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What’s up with kids running scams on Fortnite?
- Thread starter PopsMaellard
- Start date
Like any good salesperson, they are creating demand in exchange of a commission. In this case, they create the demand to do a good thing via skin trading. To do this requires Vbucks. Vbucks costs real money, so Epic gains a sale and the salesperson gets a skin to sell for real money as commission. While no business relationship is written down on paper, Epic does silently approve of this symbiotic relationship by not immediately banning accounts participating in this practice and not addressing this publicly.
We had no idea how good we had it back then. The golden age of gaming, with free community maps, skins, mods, total conversions, man this industry really went to shit.
Please sir, may I have some...
skins?
It doesn't help that a lot of adult gamers/ "influencers" over exaggerate winning, buying or getting skins, encouraging kids to think it is a necessity in their lives.
BRB going to make a Oliver Twist adaptation for modern day kids with Fortnite skins
When I was a teen people used to beg like crazy in Runescape and later on in WoW. Kids will always beg for stupid shit, because when they see adults with disposable income buying things and all they can do is play demos or free to play games they get jealous. Then in school if it's a massive thing people will somehow find a way to bully because of it.
Pester power of kids, perfect marketing. Streamers don't help either.
The sob story sound like a meme (well, any copied template can fit the larger definition of meme).
The bullying situation though? When a game is played so much, it becomes part of the daily routine, children will make up discrimination based on that.
Similar to the pressure to have brand clothes rather than functional clothes,
or anything that is readily visible and can be affirmed out loud.
Don't want to be that guy but it's definitely a scam, not begging.
When you're trying to obtain something through deception then it's a scam. Begging is when you ask for something but you don't lie as to the reason why.
Back on topic though, I'm not surprised. Kids have been doing stuff like this for years it's just moved online. A number of times I've had kids come up and ask for money as they don't have any for the bus home. If there's a way to get something for nothing then people will always find a way to abuse it.
When you're trying to obtain something through deception then it's a scam. Begging is when you ask for something but you don't lie as to the reason why.
Back on topic though, I'm not surprised. Kids have been doing stuff like this for years it's just moved online. A number of times I've had kids come up and ask for money as they don't have any for the bus home. If there's a way to get something for nothing then people will always find a way to abuse it.
It seems like it would more fun to piss off others by killing them with the default skin, rather than just being a bandwagoner. It's not like skins have any gameplay benefits.
Sadly thats what some kids are like it seems. I play occasionally with my great nephew who is 8 and every now and then he will ask one of the adults playing (his uncles/my nephews) to gift him something.
We always put him in his place but he will try it again every now and then.
Kids just have no self control, worst is with V bucks. every battle pass he will spend his earned V Bucks on stuff or level up and then not have enough to buy the battle pass again next season. Thing is, is he plays loads so shouldn't have to worry about leveling up that much.
We always put him in his place but he will try it again every now and then.
Kids just have no self control, worst is with V bucks. every battle pass he will spend his earned V Bucks on stuff or level up and then not have enough to buy the battle pass again next season. Thing is, is he plays loads so shouldn't have to worry about leveling up that much.
The guilt trip tactic is popular now since it actually works people feel sorry for them and buy them skins, emotes whatever so they'll keep doing this
In save the world kids trying to scam you out of your good weapons though in here they can outright steal it from you if you fell for a trick where they get you to drop the weapons on the floor since in stw they can pick it up and keep it for themselves
Kid scammers everywhere in Fortnite
In save the world kids trying to scam you out of your good weapons though in here they can outright steal it from you if you fell for a trick where they get you to drop the weapons on the floor since in stw they can pick it up and keep it for themselves
Kid scammers everywhere in Fortnite
Story as old as time. I ran scams in Habbo Hotel. It was very tough to buy credits for it. You needed to call in and do something over the phone. So I resorted to scams.
I ran two. The first was I had hacks for the game. So I could have wacky coloured skins and stuff like that. I'd tell people I'd show them the secret for some furniture.
The next grift was a dupelicate furniture trick. A friend and I would go into a packed room. I'd spam I can dupe furniture. My buddy would say I'll do it. We pretend we do a dupe. The friend would be like "OMG it actually worked". People would line up and hand me furniture.
This was all on a burner account. I'd have my real account in a room to hand the furniture off to.
I ran two. The first was I had hacks for the game. So I could have wacky coloured skins and stuff like that. I'd tell people I'd show them the secret for some furniture.
The next grift was a dupelicate furniture trick. A friend and I would go into a packed room. I'd spam I can dupe furniture. My buddy would say I'll do it. We pretend we do a dupe. The friend would be like "OMG it actually worked". People would line up and hand me furniture.
This was all on a burner account. I'd have my real account in a room to hand the furniture off to.
Ah, yet another case of "harmless" "fun" and "optional" microtransactions totally not addictive, not nurturing impulsive spending habits and not pressuring to buy them, yeah...
I mean seriously, imagine being a teen and trying to hustle strangers for skins like some crack addict.
I mean seriously, imagine being a teen and trying to hustle strangers for skins like some crack addict.
This sort of thing happens all the time on TF2 and CS:GO. The difference here is that Fortnite is a massive cultural phenomenon, in part because of how easy it is to jump into and how pervasive it is on console.
