How would YOU illustrate pewpewpew?

July 16, 2009 2:33 AM

Please help me with a list of "Gamer Lingo".

IANAGamer. I've spent a bit of time with searches and asking people, but my list is not very satisfying so far.

I'm at the beginning stages of setting up a collaborative effort to make a Gamer's Alphabet book to sell as a fundraiser for a family with a special needs child. I want to have a few terms for each letter for the participants to choose from for illustration.

Here's what I've accumulated so far:

A: Arena, Aggro, Assault, Ammunition, Attack, Assassinate, Arena, Avatar

B: Buff, buffed, Battleground, Backup, Blaster, Bomb, BFG, Bots, Boosh

C: Class, Clicker, CC (Crowd Control), Control Point, CTF, Camping, Chaingun, Crosshairs, Clan, Carebear

D: DPS, DKP, Dungeon, Debuffs. Dominating, Destruction, Deathmatch, Dual Wield, Dex, Ding (new level)

E: Epix, Explosion, Enraged, Emote

F: Facemelt, Focus, Flagged. Flag, Frag, Flak Cannon, Free-for-all, Farm, fps (frames per second)

G: GM, Gear. Grenade, Godlike, Gravity, Godmode, Gank, Griefer

H: Healer, Hardcore, Headshot, Healthpack, HUD

I: Instance, Incendiary, Instagib

J: Jargon

K: Keybinds, Killing spree, Killshot, kek

L: LFG (looking for group), LEEEROOOOY JEEENKINS, Loot, LoS (Line of Sight), Lava, Love tap, Last Man Standing, Lag, Lowbie

M: Melee, Mount, Merked/Merced, Multikill, Mutilate, M-M-M-M-M-Monsterkill, Mule

N: Noob, Nerfed, Nerfbat, Nerdrage, Ninja (looter / pull), Nailgun, NPC

O: Overpowered, Overkill, Owned, Opposition

P: Pull, Pet, PVP/PVE, PEWPEWPEW, pwn, Physics, Portal, Pistol, PEW PEW PEW LAZOR!

Q: Quad Damage, QQ ("stop crying" -this is coldhearted)

R: Raid, Ranged, Ragequit, Respawn, Railgun, Red Vs Blue, Rockets, Run & Gun

S: Spec, Steamrolled, Shotgun, Sniper, Sentry, Suicide, Shield, statswhore, Smurf

T: Tank, Tanking, Target, Team, Team Fortress, Teleport, Teamspeak, Turtle, Twink

U: Underpowered, Undergeared, Ultrakill, Upgrades

V: Viable, Victory

W: wtf

X: Xray

Y: Yell

Z: Zone, Zap, Zerging


I'd really like more words that are "in" lingo like zerg, rather than general terms like victory. I had NOTHING for J until I stuck jargon in there. I know X is especially problematical, and will happily take words with X in them somewhere.

I promise to let real gamers define the terms, but if you want to include an explanation, that would be lovely.

posted by reflecked to society & culture (55 comments total)

Not technical terms, but a couple that have transcended gaming and flooded into general net culture are "FTW" (for the win), and "fail" (or, alternatively, FAIL). These are just everywhere. Holy crap. Glad you included "pwn," although it's usually seen as "pwned."

There's also "epic" and "epic fail." I've yet to see "epic FTW" though.
posted by TheSecretDecoderRing at 2:40 AM on July 16, 2009

I had NOTHING for J until I stuck jargon in there.

JRPG = Japanese Roleplaying Game, like Final Fantasy. Characterised by turn/menu-based combat.
posted by Mike1024 at 2:48 AM on July 16, 2009

Should there be a separate entry for "fat lewtz"?

Also, no "mob" for monsters? No "train"? (When you purposely aggro a mob or preferably several high-level mobs and then lead them directly at the enemies you wish pain and dismemberment upon.)
posted by Scattercat at 2:52 AM on July 16, 2009

Also, some of these are generic chatspeak. I mean, "wtf" is hardly unique to games or gaming.

Is this strictly for computer games? 'Cause there's a vocabulary for tabletop as well and it's got only minimal crossover.

