Fortnite

Last year my son really wanted an Xbox One, he wanted to play Minecraft and Rocket League (which we had played at a Gamestop one day). So being the first Christmas after the separation, I got him one. And it was great, yes we needed to return it to Gamestop because it wasn't working, but eventually, he had a working Xbox.  I eventually got one myself for when he visited, and for me to play as well.

That scout looking guy in the middle is the only extra skin I have bought for myself

Like all things with little kids, they wanted more. And what he wanted was to play Fortnite. Because all his friends from school were playing it. I subscribed to Xbox Live and we use a family set up to give him access to play, without access to buy anything. Which for the uninitiated, there is plenty of stuff to buy. And not even stuff that helps you in the game. Might as well purchase a digital toilet and flush your dollars down it. But I digress.

He was playing and enjoying it. Eventually, I started playing with him. And it has become our thing. Part of our daily chats usually involves "shooting at some guys". If you haven't played, or don't live with an 8-18 year-old, Fortnite is basically two games, a single player sort of first-person shooter where you try to save the world. It's not very realistic looking and there is a building component, which I'm not a fan of personally. And the second game is what everyone is obsessed with. Its called Battle Royale. 100 players parachute onto this island and search for weapons, gather materials, avoid a poisonous storm and then try to be the last one standing. We usually play duos mode, where the two of us take on 98 others with the hope of getting a "Victory Royale". I initially liked it because it was way more cartoony than other shooters, Call of Duty is very realistic (and I'm pretty awesome at that game).

Which has not happened for us yet. He claims it is because I don't practice enough. Sorry I have a job and need sleep. Trust me if I had neither, I could become awesome at this game.  Also being old doesn't help my reflexes against a bunch of Monster Energy drink fueled kids screaming into their headsets. 

I like it, I have spent more money than I'm proud to admit on vbucks (the currency of the game) to buy new skins, harvesting tools, gliders, and dances. Oh yeah, there are dances. We were at Great Wolf Lodge this past summer for his birthday and there were gangs of boys (and a few girls) standing under where the giant bucket was about to dump hundreds of gallons of water down onto the floor and anyone standing on that floor doing various dances from Fortnite, most notably flossing. 

As he has gotten more and more into it, he gets so mad when he loses. He throws his controller (hey those $60 controllers don't grow on trees). Slams his fists on his light up keyboard, which he uses because all the pro players use keyboard and mouse. He gets visibly upset, we are usually Facetiming. And telling him it's just a game doesn't help. I was lucky that I was never really obsessed with any one thing that it became all-encompassing. But I saw my brother become so obsessed with Dungeons and Dragons that he lost a full ride scholarship to one of NYC's best high schools. He ended up in another high school that my mom had to pay for (no Niel couldn't have used a car, but I digress). Apparently, this is very common. 

So my relationship with the game is very love/hate, It's nice to play a video game with him and share some time together. He takes the lead, he creates our battle plan, and the other day when I killed two guys in one round he was super impressed. I don't like that he doesn't want to do anything else. The other day, he was homesick and spent the entire day "convalescing" in his pajamas in front of his XBox. I know it has been cold but still. I guess once it is warmer he can ride his bike or take a swim. But for the time being, we are stuck with this game. 

For context now he sometimes wants me to just watch him play. As I have been writing this I'm watching a live stream of him playing on Mixer.