In college, my bachelor’s thesis, titled, “LF New Words: An Analysis of the Language Learning Processes for Understanding Specialized Terminology in MMORPGs” focused on how people learn new, unique terminology in online video games. The title is a mouthful, I know. Welcome to the world of academia!
My main focus was on a game called Warframe, which I have spent a lot of time playing and learned a lot of special words and terminology for.
Since I believe in making academic works and ideas accessible for everyone, I thought I should write out my findings here as well. In that thesis, I tried to make the information easy to understand. However, writing an academic paper is still very different from writing a blog post.
Hopefully, by writing this, I can shed some insight on something that can help you learn new languages faster. I’ve tried several times to make blog posts about how to learn language quickly, and will definitely try again. But writing about smaller processes like this will help provide more nuance and a better understanding of the process, which could in turn help you develop your own language learning strategy!
Why Does this Matter?
While my study focused on online video games, this same concept can apply to almost any environment with special terminology. You’ll encounter new words in a new job, when you’re taking classes for a special subject, or even talking to people who speak a different dialect. And, of course, new languages will have nothing but new words.
Some Background
In an effort to turn an 8500-word essay into a much, much shorter blog post, I’ll have to cut out a lot of information, or otherwise find easier ways to explain it.
To start, let me just say that my time playing games like Warframe and Black Desert Online was an invaluable resource for this research.
Linguistics
There is quite a bit of linguistic terminology I used in the original essay, but I will try to avoid using it where I can, and define it where I can’t.
I drew on studies surrounding language acquisition as well as language development in both online communities in general and in gaming communities and MMORPGs specifically for this research.
Here’s the important stuff:
- Two very important concepts here are the ideas of language socialization and language acquisition.
- Language socialization is the process of learning how to behave and conduct yourself via language. Here’s a couple examples:
- If you were in an interview, you would speak more formally than you would with a friend.
- You wouldn’t say “good morning” at night.
- Language acquisition is the process of acquiring language. This is not the same as language learning.
- Language learning is more academic and involves learning grammar and vocabulary.
- Language acquisition is the process of learning to speak a language innately without having to specifically remember words and grammar.
- Think of it like the later stage of the process of language learning.
- Language socialization is the process of learning how to behave and conduct yourself via language. Here’s a couple examples:
Online Communities and Language
- Online environments have a very different means of developing language than anywhere else. (Though language constantly changes.) While language acquisition and socialization usually rely on things like facial expression and vocal tone, this can be harder to express online.
- This is where phrases like LOL and emojis come from. They’re a means of expressing emotion without a face or voice.
- Interestingly, individual groups and communities can end up developing their own terminology, too.
- For example, the subreddit r/AITA has quite a few. AITA stands for “Am I the Asshole”, and the subreddit serves as a place for people to ask for advice about their lives. It comes with a few abbreviations, such as NTA for “Not the asshole” and YTA for “You’re the asshole”.
- There is one place where a lot of unique terminology can pop up: online games. MMORPGS, or “Massively multiplayer online role-playing games” are especially a big one, and every MMORPG tends to develop its own.
- To borrow from Warframe, which I’ve already mentioned, it’s not uncommon in the game’s recruiting chat to see a sentence like “LF Axi A18 Radshare 2/4” appear.
- I’ll get into what that means a little bit later. For now, see if you can try to figure it out!
- To borrow from Warframe, which I’ve already mentioned, it’s not uncommon in the game’s recruiting chat to see a sentence like “LF Axi A18 Radshare 2/4” appear.
So, How Does it All Work?
The main forces at play for people to learn new words are language acquisition and language socialization, as mentioned above. There are some more specific parts of them, though, that can explain how we learn new words.
Language Acquisition
Social Interaction and Collaboration
The need for social interaction makes acquisition quite easy in a lot of ways. We need to communicate with others in order to explain our ideas, and when other people explain new things, they will likely use new words. If you’re starting a new job, for example, people will reference certain ideas or processes that you’ll have to learn in order to effectively collaborate. The need for collaboration and interaction motivates you— and in some ways forces you— to learn. Online games like MMORPGs can facilitate this very easily with things like guilds and group activities.
Informality and Noticing
Informal environments make language learning a lot easier. In this case, I mean environments with low stakes for making a mistake. This allows you to notice that there is something wrong and correct it as needed without any other repercussions. Most of the time, this comes in the form of gauging other people’s reactions to what you say, and adjusting your mannerisms accordingly.
