Well met! I’m River Seaman, and I haven’t gone outside in months. I’ve been gaming my whole life, boasting countless hours in everything from Halo to Skyrim to Fortnite, truly developing a complex understanding of what makes these games so enjoyable, and what prompts the culture behind them. I’m from the frozen tundra of Burlington, VT. Essentially I live in real life Dawnstar, which is likely why I spend little time outside. At 17, I’ve had the privilege to witness the greatest cultural shift in gaming since the very first arcade game.
The Decades Greatest Names in Gaming
This decade has been huge for bringing gaming from a cult group to a mainstream activity, and there are a few very special people we have to thank for that. From influencers to pros to trending jokes, these names took the media by storm and reforged gaming for 2020.
To start off we look at a professional player “Pengu”. Birth name Niclas Mouritzen, he’s often described as less than human. Pengu is currently regarded as the best Rainbow Six Siege player in the world, being crowned champion by the pro league tournament three separate times. For fans of the game, or esports in general, Pengu is essentially Tom Brady and Derek Jeter combined.
Leeroy Jenkins is less a person and more a war cry. No one is totally sure where it came from, or if there is a face behind the name, but one day people started charging into battle and screaming the catch phrase: “Leeroy Jenkins.” It simply stuck. To this day echoes of Leeroy Jenkins can be heard in discord and lobby chat alike. The character has even been immortalized in the popular game Hearthstone.
Popular gamer Kelsey Hamonds, known online as “kweensomean” grew through the ranks of twitch streaming supporting kindness and general wellbeing. Her gameplay wasn’t as dominant as Pengu, and she wasn’t as popular as others on this list, but she started a trend of online positivity and helped ensure a safer, happier online community.
The true revolution of gaming came with Tyler (Ninja) Blevins. Over the last few years Ninja went from a nobody to a worldwide celebrity, piggybacking on the success of Fortnite. He brought streaming live on Twitch from a minor hobby to a true competitor with YouTube and similar.
The biggest name in gaming over the past decade would have to be Pewdiepie. The world’s largest youtube celebrity, he was always on top of the newest trends in an entertaining way. Pewdiepie even single handedly revived Minecraft during the reign of Fortnite.
The Most influential games of 2019
Looking back on 2019, it reflects fondly for gaming, with major releases alongside the revitalization of classics. We started the year off as we ended the prior one, with Fortnite dominating the greater industry. Come February 4th, a new hotshot game challenged the battle-royale behemoth, coming from popular developers and boasting a free to play price tag.
Apex Legends solidified the greater distaste for Fortnite, being a similar game but something completely new. Fortnite had been criticised constantly for its difficulty, some players being so far above others it wasn’t worth playing for casual gamers. Apex Legends was supposed to be the years first Fortnite Killer. It dropped onto the scene of resounding excitement, it’s early player numbers beginning to rival its competition.
Unfortunately for Apex Legends, It wasn’t quite that easy. Fortnite development team pushed some changes to make the game more beginner friendly alongside constant releases of new weapons and free content. Apex Legends began to feel stagnant and boring, losing players every day.
Late March a new game drops from Japanese development team, Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice. This single player adventure was a refreshing taste of what games should be; entertaining. A break from the competitive shooters, this game’s ratings were incredible. This development team was famous for their Dark Souls game series, which were punishingly difficult, sparking the popular phrase “git gud.” Fans of the series were glad to see a similar style in their new release. Just as soon as it came it had gone, player count dwindling, but that was the idea. A beautiful game to be experienced.
RAGE 2, releasing in May, was another welcome break from Fortnite. Reminiscent of Borderlands, which had a sequel releasing later in 2019, RAGE 2 was perfect mayhem for a few weeks until everyone was bored of it.
Call Of Duty: Modern Warfare released in August, and with it a flood of nostalgia for the franchise. Call of Duty games were released each annually for years. Being the biggest games leading up until 2016, when they consistently released terrible, buggy, unplayable, unfinished games riddled with blatant corporate greed. The massive player base ad given up, paving the way for Fortnite’s Dominance in 2017. Call of Duty: Modern warfare promised to change this, bringing back beloved franchise weapons and characters, as well as returning themes from when the game was so hugely popular.
The corporate greed remained, and the game had major flaws, gameplay being designed specifically for new players while everything else was designed to bring back the original playerbase. Many players felt that they had brought back characters from their childhood, characters they loved, only to spit in their face and befoul what that character meant with such a terrible game. This said, there are parts of the game which are fun, and many people enjoy the fast paced gameplay,often too young to see how much the developers are dragging them through the dirt with monetization. The game remains in turmoil, unseen if it will revitalize the franchise or die as its predecessors.
