Videogame Culture

Everything About Fiction You Never Wanted to Know.

"Videogame community? What's next, 'the necromancy community'?"

—Jack Thompson

The game behind the games. Like any other medium, gamers have a culture all their own, replete with jargon and its own brand of social maneuvering. Be warned: The stuff in here will inescapably ruin your eyesight, twist your spine, and keep America from winning the war, as it documents scarily obsessive gamer jargon that barely resembles English.



Tropes

  • Abandonware
    A piece of commercial software that's not for sale anymore.
  • AI Breaker
    Using a particular aspect of the computer's AI to "cheat" at a game.
  • After Action Report
    A type of Fan Fiction for strategy games that involves a blow-by-blow description of a campaign.
  • Allegedly Free Game
    Although advertised as "free", the game actually has restrictions that you need to pay to override.
  • Alt-Itis
    A malady that causes a player to compulsively create alternate accounts for a game.
  • American Kirby Is Hardcore
    When a Japanese game gets to America, the packaging and ads have to look Darker and Edgier or just angrier.
  • The Anime of the Game
    When a popular game is adapted into an anime.
  • Ascended Glitch
    When a glitch or bug is enjoyed so much it gets treated as a legitimate gameplay element.
  • Attract Mode
    The display a game shows when nobody is playing.
  • Awesome: Video Game Bosses
    Squeeeeeeee!
  • Awesome: Video Game Levels
    You know that part, where you have to jump that bit, and then ride that thing, and oh man, it's awesome!
  • Beta Test
    The video game testing process.
  • Button Mashing
    Don't know which button to press? Completely new to a Fighting Game? Mash the keys and pray!
  • Capcom Sequel Stagnation
    Publishers with an annoying tendency to release one game, and then release it again several times with minor changes before any wholesale Sequel ever comes along.
  • Catharsis Factor
    We kill stuff in video games to let off stress!
  • Challenge Gamer
    A gamer who focuses entirely on improving his skills in a game to the point of insanity, and often showing off about it.
  • Character Tiers
    Where fans argue about which characters are the best in a competitive game.
  • Check Point Starvation
    There are long periods of time between checkpoints or save points.
  • Cherry Tapping
    Purposely using weak attacks to bring down a powerful opponent, often for humiliation's sake.
  • Video Game Cheats
  • Complacent Gaming Syndrome
    The phenomenon where players stick to the settings or characters they are used to no matter what.
  • Console Wars
    The competition between electronics companies to increase their video game market share.
  • Copy Protection
    Ways of ensuring you own the game you're playing.
  • Country Switch
    Where the same game is released in different locations, and programmed to act differently depending on where it's being played.
  • Cross Player
    A person whose online avatar is of the opposite gender.
  • Daddy System
    A situation in which both a "next-gen" console and its predecessor are both still being made, sold, and developed for concurrently.
  • Damn You, Muscle Memory!
    Where you're used to playing with a particular control scheme, then start another game that uses one that's almost the same, and you keep getting killed because you're pressing the wrong button.
  • Default Setting Syndrome
    The game offers a wide variety of modes, options, and characters, but none of that matters because everyone's too lazy to use anything other than the defaults.
  • Demoscene
    A computer art subculture which specializes in producing demos, which are audiovisual presentations that are run in real-time on a computer or other platform.
  • The Dev Team Thinks of Everything
    Games which try and predict absolutely everything the user will try.
  • Digital Distribution
    Selling (or giving away) games entirely as Downloadable Content.
  • Disappointing Last Level
    Where a game suddenly has a huge dip in playability and rise in frustration as you near the end.
  • Downloadable Content
    Game data that is downloaded into the game that wasn't there originally.
  • Dueling Games
    A list of games that are considered imitations of each other.
  • Dummied Out
    Data, levels, characters etc. that are still in the game code but are normally inaccessible.
  • 8.8
    The stir created in the video game community when a high-profile game receives an unexpectedly high or low score from a major reviewer.
  • Emulation
    Running an emulator, which is a program that can play games on a platform or PC designed for other platforms.
  • Expansion Pack
    Extra material produced for an existing game, either by the game's original production company or by a third party.
  • E3
    Electronic Entertainment Expo, a major gaming event held in California every year.
  • Fake Balance
    When concepts are used which, on paper, make a game apper to be balanced, but in reality, it is not.
  • Fake Difficulty
    When developers use things like Luck-Based Mission and Trial and Error Gameplay to create the illusion of a challenge. Or, when it IS challenging, but for the wrong reasons.
  • Fake Longevity
    Things that pad out a game's length so they can brag about having "100 hours of gameplay!"
  • Fake Skill
    The player equivalent of Fake Difficulty.
