 As a social group formed in connection with the activity of playing the games, 'gamers' produced their own lexicon of game evaluation and appraisal, and their expectations and preferences shaped the subsequent development of gaming as a cultural practice.Kirkpatrick has argued that the distinctive properties of computer games are not only important to understanding them and their culture but have been instrumental in wider social changes.This is related to his theory of digital culture, according to which it is more playful than previous phases in history but not, for all that, an inherently nicer or fairer place to be.