The Strange Language of Computer Games

games, online games, free online games, computer games, MMORPG, multiplayer games
By Victor Epand
Computer games and video games have spawned another language - one which is littered with either words that have meaning only within the game itself, or have a specific meaning to the game that would be difficult to understand outside of the game, or a mass of acronyms and abbreviations that make an average conversation between two gamers look as though somebody took away all almost the vowels, shook the letters up together in a big box, ditched about half of them, and then took two or three out randomly at a time to construct a sentence.

The test of a true gamer would be to understand a sentence which might run along the lines of 'lol, pwned - is drop bop? Do CoT later? Brb' - what looks like garbled rubbish. Translated into proper English the sentence might read - 'That was funny - that character just got heavily defeated. Can you sell the item it dropped, or will it be limited to whoever picks it up? Shall we do the part of the game called 'Caverns of Time' later? Hang on a minute, I just have to go - I'll be back in a minute.'

The reason that gamers use abbreviated words in this way is partly because it saves time when you type the same few words a great deal of the time, and also, it means that you can talk or communicate more quickly. This allows gamers to discuss tactics whilst very busily involved in a complex battle.

Many gamers are now starting to use advances in internet technology to use voice communications instead, which can improve game play when working as part of a team. Each player has a microphone and either headphones or speakers, and can then talk to the other players, wherever on the planet they may be. The problem with this, of course, is that in a very busy battle there can be a great many people in a group - sometimes as many as fifty, and voice communications becomes impossible. A few text commands using key words is still a preferred method in these situations.

To provide a few explanations of some of the most common video game abbreviations, the word 'lol' is an acronym for 'laugh out loud' and is used to express humour, usually in response to something funny that someone has said or done. Extensions to this are 'rofl' which means 'rolling on the floor laughing' which denotes great humour, and there are other, less repeatable alternatives beyond this.

The word 'pwned' has a strange heritage, and comes from a misspelling on an old, but very popular computer game. The word was supposed to be 'owned' and denoted the fact that one team or the other had conquered territory and now occupied, or owned, the opponent's base. This has remained a popular word to use, and now refers to a situation where a player, monster or group has been conquered or defeated, at which point they are said to have been 'pwned'. 'I pwned you' would mean 'I have defeated you', and is usually said within the context of either humour or derision.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about kids toys, dolls, and video games. You will find the best marketplace for kids toys, dolls, and used video games at these sites for toys, computer games and dolls.

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The Political Implications of Computer Games

By Victor Epand

There has been a great deal of argument over the years as to whether computer games and video games have any meaning whatsoever, or whether they are a mindless form of entertainment. Comments and arguments are frequently made on both sides in support of their own arguments and opinions, and of course, demonstrating how the opposing group's arguments are untrue. Those opposed to computer games argue that computer games are mostly concerned with violence, and that simply spending hours each day destroying and killing anything that moves, and most things that don't, is not only meaningless, but more likely to encourage aggression and violence in the real world. With the increases and advances in graphical realism made by possible with today's fast computer processing, the argument against computer games and video games continues with the suggestion that so much of this meaningless violence and aggression is realistic that it may de-sensitize the players, so that in the real world they have less of a resistance to violence should it occur.

The argument against this is that although video games years ago were fairly meaningless, and that the idea was very simply to destroy anything which moved, the concept of video gaming has developed so much that it is no longer a passive activity in which players become mindless zombies learning to attack anything they see. Video games today have far more complex storylines and background context in to which the characters are placed. It is no longer a clear cut divide between the 'good' side and the 'bad side', and players may find that they are in situations in which no easy decision can be made as to who is good and who isn't. In this situation, the player needs to make a number of moral judgements, considering the ramifications of any action they take.

Often in video games today players have a choice of which faction, group or race they play, and it becomes easier to identify with the various factions within a game, and the players learn to see things from more than just one aside. Very often there are political, religious or other social divide which separates characters within a storyline, and by investigating scenarios more fully, carrying out research, talking to people and exploring the situation as fully as possible, only then can layers start to untangle the situation and make decisions as to what they should do.

Again, unlike older games, there is often no right answer or correct course of action, simply alternative consequences to any action that a player does decide to take. By killing one person and helping another, the social and political ramifications will spread wide and far, and the true consequences may not be realised until much farther down the line. This increase in focus on such deep matters makes modern gaming a world away from anything mindless, and it can be argued that modern video games may actually have a role to play in helping people to understand the wider story of a real world situation.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about kids toys, dolls, and video games. You will find the best marketplace for kids toys, dolls, and used video games at these sites for toys, computer games, dolls.

