Video Lingo you must know to have a rewarding career in Video Gaming!

You enter a game, wet behind the ears and ready to play. You find a group, start playing, and the leader says,“DPS, attack boss while Tank aggros it. Healer, focus on DPS. I’ll go solo the second tower, the recent changes nerfed it and I’m OP’d enough to take it.”

Huh? you go. What does that mean?  Nerf? Are we playing with toy guns? Tanks? But this is a medieval game! You do your best to keep up, but soon enough, the group ‘wipes’ because you didn’t know what to do. “Ugh, i hate PUGs,” a group member says as they log off, leaving you to wonder what they have against those cute little dogs.

So, want to get into video gaming, ‘newb’, but have no idea what to all of these terms mean? Well, here’s a handy list of common terms to help you get started.

●       AFK- Away From Keyboard

●       AOE- Area Of Effect(attacks which affect multiple targets in a single area)

●       Alt- Alternate character

●       Aggro- Aggression. The character who ‘has the aggro’ would have most of the enemies attacking them

●       Boss- A very powerful enemy

●       Buff- A positive effect or boon for your character

●       BIO- Usually used when a player needs to use the bathroom

●       Bug- An unintended issue with the game

●       CC- Crowd Control(usually AOE attacks)

●       Crit- Critical. Normal attack which does extra damage.

●       Chew toy- A ‘tank’ who has to take a lot of damage.(Tank is explained further down the list)

●       DoT- Damage over Time. Attacks which constantly deal damage over a period of time.

●       DC- Disconnected.

●       DLC- Downloadable content. Extra content for a game.

●       DPS- Damage Per Strike. Used to describe damage dealt, and is one of the roles of the Holy Trinity System.

●       Easter egg- A little surprise or joke hidden by the developers in a game.

●       FPS- First Person Shooter. A game where the player’s view is that of the character.

●       Farming- Continuously running something to gain rewards. Not to be confused with actual farming.

●       FTW- For The Win. Used to compliment something.

●       GG- Good Game. Used to thank the opposing player for playing.

●       Grind- A repetitive task which a player needs to do for rewards.

●       Healer- Someone who keeps the other group members alive by healing them.

●       HP- Hitpoints, or health.

●       Holy Trinity System- The system under which a group has 3 roles- The tank, the DPS and the healer. Each role has to be filled to succeed.

●       IRL- In Real Life

●       Kill Steal- Killing an enemy after another player has worn their health down/ Taking credit for a kill.

●       Kite/kiting- Taking the ‘aggro’ and leading enemies around. Not the flying type.

●       LFG- Looking For Group. Someone who is looking for other people to play with.

●       Meat shield- A person who takes damage instead of other people.

●       Mana- The energy used to cast spells.

●       MMO/MMORPG- Massively Multiplayer Online game/Massively Multiplayer Online game Role Playing Game. Game which have a lot of players playing together, being able to interact ‘physically’ within the game.

●       Mob- A normal enemy. Funnily enough, also applies to a group of angry protesters in some games.

●       Mod- A modification to the game/ A moderator.

●       Nerf- Nerfing something reduces its effectiveness. Like how NERF guns shoot foam darts instead of real bullets.

●       Noob- Someone who has played the game for a sufficient amount of time, yet still knows absolutely nothing about it and is completely useless.

●       Newb- Someone new to the game. Not to be confused with noob.

●       NPC- Non Player Character. Characters who are part of the game and cannot be controlled.

●       OP- Over Powered. Used to describe something really, really strong. Things which are OP are usually Nerfed.

●       OMW- On my Way

●       Pwned- Used to describe complete, utter domination over something.

●       Party- A group of people playing together. Everyone enjoys a good party.

●       PUG- Pick Up Group. A group made up of random strangers. Not to be confused with the dog, which can also be picked up.

●       RTS- Real Time Strategy. Games which require players to create and change tactics and such while playing.

●       Raid- A very difficult mission, needing a large number of people and good teamwork.

●       Res/Rez- Resurrection. Bring a person back to life.

●       RL- Real Life

●       Solo- When a person performs a task alone, they ‘solo’ it.

●       Tank- A heavily armored vehicl- er person who draws aggro and takes the most damage.

●       Trash- Useless enemies who can easily be killed. Taking out the trash isn’t hard.

●       Troll- Someone who annoys and insults other players. Rarely found under bridges, oddly enough.

●       Uber- A very stable, strong and good character/item.

●       Wipe- When you clean the dungeon of enemies, ie kill all the enemies. Also works for enemies killing you.

●       Zerg- A strategy where the players try to finish a game as quickly as possible, by either attacking with weak but numerous units, or by rushing through a mission.

●       1337- A term from ‘leet speak’. Was once a compliment, now also as an insult against noobs.

So, hopefully, the next time someone says, “DPS takes trash, Healer focus on Tank, and Tank aggro boss while avoiding AOEs and kite to second room,” you’ll be able to understand that it really just means, “You guys, kill the weaker enemies, while the person who is healing keeps the most heavily armored character alive. You, with the greatest defense, keep the attention of the most powerful enemy on you and draw him to the second room, but keep an eye out for the large attacks that come your way.”

If not... well, you may pike(be in a mission but contribute nothing) in a corner till the others finish the it.