Please enable JavaScript to read this content.
Every field comes with its jargon and specific lingo that will sound foreign to outsiders. So that you don’t look like a foreigner, why not learn yourself some new words as well. Although the terms are many, we have compiled some of the most commonly used.
AFK - Away from Keyboard - This means a player is temporarily unavailable.
AoE - Area of Effect - Spells, abilities, or special talents that work within the radius of a circle rather than on a specific enemy.
Bots - These are the non-human opponents in multiplayer games. Alternatively, calling another player a "bot" is an insult.
Bullet Sponge - This is an enemy that takes an excessive amount of damage or ammunition to kill.
Clans - Groups of players who play together.
DLC- Downloadable Content - Any extra element you can download separately from the main game.
DPS - Damage Per Second - A measurement for how much damage a particular weapon or attack outputs.
Emotes - Small emoji-like icons are mostly used in Twitch streamer's chat room.
Feeding - Act of being repeatedly killed by the enemy team, which obviously helps your opponent since your teammate is dead.
FPS - First-person shooter game - This refers to a genre where you see the world through your character's eyes, instead of a camera behind them.
Ganking - The act of a high-level or skilled player ganging up on someone else who has no chance of defending themselves.
GG - Good Game - Usually typed or spoken at the end of a match to show sportsmanship.
Stay informed. Subscribe to our newsletter
Grinding - Act of taking repetitive actions in a game to achieve some desired outcome.
HP - Means health points or hit points, measures the life of one’s character. If it drops to zero, then the player drops dead.
HUD - Heads-up Display refers to graphical elements on the screen showing the player information and other details.
K/D- Kill-to-death ratio is a common measure of your performance in online shooters. You'll have a higher K/D with six kills and one death (6.0) than 10 kills and five deaths (2.0), for example.
Lag - A delay between your input and that action happening in the game.
MMORPG - Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. It refers to a game with RPG elements where thousands of players all exist in the same game world simultaneously.
Mod - Modification - any kind of player-made change to a game.
Noob - Refers to someone who is clearly new at a game. It can be used as an insult (such as when someone makes basic mistakes), but it's not necessarily a pejorative.
NP- Non-Playable character - Refers to any character you don't control in a game
OP- Overpowered - Used in reference to anything in a game the player feels is too strong. If there's one weapon everyone picks because it's clearly better than all others, it's OP.
PvP - Player versus Player - Refers to games (or modes) where human players compete against each other. This contrasts with PvE (player versus environment or player versus enemy) modes, where you play against computer-controlled opponents instead.
QTE - Quick-time Event - QTEs are segments in games where you have to suddenly press a button or some other input to avoid damage or a game over.
RNG-RNG stands for 'random number generator'. This refers to elements in games that aren't the same every time you play.
RPG - Role-playing Game - This is a broad genre. But it generally means a game in which players assume the roles of characters in a fictional setting.
Sandbox - Sandbox game refers to a title that's extremely open-ended and thus allows the player to do whatever they like.
Smurf - This is when a skilled player makes a secondary account to play against lower-ranked players.
Tac - Short form of ‘tactical shotgun’ or ‘tactical machine gun’.
Whisper - Private messages can be exchanged between users.
XP/EXP- These are the short forms for experience points. They are a common measure of one’s progress in a game.