Video game terms are no longer confined to online forums and gaming headsets. At the end of 2024, the Oxford English Dictionary added phrases including “cheat code” and “cutscene” to its official lexicon, cementing a linguistic shift that has seen gaming jargon seep into political speeches, propaganda videos and everyday conversation. This year, the official White House X account posted footage of military strikes on Iran that spliced real combat with scenes from the video game Grand Theft Auto, and six days later a follow-up video used clips from Nintendo’s 2006 title Wii Sports. On the other side of the aisle, Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez of New York fired back at White House deputy chief of staff Stephen Miller in February 2026 by asking, “Why does this guy always talk like a World of Warcraft npc [non-player character]?”
Twenty years ago, video games were a niche pursuit, dominated by enthusiasts tucked away in obscure forums and meet-ups. The notion that governments would deploy footage from Call of Duty or gaming terms such as “killstreaks” as war propaganda would have seemed far-fetched. Then the 2010s brought nerd culture into the mainstream; previously online-only spaces merged with real life, and gaming became a mass phenomenon. The Oxford English Dictionary’s decision to recognise words like “cheat code” and “cutscene” at the end of 2024 marks a formal acknowledgment of that cultural shift. The term “pwned” – a misspelling of “owned” that emerged from 1980s leetspeak, the modified spelling dialect used on early Bulletin Board Systems – has already migrated far beyond gaming. The website “Have I Been Pwned”, created by a Microsoft developer, now allows anyone to check whether their email has been compromised in a security breach, turning a gaming insult into a standard cybersecurity tool.
Gaming terms on the political battlefield
The White House’s use of gaming aesthetics has drawn particular scrutiny. In a video posted this year, real footage from the war in Iran was intercut with a killstreak animation from Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 3 – a game that originally released in 2011, with a 2023 iteration. Critics accused the administration of gamifying conflict to make military action seem more palatable to younger audiences. The following week, another official video juxtaposed military strikes with clips from Wii Sports, a game that, when bundled with the Nintendo Wii console in 2006, introduced a vast, non-traditional audience to gaming concepts. Across the Atlantic, the term “NPC” – short for “non-player character”, a character in a video game not controlled by the player – has become political shorthand. Ocasio-Cortez’s jab at Stephen Miller was not an isolated incident; the phrase is increasingly used to describe people seen as predictable or robotic, sometimes tied to the philosophical idea that we live in a simulation.
Other gaming terms have been appropriated to describe extraordinary power dynamics. During the overhaul of US government agencies by the so-called “department of government efficiency” (Doge), one senior leader of the US Agency for International Development told the Atlantic: “Doge has achieved God mode.” “God mode” – the state of being omnisciently powerful and invincible within a game, often achieved through hacks – now describes real political overreach. Elon Musk, a figure frequently associated with Doge, has admitted to “boosting” his characters in Path of Exile 2 and Diablo IV (released June 5, 2023), paying for someone else to level them up – a practice widely considered cheating in gaming circles. Even the concept of a “ragequit” – abruptly stopping a game out of frustration – entered political commentary in 2017, when Vanity Fair accused Steve Bannon of threatening to ragequit the White House.
Origins and real-world parallels: a guide to the new vocabulary
Combat and strategy terms. “Killstreak” – a continuous series of kills without dying – is central to the Call of Duty series and now to propaganda videos. “Bullet sponge” describes an enemy that takes an absurd amount of damage; it is also derogatory military slang for someone who attracts enemy fire. Related is “tank”, a character class designed to soak up damage, akin to a military armoured vehicle. “Camping” – staying in one spot for long periods to snipe other players – is a tactic that can quickly become annoying, leading to accusations of “griefing” (deliberately annoying or disrupting other players) or “trolling” (purposeful offensiveness). “Kiting” involves hitting an enemy from range while keeping enough distance to avoid harm, leading them like a kite on a string. “Turtling” is building heavy defensive fortifications, forcing opponents to make risky moves.