This informality is practically baked into MMORPGs, since people are just playing them for fun.
Motivation
Motivation is, obviously, an important part of learning any language. Putting yourself in a situation that can help keep that motivation up can help so much with learning. In an MMORPG, the motivation to progress through the game is a significant motivator in learning the terminology.
Outside of online games, finding a welcoming community to facilitate language learning or word learning fills a similar need.
“Younger” Demographics
You’ve probably heard that children often have an easier time learning languages. This is true, but not entirely for the reason you think. One big reason why it’s easy is because of a lot of the things I’ve just mentioned. But there’s one more: they’re new. They’re desperate and eager to learn because they’re new to the group. In this case, the group is the entirety of humanity.
But this same idea applies to anyone who is new to any group. Starting a new job, a new hobby, or a new online game puts you in the headspace of needing to learn. Thus, you’re immediately more open to learning new words and new language.
Language Socialization
Comprehensible Input
If you’ve ever done research into language learning, you’ve probably heard this term. If you haven’t, I’ll explain. Basically, it’s the idea that using language at a level you can understand, or slightly above, will give you enough context to figure out new words on your own, facilitating language learning in a natural way. It’s a common philosophy in language learning but can be a very slow process when learning a second language.
However, it’s a very useful process for learning new words, especially in the context of new environments like MMORPGs. In some studies, they have found that people tend to meet each other on common ground. Someone with little knowledge of specialized words will use anything they do know, while someone who does know the words will simplify their language to help the other person understand them. Most of this will happen unconsciously, without anyone even realizing they’re doing it.
Grouping
The use of this unique terminology can help people feel like part of an in-group. Sometimes this can come off negatively, like when people use these words to make someone feel like they don’t belong. On the other hand, it can also create some additional motivation and comradery for learners and experts alike.
Of course, this is all quite obvious when it comes to full-on languages. If you speak a language that someone else doesn’t, you’ll have a special way of communicating that other people can’t use. But joining a group of learners of varying skill will put you into one of these groups, and can not only help you learn much faster, but also help you make friends along the way!
MMORPGs and other online games often have social groups like guilds that create these environments organically.
Culture
The culture surrounding language and new words can have a big impact on the ease of learning.
In MMORPGs, especially those heavily reliant on their players to facilitate economy and culture, the attitude of those players can really affect the atmosphere. This, in turn, will determine how willing people are to continue playing the game.
This same idea applies to language learning communities and language speakers. If someone is learning a language and encounters a lot of resistance from native speakers or other learners, it’ll be very discouraging. On the other hand, a receptive, friendly group will help motivate other learners, which makes the language easier to learn!
The Meaning of “LF Axi A18 Radshare 2/4”
I know this was a lot, and I’ve been leaving you hanging on what that sentence from Warframe means. Well, it’ll take a bit of explaining. See, there’s a system in the game where players can complete certain missions to open something called a relic to obtain a rare item. They can upgrade relics to increase the chances of getting these rarer items. If they join with other people in these missions, they can choose any reward that anyone in the mission obtained. Thus, by joining in groups of four (the maximum allowed in a single mission), they can quadruple their chances of getting the reward.
All of this serves to encourage player interaction and communication which, if you’ve been paying attention, makes it easier for people to learn what phrases like this mean.
So, the sentence “LF Axi A18 radshare 2/4” essentially means “I have an Axi A18 relic and I am looking for other people to join me with the same relic so that we can increase our chance of obtaining a more valuable reward. We have two out of four people.” It’s a lot more long-winded, and when people know what all of those terms mean, it’s a lot more efficient to send the shorter message.
Conclusion
That was a lot, I know. But language learning is very complicated, and it’s never super easy. But this research paper I did delved into how people learn new words, using online games and MMORPGs as a reference point. I tried to distill it down to the most important stuff while avoiding the language of academia as much as possible.
I hope this was an interesting and enjoyable read. If there’s anything I can clear up, or you have any questions, comments, or concerns, don’t hesitate to let me know in a comment below!
Thank you for reading, as always!
Sources
My sources for this are all academic papers and personal experience. I’ll be posting the sources in APA format.
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- Ögeyik, M. C. (2018). The comparative effectiveness of noticing in language learning. International Review of Applied Linguistics in Language Teaching, 56(4), 377–400. https://doi.org/10.1515/iral-2016-0049
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