Gamers Glossary

One of the most interesting aspects of gaming culture is the language that is cultivated by the gaming community. To anybody that doesn’t play games or troll forums the lingo can sound like complete gibberish. In my experience, even seasoned gamers are not immune to this phenomenon. Girlfriends get frustrated, co-workers think you are using words from languages found in Star Trek (though you might be) and friends think you’ve lost your mind when you pull a word out of your gaming thesaurus.

Be confused, scared, stupefied and ignorant no longer. We have put together a list of the most common gaming words, expressions, terms and acronyms to help you understand exactly what that punk just said to you online…or what your boyfriend really means when he keeps saying “pwned” in bed.

This is by no means an exhaustive list. Our goal is to continually add to this with the input and advice from gamers everywhere. Disagree with a definition? Missing a favourite term you dish to fools online? Have a better example? Submit your own terms and definitions to get them added to the site using the form at the end of this page. Try including some examples of your terms in a sentence…if we like them, we’ll put them in!

**I’m working on a better system for navigation as you read this so in the meantime please bear with us. For the interim, the terms are organized alphabetically. To jump to a term quickly just use “Ctrl F” (Control F on your keyboard), type the term and hit enter.

“avatar” – An avatar is a computer user’s representation of himself or herself, whether in the form of a three-dimensional model used in computer games or as a two-dimensional icon (picture) used on internet forums and other communities.

“camper” – A camper is a player that sits in one area of a map (usually in an online FPS game) and literally may as well put up a tent and air out their underwear. Camper’s find what is usually an incredibly defensive position and then wait around for players to stumble past while they get the easy kill. Examples of campers can be seen in Call of Duty 4 and Halo 3…and many, many other games.

“clan” or “guild” – A clan or guild is a group of players who regularly play together in a particular (or sometimes different) multiplayer games. Often you will hear of guilds when people talk about World of Warcraft or other large MMOs.

“easter egg” – When game developer’s hide secrets in a game that have no bearing or relevance to the game itself. Example include fighting a green ninja in Mortal Kombat 2 and the infamous “hot coffee” mod in Grand Theft Auto: San Andreas.

“exploit” - When a game mechanic can be abused in a way unintended by the developer. This is essentially cheating, though many claim that if the “exploit” is in the game, it was meant to be used. One recent example was an item duplication exploit in Oblivion that involves drawing your bow.

“fanboy” – A term used to describe gamers that affiliate themselves with one gaming system and defend it mercilessly to the point of insanity. Fanboys are the people that perpetuate the “console war” and take great pleasure in misfortunes that befall systems other than their system of choice. A recent example of fanboism resulted in an online petition to boycott all Capcom affiliated games when it was revealed that Devil May Cry 4 would *gasp* be released on both the Xbox 360 and PS3. Sound insane? You’re right, it is. For a good laugh, click here to check it out!

“flame” -A term that describes the act of insulting or harassing someone through either online chat, forums and message boards or voice chat. Basically, flaming is anytime you are insulting someone while playing a game online or participating in any online discussion.

“FPS” – An acronym for First Person Shooter. These games put you in the perspective of a person looking down the sights of a gun and you guessed it, shooting things. Examples include Halo, Call of Duty, Bioshock etc.

“fps” - Not to be confused with FPS, fps is an acronym for “frames per second.” This is a measure of the rate at which a tv or monitor can produce unique consecutive images called frames. Fps is important in video games because it changes the way a player must visually track an animated image and react. For more information on fps and frame rates click here.

“fragged” – In video game terms, this means your virtual character has been killed. Many gamers describe the number of kills they have in an online game by the number of “frags” they have earned.

“FTW” - An acronym for “For The Win!” It is an expression of enthusiasm.
In a sentence: Team Blue FTW!

