Gaming Culture

Everyone knows how money works in video games – kill a few monster or smash some jars, and then take your earnings to the nearest shop to trade for whatever you need. That’s usually about all the participation players get in these fictional economies.

My obese PS3 flipped me the YLOD bird way back in April of last year. After the inital shock and awe I decieded to...

Looking Back On… Shadow Hearts: Covenant Shadow Heartsis a game of contrasts. On one hand, you have an immensely violent and brooding hero, fighting...

Those words came from the mouth of Street Fighter X Tekken tournament participant Aris Bakhtanians on day five of Cross Assault, the Capcom sponsored reality show streamed on IGN. This absurd but telling statement came in response to a call for civility from Jared Rea, community manager of streaming host Twitch.tv.

Developers put character progression mechanics in games for one reason: incentive. Reward systems make games; they keep players addicted on the short term while also providing a long term goal. They come in a thousand different coats of paint including common skill points.

Over a thousand players, and hundreds of spectators, showed up for a three day spectacle that actually happens quite often. Yet, each tournament is magic. This event was Apex 2012, housing huge events for Super Smash Bros., Street Fighter, Marvel vs. Capcom, Mortal Kombat, and Pokemon Black/White. The biggest game was Super Smash Bros.

If you’ve not played Dear Esther yet, you really should. But before you do, the most important thing to know is that it’s not a game. You buy it through Steam, install it the same way and load it up to a familiar Half Life menu, then you use the familiar WASD to walk around.

Competitive RPGs take a few different forms. The newer variant is Defense of the Ancients, which is characterized by picking from a pool of characters and leveling it up over the course of a single round.