The world of video games is filled with special terminology, technical abbreviations, and ever-changing slang. So much new vocabulary might seem overwhelming to newcomers, but we’ve compiled a list of the most common terms as a helpful resource.
- AAA (Triple-A): Refers to a game made by a major publisher with large marketing and development budgets. (Examples: Square Enix, Ubisoft, EA, Nintendo)
- Achievements: Awards given to players for completing specific in-game tasks. These can be earned in countless ways, including by completing certain missions, watching cutscenes, defeating bosses, and more.
- Adds: Additional enemies that often appear during boss battles.
- AFK: An abbreviation for “away from keyboard,” meaning that a player is temporarily unavailable.
- Aggro: Attention from an enemy. Often used in MMOs, “drawing aggro” refers to attracting damage to yourself by attacking an enemy or drawing their attention using a special skill. This is usually a role reserved for tanks, or players with large amounts of HP who can withstand damage.
- Aimbot: In shooting games, this is any cheating software or game hack that allows players to automatically aim and/or shoot.
- Alpha: An early version of a video game. A rough draft, the Alpha version of a game is not usually accessible to the general public. A game in Alpha has not yet been polished and is similar to a rough draft.
- AoE: An abbreviation for “area of effect.” This refers to attacks or abilities that affect players in a certain area rather than abilities that only hit one specific target. Usually, a marker will appear on the ground to indicate the area of effect.
- ARPG: An abbreviation for “action role-playing game.” This subgenre combines core elements of both action titles and role-playing games, often including both real-time combat and character Stats to determine a player’s abilities and strength. Examples include The Witcher 3 and the Dark Souls series.
- Assist: Helping to defeat an enemy but not being the one to land the finishing blow.
- Avatar: A personalized image representing a player. These profile pictures can be found on gaming accounts or in-game.
- Backwards Compatibility: The ability of a newer system to play a game from an earlier console generation. For example, the Xbox Series X and Series S are capable of playing all original Xbox games.
- Balancing: Refers to adjusting various game elements to make the most enjoyable player experience. Balancing can include a game’s fairness, how a player’s choices impact the story, skill vs. chance, game length, etc.
- Ban: Being forbidden from joining a game. Some bans can last hours, days, or weeks, while others can be permanent. A player can be banned for many reasons, including cheating or hateful language.
- Battle Royale: A genre of multiplayer game in which players win by being the last man standing. These games also include aspects of survival games such as exploration and scavenging. Some popular examples include Fortnite, Apex Legends, and PUBG.
- Beat ’em up: A genre of game featuring brawl-style hand-to-hand combat against large numbers of opponents. Examples include Cuphead, River City Girls, and Battletoads.
- Beta: The state after Alpha in video game development. Beta versions are often released in order for developers to gain feedback and to increase hype. A game’s Beta version will often have bugs and gameplay issues that will be fixed before release.
- BoA: An abbreviation for “Bind on Account.” Found in MMOs, a BoA is a type of item that cannot be sold or traded to other players once picked up. They can, however, be allocated to another character on the same player account.
- BoE: An abbreviation for “Bind on Equip.” Found in MMOs, a BoE is a type of item that cannot be sold or given to another player or character once equipped.
- Boosting: A form of cheating in which skilled players access lower-skilled players’ accounts for the purpose of increasing their rank. While this is often a bannable offense, many skilled players participate in boosting in exchange for payment.
- Bots: A computer-controlled enemy. Bots can also refer to fake players controlled by scripts, typically created to level up characters without putting in the effort to do so.
- Buff: A boost to a character’s power. A buff can impact stats like HP and MP and can be permanent or temporary. Some characters are able to buff themselves, and certain characters are also able to buff others. Developers may also incorporate buffs to help balance a game’s difficulty.
- Bug: A technical fault in a video game that causes unintended side effects. A bug can render certain parts of a game unachievable. An example of a bug would be a player’s inability to complete a level due to an error in the code.
- Bullet Sponge: An enemy that takes an excessive amount of damage to kill.
