Gnomes in video games have been making some special appearances over the last few years and have a long history with them in fact, and some of them were more welcomed than others. Some of the most substantial video games of the last few years have dug up a few gnomes for us to take a look at, and meme (check out our guide to gnome memes here) at! Let’s take a look at some of the gnomes!
Runescape
Gnomes are everywhere, but one of the most commonly known gnomes is the RuneScape gnome. Unlike the gnomes in the other games in this list, the RuneScape gnome is a worldwide meme that we’re sure you’ve stumbled across in your time.
The RuneScape gnome child is a meme known for its strange, 2D looks and “Slayer” tag that many oldschool RuneScape players will recognize. The RuneScape gnome features a small, green pointy hat and a sharp nose that is identifiable when playing the game.
It did play a part in the game series other than with its meme potential, however, by popping up a chat dialog with some, quite frankly useless but funny chat prompts. Some of these include “To be or not to be” and “I’m making wine out of Raisins”. These were super helpful when running around the RuneScape world.
Sims 4
Sims 4 is a popular game, made even more popular with some amazing gnomery. Although these gnomes are nice to look at when building your Sims Garden, they sometimes had some strange aspects. Sims 4 features 13 amazing Gnomes from The Sims 4: Seasons DLC. These gnomes however needed to be appeased with various substances or items. Most of the time, this was coffee. There were also items such as pies, salads, toys, fruitcakes, and a future cube that made them happy too!
These gnomes however were a little special, as these 13 different styles of gnomes will only appear for each major holiday. If a player makes the correct choice of item to appease the gnome with, a small halo will appear above the gnome’s head and the Sims will have some new seeds to plant! However, if the player gives the wrong item to the gnome, anger will unleash and flames will appear above the gnome, bringing the wrath of lightning onto the player!
Fortnite
A possibly reoccurring theme with Gnomes and video games, Fortnite has had its fair share of Gnomery. In Fortnite, there were four locations of these gnomes that had to be dug up to expose the gnome for a challenge.
The gnomes looked like small patches of dirt or rubble or could be found exposed in strange but smartly placed places like in the second step of the challenge. In total there were three stages to the Gnome challenge, but you could dig up, or find them just by playing the game! These locations were dotted around the map, but you were likely to find more than one in one location.
These gnomes have not made a reappearance since Season 6 (Chapter 2) and may not ever come back to Fortnite, but we can hope for the best as we would love to see the Fortnite Gnomes make one last appearance in the game.
Battlefield 5
They also featured in the war-based FPS, Battlefield 5, on the Arras map, in which players would get bonus points for finding them.
Battlefield is a video game series that has been around for many years and there is a new version usually every two years. For them to include a gnome-based objective is another indication that gnomes are still very much relevant in pop culture, such as combat and war based games like this!
You can read more about combat gnomes here.
Why are They in so Many Video Games?
There is no clear cut reason for this but I think that it is because they have such as friendly and warm physical appearance and personality. People never seem to get tired of them and so each generation learns of them from places such as their grandparents and parents, various forms of pop culture, in stores and, of course, through seeing them in people yards. People continually respond to their fun appearance and when children grow up and have their own gardens I think they attach a certaiin nostalgia to them which is part of the reason they then buy them.
In video games, people then include them for similar reasons as they are so versatile as a fun device to include with objectives such as the Battlefield 5 one I mentioned above. They are not particularly big so are great for hiding around games and people smile when they see them. They are innocent and wholesome which makes it easy to include in a wide range of different types of games such as child-friendly ones as well as more violent ones.
Are They Magical?
There is a school of thought that they do have certain magical powers such as the power to talk to trees as well as to protect people and the items within their yards such as gold and minerals. How exactly they do this using magic is still a mystery but if you have any theories please post a comment at the end of this article!
