"Fortnite" dance moves are hugely popular on and off the screen

Size: px

Start display at page:

Download ""Fortnite" dance moves are hugely popular on and off the screen"

Philip Burns
5 years ago
Views:

"Fortnite" dance moves are hugely popular on and off the screen By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on 09.20.

1 "Fortnite" dance moves are hugely popular on and off the screen By Washington Post, adapted by Newsela staff on Word Count 813 Level 1200L "Fortnite" fans in costume attend an event for the game on June 12, 2018, in Los Angeles, California. Photo by: Greg Doherty/ Getty Images In our increasingly impatient, data-driven society, where matters of style and looks are largely seen as a waste, it is surprising to see art for art's sake in the massively popular video game "Fortnite: Battle Royale." The goal in "Fortnite," as in most multiplayer shooter games, is to blow your enemies to shreds. It follows a typical "battle royale" format, where 100 players brawl until there is only one survivor. Though it costs nothing to play, "Fortnite" is raking in higher monthly sales $126 million in February than its nearest competition, "PlayerUnknown's Battlegrounds." How does "Fortnite" do this? The game gets players to buy "skins" avatar costumes and avatar dances. This article is available at 5 reading levels at 1

2 These elements of style are "Fortnite's" secret sauce. Styling on other players is a big part of the thrill. After a kill, players can dance, adding humor to the victory. In gamespeak, the dances are called "emotes." You can choose from dozens of these quick, seconds-long snatches of choreography in the game's Item Shop. Most of the emotes are drawn from real-life dances or gestures, for example, a player can choose from fist bumps and the brush-the-shoulders dust-off to full-body expressions such as the worm, the crisscross swivel of the "Electro Shuffle" and a riff on Korean pop star Psy's wide-legged "Gangnam Style" gallop, from his 2012 viral music video. "Fortnite" makes clear that skins and emotes add nothing to a player's chances of winning. A note on the shop's page warns: "These items are cosmetic only and grant no competitive advantage." Emotes Are Fun And Funny "They're purely aesthetic," says Nelson Le, a 21-year-old University of Maryland computer science major and avid "Fortnite" player. Acquiring emotes is purely a marker of personal style, he says. Le continues, "It adds another level of personality to the game." Once, after he had been killed, "someone emoted on my body with the Salt Bae meme," an emote based on the meme of a chef sprinkling salt on his steak in an artful move. Le thought it was funny, and he added the salt emote to his others, including the bouncy "Boogie Down" and "You're Awesome," a crash-landing in the splits with a nonchalant, or casual, recovery and quick double spin. Le says that when he's "in the lobby," the waiting area where avatars assemble before the game starts, he might linger over some of his emotes. Le might watch his avatar dab or drop into the splits, simply enjoying the display. "It's actually gotten me to learn a little bit about dancing," Le says. The "Fortnite" emotes are contagiously fun to watch, and they have also become fun to do, in real life. The emotes have been drawn from life, re-purposed in the virtual realm and spun back to the natural world. Professional athletes have been know to bust some "Fortnite" moves as victory dances, most notably England's soccer player fan Dele Alli. After scoring against Sweden in last July's World Cup quarterfinal, the "Fortnite" fan wiggled his knees in the "Ride the Pony" emote, "Fortnite's" reference to the choreography of "Gangnam Style." Dances Are Popular Because The Game Is The swift, punchy little emotes have also taken off with little kids, teens and young adults, especially if the avatar dancing is performed in place or confined to a tight space, with repetitive, stiff motions and gestures. You can find them on YouTube with hashtags such as FortniteMoves. Why have the "Fortnite" emotes taken off in the real world? After all, dance emotes for avatars are nothing new. Other video games have them, such as "Destiny 2." This article is available at 5 reading levels at 2

3 "It's a function of how popular the game is," says Dave Thier, who writes about video games. "You see people dressed up in the skins of the game, but it's easier to just do a few moves." As a highly competitive game, "Fortnite" has a natural fan base among athletes, Thier adds. "Athletes have a lot of opportunity to do dances and have people look at them, and that ties in to how the emotes are used in the game." Dances Allow Players To Express Emotions The "Fortnite" emotes may be a relatively new phenomenon, but they reflect a truth as old as the first human footprint. They tie into a collective understanding of the body and its language. A message is transferred from the player to the community, through an avatar that is eerily able to conjure emotion through gestures and movements. In the avatars' mini-choreography, a dance is distilled down to its fundamentals. It is like a visual scent, a whiff of perfume left behind in an elevator, from which you can resurrect a personality and even a story. The gaming experience gets a little richer from the aesthetic charge. In however small a way, the dance matters. "Without the emotes you wouldn't have any fun," says Le. "It would just be another battle royale game." This article is available at 5 reading levels at 3

4 Quiz 1 Which of the following BEST represents "Fortnite" players' approach toward dancing in the game? "Fortnite" players use dance emotes to add humor to a victory or to portray their personality in the game. "Fortnite" players use dance emotes to let other players know there are open spots available on their team. "Fortnite" players perform the dances from the game in real life to challenge their friends to a match in the game. "Fortnite" players dance in the game and in real life once they have defeated their 99 opponents in the game. 2 Why did the author conclude the article with a quote from Nelson Le? to make a prediction about the future of emotes in "Fortnite" to inspire readers to consider playing "Fortnite" and using emotes to reiterate the purpose of using emotes during a game of "Fortnite" to highlight a different opinion about the value of emotes in "Fortnite' 3 Read the following sentences from the sections "Emotes Are Fun And Funny" and "Dances Are Popular Because The Game Is." The "Fortnite" emotes are contagiously fun to watch, and they have also become fun to do, in real life. As a highly competitive game, "Fortnite" has a natural fan base among athletes, Thier adds. Which option BEST describes the relationship between the two sentences? Both sentences explain why "Fortnite" decided to include emotes for its players to use. Both sentences reveal why "Fortnite" and its dances are so appealing to a variety of people. Both sentences describe specific dance moves that are often portrayed by "Fortnite" players. Both sentences highlight the importance of using emotes in order to win a battle in "Fortnite." This article is available at 5 reading levels at 4

5 4 Read the following paragraph from the introduction [paragraphs 1-4]. "Fortnite" makes clear that skins and emotes add nothing to a player's chances of winning. A note on the shop's page warns: "These items are cosmetic only and grant no competitive advantage." What is the MAIN reason why the author includes this paragraph in the article? to suggest why "Fortnite" is the most popular battle royale game to show other ways people celebrate their love of "Fortnite" to explain the rules of "Fortnite" to readers who are unfamiliar with the game to emphasize that dancing provides no tactical advantage in "Fortnite" This article is available at 5 reading levels at 5

Thanks to extras, "Fortnite" is the highest-earning free video game

Thanks to extras, Fortnite is the highest-earning free video game Thanks to extras, "Fortnite" is the highest-earning free video game By USA Today, adapted by Newsela staff on 08.24.18 Word Count 692 Level 860L A man takes a selfie with a Fortnite Loot Llama in a red