- Camping: A game strategy in which a player remains in one spot as opposed to roaming around the map in order to gain an advantage over their opponent. Camping is often seen in first-person online shooters such as Call of Duty.
- Cheat: An advantage given to players beyond the realm of normal gameplay. Cheats include things like infinite lives and unlimited ammo. These cheats are typically accessed by entering codes at specific times.
- Checkpoint: A location in a video game where players can save their progress.
- Cheesing: To find an easy strategy or workaround to an in-game challenge. Examples include using a powerful attack over and over to win a game or using a glitch to kill opponents without giving them a chance to fight back.
- Class: A type of character in a video game. Some classes specialize in healing while others may specialize in magic or physical power. Examples of a class in a video game include Warrior, Mage, Archer, Priest, and Summoner.
- Closed Beta: A Beta version of a video game that is only available to those with an invitation.
- Combo: Short for ‘combination,’ a set of actions performed in a sequence to yield a positive result. In fighting games, a combo will unleash a set of unblockable and very powerful attacks.
- Cooldown: A period of time after using a skill in which the skill cannot be used again. This keeps certain abilities from being used too often.
- CPU: An abbreviation for “central processing unit.” This is the part of a computer that executes programs. In gaming, a CPU character is one controlled by the game itself.
- Crafting: Using materials found in a game to create more useful items such as weapons or potions.
- Critical Hit: An attack dealing a much higher amount of damage than a normal attack. In many video games, every attack has a percentage chance of becoming a critical hit.
- Cross-platform: A video game that is released on more than one platform.
- CTF: An abbreviation for “capture the flag.” A game mode often found in team-based first-person shooters, teams must capture a flag that typically spawns between two enemy bases. Players must then get the flag back to their team’s base and hold it for a specific amount of time to win.
- Cutscene: A non-interactive animated or live-action sequence in a video game that progresses the story.
- Deathmatch: A competitive gameplay mode seen in many shooters in which players aim to kill as many opponents as possible until a certain goal or limit is reached.
- Debuff: Any effect that makes a player weaker. Also called a ‘negative status effect,’ debuffs can be inflicted by enemies, by opposing players, or by the environment.
- Demo: A trial version of a video game used to advertise the final product. A demo typically only includes a few levels or stops at a very early point in the title to tease gamers into buying the full release.
- Dialogue Tree: A gameplay mechanic found in many RPGs and adventure games in which interactions with non-player characters give players various conversation options. Choosing one response will result in another reaction and players must make subsequent choices until the conversation ends.
- DLC: An abbreviation for “downloadable content.” This is extra content created for a game after its release. DLC can include things like new items, characters, costumes, levels, and more. DLC can be free or paid.
- DPS: An abbreviation for “damage per second.” This refers to how much damage a character will ideally do per second. It can be used as an adjective to describe a weapon’s capability or as a noun to describe a character class or weapon type.
- Draw Distance: The amount of the game world that is drawn in a 3D game. Only the background will be seen beyond the draw distance. In modern gaming, the draw distances are very long, but in the past, it was common to use a fog effect to hide any “pop-in,” or the sudden appearance of objects as they came within the draw distance.
- DRM: An abbreviation for “digital rights management.” These are ways developers attempt to prevent piracy.
- Drops: Loot dropped by enemies.
- Dual Wield: The ability to carry and use two weapons at once.
- Dungeon: A closed and set environment usually filled with enemies and/or puzzles offering higher rewards than normal gameplay. A dungeon often ends with a boss fight.
- Easter Egg: A piece of content hidden by developers in a game for players to uncover. These could range from secret messages, images, songs, or other references to pop culture or current events.
- Emulator: A program that allows players to play games designed for other consoles. For example, a Game Boy emulator downloaded on your PC will allow you to play Game Boy titles.
- Endgame: In an MMO, endgame content refers to any gameplay available to players who have completed all currently-available content. In other game titles, endgame content refers to the gameplay of a title found at the climax of its storyline.
