Elemental Ray proudly holds two titles in Fortnite (opens in new tab). Officially (or at least as official as you consider third-party site the Fortnite Tracker Network (opens in new tab)), he is the record-holder for solo kills. Less officially, he is the self-proclaimed (opens in new tab) “most hated man on Fortnite”. Putting two and two together, you might think Ray is some sort of godlike troll, gleefully mowing down player after player in Epic’s uber-popular battle royale game. But before this past weekend, Ray only held a 0.47 K/D and a 0.60% win ratio. So how’d he make the jump from bottom-rung to top dog? One word:
Opportunity.
You may have heard already that over the weekend, Fortnite experienced a special rocket launch event. Given that previous events (like a comet streaking across the sky and eventually crashing to the map) marked significant changes for the game, players were understandably excited. And, like the comet, this was only going to happen once. While some players set up their own private viewing parties, hidden away in the woods or rooftops, one particular match saw 48 players join together on the Fortnite map (opens in new tab) to construct a massive tower so they could get the best view.
That’s when Ray struck.
By destroying the foundation the other players had built, Ray caused all who were standing on it to fall to their death. Technically you could say the ground killed these poor folk, but it was Ray who got the credit.
Understandably, some people are upset about Ray’s tactics, and have taken to mocking / harassing him. Some are playful barbs – one tweet called him “the type of guy that pours the milk before the cereal” – while others are genuinely salty or questioning the validity of his achievement.
But that’s the way the cookie (or, more accurately, tower) crumbles; the risk you take playing in a sandbox like Fortnite’s is that, even if all the other kids agree to build something together, someone else can come along and ruin your fun. What Ray did could arguably be labeled unsportsmanlike, but he didn’t cheat. All’s fair in love and Fortnite.
Want to know what happened to the rocket after the viewing party was interrupted? Strangely enough, it’s resulted in all sorts of cracks in space-time (opens in new tab) appearing across the map. Nobody knows what they mean, but there are theories…
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