In Fortnite there is something new to talk about every day. While that usually has something to do with players being toxic, that's not the case this time around. Epic Games have reportedly offered players up to 5,000 V-Bucks to reveal their faces in the FNCS Finals, according to a competitive player known as GoodGuyNani. Strange as it may sound, there is a valid rationale behind it.
All competitors in most esports tournaments and competitions must provide a camera feed. However, since this was not included in official Epic Games guidelines, they chose to compensate users with V-Bucks in order to gain access to frame grabbing.
While many consumers thought it was a great deal, the problem is considerably more serious. Even though 5,000 V-Bucks might seem like a substantial sum, it doesn't even come close to providing adequate compensation. PeanutBrainTS, a user of the site, wrote:
“There is nothing stopping Epic from giving players actual compensation for using their webcams to improve their streaming. If the talents (players) use their platform together and do not take crumbs, they can get good income from it. Talent in this situation has incredible leverage here. ”
This sparked a debate over whether Fortnite's handling of the matter was appropriate. Since 5,000 V-Bucks cost around $40, users flooded Twitter with their opinions.
It's hard to conclude whether Epic Games was wrong, as both parties to the discussion have rational and legitimate claims. Can we even talk about remuneration, since V-Bucks can be generated for free on their backend? On the other hand, paying players in real money would have made sense. At the very least, they would have had the freedom to spend it as they saw fit.
