Fortnite players revolt as the game's 'Roblox-ification' with baffling age ratings stops them accessing paid cosmetics

pcgamer.com:

Fans of part-time battle royale and full-time brand chimaera Fortnite are in an uproar right now, following an update to the game's Creative mode islands that's left players unable to equip some of their paid cosmetics.

The update in question is Fortnite's introduction of island age ratings. Released yesterday, the new patch has made it so that the game's islands—spaces mostly created by players where they have full creative reign—can now be given their own age ratings. That means island makers can, if they so choose, set a rating lower than Fortnite's own T for Teen ESRB rating on their created spaces.

All well and good, except Fortnite's head-spinning array of cosmetic items also have their own age ratings now. Try to equip a cosmetic rated T for Teen on an island with a lower E10+ or E rating, and you'll find that it's been replaced by a dull and miserly default skin, no matter how much you paid for it.

A lot of players are outraged by the change. Sure, Fortnite's main modes are still rated Teen—meaning you can equip whatever cosmetics you want in them without fuss—but there are still plenty of players who spend a bunch of time in islands that have found themselves unable to adorn themselves with their preferred doodad, gewgaw, or tchotchke. Many are understandably confused as to why Epic implemented this change in a way that prevented players from equipping T-rated skins instead of a way that prevented younger players from seeing them.

Frankly? They have a point. Some of the choices Epic has made when it comes to skin restrictions seem incomprehensible. Why, for instance, are the Lara Croft and Meowscles skins restricted to T for Teen islands while Michael Myers is universally acceptable? Why are loading screens—only