There is no doubt that Fortnite is the video game of the year. Based on the Battle Royale genre, Fortnite is a zombie game in which the survivors – controlled by humans – collaborate to keep their fortresses safe from the waves of the undead that, how could it be otherwise, are trying to ravage the world as we know it.
Obviously, most video games are designed to make you want to play. And a lot. Fortnite, however, is incredibly good at keeping players coming back, week after week, game after game. This “attraction” is not due to a new revolutionary game design factor, but rather that its creators have improved and included ideas of always, creating an effective evolutionary step in the world of video games.
While improving shooting skills and landing the long-awaited Victory Royale or Victory Royale is satisfying, what keeps Fortnite players really busy second by second is the loot, treasures, items, and weapons that can be found throughout. the map. The random nature of these objects, in quality and location, leads to what is known in psychology as a variable proportion program. A weapon or item that could confer a significant advantage may always be around the corner. The hope of finding something desirable along with an occasional reward is exciting for gamers – we’ve likely experienced the same while shopping or fishing.
Because finding equipment has a huge impact on a player’s success, enemies can get lucky and find weapons that give them some advantage, so great players sometimes die quickly after being unlucky enough to find the ‘treasure. ‘. This narrows the gap between high- and low-skill players, making the game less serious and harder to master, and more compelling, as players negotiate to play again.
This gameplay derives from a primordial feedback loop. Human beings instinctively try to find order out of chaos. Fortnite players must build a mental model of overlapping game mechanics, developing heuristic shortcuts. Heuristics are tested and refined in the game, and when one is strengthened through a positive result, the player feels happy.
However, when a heuristic fails and the player character dies, they experience a cognitive dissonance between what they thought was going to happen and what actually happened. For a Fortnite player, it may be because they were shot by a sniper at a location that appeared to be a secret hideout.
If we stop playing Fortnite after an unexpected twist like this, we are trimming the feedback loop on cognitive dissonance, rather than the reward of heuristic empowerment. That makes it difficult to stop playing.
These principles apply during every game session.
But what keeps players coming back again and again for weeks is another powerful human desire: to signal social status. Every Fortnite game has an audience of 100 players. You can play or pay for visual customizations that are applied to the player’s avatar or their weapon, making the character look like a samurai, for example. Socially, these changes work in the same way that a Louis Vuitton bag does to signal luxury, because the most desirable characterizations require intensive gaming (and real-world money) to achieve them.
Like fashion companies, Fortnite limits the availability of these “skins” to one season. When a new one begins, a new set of skins is released, and players must compete to get the best of the best before the season ends and the rewards are forfeited. This provides a powerful reason for players to return to Fortnite. So we can understand how the game has built and maintained such an avid fan base.
While Fortnite doesn’t do anything entirely new, its collection of existing game mechanics make it fresh and interesting – the secret to its success. Will its popularity fade like Pac-Man or Tetris in its time?