Each prior game mentioned, aside from Fortnite, has been a major game release made by a major company. Millions of dollars, years of design work, millions in advertising. Come September, a game released which broke this rule. No advertising, no monetization, not even a title. Untitled Goose Game was an Indie game which shocked the gaming community overnight. You play as a goose, and you wander about and cause trouble as a goose does. That’s it, but it was huge. The goose was cute, and there was a dedicated key for honking, and it was silly fun. Even I had to eventually fork over the cash to buy it so my girlfriend could play “The Goose Game.”
Throughout 2019 we’ve seen some great games release, far more than I could write about here, but the truly influential games of the year are a bit older. Minecraft has been released for over a decade, and saw a huge boost in players returning to the game. Nostalgia, coupled with hate for popular games, brought players back to the world of blocks. Once again we had a proclaimed Fortnite Killer. Over the year the nostalgia began dwindling, and player count is dropping too this day, but for a solid 5 months or so everyone wanted to play Minecraft.
Fortnite was the only game that never went away all year. It made it very clear that it wasn’t going anywhere no matter how much people whined and squealed. The younger players began to shift to more friendly games such as Minecraft or Call Of Duty, but a very strong player base remains. In July, Fortnite hosted the Fortnite World cup, the biggest esports tournament in history with 30 Million in total prizes. This made national news, the winner being invited to talk shows and getting documentaries centered around him. Once again, Fortnite broke records and shattered boundaries for what was previously achievable in the gaming world.
The Goose Game
Jumping up out of nowhere in late 2019, Untitled Goose Game by House House development team became a phenomenon overnight. A puzzle stealth game where players control a goose who terrorizes a neighborhood in the way only a goose can. Beautifully simple art design paired with goofy controls, all topped off with a designated honk button, what could be better?
The game kicked off strong, with players loving the passive aggressive antics of the goose and the adorable slaps of his feet. But this kind of game shouldn’t get traction like it did. It was on YouTube, twitch, and news media. The game was suddenly discovered regardless of so little advertising.
Huge names such as Pewdiepie started picking up the game, and from then on it was everywhere. Even my Pre-Calc teacher had to ask the class what this crazy goose game was all about.
Now, the goose game is dying down, but it’s still referenced often. The goose has become a symbol of rebellion and anarchy. T shirts, posters and pins displaying the cute goose can be found with the “No Gods, No Masters” slogan, symbolizing anarchy. On the opposite side of the spectrum, a replica of the goose game’s starting area could very soon be an official LeGo set. Irregardless of the game slowing down, it certainly isn’t going away quite yet.
The Worst Video Game Launch Ever
EA studios are known for their greed and complete disregard for players. Launching titles such as Star Wars Battlefront without even completing the entire game is common practice. One game however, stood far above the rest. With their 2019 release Anthem, EA had outdone themselves.
Anthem launched broken. The game was fundamentally flawed on release. The UI didn’t work, the game was imbalanced, content was missing and there were holes n the coding. And it cost 60 dollars. 90 for the deluxe edition. A full title, AAA release which simply did not work. Many buyers could not play the game at all due to connecting issues, rubber banding issues, disgusting load times and more. Nothing worked. Buyers remained hopeful that the game would be fixed, and slowly it began to start working better. That’s when the real problems started.
Anthem’s failure was built on broken promises. After constant complaints from players, the development team released a roadmap of what needed fixing and when content would be added, which was good. Communication from the developers to the players is always healthy and keeps the gamers invested in the game and trusting in the studios. Then came to changes. This was pushed back, then that was pushed back, then this didn’t happen, then that didn’t happen. The roadmap was essentially abandoned altogether, and players were abandoned with it.
Today, just a year after release, the Anthem servers are barren. The game was a disaster, and I truly feel bad for those who spent 60 of their hard earned American dollars on such garbage.
The Timeless RPG
Bethesda Softworks released The Elder Scrolls in 1994, and it was fine. I wasn’t around for it, and neither were most gamers. To be old enough to enjoy the game back then, you’d be about 40 now. The Elder scrolls would only be the first in the series, however, and the sequels would become beloved treasures of gaming.
Come 2011,The fifth in the Elder Scrolls series would release, known as Skyrim. The game dropped with nearly perfect ratings, praised for its replayability and beautiful environment. The combat was revolutionary, switching from first to third person flawlessly with incredible balancing. The ambience was stunning, and the landscape was breathtaking.
Skyrim continues to have a consistent player base and online community. The addition of mods supported the game incredibly. Players can create content for one another to download and play with for free. After 9 years, Skyrim is still loved by all, from the iconic horned helmet to the famous theme song.
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