Gaming is a hobby that is quite prevalent across the world and overtime has seemed to have developed its own set of terms or words that only those actively involved will understand. So we’ve compiled a list of terms commonly used in the gaming world to help you better understand what exactly is going on and also to prevent you from looking like a complete amateur in front of your friends.
General Gaming Terms
Easter Eggs– Usually refer to hidden features like a new character or level.
Triple A: (AAA)– A game is referred to as having a ‘Triple A’ title when the game has a big budget, a lot of backing and receives immense praise from both fans and critics.
Grinding– This term refers to the act of plugging away at a certain element of a game, let’s say for example raising your experience level in an RPG by continually getting into random fights.
Glitching– We’ve all heard about the GTA glitches and the Battlefield bugs on the net. Almost all games have glitches in them. So they’re basically when you get stuck in the game or when something defect in the game takes places which usually results in you getting stuck and not being able to continue.
Clans– Basically when people come together and form groups. Most team based games have clans. And a clan match is when two clans face off against each other…pretty simple.
Common Acronyms
DLC– This term means Downloadable Content and refers to all the additional content that can be purchased online and downloaded to your system.
FPS– This term means First Person Shooter and refers to the genre of game in which you perceive the world through the eyes of your character. You usually get to you your players hands and more often than not is carrying a gun.
MMORPG– This term means Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing game and refers to games like World of Warcraft which has millions of people in the same game world at the same time.
PvP– This term means Player vs. Player and refers to games which have one or more human players take on one or more other human players.
NPC– This term means Non-Player Character and refers to the all the characters in a game not controlled by players.
Online Utterances
nOOb– Short for newbie and is a term used for a player who possesses no skill and are quite clueless about a game.
FTW!– Short for ‘For The Win!’ This term usually comes along with the exclamation mark and is used as a general expression of enthusiasm.
AFK – Away From Keyboard, usually used in MMORPGs to let your team know that you’re leaving for a bit.
Pwned– Is a corruption of the word ‘owned’ and is used when someone has dominated or been dominated. Usually used when one player receives a thrashing.
Camper– Commonly used in online shooters and refers to people who just stand, sit or lie still rather than rove around the map.
Spammer– Again a term commonly used in online shooters and refers to people who keep their fingers pressed down on the trigger like all the time. So whatever kills they do get has more to do with luck than skill.
Technical Jargons
Kill Ratio– This terms basically refers to the kills-to-death ratio. Most online shooters rank players according to their kill ratio.
XP– A shortened version for ‘Experience Points’ which are racked up as you play through a game. Gaining certain levels of XP usually sees your character level up or gain new abilities or weapons.
Bots– Multiplayer games don’t always require you to have actual people playing along with you. Bots (AI players) can fill in for them instead.
Ping– A term used in online gaming and is used to refer to the time (in milliseconds) it takes for information to travel form the server and back.
Lag– If your ping is too high then there is a good chance you’d experience lag. This is when your real-life actions take too long to translate to the actions of the screen.
So there you go, a crash course in gamer terminology. Let us know if we’ve missed any words that you think are important in the comments below. Now you should be more than ready to go out and start your gaming ventures with your friends and not feel left out.
Source: Dave Parrack
