Gaming Terms

Numerous gaming terms and abbreviations confuse new gamers and parents when entering the world of games. We have compiled a list of the most important gaming terms for you and explain the language of gamers.

Why are we explaining gaming terms to you?

With this article, we want to help everyone who is trying to understand the gamer language. If you as children, and teenagers, but also increasingly as adults and parents want to understand the world of gamers, then you will also want to understand the language.

At the very least, you should know the main terms and abbreviations that gamers use when playing games. This way you will be able to better understand and communicate with your gamer friends and children.

And don’t forget that the gamer language, just like any other language, is alive and constantly changing. We adapt our list of the most important expressions accordingly.

List of abbreviations and expressions from the gamer language

In the following list, we explain the gaming terms in a few sentences. For a more detailed explanation, etymology, and examples of use, just click on the link to the individual articles, in which we go deeper into the abbreviations and expressions.

A

AAA title: This is a game that has a very large development and marketing budget. AAA games, pronounced triple A, and their developers are often under a lot of pressure, as gamers are sometimes raised to high expectations years before release.
Add-on: In gaming, this term describes an expansion of an existing game. An add-on is not necessarily a DLC at the same time (see below).
ADR: It is an abbreviation in the statistics of a shooter and means “Average Damage per Round”.
afk: It is an abbreviation often used in gaming chats and means “away from keyboard”. This means that the gamer is away from the keyboard or controller for a short time and cannot be reached.
Aimbot or Aimassist: This term is made up of two English words and describes a digital assistant that helps you aim (aim = aim and bot = robot). This program is not allowed and is considered cheating (see below).
All in: These words are used to describe a move in which a player puts his entire bet on one card. This only happens when the hope of winning/success is very high.
Autoaim: In contrast to the Aimbot (see above), the Autoaim is an intentional aiming aid for users of a controller.

B

BM: It’s short for “bad manners”, which translates as ‘bad manners’. One of the most famous is teabagging (see below).
Boon: See Noob.
brb: It is an abbreviation that is often used in gaming chats and means “be right back”. With this, a person informs the others that he has to go away for a short time and will be back soon.
Buff: This term is used to describe the enhancement or improvement of particular content in the game.
Bug: Bugs are programming errors that affect the game experience (usually negatively). Bugs can also be used to play the game in unexpected ways.
Bunny hopper: This term is used to describe people who hop like a bunny to get around. This term is used more as an insult.

C

Camper: Campers are people who hide in one place and stay there, especially in shooter games. They just wait for other players to pass by and then eliminate them from behind. This term is used as an insult.
Cheat/Cheater: Cheater means cheater. Developer cheats are still rare these days. Often they are rather illegal programs with which gamers can gain advantages over other players.
Clan: This term has various meanings. Among other things, it refers to the union of players into a permanent team within a game. Outside of the game worlds, clans are also teams that participate in e sports. The term guild (see below) refers to a similar association.

D

Deathmatch: This term translates to “Dead Pool” and can be abbreviated to DM or TDM (Team Deathmatch). This is a game mode in a shooter game.
DLC: This abbreviation is used to describe downloadable content (add-ons – see above) for a game. It is pronounced “Downloadable Content”.
Dmg: It is the abbreviation for the English word “damage” and means damage.
DPS: This is an abbreviation that categorizes Dmg (see above) even more precisely. It is spelled out as “damage per second” and describes the damage a player inflicts on the target per second.
Drop: The English word for ‘drop’ has many meanings in gaming, including the items that opponents drop in the game.

E

Easter Egg: Translated, it means Easter egg, and similar to Easter eggs, Easter Eggs are hidden in games. Often it is funny content, for example, to honor other games, movies, or incidents.
EP/Exp: This abbreviation is pronounced “experience points” and translates into experience points. Collecting experience points increase your character level in the game.
E-Sports: As in traditional sports, there are also competitions and tournaments for video games. These fall under the category of e-sports.

F

Feeden/Feeder: This term is used to describe players who are often eliminated by the opposing team. They feed the opponent, as kills are usually rewarded with money and experience. Unlike inting (see below), feeding is not an intentional action.
ff: It is short for “forfeit” and means to give up.
FFA: The abbreviation means “free for all”. This can mean different content in the game (game mode, battle rewards, etc.).
Flawless victory: The meaning here can vary slightly from game to game. Among other things, it describes a flawless victory, for example without any deaths on your side.
FPS: This abbreviation means “frames per second”. The higher the value, the smoother the image runs.
Ask/Frag: It is a term that replaces the words kill or death or kill, especially in shooters. A frag is the elimination of a character in the game, which respawns after a short time (see below).

