Year after year, the world of video games evolves, mutates, and transforms with new experiences that represent a significant leap between generation and generation. There are more and more unique places to explore, new communities to explore, and new rules to learn. With all this, players also evolve along with the world. Above all, how they communicate within it changes: new terms, words, and expressions emerge when the frameworks in which they move change, both alone and in a group. Understanding and adapting to these changes can be quite a challenge. Entering a new community of an online game is more or less affordable. Still, understanding every one of them is not within reach of any human being. In this article, we wanted to collect all those words that gamers use daily, a kind of gamer dictionary that will help you understand this mass culture.
AFK
Let’s say they call you on the phone, and you are in the middle of an online game. It’s hard to stop, but you are the only person who can take the call. How do you notify the squad quickly and safely? Three letters are enough: ‘AFK,’ meaning away from the keyboard. In short, it means that you are unavailable at the moment.
Aliasing and Anti-aliasing
Have you ever seen that characters or objects in a game have fuzzy edges, like saw teeth, if you look at them closely? That is ‘aliasing,’ a widespread mistake in video games that arises when reproducing high-resolution elements in spaces with lower resolution. To solve this, you can use a filter called ‘anti-aliasing’ that smooths the edges, partly avoiding saw teeth.
Bonus Bagging
Bonus Bagging is the simplest, fastest, and risk-free way to earn money for your sports investments. It is a mail service with which you can benefit from the numerous bonuses offered by bookmakers. You will only need an account, and the rest will be indicated step by step in the emails they send you. To start taking advantage of the bonus bagging, it will be enough that you have approximately €100.
Build
It is precisely in the MMO field that we find the most widespread uses of the word ‘build,’ which has already spread to other titles and genres. Our ‘build’ is made up of the equipment, classes, and the set of skills that give life to our character. So that we understand each other: it is the CV of our avatar or hero at that precise moment.
Endgame
The endgame is, as its name suggests, the part that is at the end of it. It is used mainly in role-playing games to mark when the player has finished the primary mission and can continue playing. It can be with the skills to the maximum or with little room for improvement. Sometimes its definition is confused or diluted with that of ‘postgame,’ which is more related to the additional content available after finishing the primary story mode.
GG
At the end of the game, it is customary to congratulate the players on the virtual pitch if it was fair. An excellent way to do it is with ‘GG,’ meaning ‘Good Game.’ It is an expression whose translation is “Good game” or “Well played,” and that appears continuously in the chats at the end of the rounds since ancient times (back in the matches to Quake in the nineties). It has other variants, such as ‘GG no re,’ indicating that they do not want revenge.
Metagame
The metagame is everything that surrounds a title beyond its games. It makes its players draw their attention to the outside of the game itself. The League of Legends metagame includes, for example, all the elements that make up the styles of play, the ‘builds’ of the champions, the different strategies, etc. It is the alive concept of community that exists.
No Scope
No Scope is an impressive technique used in shooting games that consist, as its name suggests, of shooting an enemy without using the sight of the weapon. This term is mostly applied to sightless shooting with sniper rifles, which require calmer precision.
OP
A hero, champion, or ability is ‘OP’ (‘overpowered’) when there is more damage than it should be, causing the lack of balance in games. If something is ‘OP,’ it is “broken” because it has not enough power. As a general rule, what is ‘OP’ ends up receiving its relevant ‘nerf’ to end up being balanced.
Poke
This term stands out within the League of Legends universe, especially when defining an unfavorable situation for those who suffer the ‘poke.’ It means to attack an opponent from a distance and prevent him from approaching. It is a term used strategically in games to dislodge the rival, and then it is said that someone is poking.
Rage Quit
It is a term used to describe the action of leaving a game abruptly when you are not happy with the result. Not only that, but it is also usually related to excuses such as “it was working badly.” On PC, you can practice it with CTRL + ALT + DEL and on consoles removing the cable to the beast. Don’t hide if you’ve ever done it: we’ve all had a bad day.
Teabagging
Teabagging is a mocking action performed in online shooter games when you have shot down an opponent. It consists of going to his corpse as soon as you have killed him and crouching several times in his face. Suppose the game in question has a camera after death. The player sees how whoever has eliminated him is swinging his buttocks in front of his avatar. It is an action that was popularized in the first Halo but has continued to this day.
Trash talk
‘Trash Talk’ is badmouthing someone or something, but with a specific style. It implies exposing the rival by his abilities, but not necessarily directly. It can be with indirect comments about your ability, which surpasses that of the enemy, etc., and that they do not necessarily have to do with the game in question but with personal issues.
VAC and VACation
VAC is the acronym for Valve Anti Cheat, a software that the company that owns Steam uses to detect cheat software in its online games. If you cheat, you will likely end up caught by this automatic tool. If that happens, several things can occur. You can end up being banned from the platform forever or being given a temporary sanction and sent on ‘VACation.’
WH (Wall Hack)
In some first-person shooter games, players use cheating software to gain an advantage over their rivals. While this is something recognized by most titles, it is also an almost uncontrollable reality faced by players who do not use these tools. One of the most common is ‘Wall hacks,’ allowing you to shoot your opponents through walls.