Fortnite computer game: Griezmann and millions of others love the game

The success of the Fortnite computer game is unprecedented. Not only are teenagers dependent on the survival game. Even sports stars such as footballer Antoine Griezmann are dancing on Fortnite.

After the 2-0 victory in the World Cup final against Croatia, Antoine Griezmann ensures that half of the world knows a video game. The French footballer celebrated his goal with a dance of "Fortnite", the hottest game of the world.

Shortly before the triumph of the World Cup in Russia, Griezmann confessed: "I'm the same, I play Fortnite all day, enjoy football and drink mate." Griezmann is not the only one to love Fortnite. The free online version of the manufacturer Epic Games uses more than 125 million people. We explain the phenomenon

What is Fortnite about?

Simply for survival or as "Darwinism to be pieced together" as a critic wrote. 100 players are thrown on a desert island where they face each other. With rocket launchers and other weapons, competitors are killed. In the end, there remains only one winner ("Last Man Standing"). The genre is called "Battle Royale" – survival is practically the supreme discipline of the players. You can also win at Fortnite without firing on others. You just have to hide enough and hope your opponents will avoid each other.

While the paid mode "Save the World" is released from 12 years, the free "Battle Royale" is forbidden to be played. Nevertheless, some elementary students are already looking for "Fortnite", which is available for PC, iOS, Playstation and Xbox. Google users are still waiting for an Android app.

Source: Pro Sieben / Glomex

Why is the game so popular?

Because it puts the competition in front of the computer to a new level lifts. "Counterstrike and World of Warcraft were game-oriented," says media pedagogue Stephan Schölzel, whose father is from Kbadel and works for the city of Neu-Isenburg: "This is a huge motivation for the game. be better than the other. " The competitive nature fits perfectly in the meritocracy.

For Carmen Maria Plankmeister, the game came "just in time". The 26-year-old Kbadel's social worker has been playing at Fortnite for almost a year, like all her friends. She loves the funny comic style and the many dances with which the characters celebrate, for example, being alive. But the most important thing is for them: the game is free. Nevertheless, the maker Epic Games is expected to have won nearly 300 million euros in May. So survival can make you rich

Should parents worry if their children kill other players?

No, because "we do not kill," says Schölzel. The 32-year-old likes to play Fortnite himself. Recovering someone else means something like, "I got you." In principle, Fortnite is a modern version of the school yard war game.

Also for Plankmeister it is "kill the bad term". Fortnite hears no bloody animations. Who is out of the game is carried away with a UFO: "We are from the game thelepatiert and we can play the next game."

Nevertheless, parents should pay attention to certain things, recommends Schölzel pedagogue: "They should show their children Lets what they do there." And if a teenager is a little more aggressive after being killed by 100 competitors before the penultimate, he thinks that should not be because computer games are bad, but because of the disappointment. As he does not differ from a junior footballer, who shot the decisive penalty just before the end of a game.

What about the dances of Fortnite?

They are a way to show emotions. And they show how virtual and real realities are close. At the World Cup in Russia, footballers particularly applauded with the movement "Take the L" and the dance "Ride the Pony". The best known, however, is the "wire", which means flossing. For the Internet hit, he made Russell Horning's 16-year-old aka "Backpack Kid". The programmers recorded his movements, which actually remind the floss, to Fortnite. Movie dances like "Saturday Night Fever" also appear in the game.

Teenagers from around the world imitate Fortnite dances in the schoolyard. This sounds crazy: health professionals and educators repeatedly warn against lack of exercise through computer games, and then a game ensures that children learn to master their bodies. Because Fortnite dances are not very simple

How long will the hype around Fortnite continue?

For a good while – the expert Schölzel and the Fortnite Plankmeister fan are in agreement. League of Legends, once again a worldwide success, held up for five years. Countless Youtube videos that allow players to watch while playing, as well as the Epic Games marketing engine, will ensure that Fortnite has a similar half-life. The rest is provided by stars like Griezmann.

For Schölzel, the huge success of Fortnite proves once again that "computer games are no longer so taboo that we have long been in the middle of society". According to studies, more than half of Germans regularly play on the computer or the smartphone. Since you can kill but not die at Fortnite, it will probably stay that way. The world of computer science promises not only a lot of fun, but also eternal life.

Here, pupils of Ahnatal Vellmar School explain why they play at Fortnite.