- E-sports: An abbreviation for “electronic sports.” Esports refers to competitive gaming, with professional esports players competing in regional, national, and international competitions, often for large payouts.
- Escort Mission: Levels in a game where players must protect an NPC and keep them alive through various challenges without getting hurt or killed.
- Expansion Pack: An addition to an already-released video game more substantial than DLC, typically adding new areas, weapons, characters, objects, and/or an extended storyline.
- Exploit: The use of a bug or glitch to gain a substantial unfair advantage. Many in the gaming community consider using exploits as a form of cheating.
- Farming: Repeating an in-game task over and over for the purpose of earning experience or money.
- Fast Travel: A means for players to teleport to another area of the game. Typically, players can only fast travel between points that they have already discovered through exploration. Fast travel is often found in RPGs.
- Fetch-quest: An in-game quest in which players must find and acquire certain items and bring them back to the quest-giver. Often found in RPGs.
- Finisher: Short for “finishing move.” A technique that players can use to defeat a weakened enemy. Found commonly in fighting games and some RPGs.
- FOV: An abbreviation for “field of view.” A measurement of how much of the game world players can see at once in a 3D title.
- FPS (Frames per second): The rendering speed of a game’s graphics. The higher FPS a game has, the smoother it will look.
- FPS (First-person shooter): A genre of gun-based video game where players experience the gameplay from a first-person perspective. Popular examples include Call of Duty, Half-Life, and Overwatch.
- Frag: To achieve a kill in a first-person shooter against a non-player or player opponent OR a type of grenade.
- Friendly Fire: A gameplay mechanic in which players can inflict damage on their own teammates. This can be purposefully or by accident.
- Ganking: To flank and ambush enemies. Common in multiplayer games.
- GDDR: An abbreviation for “graphics double data rate.” A type of memory specialized for fast rendering on graphics cards.
- GG: An abbreviation for “good game.” Used at the end of a multiplayer game to show good sportsmanship.
- Git gud: An intentional misspelling of the phrase “get good.” Used to heckle new players in online games.
- Glitch: A non-game-breaking bug in a video game. These may include sound errors, incorrectly displayed graphics, collision detection errors, and more. Some gamers use glitches to gain an unfair advantage.
- GPU: An abbreviation for “graphics processing unit.” A programmable processor used to render images on a computer screen.
- Griefing: Players who purposefully annoy or irritate other players. In many games, this is a bannable offense.
- Grinding: Repeating an in-game action over and over to earn experience and/or loot, or to improve a character’s stats. Commonly seen in MMORPGs. Similar to ‘farming.’
- Haptic Feedback: Game information delivered through tactile sensation. A common type of haptic feedback is a controller’s vibration function.
- Hitbox: An invisible shape around a model used in collision detection to determine whether another object collides with it.
- HDRR: An abbreviation for “high-dynamic-range rendering.” The rendering of computer graphics scenes by using lighting calculations done in HDR (high dynamic range). This leads to more detailed graphics, with bright things being very bright and dark things being very dark.
- HP: An abbreviation for “hit points.” The amount of damage a player can take before dying.
- HUD: An abbreviation for “heads-up display.” The method by which information is relayed to the player as part of a video game’s user interface. Examples of displayed information include the character’s health, items, current level, and more. Also called the status bar.
- Indie: In contrast to AAA games, an indie game is a game made by a single person or a small studio without any support from a large publisher. Indie games often take more creative risks than large AAA titles.
- JRPG: An abbreviation for “Japanese role-playing game.” Similar to an RPG, a JRPG often tells a more linear story and has an anime art style. JRPGs may also include large open-world exploration and detailed character stat leveling.
- K/D ratio: An abbreviation for “kill to death ratio.” Found in player-versus-player games, this is the number of kills a player achieves and the number of times they were killed.
- Kick: The ability of the server or the host of a game to remove a player from the server or game lobby. Found in online games. A player may be kicked for a number of reasons, including griefing or bad lag.
