What are your favourite abbreviations / terms from the gaming jargon? Any stories on how you ‘ve learned their meaning? Are you using any of them in your spoken /written English?
I don’t remember much (the year was 2006), only that at some point they were all screaming the word “TANK” (caps lock is used for screaming). I was looking back and forth in agony. I knew I had joined a medieval fantasy game. I knew I had spells and armour to fight off meanies. But a tank? G.I. Joe was there somewhere? Military forces from Stormwind? I didn’t have the slightest idea.
Of course, the group was disbanded. I went on with my questing – solo – and it was only at level 50 when I joined a decent guild explaining me the terms “dps“, “tank“, “healer“. My shame was unbearable, still I learned a valuable lesson: always help a confused poor noob.
Jargon explained:
noob – > a newbie player, someone just entering a game, clueless.
roll a char -> creating an avatar
dungeon run -> also known as dungeon crawling. Entering an instance shaped like a dungeon/cave, containing lots of mobs with augmented difficulty level and scarcely a resting point.
tank -> player capable of receiving “aggro” (threat), usually being the one who “pulls” mobs (enemy creatures within the game)
healer -> self-explanatory. Responsible for healing group / raid members – also able to decurse / dispel.
dps -> player who is usually able to inflict large amounts of damage either melee (via weaponry, from a close distance) or magic (via spells from a ranged distance).
Check out the following R-Rated infamous video, showing what it’s like during a raid chat 🙂