The Gamers™ aren’t what you’d call a wholesome community, and yet within gaming there’s plenty of microcosms (and some much larger) groups which foster game-centric groups who are inviting, passionate and engaged with the art of the game.

Inspired by the over-the-top messaging in parodies like Starship Troopers’ famous “I’m Doing My Part!”, gaming communities of casual players, hardcore players and role-players alike can be formed around a single quote from a game, which becomes an encapsulating slogan for the culture.

The Quotes of Communities

Death Stranding is a game lost on many players, through no real fault of their own. I don’t think it’s an issue of IQ or not being smart enough to understand the game, I think it’s more about whether the player managed to grasp the community aspect.

Death Stranding is a game about being connected without touching, about shared isolation resulting in a lack of isolation at all. Players can build eachother bridges, roads, cars, ziplines and more.

Playing without these online elements fundamentally destroys the game. It is so intrinsically based around community spirit and progression that it should, by all accounts, be up there with Helldivers.

Unfortunately the gameplay was too slow for many, and so they didn’t simmer in the world of Death Stranding long enough fully grasp the multiplayer engagement. Helldivers fosters a similar “We do this together” spirit, but in a bombastic and combative way that’s not necessarily easier to “understand”, but is easier to jump in to and roleplay. Death Stranding’s more subdued tone might have been why the community wasn’t as loud.

Keep on Keeping On

Which brings us to the quote of the community: “Keep on keeping on”.

One of the first unlocks in the game is the ability to place signs. One of these signs, visible to other players and able to provide various buffs (and allow you to share Likes) is the “Keep on keeping on” sign.

When a player touches it, a voice line plays which says “Keep on keeping on” in a rhythmic, encouraging way. There are a lot of these signs. Players love them, and they so embody the spirit of the game and its community.

We grind materials, we perfect routes, we trudge through snow and sneak through BTs and get likes. We keep on keeping on.

Some find the phrase “Keep on Keeping On” far too “status quo”, and in the real world I’d probably think the same, but in the world of Death Stranding that phrase is a fundamental tenet by which all porters operate and a reminder that we can “form a connection, even though [we] can’t shake hands”.