Curated playlist
Video game terminology
- Game mechanicsMonopoly's dice and turn-taking would work the same in a game with no property. That is how mechanics differ from theme.
- Experience pointXP exists because EP already meant electrum pieces in Dungeons & Dragons.
- Saved gameThe first game to save anything was Space Invaders in 1978. All it kept was the player's score.
- Cooperative video gameThe first cooperative video game was a tennis spin-off. Atari's Pong Doubles came out in 1973.
- Non-player characterThe term NPC began at tabletop Dungeons and Dragons games, where the gamemaster played every non-player character.
- CutsceneVideo game cutscenes began with a 1966 mainframe slideshow. Mabel Addis made it for The Sumerian Game.
- Random encounterRandom encounters began as wandering monsters in 1970s Dungeons and Dragons.
- Player characterA player character is the hero a real person controls in a game, choice by choice.
- Video game remakeCapcom's 2019 Resident Evil 2 kept the story but changed how the game plays.
- Arcade video gameArcade video games trace back to pinball tables without flippers. Some places banned pinball into the 1970s.
- Video game consoleGame console makers often sell the machine at little or no profit. They earn money on each game sold.
- Downloadable contentA cosmetic horse armor pack for Oblivion became one of Bethesda's top ten sellers.
- Mobile gameNokia's Snake was recorded on 350 million phones at its peak. Nokia pre-installed it on most of its devices in 1997.