Oh, how about HP (hitpoints), MP (magic/mana points) and XP (experience points)?
posted by Scattercat at 2:53 AM on July 16, 2009

macro
RP
XP
cybering
newb (as opposed to noob)
PK (and anti)
posted by Bodd at 2:58 AM on July 16, 2009

Suggestion: Put "L" in the book slightly too early (maybe after H) if you do "Leroy Jenkins." This is assuming you're planning on having this be a humorous book for gamers, rather than normal people who don't know the lingo.

As for X, all I can think of is the Xzibit meme, which is more net culture than gamer culture. Xbox would work, but I get the feeling that's a bit too easy. Perhaps you could say, "Xbox Live" and then have a snarky quip about the users of Live.

Most new games come with Achievements, which originally came with Xbox 360 games. These are little rewards your friends can see online for accomplishing certain things in a game, varying from stuff that happens in the course of the game (Beat Level X, Beat the game on Normal) to the absurd (Break all the gnomes!) to the extremely difficult (Beat the game on Super Hard without dying once in 3 hours). There's also Achievement Whoring, where someone doesn't play the game as intended to get an achievement. It's derisive, and largely used in multiplayer, team-based games.

M could use medic. Many games have a healing class, TF2 probably having the most fleshed out medic if you need inspiration for quotes/illustrations. While on the topic of TF2, a new weapon that's been making the news in gaming culture (for the letter J) is Jarate, which I'll just let you read about on your own. It's not really universal to gaming, but I think most gamers will have at least heard about it.

Overpowered has usually been abbreviated to OP in discussions, but that's probably not too obvious. You could say "OP (overpowered)," but that just seems obtuse.

Another G would be "grind," which usually is pretty much the same as farming. It entails repeating an action or doing mundane tasks to get experience/unlocks.

There's a popular machinima video made in Halo called "No scope," where a player gets a headshot using a sniper rifle without the scope. The video is wildly popular, but I haven't seen people get that enthused in the games I play (I don't play Halo, though, so it's not my culture, I guess). You'll definitely get insider cred if you mention the phrase, though, since words like, "noob" are already so widely known.
posted by mccarty.tim at 3:02 AM on July 16, 2009

I'm wanting this little alphabet book to have as much general appeal as possible. I'm pretty sure that some of the terms I've collected are too specific to one type of gaming, and would love to eliminate them from the list.

I'll be adding all your suggestions to the master list.

Good point on the "wtf". heh.. I was getting desperate.

aaaand... wtf is a fat lewtz?? :D
posted by reflecked at 3:04 AM on July 16, 2009

Suggestion: Put "L" in the book slightly too early (maybe after H) if you do "Leroy Jenkins." This is assuming you're planning on having this be a humorous book for gamers, rather than normal people who don't know the lingo.

now see? I'd not have known or thought of this.

Yes, a humorous list for gamers. This child's dad is a longtime gamer, and has written game reviews online for a long time. My target purchasers are members of that "community".
posted by reflecked at 3:06 AM on July 16, 2009

Hmmm... definitely nth-ing XP.

Since the book will be illustrated, perhaps these terms would make for some purty graphics:

-Overworld
-Star Power
-Game Over
-Gratz
-Life Bar
-Alignment
-Spawn
-1-UP
-Random Encounter

Also, the list of Wikipedia articles for RPG terms and game terminology look very useful!

This sounds like such a fun idea! Are you going to let the participants use any medium to illustrate? :)
posted by ElectricBlue at 3:14 AM on July 16, 2009

Are you going to let the participants use any medium to illustrate?

yeppers. 26 is a lot of letters. Coercing and coordinating artists and illustrators is a lot like herding cats, and I'll be grateful if I don't have to illustrate more than a few myself.
posted by reflecked at 3:22 AM on July 16, 2009

gg, DM, micro, FoW (fog or fog of war), Running riot, t-bag (to t-bag a fallen enemy by squatting over them repeatedly), noobcannon (any overpowered gun, but especially the M249 in CS), Fatal1ty (if you're including notable gamers), Daikatana (referring to something failing horribly), Bunnyhopping, E3, WGE, CPL, XBL (Xbox Live)

The starcraft league community has a huge number of terms they use during commentating, from simple things like abbreviating "dragoons" to "goons" to saying "12 'rack" when a terran player uses their 12th SCV to build a Barracks. If you need another "J", Jaedong is arguably the best player in Korea right now.
posted by JauntyFedora at 3:34 AM on July 16, 2009

Rocket jump. Or, for J, you could put Jump and have subcategories: Rocket jump, Wall jump, double jump.

