Andrew Busey: My Musings

WARNING: There is a lot of vulgarity online, so if it offends you I recommend not reading this, disconnecting your Internet connection, and retreating to a dark corner.

Want to learn what all the crazy acronyms and what not that you see in games mean? Well here you go. It’s not quite the same as mobile phone speak, but there are a lot of terms. If I’m missing something, please post a comment.

<3 : A heart / love (as in: I <3 WoW)

AC: Armor Class

AC: Asheron’s Call

AFK: Away From Keyboard

Aggro: Attracting the attention of an enemy. This typically derives from some threat accumulation mechanism in a PVE situation. It is also used as a term for attracting attention (becoming the target) in a PVP game.

AI: Artificial Intelligence - in game terms this is the software that controls the actions of monsters and NPCs in the game.

Alt: ALTernate character - a second character you play to take a break or try different things

AOE: Area of Effect - a spell or effect that covers an area (instead of hitting a specific target or group of targets)

BBL: Be Back Later

BOE: Bind On Equip - a piece of loot that is BOE becomes bound to the player when it is equipped, up until then it can be sold/traded/etc.

BOP: Bind On Pickup - a piece of loot that once picked up is bound to the player that picked it up. This is primarily a mechanism for limiting the redistribution/sale of valuable items - ie: you must be present to win if the item is BOP. (Someone else can’t get it for you.)

BRB: Be Right Back

BTW: By The Way

BWL: Black Wing Lair, a 40-man raid instance in WoW - where you get T2 (Tier 2) armor

Camping: The act of staying in one place to repeatedly kill something. In PVP this can mean killing someone repeatedly (corpse camping) - ie: as soon as they resurrect. In PVE this can mean killing the same creature or group of creatures over and over to try and get some special loot (spawn camping) or to get gain experience points.

CCG: Collectible Card Game - such as Magic: The Gathering (MTG), Yug-i-oh, Pokemon, and the new World of Warcraft Collectible Card Game.

CRR: Character Resale and Recycling (Selling characters)

DKP: Dragon Kill Points (the name comes from Everquest) - a system used by many guilds to distribute loot (items) from raids/dungeons.

DPS: Damage Per Second

DOT: Damage Over Time (a spell or effect that causes damage over time)

EQ: Everquest (also EQ2 for Everquest 2)

EULA: End-User License Agreement - the agreement you “sign” before you start playing a game expressing the rules, restrictions (such as selling stuff), and who owns what (typically the game company owns everything and you use it as long as they think that’s ok)

FFS: For Fuck’s Sake

FPS: First Person Shooter - a genre of game that is first person in perspective and involves running around and killing people. Doom, Halo, and Unreal, are examples of this type of game.

FTW: For The Win

GG: Good Game

GJ: Good Job

Grind: (The Grind, Grinding) Spending a ton of time to get experience points, honor, or whatever, so that you can get to the next level or get the next item. It makes your brain hurt and your eyes bleed but you do it until you are done. Even though it sucks and is boring as hell. It’s an oh too common thing in MMORPGs.

HOT: Heal Over Time

HP: Hit Points - health

IMO: In My Opinion (also IMHO for In My Humble Opinion)

Instance: A dungeon or comparable environment where players have their own “instance”. This means no other players are present, so there is no camping or interference. In WoW they exist for 5, 10, 15, 25, and 40, person groups.

IRC: Internet Relay Chat

IRL: In Real Life

Kara: Karazahn - a new 10 man raid instance released in the Burning Crusade (World of Warcraft).

LFG: Looking For Group

LFM: Looking For More - you already have a group, you just need more people in it.

LOL: Laugh Out Loud

LOL derivatives: There are a lot of nonsensical LOL derivatives like LOLLERCOASTER. See also ROFL derivatives. There are also funny derivatives like KEK which translates to LOL when used by Alliance players and seen by Horde players.

LMFAO: Laughing My Fucking Ass Off

MC: Molten Core, a 40-man raid instance in WoW - where you get T1 (Tier 1) armor

MMOG: Massively Multi-Player Game

MMORPG: Massively Multi-Player Role-Playing Game (like World of Warcraft)

Mob: Monster / Creature

Mod: MODification - A script of other add-on that enhances, alters, or changes the game. For an example, check out CTMod, one of the most popular World of Warcraft mods.

