Glossary

This page is intended to give explainations of commonly used abbreviations and slang.  I’ll attempt to keep it alphabetized, but we’ll see how that goes. I’ll add to this page as I see fit.

Alt: Alternate Character.  The opposite of “Main”.  Usually a second, third, or fourth character one plays when they are bored of their others.

CC: Crowd Control.  Methods of keeping enemies under control for a period of time, usually by disabling them with an ability.

Class: While particulars are specific to individual games, classes are an archetype. Rogue, Warrior, Druid, Priest, Sorcerer, Witch Elf, Shaman… etc. Healing classes, Damage classes, Tanking classes… etc.

Clicker: Refers to someone who uses their mouse to left-click actions instead of binding them to keys on their keyboard.  Generally thought of as lower class citizens because it tends to result in slower reactions.

DD: Direct Damage. as opposed to DoT

DoT: Damage over Time.  Damage that happens periodically instead of all at once.

DPS: Damage per second.  The potential damage output of a given class.  When used in conjunction with “class” it refers to those classes that do DPS as opposed to healing.

End Game: When you are done leveling, the end game is the activities that you can participate in to keep the game interesting.  Raiding and competitive PVP are examples.

Keyboard turner: Someone who holds down “A” or “D” to turn their character, not realizing they can do the same thing with their mouse and have it take a fraction of the time.

Level cap: Level cap refers to the maximum possible level.  In World of Warcraft this was originally 60, now 70 and will soon be 80.  (each expansion has increased the cap by 10)  In Warhammer the level cap is 40 and the renown cap is 80.

Noob: noob, newb, nub, nublette… however you want to put it.  Noob refers to someone “new” to the game who is making stupid mistakes.  Its more popular to use it to refer to anyone who isn’t living up to your expectations, or whom you want to make feel inferior to yourself.

Main: Main Character.  This is the character that gets the most work, or play from the user.

MDPS: refers to the classes that do Melee DPS.

MMO(G): Massively Multiplayer Online Game  (frequently used without the G.)  Games where users log into a central server and play in the same environment with hundreds, if not thousands of other people.

MMORPG: Massively Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game.  RPG’s are where you assume the identity of your character.  They don’t necessarily have to be set in a Fantasy world, but most are.

Mouth-breather: refers to the sagging mouth syndrome that stereotypically accompanies stupidity.

/played: in game command to report the number of days, hours, and minutes spent playing.

Proc: programmed random occurance. Usually an random effect that occurs when an object is used or an attack lands.

PVE: player versus environment.  Playing against the computer within the game world.

PVP: player versus player.  playing against other humans within the game world.

QQ: qq is supposed to look like crying eyes… clearly someone was staring at their monitor for far too long. Usually used like: “QQ more, noob”  meaning “cry more, noob”

Raiding: large groups of players that group up to accomplish a difficult task or large scale objective.  Referred to as a raid in WoW, and a Warparty in WAR.  Is usually associated with PVE.

RDPS: refers to those classes that do Ranged DPS.

UI: User Interface.  The portal through which you see the game-world.  It usually contains quite a bit of information like your health, ammunition, armor– and provides a menu system with which you can access more.

WAR: Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning.  MMORPG released in 2008 by Mythic Entertainment

WoW: World of Warcraft.  MMORPG from Blizzard Entertainment.  The goliath of the online gaming world.