Virtual Color in The Real World [Fortnite Season 5]

Starting at 4 AM Eastern Time tomorrow, Fortnite, made by Epic Games, will begin it's expected downtime in preparation for their Season 5 launch the same day. Following a prior season filled with new features and a very interesting lore, this popular battle royale game has not slowed down at all in anticipation for their next Season.

To bring everyone up to speed, Fortnite functions within seasons which provide a unique collection of in-game items that players can earn with the purchase of a Battle Pass. Along with these items, each season also carries a theme and storyline. For example, this past season, Season 4, was focused on a super-hero theme which came about thanks to a meteor that hit the map of Fortnite. To give a very short summary of the story, a meteor struck the map of Fortnite which brought with it a mysterious object. This object turned out to be a figure known as The Visitor. Upon escaping the meteor landing zone, The Visitor went to convert a rocket on the map into a ship that could traverse space and time. He then launched the rocket to return to where he came from but created a fracture in time in the process.

This fracture has been growing ever since and began sucking in objects from the map. One object, in particular, was the head of a mascot for a restaurant called Durr Burger. I'm bringing this up because what Epic Games is doing to create hype around the continuation of this story is one of my favorite things that video game developers can do. What I am talking about is called an alternate reality game, or ARG. An ARG, according to the Game Detectives Wiki, "uses real-world clues to take players on a journey outside of any traditional entertainment medium," and "often consist of a trail of clues spread between the real world and the virtual world."

So remember the mascot head I just mentioned? It is currently in the real world in a desert in California being "investigated" by an agent. Is that not awesome? In addition to just being there, fans can talk with the agent and receive a card with a phone number on it. When called, you can hear the sound of the fracture from inside the game! If you decide to visualize that sound with software, you get a clue to events that will happen in-game!

But Epic Games doesn't stop there! They have also placed many of their iconic Piñata Llamas across Europe including in London and Paris. The meaning of these is still highly debated, but the fact that a video game developer is combining the real and virtual world is so cool to me. Being a fan of games with story and lore, all these real-world events that add to the overall story are exactly what I want to see with all video games today. By doing these kinds of things, game developers not only get press from people outside of the Fortnite scene but they also pull in their current audience even more!

If this concept of ARG interests you, I definitely recommend looking more into it! Also, let me know down below if you are enjoying my recent articles. I would love to hear your feedback!

- Jared

#fornite #entertainment