Interest Insider

Did you know playing video games makes you smarter? Well, that may or may not be true, but certain games certainly can increase hand-eye coordination and problem solving skills. The first games I played were mostly educational: Pajama Sam, Reader Rabbit, Math Blaster!, the Tycoon series. Pajama Sam taught me adventure and puzzle solving. Reader Rabbit taught me how to, well, read. Math Blaster! was obviously about blasting math problems. And the Tycoon series taught me how to smoothly run a zoo or theme park so I could smash my entrepreneurial dreams someday. Except, my tigers usually ended up eating people and my guests were hardly ever happy. But whether it’s kids video games from the 90s to today’s games like Call of Duty, World of Warcraft or Civilization VI; gaming has remained one of the most popular past times for decades.

Gamers today are more diverse than ever. When someone says they like video games, it could mean a lot of different things. Perhaps they are a forty-five year old mom who likes to play Candy Crush, or a thirteen year old League of Legends prodigy. Or perhaps your grandpa who likes to play strategy games, like Age of Empires. In the past the word ‘gamer’ brought on the image of a young man or teenager who is probably socially awkward, keeps to themselves and maybe lives in his mom’s basement. While that stereotype was never true, it is especially not true today. The gaming community today is broad and inter-connected. People of all walks of life, races, genders and personality types come together over the shared love of gaming. It’s in these online worlds where gamers can forget who they are in real life and engage in a community that transcends nationality or geography, religion or faith, status or prestige.

As gaming becomes more popular and accepted in the mainstream, it’s a good idea to have some insider knowledge on what ‘gaming’ means. If you find yourself talking to a self-proclaimed gamer, here are some questions you might ask to get them talking:

Questions to Get a Gamer Talking

What platform do you play on: PC, console, mobile?

A great starter question which will tell you where they game. Their answer might Xbox, PlayStation, Nintendo Switch or maybe they play on their laptop. The difference lies in how they are playing, with a mouse and keyboard, a controller or with their thumbs. There are more than these three platforms, but this will cover most gamers.

What genre of games do you usually play?

This is a pretty big question, but most gamers have a couple game types they prefer most that they can tell you about. Answer might range from shooters/FPS, MOBAs, MMORPGs, single player RPGs, RTS, and so on. Don’t worry, you can find out more about what these mean below.

How did you get into gaming?

Everyone has a story of how they started gaming. For myself, my brother and I used to sit and watch my dad play World of Warcraft for hours until he got us our own account to play with him. This can definitely bring back some happy, nostalgic memories.

Do you watch any eSports, steamers or YouTubers?

Just like football, or tennis, or any other mainstream sport, games have their own professional leagues. There are also tons of streamers and YouTubers online who live stream or record themselves playing games that have massive followings. Chances are, the gamer you are talking to watches at least one of them.

Have you made any friends gaming?

Like I talked about above, gaming is a great connector. No longer are people limited to being friends with the kid on the block who happens to be the same age as them. My brother and I met another pair of brothers from Sweden while playing Minecraft eight years ago and we are best friends to this day.

Video Game Lingo

Game Types:

*Note: All of the acronyms in these lists are said (e.g. RPG = ar-pee-gee), with the exception of MOBA which is said like moh-BA.

RPG: Role-Playing Game; These are games like Skyrim, The Witcher 3, Assassin’s Creed or Legend of Zelda.

MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game; Examples would be World of Warcraft, Guild Wars 2, The Elder Scrolls Online or Final Fantasy XIV.

MOBA: Multi-player Online Battle Arena; The two most popular are League of Legends and Defense of the Ancients 2 (known as Dota 2).

Shooter/FPS: A shooter game; First Person Shooter. Of course, CoD (Call of Duty) falls into this category, as well as Counter Strike: Global Offense (CS:GO), Valorant and many more.

PvP: Player versus Player: This is a sub-genre. You could have a PvP MMORPG (I know, O.M.G.). Most online games have a PvP aspect to them.

PvE: Player versus Environment (player vs the video game or AI). This is another sub-genre and all single-player games are PvE (since you aren’t playing against someone). But there are PvE aspects to lots of online games as well.

BR: Battle Royal. These are typically shooters in which a large amount of players, usually somewhere between 60-100 players, duke it out to be the last man (or team) standing in a massive arena. Think Fortnite.

RTS: Real Time Strategy. RTS games include titles like Age of Empires, StarCraft, Warcraft 3, Company of Heroes, and many more.

*Note: There are more game genres than these, but I wanted to give you the ones people typically throw around in confusing acronyms.

Other:

Boss: A powerful enemy.

Noob: Newbie; someone new to the game. Used as a derogatory for someone who is bad at the game.

Co-op: Cooperative play; players can team up together.

NPC: Non-Player Character.

AFK: Away From Keyboard.

Steam: Game launcher/platform where many computer gamers buy and launch their games.

Spawn: Where the player, enemy or item appearing in game. Also refers to the spot where they appeared.

Micro-transaction: A transaction that occurs in-game. Typically to buy power-up, skip waiting mechanics or to buy cosmetics items.

Nerf: When a part of the game is reduced in power by developers.

