Help break Fortnite addiction!!!

Hi,

I culled my stach awhile ago, but I'll take a look to see if I have anything I can send along.

Pat

Great idea you have sorry I have no stash, but I am curious to know, what in the world this "Fortnite" thing is that people apparently are addicted to.

Fortnite is an online first-person shooter game that is very popular with adolescent boys mostly....I've never played it, but apparently, you parachute or paraglide into an island war zone.  you start off unarmed, or you may have a pickaxe.  You 'upgrade' your kit by killing or maiming other players and taking their gear from them.  The game also has a "pay to play" mode in which you can purchase upgraded weapons, uniforms, character traits, etc.  You can also purchase slick dance moves to perform after your victories.....I think it is totally ridiculous, but the boys are addicted to it and queue up to sign up for time slots in our small computer room.....  Who knows, I may join them one day to see what all the hype is about!

What a great idea. I would also post this in the general modeling discussion forum to see if you can get more traffic.

I'm sure I have a couple kits to donate.

Tal Afar Dave

Fortnite is an online first-person shooter game that is very popular with adolescent boys mostly....I've never played it, but apparently, you parachute or paraglide into an island war zone.  you start off unarmed, or you may have a pickaxe.  You 'upgrade' your kit by killing or maiming other players and taking their gear from them.  The game also has a "pay to play" mode in which you can purchase upgraded weapons, uniforms, character traits, etc.  You can also purchase slick dance moves to perform after your victories.....I think it is totally ridiculous, but the boys are addicted to it and queue up to sign up for time slots in our small computer room.....  Who knows, I may join them one day to see what all the hype is about!

 

 

Mostly this, but it's actually a third person shooter. No one can really explain it's popularity- excellent marketing and Youtuber influence, I assume. I'm a Zoomer myself and I've never gotten into it. It's focused more heavily on younger boys- that's where the kinda cartoony style and insane weapons and AIDS dances come from. It's basically just a rip-off of older, better, and more realistic Battle Royale games like PubG. 

 

-TWA 

Tal Afar Dave

Fortnite is an online first-person shooter game that is very popular with adolescent boys mostly....I've never played it, but apparently, you parachute or paraglide into an island war zone.  you start off unarmed, or you may have a pickaxe.  You 'upgrade' your kit by killing or maiming other players and taking their gear from them.  The game also has a "pay to play" mode in which you can purchase upgraded weapons, uniforms, character traits, etc.  You can also purchase slick dance moves to perform after your victories..... 

Hmmm, that seems kind of tasteless.  I seem to recall General Patton having said "You don't win battles by dying for your country.  You win by making some other poor son of a XXXXX die for his country" but I don't recall him having said anything about "doing a cool dance move afterwards."

Here's what I have for you.  Let me know where to send them.

OMG!!! My thoughts exactly!!  Goofy kids!!

Thanks Keavdog!

I sent you a PM (I think .  Thanks for the consideration!

 

Dave

Dave - send me the address again and I'll ship tomorrow.

Thanks,

John

Can't help. My last addiction was Tetris on cathode ray TV.

Hey GlennH,

Checked out your Flickr link; wow!!  what a great collection of Vietnam photographs.  Were you by any chance assigned to the 320th Field Artillery with the 101st Airborne?  Saw the 'Screaming Eagles' patch and had to ask!  Thanks for sharing the link!!

Respectfully,

Dave W.

Tal Afar Dave

Hey GlennH,

Checked out your Flickr link; wow!!  what a great collection of Vietnam photographs.  Were you by any chance assigned to the 320th Field Artillery with the 101st Airborne?  Saw the 'Screaming Eagles' patch and had to ask!  Thanks for sharing the link!!

Respectfully,

Dave W.

 

Thanks. So many to scan still. After the 1st Inf began sutting down I was sent to 101st with 2/11 arty. bastogne, birmingham, veghle, rakkasan..

Oh wow John, great set of kits man. Good on ya mate.

Wow...great stories there from both units, I'm sure.  Thanks for your service, and welcome home, Soldier!  Thanks for your service, sir!!

 

Hey Jay Jay, Just wanted to let you know that your package arrived safe and sound today here in Virginia. One of the kids that I coach knew what was in the package and begged me to open it up. Pretty soon we had a small crowd gathered around. It was good to see kids excited about something other than video games. We are still organizing as a club and can you believe that some kids have never seen a model?? Crazy!! We will hopefully have our first build some time after Easter when they get back to school. I'll keep you posted. Thanks again, Dave

Keavdog!!  Thanks so much!

I was able to break away at lunch break and sign for the box of models you so kindly sent last Thursday.  On Friday, my avid 8th grader stopped by and picked out the A37 Dragonfly.  He reminded me of myself as a kid as he carefully inspected each of the kits and asked questions as he went along.  You sent some real gems that I had built as a kid and I was able to offer a little advice.  He was stoked, to say the least.

He completed that over the weekend, and was really happy with it. I haven't seen his work yet on the Tweet, but hope to see it soon. I had hoped to have an open build day on Friday afternoon, but found out that the faculty has a mandatory luncheon with our Board of Trustees...So, I had to scrub that....  Julian, my 8th grader, shot me a quick email after he got the bad news and asked me to sit aside one of the Skipjack subs for him and that he would pick it up on his break, Wednesday morning. 

Thank you so much for the kits!! The kids are really excited and interested in modeling.  I hope to have a dedicated build session soon to capture some of the kits and also to start teaching this guys how to paint up a kit.  Wish me luck!!

