Сокращения в компьютерных играх

Content

1. Introduction                                                                                                     4
2. The difference between abbreviations and acronyms                                     5
3. Internet slang                                                                                                   7
4. Practical part                                                                                                    7
5. Conclusion                                                                                                       9
6. References                                                                                                    9

Introduction

Nowadays people can’t imagine their lives without modern technologies. The computer has also become an important part of human life. Every major and minor industry is computerized. Computers do their work efficiently and quickly. They have made our lives much easier. We use computers not only for work, we also communicate with friends and relatives in the Internet, watch videos, read articles and play various computer games.

Today, the importance of computer games is still being discussed. People can’t decide if they are good or bad. But undoubtedly, lots of people play them. The gaming industry is growing and developing because games are really popular with children, teenagers and even adults.

People spend hours by playing computer games. Some of them become are really computer addict. On the other hand, this addiction can sometimes be useful. For example, some people become popular by presenting games or playing them online. They can even earn money.

In my personal opinion, computer games are not bad at all. They help me to learn English in some way.

In my free time, I like playing such a computer game as Counter-Strike: Global Offensive. It’s an online multiplayer game of an action genre. The aim of the game is to defeat the enemy. This is the third popular online game in the world. Almost 500 000 people play it every day. About 35 percent are people from English-speaking countries. So, the main language of the game is English because a lot of gamers can speak it.

To play this game, I have to chat with a team. In the most of the games I have to communicate with English-speaking people. They use some words which we don’t study at school. Often my teammates use abbreviations that I don’t understand. So, I had to search their meanings in a dictionary. I think this helps me improve my English vocabulary. Now I can use some new words at English lessons.

I guess that playing computer games isn’t only a waste of time for teens. They can be useful if they want to learn some new English words.

The aim of my work is to show that computer games influence our English skills in a good way.

To achieve this goal, I should do the following:

• to find information about some abbreviations;
• to investigate different sources of getting information;
• to find the differences   between the abbreviations, initialisms and acronyms;
• to get to know which games are popular with teens, if they use English to chat with other gamers, what English abbreviations they know;
• to do a survey and analyze its results;
• to share experience.

The object of the study is English abbreviations used in computer games. For research I used the following methods: the method of observation and comparison, the statistical method.      

The work consists of the following sections: contents, introduction, theoretical part, practical part, conclusion, references.

The difference between abbreviations and acronyms

Abbreviations and acronyms are shortened forms of words or phrases. [2]

An abbreviation is typically a shortened form of words used to represent the whole (such as Dr. or Prof.) while an acronym contains a set of initial letters from a phrase that usually form another word (such as radar or scuba) [7].

Abbreviations and acronyms are often interchanged, yet these two are quite distinct. The main point of reference is that abbreviations are merely a series of letters while acronyms form new words.

Each one allows writers to make large blocks of the text easier to read. One should pay attention to the fact that both abbreviations and acronyms are typically considered informal and people should carefully use them in formal writings.

Let's take a closer look at abbreviations. As we know, an abbreviation is a shortened form of a word or phrase, such as Mr. for Mister, or hr. for hour that is still said as the full word or words.

There are millions of common abbreviations used every day. Let's take a look at some of the popular ones we see and/or use almost daily.

When you write your address, you likely write "St." or "Ave." instead of "Street" or "Avenue".

When you record the date, you likely abbreviate both the days of the week (Mon., Tues., Wed., Thurs., Fri., Sat., and Sun.) and the months of the year (Jan., Feb., Aug., Sept., Oct., Nov., Dec.).

Often, we use the abbreviation "Ex." for the word "example".

Measurements are commonly reduced to abbreviations such as "cm" for "centimeters" or "in." for "inch".

How about "vs."? That's another popular abbreviation, shortened from the word "versus".

Tightening "December" to "Dec." is an abbreviation because “Dec.”is simply a written shorthand for the full word. It's not an acronym since "Dec." isn't said as a word.