- Lag: In online games, lag is an unintentional or unexpected delay between a player’s input and the server registering the input, resulting in a detrimental effect on gameplay.
- Loadout: A set of in-game equipment, power-ups, abilities, and items that a player sets for their character at the beginning of a mission, round, or match.
- Lobby: A virtual area where players can find opponents for a game or match.
- Loot: Items found in-game that can range in quality from common to rare. These items could be weapons, spells, equipment, or some other kind of treasure.
- Matchmaking: A game system that automatically sorts players into teams or groups based on similar playing styles, objectives, or skill levels.
- Mashing: Repeatedly pressing random buttons on a gaming controller in hopes of executing certain attacks or other motions.
- Min-maxing: The practice of creating the best character by minimizing undesired traits and maximizing positive traits. Min-maxing is often seen in gamers who focus on combat above other aspects of a game like story or exploration.
- MMORPG: An abbreviation for “massively multiplayer online role-playing game.” A genre of video games that involves many people playing on an open-world online server. Popular examples include Final Fantasy XIV, World of Warcraft, and Star Wars: The Old Republic.
- MOBA: An abbreviation for “multiplayer online battle arena.” A genre of video games in which two teams of players compete against each other on a prerendered battlefield. Popular examples include League of Legends, DotA, and Heroes of the Storm.
- Mob: A hostile non-player character who roams a specific area.
- Mod: A third-party alteration or addition to a game. Examples of mods include altered game mechanics, new character skins, or different weapons.
- Mount: Creatures or objects that act as vehicles that players can use to deal damage or as transportation.
- MP: An abbreviation for “magic points.” An attribute assigned to characters that indicate their power to use special magical abilities. Different abilities will use different amounts of MP, and when the MP of a character reaches zero, they will no longer be able to use their abilities.
- Nerf: A balance change intended to weaken a character, item, or ability. The opposite of ‘buff.’
- New Game Plus (NG+): An option to play a completed game a second time while carrying over characters, attributes, or equipment from a prior playthrough.
- Noob: An insult towards people making mistakes that a more experienced player would be expected to avoid. Sometimes spelled as n00b.
- NPC: An abbreviation for “non-player character.” A neutral computer-controlled character.
- OP: An abbreviation for “overpowered.” Refers to a player, item, or ability that disturbs a game’s balance by being too powerful.
- Open Beta: A beta version of a game in which players are not bound by non-disclosure agreements and are able to show the game to others. An open beta is available to larger groups of gamers, often anyone with interest. The opposite of a closed beta.
- Open World: A game with a large map that can be freely explored by players, rather than being restricted to certain pre-defined areas. Popular examples include Horizon Zero Dawn, Skyrim, The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild, and The Witcher 3.
- Party Game: A multiplayer game that typically consists of a series of short minigames. Popular in social settings, examples include the Mario Party series, Kirby’s Dream Buffet, and Overcooked.
- Patch: A change to a video game made by the game’s developer and implemented automatically over the Internet. A patch might add new features, fix bugs, or tweak certain parts of a game. They are also used to buff or nerf certain characters.
- Permadeath: When a player must restart a game from the beginning when their character dies as opposed to loading a saved game. Once a character loses all lives or all HP, the character cannot be revived.
- Ping: A measurement of the network latency between the client and the server. If a player’s ping is high, they’re experiencing lag.
- Platformer: A sub-genre of action games in which players must move their character between points in an environment. Levels in platformers often consist of suspended platforms that require jumping or climbing to traverse. Popular examples include the Spyro series, the Crash Bandicoot series, and the Sly Cooper series.
- Point-and-click: An adventure game played by pointing and clicking with the mouse. Examples include Fallout 2, the Monkey Island series, and Grim Fandango.
- Procedural Generation: When a game algorithmically combines many randomly generated elements. In video games, procedural generation is used to automatically create maps or to place items around the world randomly.
- PvE: An abbreviation for “player versus environment.” A game in which players fight computer-controlled enemies, as opposed to other players.
