It's you against the system. You've prepared your surroundings from computer to TV to your hand-selected video game chair. You've earned the right to play your game of choice, games that survived the wrath of parents, politicians, special interest groups, and the clergy.
Calling All Gamers
Gamers compete worldwide, able to simultaneously take on 32 players on a public server. Clans establish their own identities and marketing strategies - some friendly, some hostile. Admission into the clan is through invitation or through tryouts.
Gaming slang is linked to Internet slang, countless words coined by clans/communities to refer to actions, events and situations. Words like gaft (to steal); gach (destroy); yahootie (clumsy, dumb); wabalaba (hello); and gobb (guilty of being boring) are part of an ever-growing slang dictionary.
Games like World of Warcraft have millions of players, divided into realms. Virtual economies allow people to pay real money for virtual property/items.
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Expanding Culture
Video games are everywhere - stored in cell phones and carried in a pocket. The first video game TV show was GamePro TV, shown on Spike TV and MTV; the first channel dedicating to video game culture was G4, launched in 2002.
If you leave your video game chairs long enough to hit the big screens, you've followed video games like Mortal Kombat, Tomb Raider, and Resident Evil as they broke into the movies and proceeded on to sequels.
Video game music began with Buckner and Garcia's Pac-Man Fever in the early '80s. Sound samples from video games became part of instrumentals. Video game references can be found in hip-hop songs, and real-life rappers have been featured in video games. This competitive culture is still on the rise, their communities growing stronger.