The "default" bullying also isn't too surprising, unfortunately. Kids will always find some way to discriminate among their peers in order to come out on top, and skins are an easy way to do that, especially if they're young enough to use "I got someone else to buy it for me" as bragging rights. It's not just about looking good, it's about getting other people to see you looking good. And this plays into the psychology these games employ where they tell these kids that you too can look this cool, if you're able to spend the money and do the work for it.
The "default" bullying also isn't too surprising, unfortunately. Kids will always find some way to discriminate among their peers in order to come out on top, and skins are an easy way to do that, especially if they're young enough to use "I got someone else to buy it for me" as bragging rights. It's not just about looking good, it's about getting other people to see you looking good. And this plays into the psychology these games employ where they tell these kids that you too can look this cool, if you're able to spend the money and do the work for it.
Had one of these that added me as a friend a few days earlier, then told me to gift him a skin in the lobby chat. I went to friends list and promptly removed him and blocked. Now that I think back, I should've reported him too. I don't play with voice chat so who knows what he said there.
I myself couldn't care less about skins, no body else should take them seriously either. I just wear them because why not, I got that free battle pass I'm still going off of.
...now, my end game armor I had in Diablo II... 15 years later and I'm still pissed about that :( I don't even know how the guy scammed me in trade. I never bothered to get another one.
I myself couldn't care less about skins, no body else should take them seriously either. I just wear them because why not, I got that free battle pass I'm still going off of.
...now, my end game armor I had in Diablo II... 15 years later and I'm still pissed about that :( I don't even know how the guy scammed me in trade. I never bothered to get another one.
I remember falling for that once when I began playing. Good times.
I remember when kids ran scams selling fake Oakley glasses. Same thing, except the skins don't provide UV protection.
I find it weird people think the whole 'skin shaming' thing is a new phenomenon with kids, or somehow unique to an online monetization thing. It's not good behavior sure, but I feel like the exact same thing happened when I was in school around clothing brands.
I find it weird people think the whole 'skin shaming' thing is a new phenomenon with kids, or somehow unique to an online monetization thing. It's not good behavior sure, but I feel like the exact same thing happened when I was in school around clothing brands.
Actually, this is one of the subtle ways companies use to push microtransaction sales. There was even some guy making a speech on how to push mt sales and using the fact we are herd animals and will follow our friends was absolutely a tactic discussed.
Haha people used to beg for like 1k gold!
I got filthy rich in that game by convincing a kid to give me 200 rune ores back when rune gear first came out.
Good times
Brings me back to the good old days of WoW having plebs beg me for gold, would just open up a trade with them and put my entire gold amount to trade and then AFK. Good times. *evil*
Scamming in Fortnite: Save the World is definitely a thing. You've got people actively trying to steal your gear in bad trades. It's why they shut down global chat.
What you're talking about is just panhandling. It's the guy on the CTA giving his spiel to a captive audience. Of course it's insincere, but it's not really a scam.
What you're talking about is just panhandling. It's the guy on the CTA giving his spiel to a captive audience. Of course it's insincere, but it's not really a scam.
Done on purpose. Jim pointed this out in a recetn video of his (Even had a clip from a guy doing a seminar that outright talked about how you use social pressure to sell your MTs).
Government really needs to come down hard on these game developers and this practice in general. THey are purposely working on gamblers' addiction as well as kids being easily manipulated to wring out as much money as possible from these people.
What the fuck, this is has got to be staged. How dumb is the kid to say "scammer get scammed" even before getting his hands what he's trying to steal, TWICE? How can he use the "finger slipped" excuse after so blatantly after just laying his cards? No one can be so dumb. The whole exchange seems very staged.
Yeah, through my 12 year old nephew I learned about the term "no-skin". Since then Fortnite is the worst thing in gaming for me.
I love my nephew, but Fortnite really brought up the worst in him. Dude even ordered a keyboard and mouse on Amazon for his PS4, because he thought
he'll destroy the competition. Well, turned out that using a keyboard for moving wasn't that easy as it seemed :))))
I love my nephew, but Fortnite really brought up the worst in him. Dude even ordered a keyboard and mouse on Amazon for his PS4, because he thought
he'll destroy the competition. Well, turned out that using a keyboard for moving wasn't that easy as it seemed :))))
The funniest thing with kids on Fortnite is that no matter how good they are, they are often still stupid which negates any skill they have.
My great nephew is 8 and has got surprisingly good at the game when it comes to aiming, shooting and building and at times is probably better then I am since i still sometimes panic and mess up.
Yet he is terrible with strategy and so while he only has like 1 solo win I have around 165 solo wins because I know how to play smarter and not just rush into every situation looking to fight.
It's just such a complete gamer culture change that I'm having trouble wrapping my head around it.
Even name brand clothes at least have the assumption of quality over cheaper, lesser known brands. Fortnite skins are designed to literally have no effect on the actual playing experience whatsoever.
Defaults will be the in thing to do eventually, kids just need to stick with it and be trendsetters.
People with no skill will do this because why brag about skills you don't have when you can just buy skins?
Didn't another user say in a different thrad that their kid intentionally used default skins to own the asses of the other kids understimating them for it?
Came to basically say this. I think scamming/begging go hand in hand with online games.
You'd see so many people doing stupid trades and then changing their part to 1 gold last minute, or people doing "drop parties" where the idea was you'd drop a bunch of items and encourage others to do the same, but then steal theirs and pick yours back up before others could
I legit pulled off an actual scam that peope do irl where you have one person selling something for more than it's worth and then another person standing a little while away buying it for cheap and trick someone into buying the thing thinking they'll be able to flip it to the other