Yeah, I’m A Gamer

Written by: Leia Ong Rui En (20-U1), Martha Henrietta Soetedjo (20-U2), Pheobe Ong Hong Ying (20-O1), Poh En Xi (20-E3)

Designed by: Poh En Xi (20-E3)

Gaming and You

What does the term “gamer” make you think of? Does it incite images of mindless clicking, online combat, and neckbearded fanatics queuing to purchase tech paraphernalia? 

To the uninitiated (read: our parents), this may be all online games and their communities seem to be. However, we want to dispel this myth — these only make up one aspect of gaming culture, which is diverse and creatively vibrant in many ways. In this article, we investigate the contributions of significant games of different genres in the past decade, and how their impacts have shaped perceptions of gaming culture and the gaming industry over time. 

eSports and Toxic Communities

eSports have slowly risen in popularity in recent years, legitimising itself as an actual sport (though some would prefer to disagree). Many of such eSport games are large-scale multiplayer games, such as Multiplayer Online Battle Arena (MOBAs) and First Person Shooters (FPS). However, with the proliferation of competitive sports in gaming, many games’ communities have grown more elite and “toxic”. Be ready, you’ll be seeing this term a lot. 

We begin by taking a look at League of Legends (LoL), one of the largest and longest-running MOBA games out there. As of 2020, there were a whopping 115 million monthly active LoL players, making it the second most popular eSports game. However, as a result, the community is infamous for being one of the most toxic video game communities out there, often serving as a breeding ground for harsh insults and derogatory comments. 

In general, issues with sexism and racism are pervasive in many online gaming communities, such as the well-known ‘Gamergate’ incident which occurred in 2014. This whole fiasco was akin to an actual internet “war” sparked by women fighting against the deep-rooted misogyny in many gaming circles (read more about Gamergate here). Regardless of those issues, many still find it challenging to engage in online games for other reasons. “Casual” players (people who play purely for fun, rather than competitively) often get bombarded with toxic comments in in-game chats and are even forced to leave the game entirely. It is no wonder that the issue of online gaming and its relation to mental health has become a cause for concern when it comes to online interactions. 

Many online forums — such as Reddit — show players opting to mute other players during game matches to avoid hateful words getting to them. In fact, some even propose that this improves not just their gaming experience, but even their gaming performance as well. However, others argue that it completely takes out the “online” aspect of online gaming and is a form of cowardice.

Another example of a gaming community infected by toxicity is the players of Overwatch, a wildly popular FPS that gained worldwide attention moments after release in 2016. With 10 million active monthly players last November, it has also housed many cases of toxicity within its community. Similar to LoL, many players in the Overwatch community have posted threads on forums voicing their worry. Some have even given up playing altogether. The problem got to the point where Overwatch developers had to implement machine learning in order to deter further cases of abusive chats (Harris, 2020). This system enabled the game to “verify player reports around offensive behaviour and offensive language”. This system has proven effective, with a 26.4% fall in competitive matches containing abusive chats on American servers (Bailey, 2018). 

With Overwatch 2 in development, many hope that toxicity will be greatly reduced during game matches. Others hope for better treatment towards casual players who are in it more for the fun than anything else. After all, playing professionally or not, we have all looked to games as an avenue for fun at some point in our gaming careers, right? 

Indie-pendent Developments

Contrasting with games produced by large gaming companies, the early 2010s saw the rise of independent (indie for short) games — games made on a comparatively smaller budget and development team. Five Nights At Freddy’s (FNAF), for instance, was first made in 2014 by one man: Scott Cawthon. A point-and-click indie horror game, players act as a night guard struggling to fend off murderous animatronics. 

As ridiculous as the premise sounds, FNAF’s popularity exploded once it was released, trailblazing a major boom in the demand for indie games along with a surge in ‘new but retro’ concepts which redefined existing genres. FNAF revolutionised the horror genre through its unique gameplay, where instead of roaming to escape the dangers that lurk and chase them, players are confined to a single room and left stationary to defend themselves. 

