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Bosses, spam, and griefers: a study of how old words adopt new meanings in online computer games

Johannesson, Mikael LU (2014) ENGK01 20141
English Studies
Abstract
This essay investigates 20 gaming words generally present in the genres of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, Real Time Strategy, and First-Person Shooter. From each genre, one game was chosen as a representative for their respective genre, namely Guild Wars 2, StarCraft II, and Quake III Arena. The 20 words were chosen on the basis that they all occur in at least two of the three gaming genres, and that their use in the games differ from their original definition presented in Oxford English Dictionary. The aim of the study is to investigate how online multiplayer games adopt certain words and how they are used in their respective contexts. My hypothesis was that there would be differences in meanings of the words within the... (More)
This essay investigates 20 gaming words generally present in the genres of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, Real Time Strategy, and First-Person Shooter. From each genre, one game was chosen as a representative for their respective genre, namely Guild Wars 2, StarCraft II, and Quake III Arena. The 20 words were chosen on the basis that they all occur in at least two of the three gaming genres, and that their use in the games differ from their original definition presented in Oxford English Dictionary. The aim of the study is to investigate how online multiplayer games adopt certain words and how they are used in their respective contexts. My hypothesis was that there would be differences in meanings of the words within the different games since the games, in themselves, are different from each other. However, only 8 of the 20 analysed words differed in use between the games, which does not fully support this initial hypothesis. The reasons for this are, according to this study, mainly twofold. The sample size is limited, thus making it difficult to draw any major conclusions. Moreover, gamers move between games, bringing acquired vocabulary with them. In this study, only verbs and nouns were adopted in the different genres, and they had changed from their definitions present in the Oxford English Dictionary mainly through widening and/or conversion. (Less)
Please use this url to cite or link to this publication:
author
Johannesson, Mikael LU
supervisor
organization
course
ENGK01 20141
year
type
M2 - Bachelor Degree
subject
language
English
id
4499728
date added to LUP
2016-03-14 10:46:40
date last changed
2016-03-14 10:46:40
@misc{4499728,
  abstract     = {{This essay investigates 20 gaming words generally present in the genres of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games, Real Time Strategy, and First-Person Shooter. From each genre, one game was chosen as a representative for their respective genre, namely Guild Wars 2, StarCraft II, and Quake III Arena. The 20 words were chosen on the basis that they all occur in at least two of the three gaming genres, and that their use in the games differ from their original definition presented in Oxford English Dictionary. The aim of the study is to investigate how online multiplayer games adopt certain words and how they are used in their respective contexts. My hypothesis was that there would be differences in meanings of the words within the different games since the games, in themselves, are different from each other. However, only 8 of the 20 analysed words differed in use between the games, which does not fully support this initial hypothesis. The reasons for this are, according to this study, mainly twofold. The sample size is limited, thus making it difficult to draw any major conclusions. Moreover, gamers move between games, bringing acquired vocabulary with them. In this study, only verbs and nouns were adopted in the different genres, and they had changed from their definitions present in the Oxford English Dictionary mainly through widening and/or conversion.}},
  author       = {{Johannesson, Mikael}},
  language     = {{eng}},
  note         = {{Student Paper}},
  title        = {{Bosses, spam, and griefers: a study of how old words adopt new meanings in online computer games}},
  year         = {{2014}},
}