  • Fan Remake
    A (generally freeware) game created by fans of the original game, which attempts to recreate the original game experience.
  • Fan Sequel
    Where the fan community creates a sequel to a work when the original creators won't.
  • Fan Translation
    The translation of games that only appeared in other languages (almost always Japanese) into the player's native language (almost always English).
  • Fanon
    The set of theories based on that material which, while they generally seem to be the "obvious" or "only" interpretation of canonical fact, are not actually part of the Canon.
  • Feelies
    Replicas of video game items or other relevant props that come packaged with a game.
  • Freemium
    You can pay to upgrade your Free account to a Premium account with more perks.
  • Four Point Scale
    A derisive term for the (supposed) inability of professional game reviewers to give any game a score under 6.0, even if they're nominally using a ten-point scale.
  • Gaiden Game
    A game that's part of a series but not a main entry: a side story or Perspective Flip.
  • Game Breaker
    Using some natural feature of a game in an unnatural way, resulting in a huge advantage or benefit.
  • Game Breaking Bug
    A bug that seriously cripples or destroys the ability to continue with a game.
  • Game Cola
    A website devoted to observing video games in a clever and humorous light.
  • GameFAQs
    One of the largest video game FAQ, cheat, and walkthrough websites in existence.
  • Game Genie
    A cheating peripheral most prominent in the 1980s and 1990s.
  • Game Mod
    Alterations to a game that were not made by the game's license holder.
    • Game Maker
      A software "toolkit" that usually contains a pre-designed framework for a particular type of game, allowing that game to be made more easily by fans.
  • Game Music
    Video game soundtracks.
  • Game Over
    HAHA U R DEAD!
  • Gameplay Derailment
    When a bug or feature is found after a game is released which seriously changes the way it is played by a large segment of players.
  • Gameplay Roulette
    A franchise where every game falls into a different gameplay genre.
  • Game Shark
    A console cheat device most prominent around the turn of the millenium.
  • Gamer Chick
    The lone female in a male gaming clan, who's often portrayed as tomboyish, confrontational, and self-aware of her gender, and often can whup the other gamers' asses.
  • Gaming Clan
    A team of people that play multiplayer games together.
  • Giant Bomb
    A Review, industry news site with an open-source gaming wiki.
  • GIRL
    Guy In Real Life
  • God Modders
    Relative newcomers to a game who nevertheless act as if they know everything about it, and often rely on cheats or exploits to win.
  • God Mode
    Cheat-based invincibility.
  • The Golden Age of Video Games
    The period from the appearance of Space Invaders in 1978 through The Great Video Game Crash of 1983.
  • Good Bad Bugs
    A bug in a video game which ends up being fun or useful.
  • Good Bad Translation
    A translation which is So Bad It's Good, and ends up being so popular that better-made remakes will refuse to correct it.
  • "Grand Theft Auto" Effect
    The seemingly endless repeats of songs heard in a video game makes a song distracting in other environments because of the association with said video game.
  • The Great Player-Versus-Player Debate
    Whether it's better to allow players to attack each other anywhere, only in certain areas, or not at all.
  • The Great Video Game Crash of 1983
    A sad day in history.
  • Hit and Run Tactics
    Defeating a strong but slow enemy by repeatedly moving away and throwing weak long-range attacks at him.
  • Hollywood Game Design
    Where TV and movies do not do the research when they depict video games being made.
  • Import Gaming
    The trials and tribulations of getting a game meant to be played in one country to be played elsewhere.
  • Indie Game
    A game developed without the backing of a major publisher.
  • It's Easy, So It Sucks
    I miss all that Fake Difficulty, dangit!
  • It's Hard, So It Sucks
    RAWWWWWWRRRR!! Games are supposed to be fun, and frustration isn't fun!
  • It's Short, So It Sucks
    Any game less than 100 hours can't be worth the money I paid for it!
  • It Gets Better
    Games that start out very slow, with lots of Exposition.
  • Just One More Level
    The game is quite addictive. Really, really addictive.
  • Killer App
    A game that's so good it's a reason to buy the system it's on.
  • Lady Not-Appearing-In-This-Game
    Shoehorning a sexy woman in a commercial to trick players into buying the game ie assuming most gamers are sexually frustrated.
  • Leeroy Jenkins
    An inexperienced gamer who has no patience for complex plans and prefers to rush in and kill something, generally screwing up the plan entirely.
  • Loot Drama
    An item that's so rare, powerful, and unique that gamers will do horrible things to get it.
  • Lord British Postulate
    If it exists as a living creature in an MMORPG, someone, somewhere, will try to kill it.
  • Machinima
    Movies made with images from game engines.
