Fortnite and the Good Life
This article addresses moral panic and so it may seem like it is not an extension of it, but I think it basically still is.  People have tried for decades, through scientific research, to quantify harm caused by video games and have failed over and over again.  Can people become &quot;addicted&quot; to them and use them as escape mechanisms? Sure,  But that happens with all kinds of things, from chess to reading to running.<p>It&#x27;s rare to see a real impassioned defense of gaming outside of &quot;it&#x27;s not that bad&quot; but I&#x27;d like to go out and say it had a hugely positive impact on my life and I think it&#x27;s really doubtful I&#x27;d be where I am today without gaming.  Beyond giving me the foundations of the technical skills I used to become an engineer, gaming gave me tons of social skills as well.  As an adolescent I was able to play a ton of different roles in a group in a way that I wasn&#x27;t able to in real life, even in sports and mock trial and things like that, where other elements of teamwork were present.  This prepared me greatly for understanding deep collaboration with teammates at work today.  Much more than group projects in school.  Like orders of magnitude more so.<p>It&#x27;s also important to note that despite being the safest the country has ever been, adolescents are more restricted than ever before.  It is extremely rare for them to have places where they can be free, with their friends, and also trying out new social roles.  This is an extremely valuable process and it&#x27;s really difficult to do these days.  I don&#x27;t think there is anything wrong with Fortnite, but I think if you&#x27;re trying to figure out why people play it and you reduce that down to &quot;bright flashing colors and escapism&quot; you&#x27;re missing a ton of the context.<p>And this isn&#x27;t to rag on sports and say gaming is better (or theater, or woodworking, if those are your things) it&#x27;s just to say: it&#x27;s 2019.  This gaming thing has been going on for quite some time.  It&#x27;s a real thing with depth, mastery and real benefits that spread into the rest of your life just like playing sports, or chess or however else you think kids should be spending their time.  Let&#x27;s stop tiptoeing around gaming like it&#x27;s just a vice and start emphasizing the positive things we get out of it.