If you want to go quickly, go alone. If you want to go far, go together. That proverb has evidently worked its charms on Fortnite’s best and brightest, because they’ve now organised themselves into an association. The Fortnite Professional Players Association, or FNPPA, is an independent collective of pro-level Fortnite players from around the world, and they have more on their minds than coming up with ways to deal with mechs.
Established earlier this month with a declaration sent from its recently set-up Twitter account, the FNPPA has a primary aim: opening a productive dialogue with Fortnite developer Epic in order to voice opinions on the game’s competitive scene.
It is, reads the statement, “meant to provide us a professional platform to voice our opinions on the future of the competitive scene of Fortnite, so that we may have the most productive dialogue possible with the developers.”
Now, anyone can get their views heard by Epic. There are many ways to do so, whether that’s tweeting, laying out a screed on its official forums, or writing all your opinions down on paper, folding it into a paper aeroplane, and floating it directly through an Epic developer’s window at night so it lands gently on their bedside table (don’t actually do this). But the FNPPA has a number of advantages.
For starters, voices are louder together. Just look at a football crowd – notoriously awful at whispering. Epic is more likely to take notice of a large group of players than a lone voice. As well as that, the FNPPA acts to channel concerns into a digestible, well-reasoned form, hopefully making it easier for Epic to parse them.
Today, we announce the FNPPA, or the Fortnite Professional Players Association. pic.twitter.com/KFO5vj6htd
— Fortnite Professional Players' Association (@FNPPA) October 4, 2019
Another strength of the FNPPA is its prestigious membership. The board consists of 16 leading players from the Fortnite scene, including those from Europe and North America. The group pledges to invite more players in the future.
To be clear, however, the FNPPA is not a legal entity. Rather, it’s a well-intentioned group that wants to rep Fortnite’s massive community. Whether it can work all those disparate views into a single cohesive one, and whether Epic will even listen, remains to be seen.
It’s worth noting that, for now at least, the FNPPA seems to be a more pro-minded group, focused on high-level play that impacts a smaller percentage of players.