CultureBehind the scenes of gaming conventions: who builds the floor you walk on
Expo halls look effortless for three days a year. The rest of the calendar is a slow, unglamorous build.
Culture
The scene around the games: modding projects, streamer economies, cosplay, speedrunning, fan preservation work and arguments a community keeps having.
CultureGG, nerf, noob: the gamer slang that quietly moved into everyday speech
Words born in lobbies and voice chat now show up in office meetings and group texts. Here is how that migration works, and why it keeps happening.
CultureHow speedrunning communities keep old games alive after publishers walk away
When a studio pulls the plug, the people who run games for time are often the ones who understand the code best.
CultureThe Swiss Stage, Explained: Why Esports Stopped Using Simple Brackets
No more one-loss-and-you're-out heartbreak in the group stage. Here's how the Swiss format actually decides who survives, round by round.
CultureRetirement at 24: why esports careers end so early
Reaction time is only part of the story — burnout, economics, and the treadmill of annual rebuilds shorten careers that could theoretically last.
CultureWhy esports orgs obsess over mascots and team identity
Logos, colors, and lore: how organizations manufacture loyalty in an industry where players change jerseys constantly.