Eli  

Zach 
Luke 
Nick  
Danielle  
Madison 
Eric J 
Miranda 
Alex 
Mitchell 
Adeline 
 
Amount of Time per Session/Week/Day 
 
Interviewee 1(Alex Vogel): “I’d say probably average about an hour...probably about five 
times a week” 
 
Interviewee 2 (Alex Vogel): “probably two, three hours… I’d say anywhere between 10 
to 13 a week” 
 
IW: I’ve been playing about 4 or 5 months, didn’t really get into it at first, gets frustrating in the
beginning when you keep getting killed but more recently I’ve gotten really into it. I’ve gotten
better, the better you get, the more fun it is, the more you strive to win.
Interview 1 (Madison): “Four or five hours. Sometimes less if I'm tired.” (per day)  
Interview 2 (Madison): “Um twenty, thirty.” (A week) “three or four hours.” (A day)   
 
Luke: That's pretty neat, so neat. So like, and overall what would you say makes 
Fortnite special to you? 
Hunter: It's just like so fun to play. Like I've played it for 13 hours one day and I still 
didn't get tired of it. 
Luke: Wow, (laughs) 13 hours. You are quite the trooper to go on for that long. Like- 
Hunter: And that was just one day of a week. There's, uh ... and then I did another 
day with 10 hours straight. 
 
And how often do you play?
Right now that’s the game I’m mostly playing so I wanna say about four times a week 4 to 5
times a week for maybe an hour or two at night.
What time?
Usually… I don't know like when im done for the day, like before going to bed so I wanna say 7
8 or 9 (Miranda, Int. 2)
So we usually get on around four and play till about five maybe five thirty then I’ll stop and eat
dinner and do whatever I want for the rest of the day usually. This is on my free days. And then
I’ll take a shower and it’s about 730 or 8 o’clock then usually at about 8:30 I play for another
hour or so. That’s on the weekdays on my free days. (Miranda, Int. 1)

EG: Maybe like 25-30 hours a week, sometimes even more.

EG: At least 2-3 hours, the games are pretty long if you stay alive, which last about 30 minutes
each or so. If you play 3 or 4 matches, you are about 2 hours deep before you know it
 
 

Positive Social Implications from Gameplay  

● Interviewee 1 (Eli Bliman is cute) “​We all started screaming in the room, we all 
started hi fiving each other.. Overall good experience. I feel like I got closer to 
them because of that, too. We’re always supporting each other.” ​-This is 
commentary on the interviewee’s first win and how it was made a memorable 
experience through the interaction with the friends he was with at the time.  
● I​nterviewee 2 (Eli Bliman) “​I feel like I am part of your community just because of the
amount that I play and when I play with people who I feel are good or I have like a kind
of a connection with if in an online game I'll make friends with them and then I'll play with
those friends consistently, so afterwards I feel like I am a part of the overall community.”
-The interviewee reflects on the social community around the game 
Interview 1 (Madison): “I play with a lot of people. Usually it's me, Justin Kyle, Jan, 
Manny if not then not play with my other friends, Noel, G, Alan, Amore, Derric. So I 
have a whole bunch of different squads.”  
 
IW: There is three different game modes: Single Player (100 people and 1 man wins), Duos with
you and a partner (50 pairs), or Teams of 4 (Squads). It can be hard to keep up with that social
aspect but it’s nice if your friends also play the game. Within my fraternity, we are calling
Fortnite the brotherhood game of the year as it brings brotherhood closer with so much interest
all around.

Interview 1: I play with my brother now because I've just got that xbox so we can communicate
over that because he's, he's back home. I'm out here at college so I don't get to talk to him that
much, but now we can play together and stuff like that. And same with my roommates. We all
play Fortnite together. So, it's kind of a bonding thing.

Interview  with  Justin:  I  don't  really  like  playing  ...  Me  as  a  person,  I  like  playing  with 
people-Groups of my buddies. It's mostly why I game nowadays.
EG: It’s more fun to play with squads with your buddies when you can talk to them and it’s more
of a social event, but when you’re playing solo, you can focus more on yourself and skills, trying
to better yourself. It’s harder and more competitive but helps you practice your game.
 