Three Types of Multiplayer Computer Games

By Victor Epand

From the very earliest computer games, one of the most popular aspects that helped to make them so popular was that they could support multiple players, meaning that more than one person could play the game at the same time. This meant that people could play against each other in competition, so that it was not wholly a player versus computer environment. Most people enjoy competing against friends and family, and reveling in success. Most of the highly popular computer and video games available today are multiplayer games.

The idea of multiplayer has three different meanings or interpretations, however. The first, and original, multiplayer games were simply those in which you took turns. The first player would attempt a level, or complete a race, or carry out some other task which would be measured in some way - perhaps with a high score or time. Once they had either succeeded, completed the race or failed at whatever task they were challenged with doing, the next player would take over and have a go. In this way, each person was able to have a go at the same task, and try to beat each other by either getting a higher score, a faster time, or by using whatever other measurement of success.

The second type of multiplayer game to come along, and which is still around today, are the split screen games. These work best for races, where the screen can be wide but fairly short - good for racing when you need to see a wide viewpoint to prepare for corner and obstacles, but there is no need for a tall screen as you're racing on the flat.

In this setup, the two players see their own character or vehicle in a portion of the screen at the top, and the other player or vehicle in the portion of the screen at the bottom. Both portions offer the same viewpoint to begin with at the start of the race, but each follows a specific player. It is possible this way for both players to be competing at the same time, and against each other.

The player behind will even be able to see the player in front, and by glancing quickly at the opponent's portion of the screen it is possible to check on where they are and how they're doing. This offers real time action and competition, and is an engrossing way of playing.

Not all split screens are horizontal - some fighting games are vertical so that you can see the full height of the opposing player, but the majority are split horizontally. Obviously for this kind of game, either having a big screen or sitting close to a screen is best in order to see the detail clearly.

The third type of multiplayer game is the type which has players competing against each other, but where the players are not actually physically anywhere near each other. This can mean that they are actually playing against each other whilst on different sides of the planet! These games use the internet to connect players together, and then each player sees the game from their point of view on their own screen, and sees the opponent as a character within the game. In many cases rather than being an opponent, the other player may be an ally, and work together to complete a task or quest.

Whilst solo games will always be popular, multiplayer games have long ruled the popularity stakes.

Victor Epand is an expert consultant about kids toys, dolls, and video games. You will find the best marketplace for kids toys, dolls, and used video games at these sites for toys, various games, dolls.

Strategy Game Sterility - An Exciting Genre Dumbed Down

By Ryan Valentine

I love strategy video games and in particular military strategy games. I like feeling like I have won a victory through a display of cunning, tactics and careful planning. I also enjoy these building games where you start something from scratch and develop and grow your town/park/hospital, deciding where to point your resources and where to place new creations. I've become a little disheartened though, by seeing the same ideas and format reshuffled and re-packaged into new products.

So many of these military building strategy games revolve around deciding how to organise your resources: you decide whether to build military units, buildings, focus on farming or learning new trades. Then you conquer other players if you wish by sending troops to batter away with health bars over their heads. And you eventually win by defeating everybody or acquiring a certain amount of money or building an ultimate something-or-other.

All this is a neat idea but too many games are repeating themselves and I can't help but feel strategy as a genre has much more to offer. I personally don't get much sense of achievement from merely amassing a vast number of units and then marching them off to watch them fight amongst themselves with a just one army strength versus another to decipher who wins. It's nice to watch the game animate all the violence, though I hate the health bars that are so common. They spoil the visuals a bit for me in these instances. But I know there is an enormous amount of strategy in warfare and almost none of this seems to be considered worth tackling. I know these games are meant to be accessible to everybody and you don't want to be bogged down with too many details and complications but surely, a lot of this can be done automatically.

In the same way a driving game calculates your speed, strength of breaking, surface type, suspension, acceleration, camber etc etc when you thrash your car around the track, why can't a strategy game keep it's details under it's hood. I don't need to know the numbers being chucked around when I drive, I just get on with it and accept it when I skid around a corner instead of turn. With a strategy game, why not let the player choose how to organise his troops, dictate direction, pace and objectives and then watch it play out with calculations regarding terrain, skill, visibility, weapons etc. so the result is far more rewarding when you see what happens as planned, what didn't work as you thought it might and what was more successful than you anticipated. This is how you learn, and the more you learn the greater the sense of accomplishment when you win.

