MAPACA

Mid-Atlantic Popular &
American Culture Association

On January 28th, the video game news site Joystiq streamed “Tomb Raider: Definitive Edition” live through Twitch. In an ominous turn of events, their audience began spamming the Twitch hosted chat with two words: “die” and “revive.” Later, the staff at Joystiq dug through the chat room and found references to an urban legend regarding the game and its presence on the Twitch streaming service; Someone claimed to have heard from a “source” that typing “die” followed by “revive” would cause the character to not only die then come back to life, but would also change the entire structure of the game. As staff reporter Anthony Angenello stated on their weekly Joystiq Podcast, “I am just happy to hear that urban legends like this can still exist in the internet age… I just thought those days were done, but here we are in 2014 and a real life video game urban legend was created. It’s great.” (Joystiq Podcast, Jan 31st, 2014).

From move lists in fighting games to FAQ’s on Fez, the video game world has depended on folkloric methods of disseminating information for decades. The urban legends of gaming have grown just has much as the industry itself. Using the work of folklorist Elizabeth Tucker, I will discuss how urban legends, even false ones, have shaped the gaming industry. Historically, it may not be hard to fathom whispers in arcades and codes traded among friends allowing for rumors to thrive. Tucker, however, believes that the internet has only served to strengthen the myths and legends of various communities. By presenting on various legends throughout video game history and showing how legends live on in the information age I hope to shine a light onto another facet of the gaming community for us all to explore.