Fortnite’s emotes have taken on a life of their own: in the last two weeks, I’ve seen kids and adults replicating the game in real life. If you watch sports, you’ve likely seen goals or good plays celebrated through emotes. And if you play Fortnite, you’ve definitely had some jerk dance over your cold, lifeless corpse.
In the latest episode of Fave This, Gita Jackson and I discuss why Fortnite’s emotes are so evocative and memorable:
You can download the MP3 here.
Specifically, I recount the very first time someone did the Take The L on me. I got so mad that I immediately went into the store to buy the emote myself. Then, it became my mission to do it on someone else. I messed it up the first couple of times, meaning that I was freakin’ elated when I pulled it off. Then I felt bad, because really, what had I become? Since then, I’ve developed a code for when to use the emote. It never comes out during a normal play, but rather only if I feel I did someone dirty, or if I developed a rivalry against a player. I don’t want to be the asshole who dances over every little kill. It has to mean something for the other player to hear that horrible clown song, you know?
What about you—when do you do an emote in-game? Have you seen the dances IRL? Tell us your stories, and we might feature them in the next episode.
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