You may have wondered why some abbreviations, like those for ounce (oz) and pound (lb) use letters that aren't part of the original word. In these cases, the abbreviations are based on older forms of the word.

An acronym, technically, must spell out another word. This is a good point of reference to help you distinguish between abbreviations and acronyms. Another good way to differentiate them is that acronyms aren’t just shortened words, they often simplify a long organization name, scientific term or an idea [7].

Some acronyms create new words that are so commonly used, we forget they're actually a series of letters from a longer word or phrase. For example, when we go scuba diving, we rarely consider the fact that scuba is an acronym of self-contained underwater breathing apparatus.

Then there are initialisms which cause some confusion. Would you consider "VIP" to be an acronym? Technically, it's an initialism. Initialisms are a series of initial letters of words or a phrase that form an abbreviation but aren’t pronounced as a word. We enunciate each letter [7].

NBA is another initialism. How about when you text "rofl"? That's another initialism, as is "BLT". Many consider initialisms to be a subset of acronyms—therefore whether you pronounce ASAP as a word or enunciate each letter, it’s still an acronym—but be aware that others say it is another form of abbreviation.

Like abbreviations, acronyms and initialisms are used daily and most people can interpret the meaning of common acronyms without much thought.

Internet slang

Internet slang (Internet language) refers to a variety of slang languages used by different people on the Internet.[5] Such terms often originate with the purpose of saving keystrokes. Many people use the same abbreviations in texting and instant messaging, and social networking websites. Acronyms, keyboard symbols and shortened words are often used as methods of abbreviation in Internet slang. An example of Internet slang is "LOL" meaning "laugh out loud".

Practical part

To understand if computer games really help improve English skills, I have decided to do a research. I prepared some questions to interview the boys from my school. I decided to interview only the boys because I think they are more interested in gaming than girls are.

I asked 27 boys aged from 14-18 the following questions:

1. Can you play computer games? What are your favorite games? 
2. Do you take part in any multiplayer games?

3. Do you use English while playing? 

4. Did you learn any new English words while playing a computer game?

5. Have you ever found any abbreviations in the in computer games? Give some examples.

As a result, I have got the following information:

1) 25 students play computer games. Their favorite games are Dota 2 CS: GO, World of Tanks, Total War Rome 2, Far cry 3, Its life, GTA 5, Horizon Zero Down, Metal gear, Rocket league, Life is strange.

2) 25 boys play multiplayer games.

3) Only 6 of 27 people don’t use English while playing.

4) Only 4 boys didn’t learn new English words while playing computer games. Some students now know such words as «rush «B», «check «long», «check «mid», «shoot», «hardline», «easy line», «by back», «bloody», «pain», «silver».

5)  So, 22 boys have found abbreviations in the computer games. Here are some of them:

Conclusion

My hypothesis contained the idea that gaming helps improve English vocabulary in some way. As a result, it is obvious that teens have learnt some new English words, especially abbreviations.  

During the research, I also have found that there are two types of shortened forms of the words. They are abbreviations and acronyms. Generally, abbreviations are used to make the conversation or the written form of words faster to express and understand.

Abbreviations are popular with teens and often used in gaming. It is much easier to print a shortened form of the word than a full one. While gaming people abbreviate words or phrases to save time or space.

To sum up, playing computer games is not a waste of time. While playing you can develop your English skills, for example, internet slang which is not included in the school program.

References

1. Abbreviation. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Abbreviation
2. Abbreviation. https://dictionary.cambridge.org/dictionary/english-russian/abbreviation
3. Abbreviations. http://usefulenglish.ru/miscellany/abbreviations
4. Computer games. http://otec.uoregon.edu/games.html
5. Internet slang. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Internet_slang
6. The Gaming Industry – an introduction. https://www.cleverism.com/gaming-industry-introduction/
7. What is the difference between abbreviations and acronyms? http://www.smart-words.org/abbreviations/text.html

Appendix 1

The countries participating in Counter-Strike: Global Offensive

Appendix 2

Abbreviations that I have learnt while gaming