Every community has its own language and gamers are no different. If you want to talk the talk and understand what other players are saying to you online, then you need to make sure you know the language. As such, we’ve put together a little encyclopedia of gaming terminology, so you can sound like a pro when playing your favourite games.
Buff: A term to describe anything in a game that becomes stronger either due to a patch or because of something within the game design, like a rune improving a sword’s power.
Camper: Players who like to stay in one spot on a map and wait for opponents to come past so they can ambush them or snipe them are called campers. They are generally disliked, even though it’s a valid combat strategy.
Easter Eggs: Sometimes developers deliberately leave secrets in games that are a secret gift to gamers. It could be a hint about a new game or something from another world or universe. These are called Easter Eggs.
Farming: Similar to grinding, although its less about levelling-up through experience and more about gathering certain resources required to fulfil a quest or for crafting.
Ghosting: The act of watching another player in spectator mode so you can see their tactics and learn their hiding spots.
Glitch: This is an error (also known as a bug) in the code that causes the game to behave in unintended ways. This can sometimes be annoying, but often it’s kind of funny.
Grinding: The act of doing very basic tasks in a game over and over again so you can gain the experience you need to level-up your character or progress through the game.
Leet: Sometimes written as 1337, this is short for elite. So, it’s a good thing! If you’ve done something leet, then it’s considered pretty awesome by other players.
Loot: Any item picked up in a game, usually from a felled opponent or from a hiding spot like a chest, cabinet or box..
Mats: This is a generic name for resources you might need to gather for crafting, building or questing. It’s short for materials.
Mob: A monster or other enemy in a game that you must defeat either to survive or to make progress.
Nerf: A term to describe anything in a game that becomes weaker either due to a patch or because of something within the game design, like a sword rusting.
Noob: This is the name given to somebody who has only just started playing a game and either hasn’t levelled-up much or isn’t very good yet. Don’t worry, everyone starts off as a noob.
OP: Short for overpowered and used to describe anything in the game you feel isn’t balanced. Frequently it’s used to describe weapons or characters.
Pwn: If you pwn someone it means you have dominated them in a game. The idea is to pwn everyone and to come out of each game victorious.
Scrub: A scrub is someone who thinks they are awesome at a video game and talks like they are the best, but actually, they aren’t very good at all. They don’t take advice, blame other people for losses yet keep making the same mistakes.
Smurfing: Ever played against someone with zero rank, but they have totally dominated? Chances are they were smurfing. This is where a really good player starts a new account on level zero so that matchmaking programs put them in battles with noobs. Then they win by a lot!
Tilting: This describes someone who has made a few mistakes and because they are getting frustrated, they start making even more mistakes.
Woot!: This like the gaming version of Homer Simpson’s “woo hoo!” Something you say when you are super happy.