Dave 

Happy to help Dave.  Thanks for taking an interest in these kids and our hobby.  

keavdog

Happy to help Dave.  Thanks for taking an interest in these kids and our hobby.  

 

Hey John!

Took a bit of a breather at the end of my first school year.  Just wanted you to know that we had a great final week with our fledgling model club.  It was a great week and the kids were super excited to get to the classroom at the end of their academic day and after parade practice.

I was amazed at how many of the cadets had never heard of models or knew of anyone who had built a model.  That was an eye opener!! I'm still finding out that these young teenagers are short on patience and have a lot to learn still.  I have a handful of kids that listen and their skills have improved greatly.  They especially like the Monogram kits.  So far, the RC 101B Recon Voodoo, the F-86, and the two Skipjack subs are built and gone.  The boys were very happy to build their first-ever model kits.  Most are still afraid to start painting their kits, but I do have a few daredevils who are "all in" on building and painting.

I have one 8th grader who asked for permission to take home a kit to teach his little brother how to build models over the summer!!  That was such sweet music to hear!! In only a matter of 3 weeks, our club has 'weened' about ten cadets off the Fortnite addiction!!

I took some pictures of the club in action and will try to post some of them here, as soon as I can figure out how to post them.

Thanks again for your generosity and support of these young cadets! They are having a blast!!

Dave W.

That's great Dave.  I have a couple more to send out.  It would be fun to see some of their builds.  You're doing good work Dave!  Happy to support it.

keavdog

That's great Dave.  I have a couple more to send out.  It would be fun to see some of their builds.  You're doing good work Dave!  Happy to support it.

 

That's great news, John!

The last few days of school we were all busy grading final assignments and exams, but we did manage to squeeze in a few build afternoons. I took some pictures of the build sessions and hope to post a few here once I figure out the best and cheapest means of posting pictures!!

Thanks again for your support!!

Dave W.

This is so Cool, Dave W. Good for you! I have an 8 year old son and can definitely understand the struggle in combatting all the digital distractions.

I would also suggest seeking out some of the Star Wars kits to see if you could hook some of the kids who don't immediately take to the aircraft. Perhaps something more "of their time" will spark their interest and they can then proceed to the intersection of art and history that I love so much about scale modeling. Honestly, anything that's not on a screen is a plus!

I noticed Hobby Lobby had some of those Star Wars kits on clearance for around $7 last time I was there - it could be a national markdown so worth checking out.

Well done and best of luck with the boys!

Chris L.

Thanks for the kind words, Chris! It has really been an eye-opener that most boys have never heard of scale modeling. I started off with 2 kids, the next day I had 4, and our final 2 days of building before the end of school, I had 10 boys actively building their first models. They were really excited to learn and to start building. Maybe a little too excited; I have some paint spills to address before school starts up again. I'm in summer school now, and I have some of the partial builds sitting around the classroom awaiting completion. The unfinished models are a conversation starter, and I already have some interest for next year's club. A rising 8th grader came in to look around and I asked him if he built models. He said "Yes sir; jets are my favorite." When asked about his favorite jet, he said it was the F-22 Raptor. I was immediately impressed with this small fry and welcomed him to join the club when the regular club started. As this is a start-up, there is no 'official' support for model building. I have been fortunate that a couple of generous guys donated some kits to get the club started. That served as a catalyst to spark interests, so we are building our little club one day at a time. I can't wait for the kids to get back! I feel the need to build again and to help others learn the hobby that got me through a challenging adolescent period!! Take care, Dave W.

I agree that the young boys are playing this a lot. My youngest son and his friends play together via the internet. At least its not quite the same as Call of Duty or similar games.

Yeah, it's a pretty interesting game.  A little crazy, but less bloody and realistic than other first-person 'shooters.'  It is like crack to middle schoolers!!  I am actually surprised that I got a handful of them interested and excited about an 'old school,' low tech hobby like model building.  It's not immediate gratification and they are learning some good life lessons out of it.  I'm also happy to say that there are at least 2 'serious' modelers out of the bunch!

What kind of drug are you talking about? Where are kids getting hooked on it? Aren't parents concerned or involved? I haven't heard of it. Is it a common drug? Please let me know.

LOL! It isn't a drug, but it is just as addictive as crack or heroin! Middle school and high school aged boys hooked on a fantasy, first person shooter battle, set on a remote island (I think?!) Crazy........

Fortnites just the latest fad game kids are playing online these days. It's no different call Call of Duty, Counter strike, Quake or Doom. Same ol' game. I did the same thing on a dial up modem and a family PC that could barely run my games of choice. I'm not sure I would call it an addiction as much as a folly of youth.

Nice to see people trying to get others into different hobbies though. Far too easy to be consumed by the internet and become isolated, considering random people online your community rather than those around you. Assuming you have the skills maybe try getting the kids to do some out doorsy stuff too. Half the time inhaling glue fumes and the other half wandering the woods trying to set fire to things for the marshmellow sacrifices to the tree spirits.

I don't know how popular Halo is with kids these days but there's a few Halo kits running around they might like. And a lot of games are now getting tabletop versions like Dark Souls. Tabletop gaming might draw more of them in who want to play the game instead of building models. I think there's even some card games which maybe suitable. Final Fantasy has one, Bloodborne and probably more. Cheap as chips and easy to do larger games with.