This edition of Talk Like a Gamer we’ll focus on the greater than operator, and its use by gamers.

First, it’s useful to define the greater than operator: >

“a > b”, in mathematics, means that there exists some number ‘n’ such that “b + n = a”. That is, “5 > 2″ because “2 + 3 = 5″. Further, all statements involving the less than operator (<) can be rewritten as greater than by reversing the operands. That is, “a < b” can be written as “b > a”.

When used by gamers, however, a & b usually do not represent a numerical value, but, rather, it’s used to compare things to one another.

For example, suppose one wanted to explain that the World of Warcraft (WoW) is better than Star Wars Galaxies (SWG). Rather than writing that all out, a gamer would write simply: WoW > SWG.

The operator is also used to express either success or failure on a particular task. For example, after making it to work on time after navigating the DC Beltway, a gamer might write, “me > I495″.

Defeat is written as you might expect. “I495 > me”

Sometimes, however, one would like to express that something is better than anything else, ie: the best. In this case, one would most likely write “Tarantino > all”.

The > operator is clearly very versatile, and as such is often used by gamers.

As with any new word or concept, the only way to really become comfortable with it is to use it in your everyday speech, or in this case, writings. Try to use “>” as often as possible over the course of a week and soon you’ll be able to Talk Like a Gamer.

If you liked that, try...

1. Talk Like a Gamer: Win & Love
2. Talk Like A Gamer: buff/nerf
3. Can We Talk?
4. Beware The Back Seat Gamer.
5. Looking For A Few Good Geeks

1 Comment »

1. 
   Migo
   December 21, 2006 at 10:05 pm

   me > all DC traffic…bastards

   [Reply]

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