  • Machinomics
    Like Machinima, above, but of static images instead of movies, in a Web Comic format.
  • Macrogame
    Some part of a game that carries over between multiple playthroughs or multiple players.
  • Madden Curse
    Whoever appears on the cover of the latest edition of the Madden NFL series will either not be up to snuff in the upcoming NFL season, or will suffer a major injury and be sidelined for a year.
  • Manual Misprint
    The game manual is wrong. Hilarity ensues.
  • Marth Debuted in Smash Bros
    Where a character's crossover appearance in a game will be exported before the character's actual original appearance, confusing people as to where he/she actually originated.
  • Master Console
    A means to issue commands or change game settings, which can ostensibly allow cheating.
  • Media Watchdog
    A government-appointed body whose job it is to field complaints about media and censure or penalize the creators if deemed necessary.
    • Banned in China
      If a repressive government doesn't like it, it's gonna get banned.
    • Moral Guardians
      Groups of people who want to protect children from being exposed to some level of sex, violence, etc.
  • Metagame
    With competitive games, the collection of strategies in common use; how everyone else is playing.
  • Microtransactions
    You can spend real-world money for individual pieces of in-game content.
  • Mission Pack Sequel
    A sequel that's really just extra levels or content for the original game.
  • Most Annoying Sound
    If Baby Mario doesn't stop crying right now there is going to be some major child abuse going on.
  • Most Wonderful Sound
    DADADA-DAAA-DA-DA-DADADAAAAAH!
  • Most Gamers Are Male
    Bring on the Fan Service.
  • Most Writers Are Male
    Er... ditto?
  • Multi Platform
    A game is developed for release on multiple gaming platforms.
  • Munchkin
    A player who plays the game to "win" at any cost, even if that isn't the point of the game.
  • Murder Simulators
    The allegation that (for example) because games feature killing, they are the cause of increased homicide amongst video game players.
  • Nerf
    A change to a game that weakens a particular item, ability, or tactic.
  • Non-Linear Sequel
    Although called a sequel, the second game may not share much with the first other than shared setting and references.
  • Noob
    A novice at a particular game, usually with negative connotations.
  • Noob Bridge
    A point in a game where a unique and unusual aspect of the controls is necessary, frequently leaving inobservant gamers stuck.
  • No Scope
    The act of shooting a Sniper Rifle or other scoped weapon without a scope. Requires considerable skill in some games.
  • Obvious Beta
    A rushed piece of software that is full of bugs.
    • Perpetual Beta
      A piece of software receiving regular support that remains full of bugs.
  • Oddball in the Series
    One game in the series which is the "odd man out" for whatever reason.
  • Old Man Murray
    A vastly influential critical video game website.
  • Open Roleplaying Decay
    As MMORPGs get more players, the game eventually mutates into something the original members don't like.
  • Pause Scumming
    Abusing the pause button by pausing at a specific time or pausing repeatedly.
  • PC vs. Console
    Similar to the Console Wars, this is the never-ending fight between PC gamers and console gamers.
  • Pick Up Group
    Where an MMORPG player broadcasts a request for other gamers to join him and form a party to go adventuring.
  • Pinball Spinoff
    When a company creates a pinball game based on a successful franchise.
  • Player-Generated Economy
    Where games have a trading system that the players develop.
  • Player Killing
    The act of killing another player's avatar in a multiplayer game, generally used in cooperative games to denote "unnecessary" kills.
  • Player Preferred Pattern
    In a game with many ways to play, most players may still decide on the same specific paradigm.
  • Player Tic
    You keep doing things in video games even when they aren't necessary.
  • Play Every Day
    Some games would rather you play a few minutes today, tomorrow, and the next day than ten hours right now.
  • Polygon Ceiling
    When a series goes from 2D to 3D, it often has issues.
  • Polished Port
    When a game is ported from one platform to another, things go wonderfully right.
  • Porting Disaster
    When a game is ported from one platform to another, things go horribly wrong.
  • The Problem with Licensed Games
    Games based on existing licensed properties suck.
  • Product Facelift
    When an older system is revamped into something physically smoother and sleeker to boost sales.
  • Quicksand Box
    An Wide Open Sandbox game that fails to give you any indication about what to do next.
  • Rage Quit
    When you're about to lose, you just quit the game in anger rather than actually see the Game Over screen.
  • Rainbow Pimp Gear
    When players equip their characters with gear solely based on stat bonuses without consideration to how it will look on them.
  • Rated "M" for Money
    Developers include blood, guts and sexual content to target the hardcore gaming market.
  • Reformulated Game
    When a game changes radically between its various versions.
  • Region Coding
    The assignment of a number representing a geographic region to a DVD or console.