MOO: MUD Object Oriented

MTG: Magic: The Gathering - the original Collectible Card Game (CCG)

MUD: Multi-User Dungeon (or Multi-User Domain)

Naxx: Naxxramas, a 40-man raid instance in WoW - where you get T3 (Tier 3) armor - located in Eastern Plague Lands (EPL)

Newb / Noob / Newbie: Original someone who is new to the game and therefore doesn’t know how all the ins-and-outs of the game (and makes mistakes). Now it is more of a demeaning word used to describe someone who sucks, is stupid, or asks a dumb question. It can also be used to describe an action.

Ninja: (or ninja looter) Someone who takes loot that is either not theirs or before the group has decided who should receiver (or violates whatever rules the group had agreed on).

NP: No Problem

NPC: Non-Player Character - a character in a game that is controlled by the computer (an AI), typically this is someone the characters interact with and not a monter.

OMG: Oh My God!

OSCD: Out-Sourced Character Development

Ping: Derived from the ping command (check the time it takes for a packet to go to another computer on the Internet) which was derived from sonar pings (to see if an enemy ship was around). In a game it basically means how fast your connection is and whether you are having latency issues.

PK: Player Kill(ing/er) - somewhat derogatory now, sometimes representing harassment or griefing when killing other players. Generally replaced by PVP now.

POS: Piece Of Shit

Proc: An event triggered by something, for example a weapon might have a 5% chance to cause 30-50 fire damage - that would be a weapon proc.

PST: Please Send Tell - usually used when someone is looking for, buying, or selling, something. IE: If you are interested send me a private message.

Purples / Purpz: Epic items are purple in World of Warcraft. (The text display of the item’s name is color coded and purple means epic.)

PVE: Player Vs. Enemy - quests, raids, dungeons, etc. where the player is fighting computer controlled (AI) enemies.

PVP: Player Vs. Player - interactions where players are fighting or playing against each other.

Pwnt / Pwned: Probably derived from a type-o of “ownt” or “owned” this basically means that you beat the crap out of your opponent, perhaps to such a degree that it should cause them shame.

QQ: Crying

Rep: Reputation

RMT: Real-Money Trading

ROFL: Rolling On the Floor Laughing

ROFLMAO: Rolling On the Floor Laughing My Ass Off

ROFL derivatives: There are a lot of other ROFL words that are used like ROFLCOPTER. These are pretty much nonsensical indicators that something is funny. Check this out.

RTS: Real-Time Strategy - a genre of game, Warcraft 3 is a good example of this type of game.

SSC: SerpentShrine Caverns - a new high-level instance in the The Burning Crusade.

STFU: Shut The Fuck Up

T.5 / T1 / T2 / T3 / T4: Tiers of armor in World of Warcraft

• T.5: Partial epic armor sets from the early 5-man raid instances
• T1 (Tier 1): The first epice armor set from Molten Core
• T2 (Tier 2): The second epic armor set from Black Wing Lair (BWL)
• T2.5: The five piece epic armor set from Ahn’Qiraj (AQ40)
• T3 (Tier 3): The nine piece epic armor set (and ring) from Naxxramas (Naxx)
• T4 (Tier 4): New five piece epic armor set from the Burning Crusade the set comes from Karazhan (Gloves, Head), Gruul’s Lair (Shoulders, Pants), and Magtheridon’s Lair (Chest).
• T5 (Tier 5): New five piece epic armor set from the Burning Crusade the set comes from Serpentshrine Caverns (SSC) and Tempest Keep (the Eye).
• T6 (Tier 6): New five piece epic armor set from the Burning Crusade the set comes from the Black Temple and Mount Hyjal.

TBC: The Burning Crusade - the World of Warcraft expansion due to be released 1/16/07.

TTYL: Talk To You Later

UO: Ultima Online

Vent: Short for Ventrilo, a common VOIP conference system used while playing MMOGs.

VOIP: Voice Over IP - voice communications over the Internet like Skype and Ventrilo.

WoW: World of Warcraft

WTB: Want To Buy

WTC: Want To Craft - someone wants to sell a craftable item (made for buyer with his/her materials)

WTF: What The Fuck

WTH: What The Hell

WTS: Want To Sell

WTT: Want To Trade

XP: eXperience Points - the points you accumulate for killing things, doing quests, etc. They are used to determine your level.

Zerg: An all-out attack that is often suicidal for some of the attackers. (Kind of a kamikazee or bum rush type of thing.) Zerg is the name of one of the races in Starcraft.

Zing: A witty retort with an insult, a synonym for owned or pwnt.

ZOMG: An amplified version of OMG (Oh My God!)