Yet, FNAF still retained a retro charm — it was sprinkled with secret mini games (known in gaming circles as “easter eggs”) and Atari-style visuals everywhere… if you were sharp enough to know where to look. What was more interesting was how these easter eggs were found. Strangers in the community banded together, searching high and low to crack layers upon layers of code to piece together the mystery behind FNAF’s lore. Fans with a diverse range of talents, skills and ideas put forth suggestions and debated over its storyline, amazing netizens at how bonded, diligent and intelligent Internet users can be — contrasting the previous impressions of gaming communities raised. 

With a smaller working team, indie game developers are more often kept in close touch with their fanbases, allowing for more targeted and engaging games that fans really enjoy. The one-man army, Scott Cawthon, put in an impeccable amount of effort into creating not just the games in the franchise but also the community (which he still continues to do). Scott makes an effort to invest in fan games such as Five Nights at Candy's 4, The Joy of Creation: Ignited Collection, Popgoes Evergreen, and One Night at Flumpty's 3, to support the community and their love for the franchise (Blake, 2020). 

This is unlike bigger corporations such as Nintendo, infamous for sparing no mercy on fan-made creations like Pokénet and Zelda Maker (Perry, 2016). This further spurs FNAF fans to continue expressing their creativity and passion for games through creating and sharing their works, which builds a wholesome and supportive community. Altogether, this surge in indie game fans also spawned other wildly popular games like Undertale, Omori, Doki Doki Literature Club and more, providing unique gaming experiences unlike what was offered by common household company names.

For those interested in delving deeper into FNAF lore, here is a playlist to get you started. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=th_LYe97ZVc&list=PLTYl7wTzRThLeYLMHO7tn7WbvMZ6lA1jm

Rolling and Role-playing

Many of you have likely heard of Genshin Impact, either through being bombarded with advertisements on every form of public transport, or through… well, playing the game. That isn’t a criticism of the game by any means, because Genshin Impact is a wildly successful game. There were (approximately) an astonishing 39.3 million downloads of Genshin Impact in 2020, and it has maintained its popularity ever since. Genshin Impact, as a result, has reached a large audience. 

One of Genshin’s greatest impacts (heh) on gaming has been the normalization of gacha games among mobile gamers. 

Gacha games are games that have been viewed as attempting to ‘cheat’ players out of money to obtain, or ‘roll for’, rare and more powerful items or characters, especially when those games are competitive. They have hence been termed ‘pay to win.’ 

But Genshin, by encouraging teamwork rather than competition, and being rather free with small handouts of ‘Primogems’ — in-game currency that can be converted to items that let you use the gacha — has increased players’ acceptance of gacha games.

Furthermore, this has allowed the gaming community, which has admittedly always been somewhat segregated between different platforms, to unite and discuss one game together. Genshin Impact, as a game built on cooperation and working together with people from ‘other worlds’, doesn’t just encourage cooperation in game, it encourages its community to find more people around them and play with them as well, to make friends that they might not have known before the game. Through this, the community has ended up being built in a less toxic, less segregated way, creating a healthier environment. 

In a time where many of us may not be able to meet up with the people we care for in person, we can still find them in games like this online, and on the way, we might make new friends as well. Thus, Genshin Impact has definitely had a very positive impact on gaming culture and on its community, encouraging cohesion especially in these tough times.

Speedrunning Charity Events

Here’s a concept many are unaware of: speedrunning for charity. For those unfamiliar with the term, speedrunning is a playthrough of a whole game or a selected portion of it, completed as fast as possible. Think of it like a world record for beating a game the fastest, except with the use of exploits and glitches (Sher, 2019). 

Charity speedrunning is akin to charity marathons, where communities support the (speed)runner and the event through donations, cheering them on as they complete their play-through. A significant portion of this donation then goes to the charity of choice, benefiting less privileged communities.

One of the larger speedrunning events hosted is Games Done Quick (GDQ), a biannual gaming marathon inviting record-holding speedrunners to show their gaming skills to the world, while simultaneously supporting various charities (Gerken, 2019). You may think these philanthropic events are niche, but it’s quite the opposite. Many events are held each year, and some of these playthroughs and streams garner over tens of millions of views — donations aren’t meagre, either. Since its inception in 2010, GDQ has raised over US$25 million dollars (Statt, 2021), clearly no small feat. Just this year, over US$2.7 million was raised for the Prevent Cancer Foundation (Bankhurst, 2021). 

