Symbols

  Every time you turn on your video game console or computer and enter the game world you are preparing to enter another realm filled with its own symbols and meanings. People give meaning to symbols and those meanings control those people. A symbol can communicate to a player how to act, what to do, or it can convey deeper social meanings withing the game such as racism or government.
  Many games enable the player to select a "class" or "race" such as an elf, recon soldier, ork, or sniper. Avid game players can tell you, even before playing a game, what an elf or ork looks like and if they are evil or noble. They can also tell you what type of weapons or powers each of these characters possess. The "symbol" of these characters, or the way they look, controls the player and makes them behave in a certain way. For example, being a sniper in Call of Duty lets your team know the role that you will play. Your character will not be on the front lines, it will suppress enemies that are firing at you out in the open, and it will kill with precision. If you cannot conform to the role of the sniper in Call of Duty, you may be ostracized by getting voted out of the game.
   Symbols that are not character related also have meanings. For example:


   This is a prestige medal icon chart. This represents the times that you have "prestiged" or climbed through the character ranks in Call of Duty. To an ordinary person, this may look like war medals. To a player, this represents hundreds of hours of gameplay. It can also convey status and give other players predetermined notions about the player with the level 10 prestige badge. For example, playing against this level 10 prestige person may change the game-plan or tactics of the team. This person will be thought to have excellent game skills and thought to be elite. This symbol alone represents much more than the medal that it appears to be.
   Symbols also convey meaning within the game. For example:

 
   This is a Gears of War photo. If you ask an ordinary person, they may say that this is a soldier holding a chain, a necklace, or some sort of dog tag. They would only be partially correct. To the players of this game, these dog tags (COG tags as they are known in the game) represent the last hope of humanity. These symbols represent mankind, hope, and despair all at once.
   Symbols, whether in the form of what a character looks like, an icon, or a part of a soldiers gear, all have meanings known only to the gamer community. These symbols are understood and give the player identity and  create a culture within the game world that is only understood if you are part of that culture.