What They would Change About the Game 
Interview 1 & 2 (Miranda) Interviewees Hector and Juan both said that they wish that 
costumes and characters were customizable  
I wish they had more stuff like to run faster that way like I don’t know if you could pick up
something to outrun the storm like an emergency type thing that isn’t the launch pad because
that’s lame you have to go so high in order for it to actually do anything good. (Miranda, Int. 2)

Interviewee 2 (Eli Bliman): ​...Maybe if they could keep some of those temporary game modes a
little bit longer or maybe add them as permanent, maybe for a price, I would love
that.​-Interviewee is willing to pay for additional playable game modes. 
 
Interview with Justin (Zach Kircher): Like a team deathmatch mode would be kinda 
cool. 
 
Interview with Justin (Zach Kircher): I also, I also think that a split screen mode would 
be really cool for that game, like split screen multiplayer. That would be cool. Lots of 
games don't do that anymore, but I think ​Fortnite​ would benefit from, from it. It might 
not is get ... It might not as many foot traffic online ... as much foot traffic online, but 
it would still be a cool feature. 
 
Interview 2(Alex Vogel): “​Uh, somehow making like competitive, you know, like all these
games or like competitive now he got like overwatch or like league of legends they’re like all
competitive and you can make a decent amount of money, definitely like to see like a mode
where you could like somehow like play teams, you know, and just uh, just go at it like in kind
of a big gaming community.” 
 
Interview 1 (Madison): “Better service maybe” 
Interview 2 (Madison): “It would be pretty cool because right now you can play with 
like people on PC. But it would be pretty cool if you could play with people from like 
Xbox. Because people on PlayStation or xbox have never been able to play together. So 
if they make that happen it would be pretty cool.” 
 
Hunter: I do think that they should, uh, actually I would add on one more, a couple 
more things. But, they should add a mode where it's a smaller island instead of such a 
big one 'cause it takes like 20 minutes for a round. And I wanna shorten that down to 
like maybe 10 minutes for, per round. And if you did a smaller island, you can still 
like get it done. And like, and then you can only have like 50 people playing in half the 
size of an island. And like do 10 minutes per round, like I would add like two modes 
like big island, or small island. And then, and they have no trouble filling a round. 
Like one or two seconds to find you into a round and then ease you like into a game 
like really fast. And 'cause like so many people are playing it, there's, they, every once 
in a while, they add a new mode. 
 
NICK: Okay, so what-so and because of that would you prefer first-person shooter games other than-
JACK: Well, I'd like it if Fortnite made it so like you can switch from third-person to first-person.
NICK: Okay.
JACK: Because you run around in third-person.
 
IW: The game is in a healthy state right now but relies very much on building but could make it
more user-friendly if finding a balance between guns, roaming, and building, promoting that in a
healthier way. Instead of if you can’t build properly, then you won’t win the game. Overall, I think
the game is very balanced, looking forward to see what weapons they have. They have the
SMG, Assault Rifle, and shotgun which are classic video game weapons.

IW: Building is a steep learning curve, having your guns in one load-out, then you have to switch
to a building load-out where there is walls, floors, ramps. The best players can build walls
around themselves in seconds. You start building as soon as you hear people coming. It gets
frustrating when you are really far in a game and come out again someone that outbuilds you.

EG: The most frustrating thing is when you’re doing work and have 5+ kills, the squad is doing
good, and you get killed by another person who is camping or hiding who sneaks up from
behind when you’re low on health from like 5 battles deep and the other guy is just hiding in the
bush and just gets you in the back. When you think you’re ahead, they will come up from
behind, which is super frustrating

EG: I think the idea of selling making money on characters or merchandise would do well. The
thing I think is genius is that they released the game itself for free. Before it wasn’t free, wasn’t
as popular, which made a lot of people download it since they had nothing to lose. Now that
everyone has it and is playing it, it makes more people want to get involved.

