“Where Are We Dropping Boys?” – How Video Game Slang Emerged in Social Media and Real-Life

Photo by RDNE Stock project

Have you noticed some people online use bizarre terms like “NPC” when they’re describing a boring person? Or saying “going on sidequests” when they are procrastinating and doing other tasks. These terms come from Video Game slang. Video Games have always been popular past time but during the mid to late 2010s, Video Games, more specifically Video Game content creators began to get noticed by mainstream media. This can be evidenced by popular Gaming YouTuber, PewDiePie being on Conan O’Brien doing a segment called “Clueless Gamer” to promote his upcoming Youtube Red series and promote new Video Game releases. As well as, Twitch Streamer, Ninja becoming popular through his livestreams playing Fortnite. Playing Fortnite matches with celebrities like Drake and getting Brand deals such as with Redbull. Video Games also became a way for people to connect with each other during the COVID-19 pandemic lockdown. Still, this does not explain why people started to use Video Game slang on other non-gaming Social Media platforms and in real life.

Adam Aleksic (better known as etymologynerd), a Harvard linguistics graduate made a TikTok theorizing how the new generation, Gen Z has created a new etymological category of Video Game terms because of the shared cultural knowledge this generation has about Video Games. He goes on to explain how this was the case in older generations with games like Baseball and Chess, this is why we have metaphors and expressions like “Check” and “swing and a miss”.

@etymologynerd

Follow-up to my video from yesterday: @etymologynerd The increase in narrstive identity slang definitely may be in part from video games etymology linguistics history language metaphor videogames

♬ original sound – etymologynerd

While this might still be a theory, it does make sense that we are sharing this cultural knowledge, it is part of human connection. An article by The Verge explains how slang in Video Game online communities is a great way of connecting with other people online, making new friends and feeling like you belong in an online space. Each Video Game has its own terminology but some slang never changes from game to game such as “Buff” or “Nerf”. It’s transferable which makes these different online communities easier to approach due to already having this knowledge.

Do you have experience seeing these terms online? What do you think about it? Tell me in the comments below!

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Social Media Promotional Posts

Twitter/X: Did you know? Video game slang isn’t just for gamers anymore! Find out how it’s shaping our digital dialogue in my new blog entry: https://bit.ly/3Jg9VgU. 🎮 #videogameslang #Gaming”

Instagram: From Fortnite to Instagram, #videogame slang has become a part of our normal vocabulary. Learn how this came to be in my new blog post. Link in bio https://bit.ly/3Jg9VgU

The Rise, The fall and Bounce Back of An Influencer: Addison Rae

Photo by Prateek Katyal

Social Media has brought to life a new breed of famous online personalities: the Influencer. An Influencer defined by Influencer Marketing Hub is a person who has built a reputation for their knowledge and expertise on a specific topic. They also follow a distinct niche through the preferred platforms they use and their target audience. In this blog entry, I want to explore the trajectory of an Influencer’s career. The rise and the fall, even their rebranding (their phoenix rising moment). I will be using TikTok Influencer, Addison Rae as my case study.

Screenshot by Nat B.

Addison Rae got her start on TikTok at just nineteen years old, her content focused on following the latest dance trends on the platform. Her rise to becoming an Influencer began in 2020 when some of her videos went viral, getting more than 4K likes and 40 Million views (showcased below). People loved her, especially teenagers since Addison’s content portrayed herself as a regular, relatable teenager doing the trends that everyone else was doing. She admitted in an interview with Forbes magazine, that she only downloaded the app because she saw her friends being obsessed with it. Through her newly found fame, Addison was able to get brand deals (i.e., Shien), meet celebrities such as Khloe Kardashian and star in a Netflix movie, He’s All That.

@addisonre

@africanhoney 💘

♬ original sound – Samantha Long

Even with all of this success and attention, people hated Addison Rae. I’m not going to lie, I didn’t like her either. The reasons why people hated Addison and other Influencers like her are because they found the content unoriginal and lacklustered. There was no talent as some people stated. There is some truth in these criticisms, although Addison Rae did have a dancing background compared to her fellow content creators, she did not have any prior acting experience when she did the movie, He’s All That and it showed. The movie got the rating of 4.4/10 stars on IMDB. People were harsh when doing movie reviews calling the movie “cringey”.

After the lower than expected response to the movie, Addison Rae disappeared a bit from the public’s eye. She was still creating content for her followers but she kept to herself… Until now.

During the last couple of years, Addison has been going through a rebranding. Shifting her energy to becoming a pop singer and catering to different audiences. Associating herself with different influential singers and celebrities, like Charlie XCX. Her relationship with Charlie XCX has led Addison Rae collaborated on one of Charlie XCX’s songs.

@addisonre

Just livin that life 😻👑

♬ The von dutch remix w addison rae and a. g. cook – Charli XCX

Through this shift in her branding and content, even the people that hated her in 2020 are turning a new leaf.

Do you have any content creators/Influencers you like or hate? What are some reasons? Tell me in the comments below!

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Social Media Promotional posts:

Twitter/X: Let’s talk about #Addisonrae! Do you think she’s the new IT girl? Read more about on this week’s blog entry https://bit.ly/3THicPX

Instagram: Do we still hate #Addisonrae? Let’s take a look at her beginnings and her resurgence in my new blog entry. Link in bio https://bit.ly/3THicPX

Is the Internet Killing Subcultures?

