A reader explains why he started playing Fortnite with his son and how, despite not particularly liking it, it’s become a family favourite. As a gamer of over 40 years there are certain things you take for granted when talking to other people of a similar age, in terms of reminiscing about the Xbox 360 days, remembering the earlier days when online wasn’t really a thing, and hating everything that our kids are playing today. Games like Minecraft and Roblox are the bane of many parents but they’re even worse if you like video games , because it’s hugely frustrating that your kids play them and not what my friends call ‘proper’ games.
They include Fortnite within that description and I’ll admit that for a long time I did too, but my son is 12 now and like most kids he’s interested in games. He has a PlayStation 4 that he plays on but has shown little interest in most traditional games, preferring to stick to free-to-play games he can play with his friends and which are also on smartphone. Fortnite is a bit more of a normal game, compared to Minecraft, and since he’s not really interested in my games I decided to join in and play with him, initially in split-screen mode.
I’m not going to pretend that Fortnite is a great game – to my mind it’s a fairly mediocre shooter in terms of the action itself – but bonding with my boy has been something else entirely. The success of Fortnite, and other similar games, is obviously due to them being free but that’s.