Exploits and efficiency. “Any%” is a speedrunning method of beating a game by any means possible, including glitches or skipping entire levels. The term has crossed over into real life: Elon Musk’s approach to Doge has been described as an “Any%” strategy. “Speedrunning” – completing a game as fast as possible – spawned the 2026 social media trend of “Scientology speedruns”, where participants film themselves running into Scientology buildings before being stopped; one video racked up 90 million views. “Cheesing” is using tactics that are not technically cheating but exploit loopholes or repeated moves. In Crash Bandicoot: Warped (1998), players could avoid damage by standing in a safe-spot corner; the 2017 remake punished that by pelting the player with cheese. “Boosting” – paying someone else to level up your character – has been admitted to by Musk in Path of Exile 2 and Diablo IV.
Character and progression. “NPC” has become slang for predictable people, but its origins are strictly in-game. “Class” refers to a character’s role – warrior, samurai, bandit – each with strengths and weaknesses. “Buff” and “nerf” describe enhancements and weakenings, respectively; “nerf” derives from the toy brand that produces harmless foam weapons. “OP” (overpowered) and “god mode” indicate extreme strength. “XP” (experience points) measures progress; streamer Sykkuno once said “My XP bar is low” about dating inexperience. “Grinding” and “farming” both refer to performing actions repeatedly to gather resources, like going to work every day.
Real-world consequences of virtual language. The phrase “in Minecraft” was adopted by far-right sites such as 4chan, often added semi-ironically to threats to avoid legal repercussions. In 2023, a man was arrested for making death threats against a Florida sheriff on 4chan’s politics board, despite ending his threats with “in Minecraft”. The “Corrupted Blood incident” in World of Warcraft (original release November 23, 2004) saw a glitch spread a blood curse between players so rapidly that developers had to reset the game; the event was later used by scientists to model infectious disease spread. The term “smurfing” – when a highly skilled player creates a new account to play against lower-ranked opponents – originated from top Warcraft II players Geoff “Shlonglor” Frazier and Greg “Warp” Boyko, who used the names PapaSmurf and Smurfette.
Customisation and hidden content. “Easter eggs” – hidden messages or features – date back to 1980, when Atari developer Steve Wright hid a room containing the signature of coder Warren Robinett in the game Adventure, angry at receiving no credit. “Skins” are cosmetic outfits; the “Peely” banana costume in Fortnite is a well-known example. “Emotes” allow characters to wave, laugh or cry, often used to mock opponents. “Modding” – fan-created modifications – can change games entirely; a favourite Skyrim mod turns dragons into Thomas the Tank Engine characters. “DLC” (downloadable content) adds new items for a fee. “Loot boxes” and “gacha games” like Genshin Impact and League of Legends allow players to exchange real money for randomised virtual items, drawing concerns over gambling mechanics.
Social dynamics and slang. “Gank” means ambushing weaker players in a group. “GG” (good game) shows sportsmanship, extended to “GG WP” (well played) or “GG ez” (easy). “Noob” (or “n00b”) is a derogatory term for a beginner. “Pwned” – a humiliating defeat – now appears in the security website “Have I Been Pwned”. “Ragequit” is a sudden angry exit from a game. “Side quest” refers to optional activities in a game and has become slang for whimsical real-life adventures such as taking a sewing class. “-maxxing” originates from “min-maxing” – creating the best character by maximising desired traits and minimising others – and has spawned “looksmaxxing” and “Chinamaxxing”. “MMORPG” (massively multiplayer online role-playing game) describes worlds like EVE Online, which saw a single battle with 7,548 participants in 2014. “HP” (hit points) measures health or damage, and is used in memes to joke about real-life embarrassment, as in “minus 10 HP”. “KDR” (kill/death ratio) is a measure of skill in competitive games.
The Call of Duty: Modern Warfare franchise, particularly Modern Warfare 3 (released November 8, 2011 and in a 2023 iteration), has been a significant source of military-themed gaming vocabulary that now appears in government communications. The White House’s use of a killstreak animation from that game, combined with Wii Sports clips and Grand Theft Auto footage, illustrates how deeply gaming references have embedded themselves into political storytelling – even as critics warn that such “slopaganda” risks trivialising real-world violence.
