In a private school where tuition is high, students can bicker about clothes, shoe brands, cellphones, or video games. At Paul Towler's middle school, where he teaches English to seventh and eighth graders, some kids "have enough money to be comfortable and others' parents are owners of giant nationwide restaurant chains," he says. Towler is used to seeing such disparities play out in the real world through objects that you can physically hold. But after battle royale sensation Fortnite exploded, the fights between students took an unexpected turn. Fortnite's virtual clothes became a status symbol, and some of Towler's pupils started policing what their classmates wore in-game.
The confrontations could get ugly. One student in Towler's class "begged his parents for [money] to buy a skin because no one would play with him" because he wore basic virtual clothes. While the bullying wasn't always Fortnite-specific, Towler recalls that it seemed "vicious for [the student] to have another avenue for the meaner kids to attack him." Things got better for that kid, but when your social scene begins and ends with Fortnite, having nobody to play with is like a mark of death.
The abuse goes beyond insults. Fans who play as defaults end up getting ostracized by classmates, too. Libby, a middle schooler in seventh grade, told Polygon that defaults at her school "get made fun of," and that mockery is compounded by the fact that these players are often on mobile platforms, which are perceived to be a worse experience.
THE PRESSURE TO PURCHASE SKINS IS EVERYWHERE IN FORTNITE
"Noob" is a word that comes up a lot in conversation with parents. Kids ask their parents for skins because they don't want to seem like Fortnite novices in front of other people. The label turns kids into "target," according to a parent on Twitter. Guy Diep, father of an 8-year-old boy, tells Polygon that while his son asked for money for Fortnite cosmetics to avoid the stigma of a default, what he heard between the lines was more heartbreaking than that.
"To translate him, he's actually saying: 'I NEED this [skin] because of my lack of self-esteem and confidence,'" Diep says. Many kids end up spending money in a free game just to keep up with the in crowd.
Statistics on the frequency of bullying among teens and children vary depending on the source, especially because it's a delicate subject that has to be self-reported in surveys. The Cyberbullying Research Center, which has questioned around 20,000 middle school and high school students, claims that 1 of every 4 teens has experienced cyberbullying of some kind. Typically, however, cyberbullying manifests itself as name-calling, spreading rumors, making threats, or sending explicit images. According to the Pew Research Center, teens from families with lesser means often get bullied at a higher rate than kids from affluent families. "Twenty-four percent of teens whose household income is less than $30,000 a year say they have been the target of physical threats online, compared with 12% whose annual household income is $75,000 or more," the Pew report states.
Much more at the link.
https://www.polygon.com/2019/5/7/18534431/fortnite-rare-default-skins-bullying-harassment
I must admit that i actually never thought about this possibility. Sure simple mocking was expected but this went too far.