More strategy games where it is possible to win against a vastly stronger side if you can outwit your opponent, would be extremely welcome. I would like to see players channeling opponents into advantageous positions, disguising sizes of units, hiding flanking troops, utilising reserves etc. You only have to take a look at some famous historical battles to see how much tactical employment is not being used in games which try to replicate these scenes. I'm not sure I've ever played a game where I felt like I had achieved a victory through cunning. What a joy that would be!

And with regards to the building side of things, I think this is generally done much better than the combat, but a lot of games seem to exclude the best bits about this. Something as simple as deciding where things should go can add enormous replay value. If your initial planning is important with accessibility, nearby utilities and use of space having significance, it is great to play it all through again with a slightly more acute idea of where things will go and gradually work towards what you feel works most efficiently. Theme Hospital by Bullfrog is one game that I remember doing this really well. I loved starting again each time, trying to allow for future development in my opening layout of diagnosis rooms, waiting areas and toilets. Another game that comes to mind is Settlers which I had on the Amiga.

The placement of roads was important because you had to make sure your people could transport materials as quickly as possible between building that used them. One of the greatest joys of this game for me was watching everything being acted out and constructed. You could see the lumberjack hack down a tree and carry it on his shoulder down the road to the saw mill and then, after a bit of sawing action, another chap would carry the planks of wood further down the road to a construction site. You would then see your church beams being put up and stonework being applied after that. The visual development was very involving and there were plenty of decisions you had to make to ensure it all ran smoothly.

Really I would like to see a combination of all these things: much more underlying detail, planning and design involved. Settlers Hospital with some kind of war game adaptation with a gradual learning curve. Perfect! I don't think it would be inaccessible, it just needs a healthily sized manual to explain the maths that go on behind the scenes. That way when you get thrashed on a battlefield you have some reference material to understand why if you can't work it out yourself.

Ryan is an expert Research and Travel consultant. His current interest is in Airport Parking and Airport Hotels.

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Be Playful and Become a Skillful Gamer

Computer games are a unique attraction for young and old alike. The small children have a lot of time to be spent remaining indoors and what better relief for their mothers then the fact that they are happily enjoying the computer games and gaining variety of skills at the same time, unaware about the learning part themselves.

The games not only help their muscular efficiency , but also their mental skills. They are not laying around lazy, but sitting alert on the computer table, busy and happy instead of feeling bored and fed up.

However there are always two sides of a coin. In the developing of games all sorts of interesting things were taken in, which means a variety of general social life conditions are depicted in the games that many play. One problem that arises is that a lot of violence is shown happening in the games and the vulnerable minds get very much affected. It is a fact that what you can see has a very deep impression on you, and it sticks in your memory more deeply then what you read or hear about.

The games in which a lot of violence is shown leave a deep impact as do all other games. In the prisons a rule was made that violent games will not be allowed to the prisoners as they may do more harm than good. Only prisoners with the highest privileged category will be given such games, as they are in better balanced state, and will not be adversely affected.

Similar is the case for very young children. They enjoy the games but wrong depictions of things might make their innocent minds poisoned against somethings which are not rightly so. So it is imperative that the games are so designed that they help in the building of social norms rather then giving wrong notions and techniques to the players.

As it happens there are two groups with distinct opinions about this issue. Those who are very much in favour of playing video and computer games; and those who oppose these games. Quite sure that the negatives are more then the positives in computer gaming. A third group is of course of those who are indifferent, but they are no solution to the problem, i.e if we consider it a problem.

Everything has two sides and the balance is required. Only good people do not inhabit the world, there are some, call them sadists if you wish, whose enjoyment lies in the tormenting of others. But as social beings this has to be kept to the minimum and a moral lesson for a better society can add to the usefulness of these interesting games.

Creating a good society just by enjoying life. This is an opportunity as computer games are played by very young children, and if the impact of these games is good on them they will naturally appreciate such social behavior that sociologists feel will make a heaven here on earth for all of us.

Chris Jensen is a contributing Author of Jetfly Blog. For more related articles and reviews visit Jetfly Shop now. Also, for the Best up-to-date related Online Products, check out Jetfly Video Game Systems Shop for Todays Current Online Deals.

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