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In a strange turn of events, the Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event is backfiring on publishers in many ways. What was supposed to be an in-game event aimed at encouraging inactive players to reconnect, rejoin, and partake in some battle royale gameplay for rewards has turned into a cynical tweet fest.
Epic Games recently announced that players could partake in the Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event between April 6th and 26th, 2021, by inviting and playing with friends who haven't played in 30 days or more.
To participate in the event, players must visit the Reboot a Friend website to find three eligible friends, select them, and jump into the game to start earning points. These points unlocked in-game rewards for players.
Want to know what items might feature in the shop tomorrow? Check out our predictions for tomorrow's Fortnite Item Shop
How does Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event work, and why is the Fortnite community disliking the idea?
The Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event is pretty straightforward. Once in-game with rebooted friends, players can earn 100 bonus points for playing the first game with a rebooted friend and a further 10 points for every round played.
The publishers were considerate enough to even allow players without rebootable friends to partake in the event.
While this sounds good in theory, users were left frustrated because only those players were eligible whose inactive friends were not their regular friends in the game. This means that players will have to find someone outside their regular friend zone to participate in Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend.
In essence, this forces gamers to play the entire event with rebootable friends, even if they don't want to, as one can't backtrack on the selected friends. If the selected friend went offline, the player wouldn't be able to claim the rewards.
Many Fortnite Reddit users voiced their opinion about the Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event, stating how this particular feature was harmful rather than helpful. Reddit user u/SlightlyTYPIC4L said,
"I have 14 eligible friends, 8 of which haven’t play in 6+ months. Those aren’t coming back at all. The others were mobile players who don’t have access. Since I have those, and non are coming back, now more cosmetics I have to miss because of Reboot A Friend. I know they said they will be available at a later time, but who knows how long that will be."
Another user called u/Fireofthetiger writes,
"This is actually one of the stupidest things in this game, all it does is just promote making alt account. Who actually thinks that by pestering your friends to get a cosmetic for a game they abandoned for one reason or another, a cosmetic that they most likely do not give a rat's ass about, will somehow get them to continue playing the game?"
While most in the community voiced their frustration regarding this lockdown feature, one Twitter user pointed out that only active Fortnite users would want the Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event rewards.
Another Reddit user called u/Ill_Ratio_5682 said,
"This is such bull. I have 2 eligible. I have my cousins account friended, but he hasn't played in nearly a year and is in college and the other is someone who i don't remember friending and have no idea who they are. This is low epic. Giving free cosmetics, but only if you bring friends who hate the game back instead of just making the game fun. Such a scummy tactic to get new players."
Despite the outrage, some players are completing the Fortnite Reboot-A-Friend event and claiming their rewards. It's unclear whether Epic Games will soon remove this bottleneck, but this move has really stirred up Looper's nest.
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