Photo by Tamara Bellis on Unsplash

Photo by Nik on Unsplash

Every few months or so, I scroll through my Tiktok feed and find a new aesthetic trending; cottagecore, clean girl or coquette… you name it. It’s fun to see people trying out new styles and making it their own, it shows how the internet has something for everyone. However it made me wonder is the rise of aesthetics killing off subcultures? The University of Rochester defines subcultures as “generally groups that are perceived to deviate from the normative standards of the dominant culture, as this is variously defined according to age, sexuality, and taste in economic, racial, and gendered terms.” Basically subcultures reject mainstream/popular culture, going against the system. One example of a subculture is the goth culture, emerging during the 1970s with emphasis on gothic literature from the 18th and 19th century and dark romanticism. This subculture would give birth to other subcultures, such as emo, nu-goth and the most recent aesthetic of E-girl.

The E-girl fashion style became popular on Tiktok during 2019-2020, it focused on Japanese anime culture and gamer pop culture. Straying away from the darker clothes and adding a splash of colour, like bright pink and purple but still heavy on the makeup, especially on the eyeliner. This was the first style I saw on social media that became accessible to everyone, a lot of people were able to recreate it by buying clothes from SHEIN and other online shops. This is where the criticism comes in, most of the aesthetics popular on social media are just fads and lack identity. This is one of the sentiments on an article written by Meg Mitchell from The Chimes Newspaper. It’s focused more on consumerism than living out a lifestyle. A Tiktok created by content creator; luckyfrogshop (Jade) goes more into detail on how capitalism turns a subculture into an aesthetic.

@luckyfrogshop

Replying to @etarbor92 aesthetics are when capitalism meets fandom culture meets subculture #subculture #culture #sustainablefashion #fashion #antifastfashion #aesthetic #aesthetics #fastfashionsucks #slowfashion #goth #punk aesthetics subculture fast fashion consumerism

♬ original sound – Jade | Sustainable Fashion 🪬

While I agree with the statements made above by Jade and Meg, I read an article stating that aesthetics are just the evolution of subcultures. Dazed digital released an article about one of their recent reports on how youth are redefining subcultures. The article stated that there is a revival of subcultures, the reason by we are seeing many aesthetics pop up is because youth identities are dynamic and fluid. There no boundaries when creating new subcultures. Anyone can find their own niche just the same as finding their own online community. It praises the low personal commitment. A complete detach from how subcultures started.

What are your thoughts? Do you think subcultures are dying or are evolving from its original definition? Tell me in the comments below!

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Social Media Promotional posts

Facebook: There’s so many different fashion styles out right now, it’s hard to keep up. but are these aesthetics making subcultures go extintic or making them better? Read more about it on my new blog post! https://bit.ly/3PBHzBl

X/Twitter: The internet killed the #subculture star! Are #aesthetics the new subcultures or just fads? Tell me what you think after reading my new blog post: https://bit.ly/3PBHzBl

Social Media & Activism: the double-edged sword

Photo by Kelly from Pexels

Throughout all social media platforms, our feeds and timelines have been filled with colourful infographics and quick videos discussing a new hot topic or news around the world. However, does these actions bring people to the real-life movements and causes or do people double-click and move on?

Hi! My name is Nathalie and welcome to my blog, where I will dissect and analyze topics and trends I find interesting on social media platforms we use on daily basis. I want to focus my first entry to answer (or at least try to) the question; does online activism work?

My first real experience with online activism was during the Covid-19 lockdown in 2020. I remember witnessing in real time through my phone screen the news about the injustice killing of George Floyd. I can remember the online campaign of the #Blackquare that followed afterwards. Joe Coscarelli, a writer for The New York Times published an article during this time stating the Blackout Tuesday movement started by two Black women working in music marketing who wanted to keep the music industry accountable from benefiting from Black art. Soon after, this movement spread outside the music industry to all. Even though it seem like people were showing their solidarity, others pointed out that these blank black squares posts suppressed informative posts under the same hashtag. Several artists and content creators asked what would this accomplish if no one was mentioning were these black squares originally came from.

Around the time of protests in 2020, certain influencers got called out for doing performative activism or slacktivsm. Carolyn Ali, writer for University of British Columbia brand and marketing defined the term, slacktivsm to be “a form of performative activism in which people support a cause to make themselves look good”. One example is Kris Schatzel, influencer and YouTuber who took a picture during a protest to post on her instagram account, only for people to discover that she left after taking the picture. This and more examples can found on this The Guardian article by Karl Paul.

Besides these step backs, social media has been proven to help real life activism in various ways. As stated by Vasukam in one of their articles, social media can do global community-building by helping local chapters organize protests, help activists to respond quickly to unfolding events and misinformation, mobilizing action through hashtags, and more. Carolyn Ali said perfectly in her UBC article “It’s easy to click on an online petition or change your profile photo to show support for a cause. The problem is if you do nothing further and believe that you’re helping to advance the movement.”

So to answer my intial question “does online activism work?” I say it does work to bring awareness and to educate people but one’s activism and actions should not be limited to online only.

What are your thoughts?

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Promotional social media posts

Facebook post: Heard of #slacktivism? Learn more about it on my blog post about online social activism and its impact. https://bit.ly/3VefiVd

X/Twitter post: Does social media harm movements and causes IRL? Or does it bring people together to the fight? Let’s discuss! https://bit.ly/3VefiVd