?

[Cassius_Smoke]

I fear that kids today have a different relationship with games. Sure when I was at school everyone was talking about metal gear and gran turismo, but today there is a level of competition not seen before. I guess when you think about it, it's like the Pogs craze, all buying and showing off the Pogs you have. As long as its managed and healthy it's probably not a problem.
The gambling however is.

[Digfox]

Fortnite alone isn't ruining gaming, as if it wasn't Epic's game, it would be something else. However the move to abusive, aggressive business models and manipulative game design is a much bigger issue. Somewhere along the line from physical products to digital services most seem to have accepted less consumer rights. Also the move to online all those years ago seems to have been much more one-sided and beneficial towards business than ideally it should have ever been.

Even if I wasn't a parent I don't think I would be comfortable with the exposure of all this stuff to children; gambling in lootboxes, the fear of missing out, the locking of content behind paywalls & grindwalls, bulls*** fake currency models and completely unregulated advertising. This can be (mostly) resolved and managed through legislation and improved consumer rights.

Videogaming seems to mirror other media where the most commercially successful projects aren't always the greatest examples in their medium.

EDIT: Whoops, realise I wrote 'Fortnite alone is' at the beginning when I meant to say 'Fortnite alone isn't'.

[Asura]

Fortnite alone is ruining gaming, as if it wasn't Epic's game, it would be something else. However the move to abusive, aggressive business models and manipulative game design is a much bigger issue. Somewhere along the line from physical products to digital services most seem to have accepted less consumer rights. Also the move to online all those years ago seems to have been much more one-sided and beneficial towards business than ideally it should have ever been.

Even if I wasn't a parent I don't think I would be comfortable with the exposure of all this stuff to children; gambling in lootboxes, the fear of missing out, the locking of content behind paywalls & grindwalls, bulls*** fake currency models and completely unregulated advertising. This can be (mostly) resolved and managed through legislation and improved consumer rights.

Videogaming seems to mirror other media where the most commercially successful projects aren't always the greatest examples in their medium.

OK boomer.

->Open Spoiler<-

sorry

[Golgo]

Yeah, of course it is. As a game it's painfully shallow both in its combat and construction elements and it is held aloft by sensational in-game celebrity endorsement and the hook of skin one-upmanship through micro-transactions. It is the distilled quintessense of ****e.

[Digfox]

OK boomer.

->Open Spoiler<-

sorry

[hudson]

The vbucks currency is annoying. The skins are ridiculously priced, but that's only half the problem as the currency are priced sneakily so that if you want to buy a soon with £10 of vbucks, you have to buy two 7.99 worth of vbucks.