Twitter Epic Games posted a winter vibe check—one of the biggest disappointments of the year for Fortnite players, no doubt—but still, the situation with snow in the game was brought to light at least. The Fortnite official account posted a tweet that said, ‘the weather outside is frightful but Polar Peaks looks so delightful’ and along with it an image showing Polar Peaks heavily frozen up. Pretty right? However, if one looks at the feed of replies, it would be equivalent to opening Pandora’s box of gamer complaints. The whole environment is from ‘wow snow’ to ‘fix your game, Epic!’.
The frozen topography of Polar Peaks has come back, and those players who can remember it when it was in active chapters will feel it as a nostalgia. It is one of these places that are so Fortnite that they have become part of the game’s identity. A mere tweet with some seasonal charm; that was all it was. Yet, the comments were not in any way about the sight.
But, rather, the gamers turned it into a megaphone for their discontent and the most prominent and loud issue that started bubbling up in the replies was Skill-Based Matchmaking, or SBMM. Gamers are very furious. One of the users, MarshallBTW, took it seriously and immediately reacted to the tweet saying: ‘it is basically impossible to see the beauty unless you drop there as you will just die on the way, and if by some miracle you survive, you still will be dead before reaching the next POI. For goodness sake, revert your SBMM back to what it was Tuesday.’ Oof. This is no snow-comment; this is a plea.
This is not the case just for him. The same sentiment has been echoed by players, again and again, on the thread. Another player, johnjohnson, was apparently the one that started the whole discussion about how hard it has become to play with one’s less-skilled friends due to the fact that lobby is matched according to the highest-skilled player. MarshallBTW then again jumped in and this time around he not only agreed but also said: ‘It is completely mad! You can’t play with friends nor can you play solo.’ That indeed highlights a critical issue for a game that is all about social interaction. It transforms getting together with friends for a chill day into a sweaty tournament that nobody wants to participate in. Wasn’t I just talking about the beauty of snow? Oh yes, it is. But the truth is SBMM problem is overshadowing the snowfall issue.
. Some players looked at the frozen beauty of Polar Peaks and began to contemplate deeply. ZomberMC_ was among the users who pondered, ‘If they know that Fortnite OG is beautiful, why don’t they make Chapter 7 like Fortnite OG? They did that in Chapter 2 and that chapter was beautiful…’ That is indeed a great point! Last year’s OG season was mainly a huge success because it was straightforward and classic. When gamers see a degenerated place being lovely, it triggers the nostalgic feelings of the good old days of gaming and the old-school OBVIOUSLY!! Another user, TwinkieEaterJR, added to the wish-list: ‘you just need to bring back the OG hud and you have peak. (and og movement animations).’ It seems that a big chunk of the community is craving the classic potion.
However, not all reactions were negative, the community also reminisced about the past glories while some of the replies were hilarious and even wholesome. One user, _Alan_Alcantara, wrote: ‘sou apaixonado nessa temporada’, which translates to ‘I’m in love with this season’ simply. Indulge in your feeling, Alan! Do not let other players’ negativity pull you down! Another, PixelWisp_07, took the opportunity to present a birthday wish: ‘Please Fortnite, return the Cat Gamer Bundle today. It’s my birthday.’ Nothing ventured, nothing gained. And then there is MojoJoeJoe02 who wants the Chainsmokers to collab. The requests are very diverse which is partly why Fortnite Twitter is so entertaining.
There even took place a conversation in the replies about whether the snowy scenery was beautiful or not. A certain Rubricleader seemed to suggest it looked rather bad and others started either to agree with him or to disagree and etc. Justlookingog fired back ‘Bro is tripping’ and posted a meme along with that. Classic Twitter discourse.
But returning to the main issue, SBMM discontent is very apparent and it seems to be the common thread linking a lot of these responses. Gamers are feeling the public lobbies to be as intense as in ranked mode but without the rewards or the clear progression.
