4 Life Lessons We Learned From Playing 'Fortnite Battle Royale'!

Welcome to the Battle Royale! 

Do you have what it takes to take on 99 other players to ultimate victory? Test your skills and luck on Fortnite Battle Royale!

Fortnite is a free game available on PC, Xbox One, PS4, and Mac, and it is taking over the gaming world! It is similar to games like PUBG where online players are dropped into an island map where the objective is to be the last one standing. 

Let's walk through a session of Fortnite. You are placed on an air bus flying over an island where you must decide where to jump/land to find yourself some resources before someone else takes you out -- and I don't mean on a nice candlelit dinner date. To start, you are given a pickaxe with which to defend yourself but most importantly to destroy trees, buildings, and any other objects in the map to gain resources. You may then use those collected resources to build walls, stairs, forts, or whatever you need to defend yourself and stay safe, while trying to eliminate everyone else. 

Seems simple, right? WRONG.

After a few minutes, a circle will appear on the map, and the objective switches to getting yourself into the circle because a storm is coming around the boundaries of the circle. If you find yourself caught in the storm outside of the circle, your health will begin to deplete and the end is near, my friend. But if you can find your way back into the circle, then it's back to battle! Every few minutes, a new, smaller circle will form, and you will again have to race to get into the circle and fight until there is only one player left standing. 

This game is so intense and exciting. There is a huge learning curve to the game, but once you get the hang of it, you'll never want to stop until you get that #1 victory royale. 

After playing a few games of Fortnite, I realized that I can actually learn a thing or two and apply it to my real life. So here's what I found!

1. Collect resources before you do anything else.

In the game, you have to search for weapons, shield potions, medical supplies, and ammo so that you can be prepared whenever you encounter another player. Just like in real life, you have to gather up resources before you take on whatever endeavor you will be facing. For example, if you're starting a career or getting a job, you need to get some education and experience before you get that dream job. Or if you want to travel, you have to get a passport if you're traveling out of the country, you need to pack clothes, toiletries, and anything else you might need on your travels. No matter what your goal is, you've got to start off with a plan to gather resources to get you to victory!

2. Learn to adapt to your surroundings.

In the game, you never know where you'll find yourself -- you might be on the edge of the map or you might be in the middle of Tilted Towers (middle of the map where a lot of players try to go to). Regardless of where you end up, you have to be able to adapt to what and who is around you. Sometimes you have to hide or even build yourself to safety. Not to mention the storms that come around the circle. Many times you'll find yourself outside of that circle and you have to adapt and make adjustments to your plan and execute it. Just like the game, in real life, you don't always know where you'll end up, whether it's a new job, or a new city, or a new situation, so it's good to have the ability and learn to adapt to whatever comes your way.

3. Get the high ground.

One thing you'll learn while playing is that getting the high ground is very important. A lot of the time when you encounter another player, the one with the high ground will win, and it makes sense. When you have the high ground, you have a better perspective and view of what's going on. You'll be able to see if someone is coming to attack you and you'll be ready. In life, you need to get the metaphorical "high ground". Whether it is school, work, relationships, or just life in general, sometimes you need to take a step back to see the whole picture and get perspective. Being able to see more than just what's in front of or near you will help you. Sometimes that just means putting yourself in other people's shoes, and trying to see a different side to what you see can help you get to your goal. 

4. Sometimes luck is more important than skill.

You could be the best player in Fortnite but sometimes luck is better than being good. In Fortnite, you might not find a great weapon or you might not find any medical supplies. Sometimes you land in an area with 50 other players, and sometimes the circle forms all the way on the other side of the map. Just like in life, you have to be ready when luck sometimes isn't on your side. You can only be prepared so much and that's okay. Sometimes luck is on your side and sometimes it's not, but it's important to learn to accept what comes your way and get back up for a new round.

5. Practice, practice, practice.

This is something everyone knows but doesn't always do. The first few times playing Fortnite is very humbling. There are a lot of good players, and no matter how good you think you are at games or how strategic you are, you have to play and practice to get good. Once you get that practice in, you'll learn and experience things that will help you get better and better. Just like in life, you get better the more you do it. Simple as that.

Those were life lessons I learned while playing Fortnite. Who knew I could actually learn something from a video game? 

For more Fortnite, check out their website!

(Image via Fortnite)

- Amanda Baltazar, YH Contributing Writer