Sony has announced a partnership with Epic Games and TIME Studios to bring an educational experience to Fortnite, featuring Dr. Martin Luther King.
The ‘March Through time’ event is intended to celebrate the legacy of Dr. Martin Luther King, who was instrumental in the 1960’s American civil rights movement. Fortnite players will be able to explore a recreation of the United States National Mall from 1963. There, they’ll be able to watch a screening of Dr. King’s original ‘I Have a Dream’ speech.
The experience has been developed as part of the Fortnite Creative community. Users ‘ChaseJackman’, ‘GQUanoe’, ‘XWDFr’, and ‘YU7A’ are credited with concepting the educational map. Alongside the mall, there will also be a museum that contains points of interest with teachings about the American civil rights movement.
‘We move forward when we work together’
A Sony blog post announcing the event reads: ‘Civil Rights is a struggle we still fight for to this day, and it has benefited from the collective efforts of millions of people around the world. We hope the March Through Time experience inspires the community to promote mutual respect and empathy towards all people no matter their race, religion, or orientation.’
Bizarrely, those who log into the event will find quests to complete. Apparently, these quests carry an ‘important reminder’ pulled from Dr. King’s iconic speech: that ,‘we move forward when we work together’. As a reward for completing these quests, players will unlock the ‘D.C. 63’ spray for their item lockers.
While it’s obviously important to recognise the power of educating young users through video games, gamifying an important historical event like this feels like it undermines any educational value it provides.
Time Magazine has collaborated with the Estate of Martin Luther King to bring this experience together. It’s also in collaboration with the American Family Insurance and the DuSable Museum of African American History.
The event is live right now and can be found by clicking on ‘March Through Time’ from the Discovery menu in Fortnite. Alternatively, you can join by using the island code 3815-8892-143.
Featured Image Credit: Epic Games