Like a person.
In all seriousness, at Satellite Gaming we’re all about bridging the gap between gamers and non-gamers. We highly encourage non-gamers interested in Satellite Gaming to strike up conversations with our gamer friends, but we also know that sometimes you might not be sure what to talk to them about, or what they’re saying when you actually do talk to them about it. This week we’ve got some conversation starters and a vocabulary lesson to help you when they start slinging some gamer lingo.
You might be surprised how much you can learn about a gamer through a few simple questions.
Conversation topics:
What have you been playing lately?
Gamers love to talk about the games that currently have their attention. They might be trying out the new free-to-play game that all their classmates are talking about, the current release of an annual shooter or sports game, or going through a classic. No matter what it is, you can learn a lot about a gamer by what game (or games) they are playing right now. Do they only focus on one game at a time? Are they into trends and lean toward games that they can talk about with their peers? Or do they tend to play older games that they know they’ll enjoy from personal experience?
What is your favorite game? (And why?)
Everyone has a favorite. Just like a preferred book, movie, or song, certain games make an impact and rise to the top of favorite lists for gamers. Sometimes they play that favorite game all the way through from time to time, sometimes it’s the game they’re always playing, sometimes it’s just one they played as a kid and now play nostalgically. Once they’ve established their favorite game you can always follow up with asking them what about that particular game makes it their favorite; maybe it’s the music, the art style, the time it came out in their life, or the challenge that particular game provides.
Are there any games coming out soon you’re looking forward to?
New games are coming out all the time, and gamers are always looking forward to the hot new thing around the corner. If you ask a gamer what they want to be playing later this year, you’re sure to hear a variety of answers. Maybe they’re looking forward to the newest fighting game, or the new Battle Royale mode in their favorite FPS game, or that epic new RPG coming out.
You might be thinking “Woah there. I didn’t understand most of that sentence. What the heck is an RPG?“ Well we’ve got a few gaming words and phrases laid out below to get you up to speed, and keep you savvy when speaking with a gamer.
Vocabulary Lesson:
RPG – Role Playing Game
Typically single-player (meaning one person plays the game alone) games in which the player assumes the role of a character in a story and gains levels by deciding what new skills and abilities that character uses throughout the course of the story. There are a few variations of RPG you might see, like JRPG (Japanese Role Playing Game) or MMORPG (Massively Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game), but the element of guiding a character through a story while leveling up to gain new abilities is true to all of them.
Examples of RPGs include Final Fantasy, Persona, Mass Effect, and Paper Mario.
FPS – First Person Shooter
A shooting game in which the player controls a character from the first-person perspective and the main interaction mechanism is shooting a gun, bow and arrow, or other projectile device or ability. This means they see the world through the characters eyes rather than from behind or above them.
Examples of FPS games include DOOM, Call of Duty, Apex Legends, and Goldeneye 007.
Battle Royale
The hot new game genre that’s been popular since PUBG (PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds) came out in 2017. Battle Royale games all center around a few core mechanics: a large number of players (60-100) drop onto a playing field with no weapons or devices. Once they’ve landed they have to find weapons and equipment while fighting to be the last player standing. But they can’t just find a good spot to hide, they also have to stay on the move as an ever shrinking playable area is pushing them closer together throughout the course of a round. It’s kind of like combining the Hunger Games with classic shooting games like Quake and Goldeneye 007. Fortnite really kicked this genre’s popularity into overdrive in North America when they released their Battle Royale mode in 2017. If someone is talking about Fortnite, you can assume they’re talking about the Battle Royale mode.
Examples of Battle Royale Games include Fortnite, PlayerUnknown’s Battlegrounds, Apex Legends, and Call of Duty’s Blackout mode.
We hope these topic ideas and phrases will help you strike up a conversation with a gamer. If they talk about something you don’t know, it’s okay to just ask them to explain. We promise they won’t bite. You can always put your newfound knowledge to work in our Twitch chat when we go live: www.twitch.tv/satellite_gaming!
Dylan Juran