Fortnite craze hits hallways of Big Spring

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Student sits playing Fortnite during free time in class. Fortnite is the new gaming trend that a majority of people are playing.

Ava Mowery, Reporter

Every day after school Colden Showaker, a sophomore, sits down in front of his Xbox and waits for his game to load. Here he will sit until he starts to get groggy and falls asleep in the game’s lobby. Showaker spends his days and nights playing Fortnite. However, Showaker is not alone in his Fortnite obsession.

Fortnite has taken the world, including the halls of Big Spring, by storm. Fortnite has been described as a cross between Minecraft and a shooting game. “The intensity of the game gets me very pumped. It keeps me hooked!” said Showaker. It is available on PC, console, and most recently, mobile. This game has different modes, the most popular one being “battle royale.” In this mode, the name of the game is survival. Battle Royale allows 100 players to fight until there is only one winner left. This part of the game was released in September for free.

Since September, there has been an unmistakable buzz through the hallways about this phenomenon. Students bring controllers and meet during lunch to play on their laptops and others talk about how many solo or squad wins they have. “I probably spend about 4 hours a night and 8-10 hours on the weekends. It’s like a full time job really.” said Showaker.

The popularity of this game spiked from its ability to be easily understood at a glance and how high quality it is for being a free game. Fortnite has been around since 2011, but the addition of Battle Royale has created the rapid growth of gamers. “I heard a lot about people talking about it and there were many memes on the Twitter, so I downloaded it to see what the fuss was about. And that is how I became addicted to Fortnite.” said Amelia Ingraham, a junior. Also, people are bigger fans of this game compared to others because of its cartoon graphics and lack of intense violence. “The game wouldn’t be as good with blood and gore.” said Addison Lay, a sophomore.

According to Metro UK, Fortnite has over 3.4 million concurrent players, making Fortnite the biggest game of the year. “I think the Fortnite trend will die out, sadly. It gets repetitive after awhile since it’s the same thing.” said Showaker. “It’s actually pretty annoying.” said Janelle Bier, a sophomore, “People post on social media about Fortnite way too much. I’m ready for Fortnite to be finished with.”  At this point however, it looks as though Fortnite won’t be slowing down anytime soon. They are developing new content including weapons, map locations, and different cosmetic items to keep players interested.

Stay tuned to Channel 3 for a “Man on the Street” feature on Fortnite.