Parents Are Hiring Fortnite Tutors For Their Kids
There has been so much discussion lately over screen time for our kids. Some parents get all judgey and share those memes that remind us of how much we all played outside as a kid. Other parents are citing research studies that tell us all how much the blue hue screen lights are bad for our cognitive function. There have been petitions and discussions on how bad video games are for our kid’s growing minds. And then you have these parents who spend all sorts of hard-earned money on tutors so their kids can get better at Fortnite and hang with the adults who spend each waking moments hooked to their video games.
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Fortnite is a free video game that has taken the world by storm.
If you have kids, it’s pretty much the only thing they want to play. They’re probably right now complaining about how slow the Fortnite server is along with the 125 million other people who are playing at any given time.
According to The Wall Street Journal, parents are now turning to tutors to help their kids be the best Fortnite player they can be. And they’re paying $20+ an hour to have people share the insider tips and tricks to getting them closer to the top of the leader board. Apparently this game is so popular kids are finding themselves on the outside of the social circle if they’re not the best player they can be.
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“There’s pressure not to just play it but to be really good at it,” Ally Hicks told the Wall Street Journal. She paid for lessons for her 10-year-old son when she noticed he struggled at being the best of the game. “You can imagine what that was like for him at school.”
Another parent, Nick Mennen, bought lessons for his 12-year-old son, Noble, to take lessons. “The dad is already dreaming of a scholarship””or at least some tournament money. (”Fortnite” creator Epic Games Inc. recently pledged $100 million in tournament prizes. Some colleges court gamers with financial incentives to join their varsity teams.),” The Wall Street Journal writes. “Now he’ll throw down 10 to 20 wins,” said Mennen, after his son started taking 6 hours worth of lessons a month.
The article says that parents are finding coaches through social media or contract sites like Bidvine or Gamer Sensei, which has hired out “more than 14,400 Fortnite coaches since early March.”
”It’s really surreal to me,” Logan Werner, an 18-year-old Fortnite coach in Roy, Utah, told The Wall Street Journal. ”My dad would have never paid for me to take video game lessons.”
PREVIOUSLY: It’s Stupid To Feel Guilty For Letting Your Kids Play Video Games
For many parents, they say that hiring a coach for video games isn’t any different than hiring a coach or expert for their kids to play basketball or hockey.
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”I want them to excel at what they enjoy,” Euan Robertson told The Wall Street Journal. He hired his two sons, 10 and 12-years-old, a Fortnite coach in June and said he will continue to do so as long as the kids keep up their grades.
What ever works, right?
