Fortnite: parents hiring video game tutors for children
Coaches being paid up to $50 an hour to improve young players’ performances
Parents in the US are paying private tutors as much as $50 (£38) an hour to help their children get better at playing popular video game Fortnite, according to media reports.
The Wall Street Journal (WSJ) spoke to several families who have hired coaches specialising in the online game’s survivalist Battle Royale function - where around 100 players compete in a fight to the death, with just one winner.
Many of the parents are “worried about their kids’ social standing with their classmates”, The Guardian reports, and some fear that their children “are being exorcised from social life because they can barely last a minute of gameplay without getting shot from behind”.
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
“There’s pressure not to just play it but to be really good at it. You can imagine what that was like for him at school,” Ally Hicks, a project manager with a ten-year-old son, told WSJ.
Private tutoring and test preparation in the US “has grown into a $7bn [£5.4bn] industry and is continuing to grow with a slew of educational start-ups”, The Guardian reports. But the idea of private tutoring for a video game has raised a few eyebrows.
“Even Fortnite coaches are surprised by the new trend,” says People magazine.
Some parents paying for Fortnite tutors say they hope their children’s gaming skills could eventually lead to a college scholarship or a lucrative career in e-sports - video games with their own professional leagues, competitions, star players and millions of devoted followers.
Tech news site Digital Trends reports that e-sports are “beginning to receive similar recognition and support as traditional sports, with cable channel ESPN even broadcasting the finals of the Overwatch [e-sports] League in July”.
Create an account with the same email registered to your subscription to unlock access.
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
-
Today's political cartoons - September 7, 2024
Cartoons Saturday's cartoons - football widows, meddling kids, and more
By The Week US Published
-
Smoking ban: the return of the nanny state?
Talking Point Starmer's plan to revive Sunak-era war on tobacco has struck an unsettling chord even with some non-smokers
By The Week UK Published
-
Crossword: September 7, 2024
The Week's daily crossword puzzle
By The Week Staff Published
-
What was Gamergate – and why are we still talking about it?
The Explainer Ten years on, the impact of the misogyny-fuelled campaign still lingers
By Abby Wilson Published
-
India's visa temples offer divine intervention to hopeful migrants
Under the Radar Visitors believe the 'divine presence inside' can bless worshippers with a successful US visa application
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Taylor Swift vs. The Beatles: who's bigger?
In the Spotlight With US megastar's 'Eras' tour arriving in Liverpool, comparisons to the Fab Four and Beatlemania abound
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Boysober: the rebranding of female celibacy
Under the Radar Voluntarily abstaining from sex is gaining traction as a feminist choice amid erosion of reproductive rights and dating app fatigue
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Fallout: one of the 'most faithful – and best – video game adaptations'
The Week Recommends This 'genre-bending' new Amazon series is set in a post-apocalyptic wilderness where survivors shelter below ground
By Adrienne Wyper, The Week UK Published
-
The Master and Margarita: the new adaptation causing consternation at the Kremlin
Why Everyone's Talking About Pro-Putin groups have called for the film's director to be charged as a terrorist
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published
-
The new 'boom' in Latin American fiction
Why everyone's talking about Almost a quarter of International Booker Prize longlist comes from South America, a region in turmoil
By Harriet Marsden, The Week UK Published
-
Poonam Pandey: the Indian model who faked her own death
Why Everyone's Talking About The Bollywood star has a reputation for outlandish stunts
By Sorcha Bradley, The Week UK Published