G

gg: Spelled out it means “good game” and translates to good play. This abbreviation is often used in a game chat to positively evaluate the performance of the teams.
Git gud: This term is intentionally misspelled because it comes from English and correctly means “get good”. This in turn means getting better.
gj: This abbreviation means “good job”. Similar to gg (see above), it is used to acknowledge the performance of one’s own team, but also that of the opposing team.

H

Hitbox: It describes an area in the game that must be hit in order for a shot, throw, etc. to count as a hit.
HoT: This is an abbreviation of “heal over time”. It refers to a mechanic in the game where a character heals the damage taken in a certain amount of time.
HP: Spelled out, this abbreviation is called “health points”. This describes the amount of health points a character has in the game.

I

Inting: Similar to Feeden (see above), this term describes feeding an opponent with your own kills, but in this case, intentionally.
Invade: This term is derived from Invasion and describes a game mechanic where one player invades the game world of others.

K

KD: This abbreviation is used to describe the ratio between kills and own deaths – the kill/death ratio.
kk: This abbreviation is written out as Okay.
Krit: This term is an abbreviation and means critical hit.

L

l2p: It is an abbreviation that stands for “learn to play” and translated means learn to play. This rudely conveys to the person being addressed that they play badly.
Leveling: This term refers to increasing the character level or certain items and abilities in a game.
low: This term is used in e-sports, for example, to describe a player whose character has only a few health points left.
Lucker: This term describes a person who has had a lot of luck in the game and may even have won as a result. It is occasionally used as an insult but is not to be understood as such in principle.
Lvl: It is the abbreviation for the word level.
Lvl up: The abbreviation stands for “level up”.

M

Map: It is an English term and translates to map in the sense of environment map. There are different types of maps in gaming.
Meta: This term refers to an overarching agreement between players on how to play a game so that they are more likely to win.
MMO: Spelled out it means “Massive Multiplayer Online”. The term refers to a specific and very popular division within online games, in which many people have their own characters, but fight solo or together against each other or against NPCs (see below).
MMORPG: An MMO (see above) that is also a role-playing game.
Mod: The abbreviation stands for the term modification. These are modifications of games that are often designed by gamers themselves.

N

Nerf: This term is used to describe the content in a game that has been toned down after release.
Newbie: See Noob.
Noob: There are now several spellings of this term. It describes a person who is new to a game or plays as badly as if they were new.
NPC: It is short for “Non-Player Character” and refers to a character in the game that cannot be controlled.

O

OP: See Overpowered.
Overpowered: This term is used to describe the content in a game that is too powerful and unbalanced.

P

Patch: These are adjustments to the game that takes place after release and are often intended to balance the content.
Pog: It is short for “play of game” and is used to express admiration for something someone else has done. Sometimes the term is also used sarcastically.
Pro Gamer: This term is used to describe gamers who play very well. The abbreviation Pro comes from professional and can also describe gamers who are active in the e-sports sector.
PvP: This is the abbreviation for the game mode “Player vs. Player” and means player against player.

R

Rage quit: This term is used to describe the action of a player quitting a game without notice and usually in a rage.
Real life: The term translates as real / real life and can be used to express various statements.
Respawn: This term is used to describe the re-entry into a game, usually after a frag (see above).
RL: See Real life.
RPG: It is the abbreviation for Role-Playing Games.
RTS: It is the abbreviation for “Real-Time Stratagy”, which translates as real-time strategy.

S

Sniping: The term is derived from the English word “sniper”, which translates as sniper. It refers to eliminating the enemies as a sniper.
Spawn: This term translates to bring forth and refers to the initial entry into a game or game round. This term is used slightly differently than respawn (see above).
Stats: This abbreviation stands for statistics in a game.
Penalty: This term refers to a sideways movement used primarily in shooters to keep something on target while avoiding being hit by enemy shots.
Stun: Derived from the English word “to stun”, it describes a tactic in the game where someone or something is incapacitated for a short period of time.

T

TD: It’s short for a subgenre of RTS (see above) and is pronounced “tower defense”.
Teabagging: A practice by which players make fun of their opponents, also perceived as bad behavior or BM (see above).

V

Vanilla: This term is used to describe the original and unmodified version of a game.

X

XP: See EP/EXP