GDQ incentivises such donations by allowing donation messages to be read aloud (Sher, 2019), and enabling requests for the speedrunners to perform certain tricks or play on harder difficulties (Gerken, 2019). However, a large proportion of donors also donate simply to support the streamer. These communities are no doubt a stark contrast to what we saw of toxic communities, so it’s nice to know not all gamers are absolute degenerates. 

Conclusion

The emergence of these new genres of games over the years and the impacts of their communities have changed the gaming scene — whether for the better or worse. 

Ultimately, the diverse and varied games and communities covered above are just the tip of the gaming iceberg. However, if these still seem esoteric to you, online gaming really isn’t as far removed from everyone as it may seem! Take the global phenomenon Among Us that most are surely familiar with; as an adaptation of the live party game titled “Murderer”, it has allowed many — even non-gamers —  in this time of reduced physical interaction to come together and have fun, especially in 2020.

The gamer community has expanded: even as more of us join in and we share ideas and creativity, we have to ensure excessive competitive toxicity does not boil over so that games can continue to serve their intended purpose - being fun.

It may not be “just a game”, but as cheesy as it sounds, the best part of games are the friends we make along the way! 

https://screenrant.com/genshin-impact-players-how-many-downloads-sales-2021/

References and Citations

1. Dewey, C. (2019, April 28). The only guide to GAMERGATE you will ever need to read. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.washingtonpost.com/news/the-intersect/wp/2014/10/14/the-only-guide-to-gamergate-you-will-ever-need-to-read/

2. League of Legends player count 2021: How many people play League of Legends? Last updated: February 10, 2021. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://techacake.com/league-of-legends-player-count/

3. Prioritize your mentality - utilizing the mute button in league of legends - articles. (n.d.). Retrieved March 28, 2021, from http://team-dignitas.net/articles/blogs/League-of-Legends/14243/prioritize-your-mentality-utilizing-the-mute-button-in-league-of-legends

4. Harris, I. (2020, November 03). Toxicity in Overwatch has seen an "incredible decrease" due to machine learning. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.pcgamesn.com/overwatch/toxic-behaviour-machine-learning?amp

5. Bailey, D. (2018, July 16). Overwatch toxicity has gone way down since endorsements were added. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.pcgamesn.com/overwatch/overwatch-toxicity

6. Bankhurst, A. (2021, January 11). Awesome games done QUICK 2021 raises Over $2.7 million for charity. Retrieved April 06, 2021, from https://www.ign.com/articles/awesome-games-done-quick-2021-raises-over-27-million-for-charity?amp=1

7. Blake, V. (2020, August 23). Scott Cawthon is working with fans to bring the best five nights at Freddy's fan games to life. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.eurogamer.net/articles/2020-08-23-scott-cawthon-is-working-with-fans-to-bring-the-best-five-nights-at-freddys-fan-games-to-life#:~:text=Create%20an%20account-,Scott%20Cawthon%20is%20working%20with%20fans%20to%20bring%20the%20best,and%20hopefully%20bring%20new%20entries!%22

8. Perry, A. (2016, August 17). Here are some of the biggest fan projects that Nintendo has shut down. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.businessinsider.com/a-history-of-fan-projects-that-nintendo-shut-down-2016-8#zelda-maker-3

9. Gerken, T. (2019, June 23). How 'charity speedrunning' made gaming the new telethon. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.bbc.com/news/world-us-canada-48690483

10. Statt, N. (2021, January 04). Start the first week of 2021 with the awesome games done Quick speedrunning marathon. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://www.theverge.com/2021/1/4/22213922/awesome-games-done-quick-twitch-watch-now-schedule-charity-speedrun-marathon

11. Sher, C. (2019, October 23). Speedrunning for charity: How video game charity marathons raise millions for charity. Retrieved March 28, 2021, from https://medium.com/acm-cscw/speedrunning-for-charity-how-video-game-charity-marathons-raise-millions-for-charity-2e73e88d2c39