- PvP: An abbreviation for “player versus player.” A game in which players fight against other players, as opposed to a PvE title.
- QTE: An abbreviation for “quick-time event.” A moment during a cutscene in which a player is suddenly prompted for input. This allows for limited control of the game during cinematic sequences. Not inputting the correct prompts can lead to penalties.
- Ragequit: Quitting a game mid-progress instead of waiting for the game to end because of anger or frustration.
- Raid: A type of in-game mission in which a number of people attempt to defeat other players, NPCs, or a very powerful boss. Found in MMORPGs.
- RAM: An abbreviation for “random access memory.” A computer’s short-term memory. Adding more RAP can boost a computer’s responsiveness and improve frame rates.
- Ray-tracing: A technique for modeling 3D digital graphics that simulate the actual behavior of light to create more realistic visuals.
- Rekt: A phonetic spelling of ‘wrecked.’ Gamers use this term to describe a moment in which they’ve thoroughly defeated another player.
- Respawn: Reviving after being killed. In some games, items can also respawn after being destroyed.
- RNG: An abbreviation for “random number generation.” In gaming, something RNG-based means that its behavior depends on a random chance. An example would be the chance of a critical hit.
- RPG: An abbreviation for “role-playing game.” A video game genre where players control a character in a well-defined world, typically with a ton of lore or a rich story. Common parts of RPGs include fighting monsters, buying and selling gear, and the ability to level up certain stats. Examples include Final Fantasy VII, The Elder Scrolls series, and the Xenoblade Chronicles series.
- RTS: An abbreviation for “real-time strategy.” A genre of video game in which the player controls one or more units in real-time combat against human or computer-controlled opponents. Examples include Company of Heroes and the Age of Empires series.
- Sandbox: A game with elements allowing players to creatively complete tasks. Some sandbox games have no objectives, in which players can create, change, or destroy their environment. Popular examples include the Grand Theft Auto series and Minecraft.
- Sidequest: A separate mission or challenge outside of a game’s main quest line.
- Skin: A customization option for a player’s in-game avatar used to change its appearance. Some skins can be found in-game or can be earned by completing certain objectives or quests, while others can be purchased with real-world currency.
- Speed-run: An attempt to complete a game as quickly as possible.
- Status Effect: Any effect on a character outside the normal baseline. These can be buffs or debuffs, including things like poison, paralysis, damage reduction, or speed increases.
- Strafing: In a shooter, moving side to side in order to dodge while also keeping aim at your opponents.
- Tank: A character with high health and damage mitigation that draws aggro from opponents, giving other players the opportunity to focus their attacks on the enemy. A common role in MMORPGs.
- Telegraph: An animation or audible indicator to a player of what actions an opponent will take. These can help players avoid incoming attacks.
- Time-attack: A game mode in which players must complete a level within a certain amount of time or in the fastest time possible.
- T-pose: A positioning of a character model with the character standing upright with their arms out to the sides. Used as a default position during 3D modeling.
- TPS: An abbreviation for “third-person shooter.” A genre of gun-based video game where players can see the entire player character on-screen. Popular examples include the Splatoon series, Alan Wake, and Dead Space.
- Troll: A player not taking the game seriously. Trolls often attack others or try to ruin the game experience for other players.
- Unlocks: Gaining access to previously inaccessible content in a game by meeting certain requirements.
- Vanilla: A game free of mods or tweaks.
- Visual Novel: A story-heavy genre of semi-interactive video games combining massive amounts of text with static or animated illustrations. Popular in Japan.
- VR: An abbreviation for “virtual reality.” Refers to games utilizing new technology such as headsets and advanced controls to simulate visuals and sensations not possible in reality.
- Walking Sim: A term describing games focusing heavily on exploration. Typically, these titles have very few puzzles or gameplay elements, focusing more on narrative.
- XP: An abbreviation for “experience point.” These are used to denote progress toward the next character level. Often seen in RPGs.