Nuke.
posted by Free word order! at 3:39 AM on July 16, 2009

Very cool. It'll be like a gamer art book. I dig it. :)

I just noticed that there's a lack of music game terminology in the list, so here are a few more ideas:

-Cata (short for Catastrophic, a very difficult song in DDR)
-FC (Full Combo)
-Gallop (a set of steps in DDR that forces the player into a sort of galloping motion)
-Voltage (how clumped together the steps are at its peak point; a song with a high voltage has at least one part with a high step density)
-Butterfly Turn (a series of steps that allows the player to turn in a circle during a DDR song; came from the steps to the song "Butterfly")
-HOPOs (Hammer Ons and Pull Offs, moves in Guitar Hero)
-OUENDAAAAAAN! (the rallying cry for the cheer team in the Ouendan music games)

Aaah, music games.
posted by ElectricBlue at 3:46 AM on July 16, 2009

Squishy = a class that is easy to kill
Clothie = a class that wears cloth armour
Imba = shortening of "imbalanced", as in power imbalances among classes
posted by transporter accident amy at 4:00 AM on July 16, 2009

Gib
leet (and every spelling thereof)
Spawncamping
Teamkill (TK)
w00t
posted by slimepuppy at 4:09 AM on July 16, 2009

TELEFRAG
posted by Mach5 at 4:43 AM on July 16, 2009

w00t would be better for W than wtf.

This sounds like a cool and fun little book. Please post it to projects when you're done!
posted by joshrholloway at 4:49 AM on July 16, 2009

poopsock = to play through a game in an epic, marathon single session (such that you can't even leave to poop, I'll leave the rest to your imagination).

Check out Urban Dictionary for a bunch of gamerspeak defined.
posted by mattholomew at 4:57 AM on July 16, 2009 [1 favorite]

poop sock. that has literally made my day.
posted by greenish at 5:06 AM on July 16, 2009

gl hf = good luck, have fun
posted by beerbajay at 5:19 AM on July 16, 2009

Über: a very powerful item, weapon, or ability

Cheap: any method of playing a given game that is both annoying and effective

Rape: to completely and utterly dominate someone or something

Zoning: controlling a specific area of a map in order to have the most advantageous position

John: a lame excuse for losing a game or match (usually pluralized to "Johns")

Flap: (short for "fastest lap") your fastest lap time on a given level (in racing games)

Whoring: hording powerful weapons or items

Sandbagging: when a gamer is deliberately not playing their best

Noob combo: a combination of weapons that makes defeating enemies extremely easy

Speedrun: (sometimes just "run") playing a game with the intent of completing it as quickly as possible

BYOC: Bring Your Own Controller/Computer (usually to a LAN party or tournament)
posted by aheckler at 5:26 AM on July 16, 2009

On second thought, I guess "rape" and "whoring" might not be such great entries...
posted by aheckler at 5:28 AM on July 16, 2009

Still a bit short on the U's, so I'll throw Uber in there.

wtf is a fat lewtz?

It's like phat lootz, but shouldn't be confused with Morrowind's Fat Lute ;)

(fat loot = powerful/valuable item drops from killing mobs in RPGs, esp. in MMO raiding)
posted by Bodd at 5:29 AM on July 16, 2009

aimbot
punkbuster
killcam
QTE/quick time event
map (as in level) and/or map pack
ladder (as in contest)
DLC/downloadable content
mod
cvar
patch
walkthrough
warez
dox
cdkey
keygen
crack
nocd
posted by Rhomboid at 5:30 AM on July 16, 2009

I don't think anyone has thrown in "broken," which refers to something that is too powerful, such that the balance of the game is broken by the power of the character/class/technique.

