Games Like Fortnite Are Today's 'Third Places'
WiredWhen a titan-sized Travis Scott avatar landed in Fortnite between the first few bars of “Sicko Mode,” the quake sent players flying across the map like individual popcorns. Shooting each other, snacking on Takis over open mic, or watching Travis Scott make the sky fall, Fortnite players, like regulars in any online game, feel a sense of place there. Cementing its status as a hangout, today Fortnite added a new violence-free map called “Party Royale,” where, amid cartoony fast food storefronts and quiet beaches, players can race ATVs, play soccer, or attend disco parties with squads of friends and strangers. And Americans are not a contented people.” It’s unlikely that Oldenberg was picturing rainbow-backlit mechanical keyboards and alienesque gaming PCs when he theorized that, in the end, “the human instinct for community will eventually prevail.” The first big massively multiplayer online role-playing games thrived because, on top of a role-playing game, they offered both a sense of place and a venue for self-expression.
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