  • Remade for the Export
    Where a game that was never released in a specific region is remade or ported to a new system specifically to be localized.
  • Replay Value
    A measure of how fun a game is after you've beaten it.
  • Retro Gaming
    An interest in playing older video games.
  • Revenue Enhancing Devices
    Design features that seem solely designed to ensure increased profit for the manufacturer without adding any value for the consumer.
  • Reviews Are the Gospel
    Video gamers tend to place more stock in professional reviews of works than fans of any other medium.
  • Rule of Fun
    It doesn't have to make sense, as long as it's fun.
  • Ryona
    Fetish videos about defeating or beating up female characters in fighting and survival games.
  • Save Scumming
    Save the game often, and if you do something wrong, just reload the save.
  • Scrappy Mechanic
    A gameplay mechanic in an otherwise fun/enjoyable game that generates a sizable Hatedom.
  • Script Breaking
    Doing something which is technically allowed but messes up the assumed order of events, often resulting in an Unwinnable game.
  • Scrub
    A player of a competitive videogame who adamantly believes that his or her "house rules" should apply to everyone to promote his or her view of "fair play". Most of the said "house rules" are things he or she makes up on the spot and his or her view of "fair play" is "as long as I win 95% of the time".
  • Self-Imposed Challenge
    A playthrough of a game wherein the player plays under an restriction not required by the game itself in an attempt to increase the difficulty and replay value.
  • Sequel Displacement
    Where one sequel ends up being considered where a series "begins" and earlier games tend to be ignored or forgotten.
  • Sequelphobic
    A subculture that is so jaded by Sequelitis and Capcom Sequel Stagnation that its members are predisposed to dislike any product that is a sequel, regardless of its actual value.
  • Sequence Breaking
    Where you can do things in a different order than intended, skipping past "required" events or items.
  • Shovelware
    Software that's so low-quality, you'll wonder how (and why) it was released at all.
  • Sidetracked by the Gold Saucer
    A mini-game or secondary quest that's so addicting and fun, you forget about the main game.
  • "Stop Having Fun!" Guys
    An expert player who always plays to win and can't understand why anyone would play the game to have, you know, fun.
  • Spawn Camping
    A tactic common to "Stop Having Fun" guys whereby the player hangs around spawn points killing players as they have just reentered the game.
  • Spiritual Successor
    A type of sequel that is not part of the same world or story as its predecessor, but is nonetheless considered to be a successor because of shared creators or themes.
  • Strategy Guide
    A printed guide stuffed full of information on a game and purty pictures.
  • Succession Game
    A form of multiplayer gameplay where, instead of competing against one another, the players take turns controlling a single faction.
  • Super Title 64 Advance
    The title of a game that indicates what system it's released for.
  • That One Boss
    Dear God, how the heck do I beat this guy?!?
  • That One Level
    Oh God, with the lava and the Spikes of Doom and the Medusa heads and AHHHH!
  • That One Player
    Someone who's so skilled at a game that whenever anyone plays with or against him it's no longer any fun.
  • That One Sidequest
    Yeah, there's that great sword... but seriously, less than zero seconds on a Chocobo race?
  • The Tetris Effect
    The game draws you in so much, you begin see its elements in Real Life.
  • Tournament Play
    Professional video game players in national or international competitions for real money.
  • Translation Style Choices
    The various ways that companies can choose to approach the finicky business of localization.
  • Treasure Hunter
    A player who's more interested in the monetary value of items than their actual impact on gameplay.
  • Try Everything
    EXTRA! Frustrated gamer throws up hands, just tries using every single inventory item and skill to continue!
  • The Unexpected
    A strange or unknown character makes an appearance in a video game adaptation of a franchise.
  • Urban Legend of Zelda
    A video game rumor that seems almost plausible and just won't die.
  • Vaporware
    Computer or video game software or hardware that's constantly hyped but never seems to actually be released.
  • Video Game 3D Leap
    When a Video Game series makes the leap from sprite graphics to Polygonal Graphics.
  • Video Game Caring Potential
    The game presents characters in such a way to make you care about them past their utility in the gameplay.
  • Video Game Cruelty Potential
    The potential a video game has for the player to do awful, horrible things to enemies or even friendly and neutral NPCs.
  • Videogame Demake
    A game is voluntarily remade to look and play like it comes from an older generation.
  • Video Game Perversity Potential
    The tendency of some players to use a game's editing tools to create porn.
  • Video Game Movies
    An index page of all of the video game movies with their own pages.
  • Walkthrough
    A document that shows how to play through a game and win.
  • Weekend Warriors
    Part time gamers.
Retrieved from "https://allthetropes.org/wiki/Videogame_Culture?oldid=1835662"