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Video Game Terminology

Learning The Basics

Scroll down or use the letters to jump to the appropriate section to find out the meaning of the word that you don’t understand. Any letters that are gray are not clickable so please feel free to contact us if you have a word that needs adding!

A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

 

A

  • AAA – A game described as AAA usually has a large budget, a lot of backing and receives high praise from both players and critics (if it is any good!).
  • Achievement – An in-game recognition of a player’s ability, usually collected by completing tasks or time spent playing e.g. ‘played 100 multiplayer games’.
  • AFK – Away from keyboard.
  • AI – Artificial Intelligence.
  • Aimbot – A cheat used to have the computer aim for a player rather than using manual skill.
  • Aliasing – Playing under a different name than usual in order to hide your identity from other players.
  • Armadillo – A gamer who plays slowly.
  • Avatar – The model, character or picture used to represent each player in the game.

B

  • Bio – Used to let other players know you need a “biology” break i.e. to pee or eat!
  • BMing – Bad mouthing/bad manner-ing. When one player is verbally abusive towards another. This can be either an opponent or someone on their own team.
  • BRB – Be right back/bathroom break.
  • Brez – Battle resurrection.
  • Bug – A fault in a game’s programming which causes unintended effects.

C

  • Camp – A strategy where a player, often in a shooter game, remains in one place in order to repeatedly kill other players.
  • Cheese – Any strategy that allows players to win in a way unforeseen by the game developers.
  • Clan – An officially organized team of players that can play other teams.
  • Clanwar – An official match between two clans.
  • Console – The physical equipment used to play games such as PlayStation 4 or Xbox One X.
  • Cosplay – Dressing up as a character from a video game, film or book.
  • Crash – When a computer or game console suffers technical problems and becomes non-responsive. Usually solved by switching on and off using the power button. Game servers can also crash.
  • Crossplay – Playing as a character with the opposite gender to your own. Combination of the words ‘crossdress’ and ‘cosplay’.

D

  • DLC – Downloadable content. All additional content available to purchase online and download for your game, including new levels, characters, costumes etc.

E

  • EAK – Eating at keyboard.
  • Easter Eggs – Undocumented objects or features within a game i.e. secret rooms or objects.
  • Escort Mission – An in-game mission where the player must escort a NPC through an area, protecting them on the way.

F

  • Farm – Repeating a mundane task in order to progress through the game. Also see grind.
  • FF – Friendly fire.
  • FPS – First person shooter. A game where you see the world through the eyes of your character. Commonly shows a weapon floating in front of you as you play.
  • Frag – Kill. Can be used as a verb or a noun e.g. “He just fragged me” or “First team to 25 frags.”
  • FTW – For the win. Generally an expression of enthusiasm or support.

G

  • Gank – To be ganked is to have your character killed by overwhelmingly unfair odds.
  • GG – Good game.
  • GM – Game master.
  • GL – Good luck. Often combined with HF to form the phrase “gl hf” or “good luck, have fun.”
  • Glass Cannon – A game character with high attacking power but low defensive power.
  • Griefer – A player in a multiplayer game who gets enjoyment from trolling/annoying other players i.e. causing ‘grief’.
  • Grind – Performing repetitive simple tasks in order to proceed, gain XP or level up in the game.

H

  • HF – Have fun. Often combined with GG to form the phrase “gl hf” or “good luck, have fun.”
  • HP – Hit points/health.

I

  • IDC – I don’t care.
  • IDK – I don’t know.
  • Inorite – I know, right?
  • IRL – In real life.

K

  • Kill Ratio – Attribute assigned to a player, showing the number of kills they make vs the number of times they are killed in the game.
  • Kiting – a ‘hit and run’ strategy, luring enemies to a position where you want them.

L

  • Lag – Time delay between sending a command to the game and your character responding with the action.
  • Lagger – Someone experiencing a lag who is slow or late to react.
  • LFG/LFP – Looking for group/party/person.
  • LFM – Looking for members (already in a group and in need of more players).
  • LOL – Abbreviation for the game League Of Legends/in a wider context it means laughing out loud.
  • LOM – Low on mana.

M

  • MMOG – Massively multiplayer online game.
  • MMORPG – Massively multiplayer online role-playing game.
  • MP/Mana – Magic points. Spells often have a cost to players, with more effective spells costing more MP. Commonly used in RPGs.

N

  • N00b/Noob
    1. A person who is new to a game.
    2. A person who, regardless of experience, lacks the skill or competence to be competitive in a certain game.
  • NPC – Non player character. In-game characters controlled by AI, who are extras in the background or story characters who you can talk to.

O

  • OOM – Out of mana.

P

  • Platform – The gaming platform that games are played on. Not to be confused with the console or other hardware.
  • POV – Point of view.
  • Pwned – Beaten or defeated by a considerable margin. Originated from a typo of “owned” and is now a widely used term online.

R

  • Ragequit – To leave a game due to anger at something that happened.
  • Respawn – Regenerating after being killed in the game. Also see spawn.
  • RPG – Role-playing game.

S

  • Sandbox – An open-ended style of gameplay without a set plot to progress through.
  • Server – Used by game developers, platforms or gamers to run multiplayer computer games over the internet, connecting players around the world and allowing them to participate in the same game at the same time.
  • Spam – To spam is to keep your finger pressed on the trigger at all times in a shooter game, using the same objects or doing the same actions over and over again, which is frowned upon.
  • Spawn – When a character pops into existence in the game world.
  • Spawn Point – A place where several characters will spawn.
  • Spawn Camp – To camp near a spawn point in order to kill newly spawned game players. A generally frowned upon strategy.

T

  • Tank – A strong player or character with high stamina. ‘Tanking’ is when this person knowingly sustains or withstands a lot of damage in a battle in order to enable other team members to play their roles more easily.
  • The Cake Is A Lie – Phrase used when things have not turned out as expected/promised. Comes from the game Portal in which players were told to solve a puzzle in order to earn a cake in reward, which they are never given.

W

  • WA – War Arranger. The member of a clan responsible for organizing battles with other clans.
  • White Mage – Character who uses magic to heal others.

X

  • XP – Experience points. Players usually require a certain number of XP before progressing to the next level.