Synonymous with "imba," really.
posted by explosion at 5:42 AM on July 16, 2009

gib, joystick (oldschool and fills the j vacancy)
posted by [insert clever name here] at 5:42 AM on July 16, 2009

Can't believe this hasn't been mentioned yet - GG for "Good game". Typically a cursory nod to sportsmanship after a game, though it can be infused with a lot of bitterness if the losing party types it out before the game is totally over - an acknowledgment of defeat - or perhaps even mockery if the winning party totally crushed their opponents.

Tea-bagging - After you kill someone, stand over their corpse and repeatedly hit the "crouch" button. This one should be pretty self explanatory.
posted by Phire at 5:48 AM on July 16, 2009

While I once was a WoW player, my heart still belongs to Live RPGs (LARPs), where there is some crossover, but some unique terminology as well... (And hey, we're gamers too - just really high resolutions and unique AIs in our mobs!).

Physrep - Physical Representation, or a "prop" for something in a game. A foam sword is a "physrep" for that Sword of Giant Slaying.

Boffer - a game that uses foam swords and physical contact for combat. Boffer swords are traditionally PVC with pipe foam on them, although more recently foam latex and other more advanced technology is being used. "Boffering" is sometimes the act of combat, and "boffer" is sometimes used for the physrep itself.

LARP - Live Acton Role-Playing

Murderbear - This might be local to the game I am in, but the complete opposite of Carebear (i.e. - someone who PKs with a vengeance.)

Cheese / Twink / MinMaxing - variations on the same thing, abusing the rules or system for maximum effect rather than playing as intended.

Rules Lawyer - someone who nitpicks the system to their benefit, or to be argumentative.

ASDW - Common Movement keys in PC games

Insta-Gib

IG and OOG - In-Game and Out-Of-Game - used mostly in Role-Playing situations.

Metagame - in RPGs, the act of taking Out-Of-Game information and using it In-Game. (i.e. - "I know Jon's playing a new 1st level PC, let's go target him since he's an easy kill.") Not so much an issue in non-RPG settings, but a serious issue in games where you're trying NOT to deal with reality while you're playing (Another example: Ganking your ex for no real reason other than they are your ex OOG, even if they didn't do anything to get your attention IG.)

Polyhedrals - Dice, usually other than six-sided
posted by GJSchaller at 6:05 AM on July 16, 2009

Old school reference when most people were on modems:

LPB: Low Ping Bastard - What modem players bitterly called other players who were blessed with broadband at the time.

HPW: High Ping Whiner - What broadband players called modem players after receiving the LPB tag.

Shaft: The true and original reference to the hitscan Quake lightning gun due to the in-game death message.

LD: Link dead - Due to loss of connection or intermittent packet loss, the player has lost the connection to the server and wants to desperately communicate it to the other players in vain. :)

DC: Disconnected (See link dead).
Socket: Old reference in Quake because when a disconnect occurred, you would see a big ethernet socket in the corner of the game window. (See link dead).

Duel: 1v1 play.
posted by seppyk at 6:29 AM on July 16, 2009

You said X was a problem; XP is good, but you could also use Xen (from the Half-life storyline).
posted by spaceman_spiff at 6:42 AM on July 16, 2009

FPS can also be First Person Shooter
S is for strafe
posted by knile at 6:49 AM on July 16, 2009

RAWR



I use that whenever I get pissed at something. Same goes for a lot of people on the servers I play on.


pissed off lion roar... :)


much easier than wrapping my keyboard around my monitor.
posted by Gravitus at 7:13 AM on July 16, 2009

drops

run/running/runner
posted by peanut_mcgillicuty at 7:20 AM on July 16, 2009

When I played WoW, Purplez was well know, though this we before Burning Crusade came out.

RP: Role Playing (both in realm types and game revolve around it).

Quickscope to go with noscope (TF2 and CS:S)

Guilds (For MMPORGs is important.)

AoE (Area of affect), particularly with spells.

