What does OG mean in Fortnite?

Fortnite is nothing short of a phenomenon. Developer Epic Games originally designed the game as a zombie survival or horde mode game. But its companion mode, the Battle Royale component, soon caught everyone’s attention and changed the industry.

As I sit in lobbies and listen to the youth of today, I hear things like “X person is an OG!” I have a general sense of what the term “OG” means and can put two and two together, but is there something deeper to glean here?

What makes someone an OG in Fortnite?

An “OG” in Fortnite is simply a player who has been there since the beginning. This would include those who had been playing since the game’s early access launch in September 2017 or the full release in June 2020. Players often flaunt their status with skins that originally came out in those early times.

Additionally, it also refers to the re-release of the original Fortnite Battle Royale map. The launch broke records as 44.7 million players logged in on November 4, 2023. The OG season will run for about a month.

Origins of the term “OG”

Give me a moment as I don my stereotypical out-of-touch white guy outfit. The term “OG” stands for “original gangster.” It originated with 1970s Los Angeles gangs according to Steve Champion and Anthony Ross in the essay “The Making of an O.G.: Transcending Gang Mentality” and was coined by the Crips. Members would use “OG” when writing which Set of the gang they belonged to, like “OG Eastside.”

The term grew in popularity as rival gangs and even those without gang affiliations began using it. Eventually, OG morphed into a term of respect for members who had been there from the beginning or older members. It could also be used to describe someone who was cut from a different cloth and stood out from the crowd. One could even abbreviate the already shortened “OG” into “G.”

In the same essay, Champion and Ross state that the usage and definition of OG have gotten away from its roots. They advocate for a reclamation of the term and lay out a new set of criteria for being an OG in addition to a new definition.

“O.G. – One who exemplifies commitment, struggle, intelligence, integrity, and wise counsel.”