Part of the fun of video games is talking about video games — either discussing them with friends or talking during a cooperative/competitive online game. But if you’re going to talk video games, you want to use the language of video gamers. It can be a lot of fun when you punctuate a situation with just the right video games term. Slang in video game culture has some unique aspects, and it may not always be clear for those not familiar with gamer lingo in 2019 what everyone is talking about. We can help!
Gaming Terms to Know
So what are some gaming terms that are commonly used these days? Here are a few popular slang terms to start with:
- Bot: An artificial intelligence that plays like a human player. Good for setting you up with an opponent when you’re not ready for live competition or it is not available.
- Build: Your game character’s specific features, skills, attributes, inventory and other qualities.
- Camper: A negative term for a poacher, someone who hides in one location in an online shooter and just tries to pick people off when they wander by.
- DLC: One of many gamer acronyms popular in the community. This particular one means “downloadable content,” which is extra stuff you can download to enhance or upgrade your existing game, like bonus levels, skins, items or characters.
- Easter egg: A little addition to the game that has no in-game function but is cool to find, such as a reference to pop culture or the material the game is based on.
- FPS: Another gamer acronym, this one for First Person Shooter, meaning a shooting game where the game view is what your view would be if you were in the game.
- Kill ratio: In shooter games, Kills: Deaths, or the number of kills you have to the number of times you have been killed. A higher ratio is, of course, better.
- Lag: A delay between your device and the server, which can make it difficult for the game to respond to your actions in real time.
- nOOb: A reference to you, if you’re a new player, often in a cooperative situation where your inexperience may put other players at risk.
- PvP: Player vs. player, meaning you are competing directly against other players online.
- Sandbox: Used to refer to big open-world games, where there may be a main story line to follow, but you can also just explore the world and try different things, “playing in the sandbox.”
Put Your Video Game Lingo Knowledge to Work
Now that you’re familiar with some of the popular video game terms, you’re ready to play! Why not celebrate by coming to Record Head and picking up some fresh games? You can talk video games with our staff and pick out your favorites. We’ve got a wide variety of games for your Xbox, PlayStation or even your retro console at great prices. In fact, we’ve got the consoles too! Come on down today and see for yourself!