 
Money spent/ willing to spend 
Interview 1 (Madison): “50 bucks.” 
Interview 2 (Madison): “Only $10. The baton pass. That's it. None of the characters.”  
“After playing it, I'd probably say I would've paid like 30 bucks.” (Alex Vogel, int. 1) 
“even if the game costs 20-30 bucks I would probably would have bought it.” (Mitchell 
Koro​tkin, int. 2)
“Uh, I've bought a couple skins, which was about, in total, probably about 10 or 15 dollars worth
of my money” (Mitchell Korokin, int. 2)
“Yeah, maybe if I ever just feel like dropping the 15. Yeah, I’d do it.” Interviewee 2 hector said he
would consider paying for a “Battle Pass” for the game. (Miranda)

 
“So he plays as an astronaut now he spent a little bit of US dollars real money, so we 
can play as an astronaut. Th e gameplay is the same though despite whatever 
character you get.” (Danielle Sinacori Interview 1) 
 
IW: Your score isn’t impacted by how long you have been online, however there is a version of
the game that offers you cosmetic items called Battle Pass. I bought one because I’m an avid
player for $10 and it adds value by offering a layer of challenges, difficulty, but the rewards
include fun skins and cosmetics. Some games sell out but Fortnite has always kept it real. The
battle pass lasts for one season which is about 3-months long. I’ve bought two passes so far
and don’t mind spending the fee to help support the developers of a game I like.  
 
 
 
Individual Gameplay Styles/Customization 
NICK: Okay, so what brings you back to this game. Like, why do you, I know 
you play Titanfall 2 a lot and then that's your favorite game but why has this 
become your number two game so fast? 
JACK: Well, I didn't really like it a first because I didn't, I wasn't really good at 
it, but now I learned like how to do it and different tactics, I liked it a lot. 
NICK: Okay, so you-what do you like get out of the game other than building 
the barriers or the, uh- 
JACK: Bases. 
NICK: Bases that you like to do, um, you just like how there's a lot of things. 
JACK: To do. 
 
IW: This season, they added new towns to the map, not sure if they will do that every season.
There gets to be a point where you can’t make the town much larger. They reset your level, last
season I got to level 67. As you level up, you get different cosmetic items. Last season, the
worm dance was one of my favorite cosmetic items that has a fun song to accompany. This

 
season has different skins which is kind of fun reward for buying the battle pass, having the
skins before other people.
 
Hunter: And there's some that are easy and some that are hard and it's just 
interesting. Like you have to get that and then you may get a free skin if you 
get up to a certain level in the battle pass. But you can be like level 50 or 70 in 
the game but only be like level 40 in the battle pass. And it's just like they give 
you cool stuff like pick axes, skins, backpacks, emot-, emotes and like dances. 
You can also do dances, which is pretty cool. You can, there's one, my favorite 
one is Flippin' Sexy and this guy does a back flip and like lands in this weird 
position like laying on the ground. 
 
Weapons/Strategy 
Interview 1 (Madison): “Favorite weapon will be the pump or shotgun, any shotgun 
kind of ready, The tactical shotgun.”  
Interview 2 (Madison): “Um, kind of like a guided missile, and you get to like control it. 
Moving around. Um, my favorite gun is like the sky, which an assault rifle.” 
 
“I like the golden scar. And I like the sniper it’s fun to use and then rocket launchers they're also
fun to use.” (Miranda, Int. 2)

My favorite weapon is the machine gun or the sniper rifle. One or the other. I don’t really use the
sniper rifle actually I mainly use the machine gun and then I like the shotgun because it doesn’t
take 400 shots to kill someone. (Miranda, Int. 2)
 
NICK: Have you ever be- won a Battle Royale?
DAWSON: I have.
NICK: How does it feel?
DAWSON: It feels pretty good.
NICK: Yeah (laughs).
DAWSON: I mean, if you're crouching around, and you're kinda being stealthy and then you just happen
to get the last shot on the guy that was weak, it doesn't feel as good, but that's why I play aggressive.
NICK: (laughs) you go all out?
DAWSON: Yeah, pretty much.
NICK: Guns blazing, shooting at everyone.
DAWSON: Exactly.

Luke: Yeah. In order to create like, these tactically advanced stages, uh, designs to keep your sa-
safe or give you the upper hand.
William: Well, we'll say, it's kind of funny, we'll say that, yes, there's like certain ways you want
to build your structure so that you're safe. Um, half the time, in [inaudible 00:08:02] game play,
a lot of game play I've seen is that the guys will just, (laughs) um, they'll just like spam build to
like higher and higher until like one of them gets like the upper hand of someone else. So
sometimes there's not really so much strategy in the building other than you're just building
upward, trying to get on top of somebody.

