Fortnight....

Last night my daughter asked me to play Fortnight. It is a video game that is all the rage in the teenage set. Immediately, I said no because I don't like video games. I remember playing Asteroids on friends Atari 6400 hundred ,(yes, I just dated myself) and not liking it. Today, I took a different approach and asked my daughter to show me Fortnight. There are basically as I see it two objectives of the game— to stay alive and to get into the "circle" to get out of the coming storm. Fortnight has four play modes—single player, two player group, four player group and 50 on 50 for a total of 100 playing. My daughter usually plays two player group pairing up with friend. As she played, I quickly saw that she was learning strategizing skills, team building skills and decision making skills. I watched as she had to anticipate what others were doing and where they were going, so she could stay alive; having to choose whether to get items—wood, medical kits, weapons, etc.—or drop items she had to make room for others. Working as a pair speaks for itself in team building—to stay alive you have to rely on your partner. By the end of my tutorial, I still didn't want to play, but now I respected video games, at least Fortnight.