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Pog Jeanine Dinh The term, “Pog”, is used to indicate excitement, joy, intrigue or an epic moment in online spaces. Pog is an acronym that means “play of the game” but is mainly used by users in the video game space as an expression after something incredible, epic, or exciting has taken place. POGGERS can be used synonymously with POG. Used mainly within the video game live streaming community it can be found in the chat section to express excitement, amazement, or disbelief when a live streamer pulls off an impressive play or a talented skill. When someone says "Pog" after accomplishing something it usually means "Yay! I did it! Epic!". “Pog” is one of the oldest emotive terms and popularised by the users of the Twitch community. The term is inspired by and a reference to the Twitch emote "PogChamp". The original PogChamp emote is a photo of Ryan “Gootecks” and was created from an image of Ryan while he was on a film set. He watched a camera man knock over a tripod and this was his natural expression. Ryan was shocked, mouth agape, with a surprised expression across his face. The photo was taken and turned into an emote which became incredibly popular amongst the video game community. This term is important as it reflects ways in which adolescents represent themselves online or create their own representation online. There are opportunities online for adolescents to cohort or find groups of people with similar interests. Within these groups they create their own culture, habits and understandings of said space. “Pog” is one of the oldest emotive terms that users in the video game space use and created. Similarly to memes, it gives adolescents a way to express themselves and also connect to one another. Providing a sense of sameness, understanding and connection between users in the space. The creation of “pog” displays how youth find ways to accurately express themselves in a virtual space. This connects to youth’s health and well-being by trying to authentically connect to their virtual spaces and virtual community members. By being able to appropriately express their emotion or reaction they are able to share the space with others. This is extremely important in the live streaming space (where this term is typically used). For example, during live esports events, there can sometimes be thousands up to millions of people watching virtually from their own space. When an impressive play happens or a specific team wins, youth are able to share the same excitement by flooding the chat with “pog” or “poggers” or “pogchamp” emotes. Sources Literally Media Ltd. (2022, October 19). Pogchamp. Know Your Meme. Retrieved November 7, 2022, from https://knowyourmeme.com/memes/pogchamp
theScore Esports. (2017, May 26). What is PogChamp? [A trip down meme-Ory Lane]. YouTube. Retrieved November 7, 2022, from https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gcY7AyFojok
