Gaming Culture & Industry Quiz

1. The video game industry generates more revenue annually than which two other major entertainment industries combined?

1. Books and music
2. Music and film
3. Music and radio
4. Television and film

2. What is 'esports' and approximately how many people watch esports globally?

1. Competitive video gaming watched by an audience — approximately 500 million viewers globally
2. Fitness and exercise games played in gyms
3. Olympic-recognised virtual sports events only
4. Sports video game simulations played casually

3. What was the 'Atari Shock' (North American video game crash of 1983) and what caused it?

1. A hacking incident that destroyed Atari's game development system
2. A market crash caused by oversaturation of low-quality games flooding the market, including notoriously bad Atari 2600 ports of E.T. and Pac-Man
3. Atari going bankrupt after losing a lawsuit to Nintendo
4. Atari's computers exploding from a manufacturing defect

4. Minecraft became the best-selling video game of all time. Approximately how many copies has it sold?

1. 100 million
2. 200 million
3. 50 million
4. Over 238 million

5. What is 'procedural generation' in video games?

1. A technique for generating photo-realistic graphics in real-time
2. AI-controlled character behaviour systems
3. Algorithmically generating game content (levels, terrain, items) automatically rather than hand-designing everything
4. Using predetermined level designs stored in game code

6. The 'speedrunning' community attempts to complete video games as fast as possible. What is a 'glitch'/'exploit' in this context?

1. A bug or unintended game behaviour that speedrunners use to skip content, clip through walls, or skip to the end faster
2. A category of speedrun where the player makes deliberate mistakes
3. A game that runs slowly on older hardware
4. A type of in-game movement technique requiring specific button timing

7. Shigeru Miyamoto created which two iconic Nintendo franchises?

1. Mario and Donkey Kong only
2. Mario and Pokémon
3. Mario and The Legend of Zelda
4. Zelda and Metroid

8. What is 'loot box' controversy in gaming?

1. A type of free-to-play mobile game mechanic where energy refills are purchased
2. Physical collector's editions of games being too expensive
3. Players complaining about boxes of real merchandise not being delivered
4. Randomised virtual item packs purchased with real money — widely criticised as gambling mechanics targeting young players

9. What is the difference between 'AAA' (triple-A) games and 'indie' games?

1. AAA games are produced with large budgets by major publishers; indie games are developed by small independent studios with limited budgets
2. AAA games have better graphics; indie games have better stories
3. AAA games release on all platforms; indie games are platform-exclusive
4. AAA is a rating for adult content; indie means the game is free

10. What is 'game streaming' and which services compete in this space?

1. Both 'Twitch streaming' and 'cloud gaming' — both are called game streaming
2. Cloud gaming — playing games remotely on servers, streamed to your device without downloading or owning powerful hardware
3. Downloading games to stream within a local network
4. Streaming your gameplay to Twitch/YouTube while playing

11. Fortnite's battle royale mode launched in September 2017. What made it culturally significant beyond gaming?

1. It became a social platform for events, concerts (Travis Scott, Ariana Grande), movie screenings, and brand collaborations
2. It pioneered voice chat in video games
3. It was the first battle royale game ever made
4. It was the first game to have cross-platform play between all consoles

12. What is 'Dark Souls' famous for in the gaming community?

1. Being the first game to use photorealistic graphics
2. Being the first open-world RPG
3. Extremely punishing, unforgiving difficulty — 'git gud' culture — and rewarding mastery with deep satisfaction
4. The longest development cycle of any video game (15 years)

13. Twitch.tv began as which general streaming platform before pivoting to gaming?

1. Justin.tv — a general live streaming site founded by Justin Kan and Emmett Shear in 2007
2. LiveStream
3. Ustream
4. YouTube Gaming

14. What is 'DLC' in video games and what controversy surrounds it?

1. Digital Loading Content — pre-loading game files before release
2. Disc-Linked Content — content locked to specific game discs
3. Downloadable Content — additional paid content released after a game launches; controversially, some content is criticised as having been cut from the base game to sell separately
4. Dynamic Level Creation — an AI-driven system for generating levels

15. The 'gaming chair' industry exploded alongside esports. What distinguishes gaming chairs from office chairs?

1. Gaming chairs are built to withstand 12-hour gaming sessions while office chairs are rated for 8 hours
2. Gaming chairs have superior ergonomics backed by medical research
3. Gaming chairs include vibration and haptic feedback technology
4. Gaming chairs prioritise aggressive, 'racing seat' aesthetics with bold colours and branding — ergonomics research does not consistently favour them over good office chairs

16. What is the 'uncanny valley' effect in video game character design?

1. A glitch causing characters to fall through game level geometry
2. A technique for making far-away characters appear smaller to simulate depth
3. The difficulty in animating facial expressions in 3D games
4. The unsettling feeling when a character looks almost human but not quite — triggering revulsion rather than empathy

17. Nintendo's Switch console was groundbreaking for what reason?

1. It was Nintendo's first console with online multiplayer
2. It was the first 4K gaming console
3. It was the first console that functions both as a home console connected to a TV and a portable handheld device
4. It was the first console to use cloud gaming exclusively

18. The 'video game rating system' in the US is managed by which organisation?

1. ESRB (Entertainment Software Rating Board)
2. FCC (Federal Communications Commission)
3. FTC (Federal Trade Commission)
4. MPAA (Motion Picture Association)

19. What is 'retrogaming' and why has it surged in popularity?

1. Playing old games at reduced speed for accessibility purposes
2. Playing or collecting games from older console generations — driven by nostalgia, appreciation of game design history, and the preservation of gaming culture
3. Remaking classic games with modern graphics
4. Tournaments played using vintage hardware exclusively

20. What is 'open world' vs 'linear' game design?

1. Open world games are multiplayer; linear games are single-player only
2. Open world games have random level generation; linear games have fixed levels
3. Open world games let players explore a large environment freely in any order; linear games guide players through a predetermined sequence of events
4. Open world means the game has no story; linear means story is the focus