Sacrifices Made For The Game (relationships, 

sleep, school, etc.) 
Hunter: I was late to school, yeah (laughing). 
Luke: You were late to school? 
Hunter: Once, yeah. 
Luke: And how did that turn out? 
Hunter: Uh, it was fine. I peddled fast enough to get to school (laughs) on time. It was 
like I have to leave at 7:45 at the latest to go to school or 7:50. And it, school starts at 
like 8:02, like the first bell rings. And I just like sometimes I'm like late, 'cause like 
playing a game of Fortnite, that I forget what time it is and then I'm just late to school. 
Or sometimes I'm just playing like Fortnite for so long, like, you los-, like you lose 
track of time.  
Interview 1 (Madison): “Mostly sleep since I work all the time I don't get home until 
late, so I just play all night and sleep in and then play.”  
Interview 1 (Madison): “I don't know. my girlfriend hates it.”  
Interview 2 (Madison): “Like a lot of sleep, like sometimes I wait till my girlfriend falls 
asleep and then I hop on to play and the next thing you know it's the morning time. 
But yes, obviously just pretty much sleep, uh, still make time to do homework and 
stuff. But it's mainly sleep. 
Interview 2 (Madison): “Um, well my girlfriend hates it just because I play so much and 
sometimes like when I'm playing I don't really pay attention to her. So that's why I wait 
when she fall asleep to a play.  
Zac: Oh, in the past there were a couple times where I rather would have just 
have played Fortnite than do homework, and I did. But, minor stuff 
Mitchell: Minor stuff 
Zac: projects (mitchell korotkin, int. 2)

“Uh, I would say mostly sleep, I probably sacrifice that the most to play this game.” (Mitchell
Korotkin, int. 1)
 
“I have sacrificed a little bit of my grades to keep up with Fortnite. I don't intentionally do it but it's hard
to check my laptop for for homework when I just want to play Fortnite.” (Danielle Sinacori Interview 1)

IW: Fornite is really my wind down game, I spend evenings playing Fortnite after finishing up my
day of school and work. I probably spend 4-5 hours a night on Fortnite grinding away.

EG: My parents are ok with it, they just want to make sure that I’m not slacking off in school. If
I’m still doing good in school and work, balancing it, then they will be ok.
EG: I was really hooked in the beginning, like the first week or so but progressively it got a lot
better and easier to control. I like to do it as a reward after school, work, and going to the gym.
 
The Fantasy Persona 
“If anything I would compare it to like a future world where people just sit there and it’s kind of
like the Hunger Games. Yeah that’s what I think of when I play.” Interviewee 2 Hector compares
the visuals of fortnite to the Hunger Games which makes it more fun

NICK: Okay, so recently. When, um, what-what initially got you into Fortnite?
DAWSON: Uh, I started watching a streamer, his name is Ninja, uh, I believe he currently holds the
largest killing spree in one game. So, I'd say he's the best gamer.
NICK: Okay, so because of, uh, because of Ninja, because of that streaming, that got you into play the
game?
DAWSON: Exactly.
NICK: Was it? Was it because the game itself seemed interesting or was it because Ninja was playing it
which means you had to play it?

 
DAWSON: I... I felt interested as soon as I started watching him play, um, mean, just seeing the
techniques he used during his gameplay kind of intrigued me to want to strive to be better.
 
Interview 1 (Madison): “I watch some streams sometimes because I'm bored, yeah.” 
 
Self Esteem 
 
Interview  with  Justin:  Me  and  my  friend,  we  were,  we  were  hiding,  and  it  got  down to 
like  four  people.  It  was  me  against  like  two  other, three other people. And one of them 
died,  and  then  it  was  these  two people. So I was like hiding and the circle was closing. 
And  it  was  closing  on  me and I had to break cover, so I shot one of the guys and killed 
him.  And  I  was  like,  "Oh  man,  I  killed  him."  And  then  I  started  shooting  at  the  other 
person,  so  it  was  me  versus  this  person.  And I got down to where I could shoot better, 
and  this  person  was  coming  into  the  circle  'cause  he  got  caught  in  the  storm.  So he's 
running...  back  into  the  circle,  and  I  shot  him  and  won.  And  I  screamed  really  loud 
and  jumped  out  of  my  chair.  And  my  wife  [Haley]  was  sitting  somewhere,  I  can't 
remember  if  ...  She  was  over  here,  I  remember  her  being  this  far.  Like  far,  but  not 
close  enough  that  she  could  hear  me.  And  it  scared  her. Whatever she was doing, she 
was  like,  "Why  are  you  being  so  loud?"  (laughing).  And  anyway,  it  was  awesome,  I 
won.”  
 
