Epic’s battle royale gets a little weirder and more crowded when Season 5: Chapter 1 launches
edited because its no longer a leak
"Following The Big Bang Event, Chapter 5: Underground introduces some huge changes to Fortnite’s battle royale, adding boss battles, Lego, Solid Snake, and a brand-new island"
a bunch of my retro gaming friends talked me into it awhile back and now I got a CRT hooked up to a mini PC with n64 controllers, I definitely see the appeal
I don't understand the fascination. From what my son once told me, everyone has the same advantage, you're just paying for looks and individuality. I see that as a waste of money. Paying out for licensed characters is just a way to keep that going.
The only part I found interesting was when it shut down for a few days to have that major upgrade. All that was left was the black hole. That was quite fun watching everyone react.
I think you're being disingenuous, you perfectly understand this phenomenon but it doesn't appeal to you. Paying for pixels will always be dumb anyway.
At the end of the day it's the same as something like FunkoPop, you are paying for a digital or physical piece of nostalgia. Neither are for me, but it is what it is
Do you wear jewelry? Do you have a nice watch that tells time just as well as a casio? Does your car feature upgraded wheels or upcharged paint? Have you paid more for fancy curtains when basic ones do the same job? Have you repainted a room just because you wanted a different color? Art, collectibles, novelties? Video game cosmetics are valuable to anyone who wants to express themselves the same as any other real life cosmetic. It can be especially important to young people who don't have other avenues.
That being said, fortnite is predatory as fuck and is one of the worst offenders for addictive design, FOMO engineering, and maximizing DLC purchases. It's what the annual sports games wish they could do. It's what CoD started to do. It's fueled by social media and by glimpses of random players in each match with the latest skins.