At Fortnite, a curious news from Gamescom 2018 is circulating, someone allegedly defecated in front of the Fortnite stand. But Epic now says that never happened. The story appears to be a gag that has gone viral from Twitter.
What does the curious news say? Apparently, someone stood in line in front of the Fortnite stand at Gamescom 2018 for so long that they made a little pile. They then packaged it in a bag and placed it on the ground.
In the crowd in front of the stand, visitors allegedly stepped into the bag and spread the feces all over the hall. It supposedly stank so badly that a child had to vomit.
The cleaning staff at Gamescom reportedly refused to clean it up, prompting the head of the stand to dispose of the waste himself.
Where does this story come from? Apparently, this story came through social networks. The origin of the story seems to be this image. It was shared on Thursday evening.
This story was also referenced by German influencers like the wildly popular Hand of Blood on Friday morning.
Shit story becomes an Urban Legend
From then on, the story became a kind of “Urban Legend” of Gamescom. It also made its way into Facebook groups.
Eventually, several German news websites – not just gaming portals – spread the story just as described in the image. This happened on Friday afternoon.
The story even landed in international magazines and forums.
No one seems to have a “real confirmation”. It appears to be one of those cases where no one actually saw the incident, but only heard about it from others.
What does Epic say? At Epic, the developers of Fortnite, PR chief Nick Chester says: “I can’t believe I have to tweet this, but it didn’t happen.” Chester had found the story in the international forum “Resetera”. Users from there had translated one of the German news articles.
What is behind this? Fortnite is currently the biggest game in the world. Long lines actually formed in front of the Epic stand at Gamescom. The basis of the story was likely a strong smell in the hall that demanded a graphic explanation.
The story is just plausible enough to believe, and absurd enough to spread. It was a self-runner that fits the image of Fortnite and Gamescom that many have.
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