Nemesis.
posted by jmd82 at 7:39 AM on July 16, 2009

From L4D - Boomed, Smoked, Pounced. also, Boomer fail, smoker fail, etc.
Ragequit has been shortened to just "rage" or "raging" or, "the other team just raged".
GG - good game

gogogogogogogogo - start the dang server / game already. Somehow I'm thinking this comes from StarCraft...

Also, not just strafing... you must learn to circle strafe... This is one of the first skills an FPS noob must master.

KBM - keyboard / mouse - The pc gamer's tools of choice, about which they are likely to be elitist or snobby. Occasionally heard in an online FPS... "that dude's using a gamepad, lol"

You have keybinds in your list... most people would just say "binds" I think.

Carebears - players in MMO's (mostly) who are fairly stricly PvE (as opposed to PvP) or even totally non-combat.

Pop - another one meaning kill, frag, make dead, etc. Used in Eve online for sure, since the little ships definitely go pop when you kill them.

Griefing or griefer. Of these, there are cheaters / hackers (though calling them hackers gives them far too much credit), team killers (TKers), exploiters and the like.

Scripts, and Mods - most important to the PC gamer. These are generally game modifications that everyone has, or are for single player games, or are used in multiplayer but are not considered "cheating"

Camping (good illustration potential here, I think) - from online FPS, but also translates to other multiplayer games such as MMO's. It means camping out in one spot where your prey generally doesn't expect you, so that you can get easy kills.

I realize these are almost entirely PC centric but that's how I roll.
posted by utsutsu at 8:00 AM on July 16, 2009

qft = quoted for truth
afk = away from keyboard
mt - mis-tell (accidentally replying to the wrong person)

You might include common, on-purpose misspellings like hawt, kewl, teh, and the like.
posted by ephemerista at 8:02 AM on July 16, 2009

This looks like a fun project, but I'd like to point out that a lot of what you're seeing here isn't really "gamer lingo" in any recognizable sense. A lot of it is particular to players of a specific game, and some of it sounds like weird regional stuff that might not be recognizable or applicable in general (like "Imba" which is probably someone's regionalism or specific to one game -- the rest of us will have never heard of it).

If you're looking for any term that could be vaguely considered gaming-related, you'll probably do fine with what you have here. However, if you're hoping to have some sense of coherence or consistency in scope, right now what you're looking at is pretty scattered. If you're just looking for a bag of random words, then feel free to ignore my criticisms, but it's going to feel phony to the actual gamers buying your stuff.

"ASDW - Common Movement keys in PC games"

You mean WASD. A similar term is IJKL.

"LARP - Live Acton Role-Playing"

I fully recognize that LARPing is a form of gaming in the most literal sense however very few people who consider themselves "gamers" would recognize, know, or care about LARP jargon. I'd suggest leaving it out if at all possible.

"Jarate, which I'll just let you read about on your own. It's not really universal to gaming, but I think most gamers will have at least heard about it."

I think someone has rather overstated how much the particulars of their one game are known to gamers in general. It's an authentic term, sure, but likely only to be known to people who keep up on developments within that one niche, an unrecognizable to gamers as a general category.

In any case, best of luck with your project!
posted by majick at 8:05 AM on July 16, 2009

Biobreak. :)

I'll respectfully disagree on people not caring about LARP jargon. Granted, it's not as common as MMOs or Console games these days, but if he's looking for a wider range of gaming terms (as opposed to just Video Gaming terms), then it's appropriate to include them.

If he's just looking for online / console terms, then yah, drop them.

Remember, gaming has been around for much, MUCH longer than any form of video game has been. I was playing D&D with pencil & paper long before I got my first Atari 2600, and even then, D&D was around for years before that, and it came from wargames. Many of today's standards in Video Game - Hit Points, Levels, etc. - come from the classic tabletop games.

Depending on how classic you want to go, things like Check, Checkmate, Bingo!, Yatzhee!, etc. may even be appropriate as a "know your roots" history lesson.
posted by GJSchaller at 8:38 AM on July 16, 2009

Someone upthread reminded me - WTB, for Want to Buy (stems from MMOs I think but has been adopted by the general geek culture).
posted by Phire at 8:40 AM on July 16, 2009

gg = good game
gj = good job
pm - private message

Under Aggro, multiple subcategories referring to someone who has to be AFK because of real life influences: Baby Aggro, Girlfriend Aggro, Boyfriend Aggro, etc.

