Fortnite game-mode mocks Russo-Ukrainian War, leaves fans in disbelief

On February 24, 2022, Russia invaded Ukraine, and while geopolitics raged on, the Fortnite community did its best to help raise awareness of the dire situation. Epic Games even did a fundraiser, which saw a whopping $144 million raised via Item Shop sales.Owing to the situation, when Chapter 3, Season 2's trailer went live, not everyone was happy that the season was 'war-themed.'

Nevertheless, given that the developers spent months (perhaps years) working on it, no one could have foreseen such a situation to arise.

Nearly a year later, with the war still raging, the community is again furious about specific 'Creative' differences that are prevalent in-game. Over the last few hours, numerous accounts have reported a 'distasteful' Creative Map that was allowed to be featured on the Discovery Tab.

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"Welcome to Fortnite" - The state of Discovery

Creative Mode is where players can try out different custom-made user experiences. According to Tim Sweeney, Epic Games is focused on improving this mode, given how much time the community spends playing these custom maps. But of late, things haven't been great.

Keeping aside how difficult it's been for creators to have their maps show up on the Discovery Tab, the maps that have been showcased are abysmal at best. The latest such map (Ru$$ia vs Ukriane) has the Fortnite community up in a frenzy.

Given the prevalent situation, it has lit a powder keg that has been building for some time. Notable users such as EchoBuilds, ShiinaBR, and FNChiefAKo, among others, have taken to Twitter to showcase their anger, which by all means is justified. Here's what they had to say:

The map in question is not 'half-baked,' but nothing makes it stand out from the other hundreds of similar creations, if not thousands. However, given the picture used to showcase the map, it stood out for all the wrong reasons.

As of the time of writing this article, the Creative Map is still available in Fortnite. While the picture used to showcase it has been replaced/changed, the map itself has not been removed. While having a map called "Ru$$ia vs Ukriane" in itself is problematic, the issue goes beyond this one facet.

According to several creators, maps they've spent weeks/months creating do not show up on the Discovery Tab, but maps like the ones above do. Content creators such as SypherPK have even openly spoken about the matter at hand at great length. That said, how can this be fixed?

Fortnite's Discovery Tab needs to be re-discovered

Given the benefit of the doubt that Epic Games is actively looking into the problems at hand, the progress made (if any) has been slow. According to Fortnite community members, 'clickbait' and 'tasteless' maps must be snuffed out.

They should not be allowed to show up on Discovery or be given an 'eligibility' clearance from the developers. While everyone is free to create custom-made experiences, without parameters in place, the user experience will be below average.

If the Unreal Editor for Fortnite (Creative 2.0) is to be the game's future, in its current state, that future looks bleak. Epic Games will have to fine-tune the 'selection' process and create failsafes to ensure that what is happening now will not be repeated.

Aside from the fact that Discovery is filled with 'questionable' maps, it blocks 'good' creators and stops them from having their hard work put on display. This, in turn, disrupts the entire Creative ecosystem on a large scale. Here's an idea proposed by MTG_Apollo to fix the issues plaguing Creative.

With all that said and done, with Creative 2.0 coming sometime in March, Epic Games should fix the underlying problems that are present. With Tim Sweeney pushing for a better creator-based experience in-game, a good place to start would be a functional Discovery Tab with better moderation/eligibility benchmarks for maps.

Hopefully, the developers are working on a solution to resolve this issue. Given that it's been haunting the game for some time, the sooner it gets fixed, the better for everyone.

About the author

Matthew Wilkins is one of the top writers at Sportskeeda Gaming, having crossed 16 million views in just over three years. Matthew currently writes for Fortnite, MMO, and other sections as well. Speaking with developers of the Total War franchise and reviewing numerous AAA games have been key milestones in his career so far.

Matthew is a Communicative English Major, and his skills and experience have helped him dig deep in the world of esports and gaming journalism. He prioritizes accuracy and ensures nothing is second-guessed. Being connected to the community is an important aspect of his life, as it helps him keep track of credible insiders and leakers to be among the first to report on breaking news.

Matthew grew up playing video games, with Age of Empires serving as his gateway into the world. Currently, he leans towards real-time as well as turn-based strategy games, 4x, and similar genres, and frequently binge-plays solo or multiplayer titles on PC. His love for Red Dead Redemption 2 and Stellaris are unparalleled, matched perhaps only by Fortnite. Matthew is also a vocalist and performs a variety of genres like Glam Rock, Pop, Heavy Metal, and Rock when not writing.

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Edited by Ashmita Bhatt