Wednesday’s Off Topic: Gamer Talk Decoded

“Come on! I’ve been in game like five whole minutes. Give me a knife or something!”                         – The Law, Monster Hunter World Tutorial Lamentations

In a few of my posts I’ve alluded to this other side of Bee. I’m a gamer. Oh yes friends! I game. There are two camps of gamers and just like in World of Warcraft it can end up looking like the Alliance vs. the Horde. There are console gamers, which I am not. And then there are PC gamers. Now there are many subgroups, crossovers, and hand helds out there. But overall these are the two main markets for all game developers.

Now I know what most of you might be thinking. Bee? Gamers are those people who drink Monster drinks and don’t shower for days and live in basements right? Well not so much. Everyone has a way to decompress and gaming is mine. I don’t watch shows at all so count me out on ever knowing who the Bachelor is, or caring who slept with who. And if you do dear friend, awesome! Fill me in at the end because sometimes I read the end of a book first.

“I have a snake named Meatloaf! Oh no! Meatloaf was just eaten by the enemy. Gg friend Gg.”                                – Laz, RimWorld Snake Hatching Derp

So here are some things that a gamer could text or say. It gives us away and generally confuses the overall population. It isn’t a common way to speak, but once we are integrated into the gaming culture, it just happens. I often say the Gg line in everyday speech.

Decoding the Gamer:

1. Gg: It usually means ‘good game’, or ‘great game’. It can be said after a great dungeon run, or when success has happened for someone on a game. Unless you are the cynical type of gamer like me. Gg is a lament of irony. It means, ‘Are you kidding?’, ‘Really?, and ‘That just happened.’.  It can also be drawn out to geee geee.
2. Derp: This is where I live in gaming. I often joke and know I will soon actually start broadcasting my games under ‘How to Fail at Gaming’. A derp is just that. A silly mistake that we should know. Such as, breathing? Or things can only stack so high right? A derp would be to push that limit even when the limit has a known outcome.
3. Woot: An exclamation of awesome. When good luck abounds.
4. Lag: What happens when the system or internet overloads. The slow perhaps we all feel when that spinning circle sits there on our less than excellent PCs at work. Only imagine it in-game, with stalled and flashing images, while you are trying to kill a fast-moving beast. Not the best outcome. Or in other words, Geee geee.
5. Noob: I often see the equivalent around the internet as the term newbie. That is precisely it. But for some cases noob is an insult to another gamer who might be just a tad off on gaming etiquette. Comparing them to perhaps a newer person who may not know all the community boundaries yet.
6. Grinding: A term used when the tedious happens in order to level or complete a quest. Often this can be heard in the working world as ‘Back to the grind’. Grinding is the blood, sweat, and tears of reaching the top of the game or beating the game.
7. Farming: This can feel similar to grinding, but it has a different outcome. Gamers farm for resources to add to income, complete a long-term quest, or get that one item off a monster that would make their game that much more awesome.
8. EZPZ: I haven’t personally used this. (See reference, ‘How to Fail at Gaming’). EZPZ means something was super easy. Too easy for the level it should be such as a dungeon that went too quick for the level assigned. Or it can be thrown as an insult when a gamer wins a duel.
9. IRL: Shorthand for ‘In Real Life’. It is used when explaining something off topic in-game about oneself.
10. IKR: Shorthand for ‘I Know Right?’. Enough said.
11. TFW: Shorthand for ‘The Feeling When’. It usually comes before an ironic statement of what just happened in-game. But it can spill easily into every day life. For example: The feeling when you just clean the house and the toddler is now running around the house with a juice cup. (Follow it up with a gg and you are on your way to sounding like a gamer!)

There are many more things that gamers can use and say that aren’t yet familiar to the wider world. I myself find that they evolve just as quickly as our digital age evolves. But hopefully if you hear these out there, it can clear up a couple of things. Mainly that you are speaking to a gamer and yes, they look normal!

“Welp, turned logs into sticks, took sticks and made a sword, got MAULED by bears!!!!”                            – The Law, Minecraft Ages