Fortnite: Battle Royale is very popular among children and teenagers. YouTubers shamelessly exploit their naivety and ignorance to secure subscriptions with deceitful tricks, especially when an event is coming up, like now with Polar Peak.
What is the deal with the YouTubers? If you’re on YouTube looking for Fortnite during upcoming events, you might often think that things are really heating up. According to a report on PCGamer, a massive number of YouTubers are advertising with sensational titles and corresponding thumbnails to attract viewers.
For example, many videos were uploaded about the Eye in the Ice, the Polar Peak event, indicating that you should watch the video IMMEDIATELY because something super important is happening RIGHT NOW!
However, all these videos are nothing but fluff, lacking any current information. In the end, they only show the eye in the ice without anything actually happening.
Photoshop Tricks, Endless Countdowns and Fake Events
These are the tricks of the YouTubers: To achieve their goal of more subscribers and views, YouTubers often resort to cheap tricks. When nothing exciting is happening, they pretend something is about to start. The following methods, listed in the report by PC Gamer, are often used:
- Super crazy headlines: Typical for Fortnite event videos are exaggerated sensational headlines. Best with lots of exclamation marks and in uppercase. Also important: The words EVENT and NOW must often be present.
- Big red arrows in the thumbnail along with Photoshop: A thick red arrow signals that something is happening, even when nothing is happening.
- Fake countdowns: Especially during live broadcasts, untrustworthy YouTubers simply overlay a random timer counting down arbitrary numbers. This is supposed to suggest that the streamer knows exactly when it starts. But in the end, the countdown simply resets and starts over.
- Feigning enthusiasm: In addition to countdowns, YouTubers often go absolutely wild and seem almost to lose control from excitement. Hence, they blabber loudly and quickly about some superlatives and often shout exclamations like “Oh my God” and similar phrases.
- Extremely silly fake events: Particularly at the Eye in the Ice, very silly methods were used to suggest activity. Some YouTubers wildly waved their mouse or controller to suggest that the earth is shaking and the monster is breaking free RIGHT NOW.
- Alleged rewards: Additionally, YouTube clickbaiters often promise all kinds of rewards and winnings if you follow their channel or if the channel reaches a certain number of views.
The YouTube landscape on such topics is thus very similar to a noisy marketplace, where dozens of shady vendors supposedly offer fresh fish and miracle cures for all diseases and shout each other down.
On the PCGamer page, this video above was compiled that shows the worst examples:
This is what happened at the event: During the Polar Peak event, YouTubers capitalize on the “fear of missing out” (FOMO) among viewers.
Everyone knows that something will happen in Fortnite at this point – but no one knows exactly when. So, YouTubers suggest to the viewers that they have to be at this spot at all times – for fear of missing out.
That is why this approach is a problem: For most adult YouTube consumers, the tricks of the YouTubers are easy to see through. You have to be naive to fall for them. Or just be a child who has not yet learned to deal with such psychological tricks from scammers and clickbaiters.
The consequences are unpleasant, as one loud screamer gets undeserved traffic and thus attention and money. On the other hand, the ignorance of young people is shamelessly exploited, and they are taken advantage of.
What is YouTube doing about it? While YouTube does indeed take action against fraudulent schemes aimed at real money, they are less strict with scammers who “only” want attention and clicks.
Although YouTube prohibits misleading information in thumbnails and headlines in its guidelines, hardly any action seems to be taken against it.
