For many of us who are first entering the online gaming world, there are many new things to learn. Whether you are in a chat room or playing a multiplayer game online, there are numerous words and phrases that have developed in the gaming world that you might have missed out on.

Here are some of the definitions for some of the most common words used:

1337 or L33T: Pronounced “Leet”, this is a gamers’ abbreviation of the word “Elite”. Many online games give their high-end enemies some form of marker that makes them different from the other enemies. An Elite enemy is especially tough and hard to take down. 1337 refers to someone or something that is especially advanced. For example, if someone in an online game said that you had “L33t heals” it would mean that your character healed the group especially well.

PWN: The origin of this word has been debated by gamers worldwide. The definition basically means to “own” or severely outclass an enemy. Some people think that the word was accidentally created due to people trying to type “own” and accidentally hitting the “p” key instead of the “o” due to their close positioning on the keyboard. So “I OWNED you that fight!” became “I PWNED you...”  How it’s pronounced is up to personal preference, “pown” or “pune”. Being PWNed is bad, being PWNed and then having the person who just slaughtered you announce “I’m only 10 years old” is even worse... trust me on this one.

MADSKILLZ:  Pretty self explanatory, someone who claims that they have madskillz are saying that they are especially talented.

AFK: I f someone in an online game is AFK, it means that they are Away From Keyboard and are unable to respond to any questions you might ask them.

BIO or BIO BREAK:  Means that you have a BIOlogical need outside of the game that requires you to step away for a minute.  Means that you have to use the washroom.  

CAMPING: Usually refers to “camping someone’s corpse”, waiting for a player that you have killed to respawn so that you can kill them again. “Camping” someone is often considered a form of harassment for the victim and a form of entertainment for the camper.

CAREBEAR: A player that doesn’t want to fight other players online but who just wants to work together with others to achieve a common goal.  

TANK: A heavily armoured fighter in a MMORPG who purposefully attempts to get the enemies to attack him rather than the members of his party. Due to his high armour rating, he can mitigate damage better than squishies (see below).

SQUISHIE or CLOTHIE: A very lightly armoured character in a MMORPG (usually a caster), known for not being able to take more than a few hits before dying.

DPS: Damage Per Second. The higher your DPS, the more damage you do in a shorter timeframe.

DoT: Damage Over Time. A spell or debuff that causes the victim to continually lose health over a period of time.

N00B: A derogatory term for a new player, often said after he/she has asked a stupid question. Question: “So my weapon goes in the weapon slot, right?”  Response: “N00b.”

FTW: For The Win. “You should really consider upgrading that weapon, FTW.”

NINJA: A person who takes an item from the group without asking first. MMORPGs often have many items in the world that can be picked up (for example, in World of Warcraft you can skin animals for their hides). If you go through the fight, defeat a monster, only to have someone else skin it or loot it, then you have been “ninja’d.”  Most games try to provide ways to stop ninjas, but it still happens.

QQ: Means stop crying (because the Q’s look like eyes with tears in them).

Hopefully the next time some N00b camps your corpse, ninjas your kills, and pwns you whilst screaming that he’s 1337 you’ll know what the heck is going on.

About Rob Michael: It became apparent that Rob was too emotionally invested in video games when he suffered a mental breakdown after someone ninja’d a treasure chest from him. Three weeks of crying himself to sleep and counting...   rmichael2@sympatico.ca