“griefing” or ‘greifer” - Griefing is, simply put, making someone else’s online game session miserable. It’s not simply beating someone in player-vs.-player competitions, or even annoying someone as the side-effect of otherwise game-focused actions. Griefing means taking action intended to harm the game-play of someone else—these can include attacking someone ostensibly on your own team, blocking passageways, intentionally crashing your vehicle into someone else’s, leading masses of monsters to attack unsuspecting players (”training”), using known software bugs to force another player to “crash out” of the game, and so forth. While many of these might happen by accident, griefing is all about intent. For a great article about griefing by Jamais Cascio click here

“grinding” - Grinding refers to the process of having to repeat a task or defeat enemies over and over and over and over again. Grinding is most often associated with RPG’s where you are trying to build experience and gain loot and gold in order to progress through the game. Examples of games with excessive grinding include World of Warcraft and almost all of the Final Fantasy series.

“HUD” – This stands for “Heads Up Display” and refers to the on-screen information a game displays over the game world. Elements that are often part of a games HUD include a targeting reticule, life meter, magic meter, mini map etc.

“loot” - Loot in a video game refers to the weapons, armour, items, gold etc that a enemy “drops” once defeated.

“mod” or “modification” – Mod is a term generally applied to PC games, especially first-person shooters, RPGs and real-time strategy games. Mods are made by the general public or a developer, and can be entirely new games in themselves. They can include new items, weapons, characters, enemies, models, textures, levels, story lines, music, and game modes. They also usually take place in unique locations. They can be singleplayer or multiplayer. Mods that add new content to the underlying game are often called partial conversions, while mods that create an entirely new game are called total conversions.

“MMO” – An acronym for “Massively Multiplayer Online” game.

“MMORPG” – An acronym for “Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing” game

“MMP” - An acronym for “Massively Multiplayer Game”

“newbie” or “noob” – “Noob” is an alternate spelling of “newbie,” which refers to an inexperienced person in the gaming community. Noob can be used in a friendly, teasing manner, such as one experienced gamer saying to another, “You played that like a noob,” or in a derogatory fashion as a general insult. Other spelling variations include “newb,” “n00b” (using zeros), and “nub.” Generally, the further from “noob” one gets in spelling variation, the greater the intended insult.

“patch” – A software update for a videogame that usually is designed to fix bugs, enhance graphics, tweak gameplay balances or add new features.

“pwned” - Essentially means “f*cking owned”.
In a sentence: Man did you just get pwned!

“ping” - An acronym for “Packet Internet Groper.” The amount of time it takes information to get from your computer to a server and back to your computer (measured in milliseconds). Ping helps determine how smooth your online gaming experience will be.

“RPG” - This stands for “Role Playing Game.” An RPG is a game where you develop a character over the course of the game through quests and missions with the aim to level up and earn experience. Examples include Oblivion, Fable and Final Fantasy games fall into this category.

“RTS” - This stands for “Real Time Strategy.” An RTS game requires the player to control multiple units in a real time gaming envirnoment using strategy and tactics to gather resources and command units. Examples include Starcraft, Company of Heroes, Command and Conquer and Warcraft.

“RTFM” – An acronym for “Read the F*cking Manual”

“spawn” – A point on a multiplayer map where a player will reappear in the game world after being killed or entering a match.

“spawn camping” – Spawn camping is the practice of camping near a spawn location with the intention of killing any player who spawns there. This occurs mainly in first-person shooter games, but can also occur in other games where spawning can occur. It is a common tactic and controversial issue in online gaming communities, where many consider it to be a form of cheating, or, at best, an unfair tactic and bad form.

“UI” - An acronym for “user interface.” A UI is the means by which a gamer is able to interact with the gaming world.

“woot” or “w00t” – An excited exclamation. Some will claim it stands for “we owned the other team”.

***Reminder!!***
This was never meant to be an exhaustive list so I know I’ve left some words/expressions out. If you think I’ve missed some good ones be sure to use the form below to submit them and I’ll work on updating this glossary regularly

I hope you learned something today!