Trash Talk (TT) (self explanatory, also, "E-Peen TT" Trash Talk in which a gamer feels the need to prove that their uh... skillz are bigger better than their opponent's.

Suicide by ____. In TeamFortress, this might be Suicide by Gun: someone who rushes into a room in a hopeless attempt to achieve an objective, all the while knowing that the gun is definitely going to take them out.

Capping. (Capturing the flag)

TF2 Only: Spyro. SpEngineer. Spout. Spy masquerading as another class.
posted by zarq at 8:52 AM on July 16, 2009

Theorycraft - the attempt to mathematically analyze game mechanics in order to gain a better understanding of the inner workings of the game. Depending on its complexity, certain random factors might be left out, resulting in a less representative outcome.

Or something. I just copy and pasted that as I didn't have a coherent definition myself.
posted by asok at 8:58 AM on July 16, 2009

WTB: want to buy, as in needing a... eg. "WTB tank"
WTS: want to sell, as in offering your help
vent: ventrilo
posted by jmmpangaea at 9:04 AM on July 16, 2009

I always heard Pop used to as a synonym for spawn.

i.e.

What are you guys up to?

We're just waiting for the boss to pop.
posted by Bonzai at 9:49 AM on July 16, 2009

You people are so helpful!

majick is right in that i want to appeal to the largest group possible, and I'd planned to not use terms that are specific to one game or game type.

It looks to me like I'm going to need to find a pan-gamer to help me narrow things down.

Keep 'em coming, please?


ps... I'm really saddened to hear that "rape" is used that way in the game world. Please, all of you.. help make that stop. :(
posted by reflecked at 10:28 AM on July 16, 2009

J is for Jump boots.
posted by MrToad at 10:33 AM on July 16, 2009

Shmup..? Platformer..?
posted by kxr at 10:42 AM on July 16, 2009

Trying to add ones that aren't here already or to elaborate on some that may be. Forgive me for some of the definitions that use jargon within the definition. These are mostly FRPG (fantasy role playing game) definitions. I used to play DAOC and now play WoW. Most of these definitions are basic. As play levels advance, frequently jargon becomes more specific to a group of players, guild, server, clan. Different groups may have different jargon for the same thing.

pat = patrol
inc = incoming (can be physical or other, e.g. "mobs inc" or "mail inc")
mob = monster, I believe derived from MUD usage "mobile object"
npc = non player character
pc = player character

LFW = looking for work
LFM = looking for more
WTS = want to sell (comes from print classified advertising)
WTB = want to buy (comes from print classified advertising)

FFS = please dispense with the inanity
FPS = frames per second, first person shooter
o.O = "the care bear stare". Used to indicate surprise or in cases where a verbal response isn't sufficient to communicate a level of contempt, disgust, etc. Origin:Everquest, AFAIK)

AE, AOE = Area of Effect
CC = crowd control (to use snares, roots, or other , especially on multiple mobs/players)
snare = slow down effect on player or mob
root = stop effect on player or mob

buff = place beneficial effect (verb); beneficial effect (noun)
debuff = remove buff (verb) or negative effect (noun)

aggro = verb, to have a mob attack you; the act of a mob attacking
aggro = threat or hate (noun), the quantifiable amount of attention a mob will give any certain player
hate list, threat list = the amount of hate each player in a group generates, with the players listed in order, the top most player being the one attacked by a mob
draw aggro = to go to the top of the hate list, to be attacked

baf = bring a friend (careful! those guys BAF)
linked = mobs that will aggro more than one mob when any one of a linked group is attacked or aggroed
social = mobs that are linked or that BAF are said to be social

dirt nap = dead
corpse hump = to repeatedly squat or sit over a dead player's body in order to insult them
res = resurrect
port = portal, teleport

zerg = from Starcraft, a large number of players (noun); to attack with a large number of players (verb)
nuke = a damage causing area of effect

CD = cooldown, a refractory period that prevents an action from being repeated

That's all I can do for now. Maybe more later.
posted by Xoebe at 11:08 AM on July 16, 2009

DOT = damage over time
HOT = healing over time

Stun = a form of root where a player/mob is completely incapacitated, not just rooted
posted by Xoebe at 11:13 AM on July 16, 2009

RP = role play
OOC = Out of Character, used by RPers to warn of non-RP info

Sheep = a form of CC (snare /root/stun) where a player is polymorphed into an animal, not necessarily a sheep. Comes from WoW.