Buff: When a part of the game is increased in power by developers. Also refers to spells or auras players can use to temporarily increase their characters power.

Grinding or Farming: Doing an action in game repeatedly to gain experience or resources.

Competitive Gaming – eSports is Here to Stay

Like we discussed above, video games have professional leagues, just like basketball or hockey. In fact, the eSports industry as a whole is valued at somewhere around $1.5 billion in 2023. That still pales in comparison to the American football industry. But, in 2021 the prize pool for the winners of The International (Dota 2 event) was $40 million dollars! That’s a lot of cash. And it’s not just Dota 2, the great thing about eSports is that many games have their own competitive scene. Call of Duty has it’s own pros who get paid to be the best. The same goes for World of Warcraft world first raiders, and League of Legends pro teams. In fact, Buffalo Wild Wings partnered with Riot Games (the makers of League of Legends) so you can go enjoy a beer and some wings and watch your favorite League of Legends team play on the TV right alongside the New York Giants or the Packers. People playing video games professionally is real, and it’s here to stay. Someday, competitive video gaming might be as widely watched and followed as football.

Storytelling – Video Game as Art

Gaming has been associated with laziness, social isolation, and today, even violence. But if you will open your mind with me for a moment, I believe anyone can enjoy gaming in some form. Although some games are more ‘mindless’ than others, many games are truly works of art. Particularly these days, video games are just storytelling that you – the player – gets to experience first hand. It’s like reading a book or watching a movie, but instead you control what happens and what you do, where you go. Whether you are a gun-slinging cowboy in Red Dead Redemption 2, becoming a Jedi in Knights of the Old Republic or surviving a zombie apocalypse in The Last of Us, video games have a story to tell. Some of the best ones even make it to main stream media – like the Last of Us TV show because they are just that good. And today, the barrier to gaming is lower than ever.

A Brief History of Gaming

Gaming as a whole is still relatively young. The first ‘video game’ can be traced back to 1958 when the game Tennis for Two was created by physicist William Higinbotham. Later on gaming moved into the arcade era in the 70s. This is all your big machines with games like Space Invaders and Pac-Man. As technology advanced, those big machines were packed into small boxes. Enter: the home console revolution. Now kids and parents alike could play games in the home with systems like the Atari 2600 or Nintendo Entertainment System (NES). During the 90s, we saw what is referred to as the ‘Golden Age of Consoles’ where iconic titles like Mario and Sonic the Hedgehog were born. During the mid-late 90s advancement in graphic technology allowed for 3D graphics. Then shortly after that, online and multiplayer gaming started to gain a foothold with games like EverQuest. During the early 2000’s, the Xbox 360 and PlayStation 2 were released. They really brought gaming to the forefront and to this day, the PlayStation 2 is still the most sold console of all time with 155 million units sold. Then during the 10’s we saw the rise of mobile gaming, with games such as Candy Crush and Angry Birds. That brings us to today. As eSports and new, exciting technologies like augmented reality and virtual reality start to become more accessible, there will be lots more to experience in the story of gaming.

3 Games To Try For New Gamers

Top 3 Games to Try for New Gamers

• Minecraft
  • I’m sure you have heard of this game, it is the most popular video game of all time. And there’s a good reason for that. It’s easy to pick up and understand. It’s a sandbox game, which means you can just do whatever you want! Build a house, go spelunking or fight monsters. You create your own fun in this pixelated game and sometimes, simplicity is key.
• Portal
  • This game is pretty low-stress and so is great for noobs. Alongside that, it can be played co-op so your gamer friend or co-worker can easily grab a controller and help you out. This game challenges you to use portals to solve increasingly complex problems to get to the next level.
• World of Warcraft
  • Some might disagree with me, but I think this game IS a good game for new gamers. They may disagree with me because they have a preconceived notion of how the game should be played. In reality, you can play this game almost like a sandbox game. Create a character, do some quests and involve yourself in the story. Or, roam around collecting pets. Perhaps you want to just pick flowers. You do you, the World (of Warcraft) is your oyster.

Top 3 Gifts for Gamers

• Accessories
  • Gamers love to accessorize, too! But for video games we are talking more about keyboards and headsets rather than a fancy watch or a nice purse. Look up ‘gaming peripherals’ on Google or ask your gamer friend if they are in need of a new mouse, mouse pad, or something similar.
• Merch
  • Just like a sports fan, some gamers love to rep their favorite team or game with a hoodie or shirt. But other great merch ideas might be stickers, socks or action figures. Make sure it’s something from the game they like to play, though. If you get a Fortnite shirt for someone who plays Metal Gear Solid, you’ll probably get a confused look.
• Gift Card
  • This is an easy win if you don’t really know what to get them, they don’t have a ‘favorite’ game or they would prefer to get something in-game.

Final Thoughts

I would be lying if I said I’m not a little biased towards gaming, because I am. But that being said, I do believe gaming is a great past-time that most everyone can enjoy. If anything, I hope you learned something so you can talk to that gamer friend, neighbor, boss, nephew or barber of yours. If you give any of them a try, let me know how it went and if you had fun. Thanks for reading and talk again soon.