How Your Child is Learning Teamwork, Leadership Skills and Social Skills by Playing Fortnite
Oct 14, 2022 | 0 Votes
by Mel
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Fortnite may get a lot of flack because of how addictive it can be for teens to pla, but according to some experts, playing Fortnite isn’t necessarily a negative pastime, as long as the playtimes are well-moderated. In this article, we discuss several key skills that can be learned from playing Fortnite and how they can be transferred into real life.
With over 400 million registered players as of 2021 and between 2.5 and 4 million concurrent players at any one time, Fortnite has become a cultural phenomenon that is hugely popular with kids and teenagers.
With an accessible, mobile-based, free-to-play model and the hyper-competitive nature of the battle royale format, it’s no wonder the game has developed such a large and dedicated community. At the same time, many parents and educators are worried about the implications of their children spending their free time playing Fortnite. But according to some experts, playing Fortnite isn’t necessarily a negative pastime. In this article, we discuss several key skills that can be learned from playing Fortnite and how they can be transferred into real life.
Building Teamwork in a Low-Pressure Environment
Fortnite, and other games like it, require students to practice “teamwork, collaboration, strategic thinking, spatial understanding, and imagination,” experts at the Stanford Graduate School of Education say. Practicing teamwork in a low-pressure situation like Fortnite could help kids learn more about their teamwork style, what works, and what doesn’t.
In fact, there are some teams who also work on strategy outside of gameplay, employing math and physics concepts to calculate things like the correct angle for a jump or the probability of winning a fight with different combinations of weapons.
Teamwork within games can even promote pro-social behavior beyond the virtual world, John Velez, an assistant professor of journalism and electronic media at Texas Tech University, told Education Week. “The working with others, the collaboration—particularly at the middle school and high school level—that’s what kids crave,” Denise Pope, a senior lecturer and the co-founder of Challenge Success told Stanford.
For example, landing on the same spot encourages cooperation and in-turn, reduces the chances of early deaths. If your teammates are signifying they’re landing on the blacktops of Retail Row, follow them or drop on the house with a kennel next to the basketball court. Dropping anywhere else that is more than a 30-second sprint is one of the worst things you can ever do, especially if you somehow landed on a crowded spot.
Improving Classroom Engagement
Teachers can use students’ interest in the game as a classroom engagement tool. “If you have a lot of kids who are playing Fortnite, then that seems like a real opportunity to think about the kinds of connections you can make,” Antero Garcia, an assistant professor at the Stanford Graduate School of Education says. “Turn it into an intellectual enterprise.”
Garcia offers media analysis questions teachers can raise that encourage students to probe the ethics, gender representations, and ideology embedded in Fortnite. Explorations of these social issues can lead to “powerful learning” they likely don’t otherwise experience with games, he said.
Some educators are even looking for ways to incorporate the game into their instruction. Chris Aviles, the coordinator of innovation, technology, and 21st century skills for the Fair Haven Public Schools in New Jersey, wrote “A Teacher’s Guide to Surviving Fortnite”, an exploration of ways the game can be used in English-language arts, math, and physics lessons.
Meanwhile, another educator connected Fortnite—which features a dystopian, apocalyptic storyline—to literature with similar themes. Lucas Maxwell, the school librarian at Glenthorne High School in England, put together a list of “30 Book Suggestions for Students Who Like Fortnite” so that students interested in the world-building and dystopian themes of Fortnite can explore them even further from a literary level.
Developing Collaborative Strategies
In Fortnite, players chat with their partners or squads as they try to win. This can have positives for kids who struggle to connect with other kids. It gives them an impetus to talk about strategy and find common ground with peers.
Having the right gear and being in a good spot increases the odds of winning. Still, as with any real-life war, circumstances change quickly and players often have to adjust their battleplans. As enticing as a gulp of slurp juice might be to heal battle wounds, it might make sense to first engage in a short skirmish or seek cover elsewhere. Joining forces with an unknown gamer might also buy a player time. Like any good Fortnite gamer, you have to quickly heal those wounds, plot a new course, and keep "fighting" for success to ensure the survival of both yourself and your teammates.
Assessing Strengths and Weaknesses and Learning About Sharing Resources
Teamwork is essential to group play. The best players quickly assess their own and their teammates' strengths and weaknesses and learn how and when to divide responsibilities and allocate resources.
And just as a successful Fortnite team lets the intrepid gamer enter an abandoned house while everyone else offers cover outside, real-life teams work best when one or several members take the lead on projects while others provide background support. Properly balancing and complementing each team member’s strengths and weaknesses can push your team right into the winner's circle.
For example, if you know you’re not good enough to handle a certain weapon (like the heavy sniper and grenade launcher), dish it out to teammates who are more proficient with it. Doing so will help your team win. If you want more opportunities to learn the intricacies of these weapons, it’s best to do so during solos or in the playground mode.
Meanwhile, “sharing is caring,” and the same concept applies to Fortnite. Instead of hogging all the loot and ammo, why not share if you have extra? If you have over 500 medium ammo, share it with your teammates as they might be conserving theirs, thus reducing their overall efficiency. The same applies to healing items, shield potions, and building resources.
In addition to sharing, if you need anything, be courteous and don’t force your teammates to give you any. It doesn’t take much effort to say “please” or “thanks”. A little courtesy would go a long way, especially if you’re playing with a younger generation of gamers.
Developing Communications Best Practices as a Winning Strategy
A Fortnite team also succeeds or fails based on the level of communication during a game. While your otherwise shy teen may look impressive channeling William Wallace in ”Braveheart” as he or she leads a Fortnite squad up a hill to fight, a battle can quickly be lost if teammates fail to talk about what they see and what should be the next step. The best players don't risk fighting in silence.
When playing Fortnite, players should be specific in giving instructions and directions. When communicating with squadmates, it’s extremely important to be concise. When you see an enemy, don’t just say “there’s an enemy”. Instead, describe the location and of course, the direction. This is what the compass on the top part of the screen is for. In battle royale games, concise communication is always paramount. Lack of which will always lead to sure losses.
Moreover, if you’re charging forward, pulling back, or shooting at a different enemy, be sure to tell your teammates. Even if you’ve been playing with them for quite a while and your chemistry is fantastic, not informing them of what you’re going to execute will cost you countless games. For example, if you’re flanking a group of enemies or climbing down a hill, let them know. Do this so you can coordinate your movements and so your teammates will be able to adjust accordingly.
Building Self-confidence and Practical Life Skills
As kids play Fortnite, their avatars can get killed repeatedly but end up learning something from each failure. It’s the intense competition that can inspire persistence, one study suggests. As players keep playing the game, they develop strategic thinking skills like managing limited resources. These are also useful in civic problem-solving. A Fortnite player needs to think about the best places to build a shelter, when to take health potions, or how much wood and stone to stockpile, just as a community has to think about how to secure structures or store first aid supplies before a coming storm.
Once a player wins, their sense of pride and accomplishment can also level up as they are so excited to tell you all about it. This determination to complete the task at hand could be a huge boost to players’ self-confidence and could help teach them that never giving up can pay off. Talking about those wins in the game—and how that experience can translate into never giving up on something in the real world—could help them feel a similar sense of accomplishment as they complete difficult tasks at work and at home.
Although it seems unlikely that playing Fortnite could be instrumental to your child learning the proper leadership and social skills towards becoming a top CEO or a country’s prime minister; Fortnite definitely has some positive lessons to impart when it comes to communications, teamwork, logistics, and strategy. After reading this article, and before confiscating your kid’s mobile device, try watching your child during game play and see how well they navigate and survive in the Fortnite world and can transfer those skills to real life situations.
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