  
Interviewee 1 (Eli Bliman)​: When i do get a lot of kills it does feel really good, because whenever
you kill someone they get to watch you play through the rest of the game
 
Danielle’s First Interview: “[Getting a Battle Royale gave me] more satisfaction 
than I have ever gotten from anything else in my life.” 
Interview 1 (Madison)”I usually don't play solo, but this one day I played solo. And it's 
my first game the day. And I won the game I was so excited because it was my first 
solo game win ever.”  
Interview 2 (Madison): “Um every time. It's just kinda one of those, like all the people I 
know like; me, Kim, my lil bro, and Kyle and everyone won like back to back times 
that's about it.” 
 
NICK: Okay, um, so kind of going back to, um, uh, your personal life tied with the game. Do you
feel like it's, um, do you feel like, um, it's hindered anything with your family or friends or your
social life or-
DAWSON: 'Cause like, uh, I mean, some of my other family members have played Fortnite, so,
you know, it's kinda fun to tell them your strategies, what you use during a fight and they'll be
like, they can help you improve upon what you maybe did wrong.
NICK: Yeah.
DAWSON: And what you can do in the future, it's definitely a game that I would, not think,
would lose friendships in.

EG: Winning is definitely a big accomplishment, that was one of the biggest moments for me
was getting my first “Dub” or Win. It’s hard when there’s 100 people on one map and other
people are very good. Finding good guns early in the game also feels good as it guides you
towards the right direction in the game

William:...it's actually really fun to be the guy who takes someone out first, um, kind of that reversal thing.

Online Community/Twitch
IW: Yeah that was Twitch, I’ve been using it for years. Even before Fortnite, I would watch
League of Legends streams on there. To be a part of watching the Drake and Travis Scott and
being a part of the most popular stream to ever be on Twitch was 600,000 views at once was
special.

Apart from just playing with my friends on the headset, I also watch videos of famous people playing

online, it's called streaming on a website called twitch were famous people who are very good at the game
are famous because of the game play and commentate as they play it's pretty exciting to watch. Just the

other day, a rapper named Drake from Canada who is on the Degrassi played, and juju Smith Schuster

was wide receiver for the Pittsburgh Steelers was playing and they were all playing together with one of

the best players in the world his name is ninja and they played for about six hours and it was the most

watched stream ever on the twitch website. ​(Danielle Sinacori Interview 1)

Interview  with  Chance:  And  then  people  would  call  me  Ghost in, like, ​Call of Duty and 
stuff  just  'cause  I'd  come  out  of  nowhere.  So  I  just  kind  of  threw  those  together  and 
now  my  identity's  known  as  “ghositrax.”  And  that's  what  I-  that's  what  I  keep  and 
that's  what  people  know  me  as.  Like,  even  if  they  know  me  outside,  like,  they  call me 
ghositrax because they have that respect from when we game, so yeah. 
 
NICK: Hm. Wow, you got a lot of, there's a lot of little things attached to this game, that pretty crazy for
it, considering it being free initially. That's awesome. Um, what do you like about the game, Jack?
JACK: I like that I'm able to play with my friends.
NICK: Mm-hm.
JACK: And just have fun fighting and building, it's basically like last one standing slash sandbox.
NICK: Yeah. 

Power of Battle Pass 

 
IW: Your score isn’t impacted by how long you have been online, however there is a version of
the game that offers you cosmetic items called Battle Pass. I bought one because I’m an avid
player for $10 and it adds value by offering a layer of challenges, difficulty, but the rewards
include fun skins and cosmetics. Some games sell out but Fortnite has always kept it real. The

 
battle pass lasts for one season which is about 3-months long. I’ve bought two passes so far
and don’t mind spending the fee to help support the developers of a game I like.
 
 
FLOW - ADELINE ​(DO NOT TOUCH) 
Damn ok