Gamers’ Vocab
A remarkably thorough look at the sizable world of the gamer’s argot. I knew 90% of these usages, but it’s remarkable to me that there are so many of them, and that I learned them all by just playing:
Power gamers seek to power level, increase in ability in the game quickly–often with the help of a more powerful character who provides buffs to allow the character to gain experience rapidly. This practice is called twinking–gaining quickly in power or level in a semi-illegitimate fashion through assistance from a more powerful character. The term is obviously derived from Twinkie, but the association with a sugary snack is not obvious–I surmise that the usage may come from gay slang, in which a “twinkie” is a cute young man with an older lover.
A few terms that weren’t included in the article:
- teams: Means the opposing teams in a multi-player FPS are uneven
and need to be reshuffled or evened up. - ready up: Used to instruct players to click the Ready button at the
beginning or end of a round of fighting, to move to the next round. - tank: A variation on brick, used to refer to a tough fighter
in a MMORPG who can draw a creature or mob’s attention while the rest
of the party attacks with ranged weapons and spells.