Squishy = an easily killed class of player, typically low in physical armor
Clothie = a class of player that is a cloth-wearing, i.e. a magic using class, typically
Caster = magic using class of player or mob, typically with ranged attacks

log = to leave or enter a game session; a stored list of data gathered in-game (chat log, combat log)

chat = in game real time communication
UI = user interface
mod = a modification to the game; UI mod or even an entirely new world and ruleset

Working as Intended = broken. From DAOC
posted by Xoebe at 11:30 AM on July 16, 2009

LTP = Learn to play

Grey = low level, beneath contempt, not worth it, will not give loot or experience
Con = information a mob displays upon focus (i.e. clicking on it), usually the level range of a mob, usually expressed in color (e.g. those mobs con grey to me)

Drop = the loot that a mob yields upon death
Ninja looter = a person who steals loot. Methods vary from game to game.

instance = a restricted zone of play that is generated for players under certain conditions; separate from the game world and inaccessible to players who are not eligible or are not members of a qualifying group or raid
phased instance = a dynamic instance where the game environment changes depending on player actions; used to indicate change over time as in the telling of a narrative
raid = a super group comprised of groups of players
raid = a dungeon, instance, or encounter that requires a raid of players to complete
vendor trash = loot that has cash value only, to be sold to a vendor npc
trash mobs = mobs that are seen as "filler" in dungeons or instances. typically drop vendor trash.
boss = a significant or major mob set in a dungeon or instance
encounter = a "set piece" that involves a boss or bosses, usually in a raid setting. Sometimes used to indicate a scripted event that is deterministic and not random.
wipe = where an entire group or raid gets killed in one encounter

bind point = where one enters the game; where one resurrects; where one can teleport to. Definition varies by game. Bind points are typically selected by a player by some in game method.
release = to leave one's dead body and to spawn a spirit or to accept a default resurrection state (before or in lieu of being ressed by another player)
hearth = to teleport to one's bind point (WoW)
TP = Town Portal, Diablo, a way of getting to and from town

bubble = an invulnerable sphere around a player (WoW)

med, medding = to wait for health or energy levels to regenerate, typically accelerated by sitting

twink = a player character who has been given gear and money by higher level characters, usually owned/operated by the same real-world user.
posted by Xoebe at 11:55 AM on July 16, 2009

Way too many World of Warcraft and FPS terms in here. There are other games out there that aren't played with a keyboard and mouse, as it turns out!

What about:

M is for Mushroom (or Master Sword?)
S is for Shoryuken
T is for Tetris

etc.
posted by DoctorFedora at 10:20 PM on July 16, 2009

Thank you everyone.

I'll need to narrow the list of words down to 2-3 for each letter (giving people choice, but not too much). That's going to be a challenge, but at least I've got more wood to whittle on now.

There's no way I can choose one or many best answers. All of you please be proud that you've contributed a bit to a very good cause.

I will indeed post the book to projects when it's complete. I'm in the process of recruiting people to illustrate, and hope to have it ready to sell/fundraise for the winter holiday season.

ps..... what I said about "rape" as a gamer term? I was serious; that's appalling. It sounds like something made up by children who have no clue about what a terrible thing they're saying.
posted by reflecked at 1:29 AM on July 17, 2009

Don't think anyonehas mentioned PST ("Please Send Tell", i.e., whisper/reply directly to me).
posted by Kattiara17 at 2:32 PM on July 23, 2009

The result? :)

A Gamer's Alphabet



Thank you all so much.
posted by reflecked at 2:42 AM on November 17, 2009

dang, the link didn't show.

http://www.blurb.com/books/966098
posted by reflecked at 2:42 AM on November 17, 2009