Gaming Lingo 101 - MMO Speak

With enough terms and abbreviations to fill up a medical textbook, the world of massively multiplayer online games (or MMOGs/MMOs) can be rather disorienting for new players. With that in mind, and Nash’s article to follow, I’ve compiled a list of commonly used MMO terms that’ll help you understand what the hell everyone’s saying in your next MMORPG. Here goes nothing…

Exp: Experience points

To level up, which is the primary goal in most MMOs, one has to accumulate experience. One can do so by slaying monsters, completing quest or simply finding one’s way around the virtual world. Each game has a different way of rewarding experience points, and the understanding should be the first step for any MMO player.

LFG: Looking for Group

One of the most commonly used abbreviation in MMORPG, LFG stands for ’looking for group’. If you’re ever on a daunting quest that requires you to enlist the aid of more players, just type in “LFG” followed by the quest name in the general/quest chat channel. And remember – never be afraid to ask for help, it doesn’t make you any less of a tough guy!

More from News & Analysis

What is the US HIRE Bill and why is India’s $250-billion IT sector worried? Is the internet dead? What's this theory that OpenAI's Sam Altman says might be true?

LFM: Looking for Members

LFM works a lot like LFG, only in this case you’re looking for members for a party/group you’ve started, rather than a full-fledged group. The way it’s used: one types LFM followed by class/class type to let people know that they wish to recruit those classes to their party.

LFW: Looking for Work

Gone are the days when gamers would be satisfied just by slaying monsters. The modern MMO player prefers to indulge in a plethora of activities, one of which is picking up professions that help him build/craft items that help him or others in their daily virtual lives. To look for work, one types “LFW” followed by his profession, so that others can inquire whether he can craft the goods, or offer the required services.

AH: Auction House

Most modern MMORPGs feature rather sophisticated economies, where your day-to-day barter system doesn’t really suffice. To accompany those demanding economies, most MMOs feature auction houses or “AHs”, where one can auction goods, buy/sell goods, or bid on auctions started by other players. They form the heart of the economy of most modern MMOs.

WTS: Want to Sell

When you need cash real bad, using the auction house may not be the best idea, since it can take a while for your auctions to pay off. In such cases, you can avail of the trade channel that’s set up in most MMOs to accomodate trade requests like these. Just type in WTS followed by the goods you wish to sell, and it should catch the eye of anyone who wishes to have a piece of your pie.

PST: Please send tell

PST is used as a prefix to any request made in a chat channel. It’s basically a request for anyone who wishes to reply to your trade request by sending you you a tell or a ‘pm’ (personal message). Here’s how its used: “WTS xxx item, PST”.

__PAGEBREAK__

WTB: Want to Buy

When it’s an item you need real bad and it isn’t on the auction house, it’s a good idea to send out a WTB request in the trade chat channel. Type in WTB followed by the item you wish to buy, and you never know, someone might want to sell what you want!

Guild: A clan of players

MMOGs are highly social games and focus on community-based activities like no other. A lot of the rewards in the game can only be gained via group-based organised activity. So when a bunch of players decide to be branded as part of an organisation that works with a common vision, they form a guild or clan.

Raid: A large party

A raid is a large team of players that works towards a common goal. Alternatively, when someone says “let’s raid xxx”, it means they wish to set up or join a raid that’s going to do the quest/dungeon in question.

Spec/ Build: Talent Specification

In MMOs, just like RPGs, you get talent points to spend in your spell book/talent trees that help customize your character’s play style from a variety of choices, by giving you access to different ways of playing the same character class. So when some asks you what your “spec” is, it means that they wish to know how you’ve spent your talent points – that is, in what area your character excels.

DPS: Damage Per Second

Quite simply put, DPS means damage per second, but it’s a rather versatile and confusing term. When used this way – “how high was your DPS during the boss fight?” – it refers to a numeric value that’s used to measure your damage output. When used like this – “LFM DPS” – it represents all classes or characters whose role is to dish out damage.

Heals: Healer Class

Just like DPS, Heals refers to healer class. This could be any class that’s either meant for only healing, or alternatively hybrid classes that are “spec’d” to heal.

Tank: Damage Soaking class

The brick wall that stands in front of the weaklings in a group, a tank plays a vital role in most parties. The tank’s job is to ensure that all the malicious creatures attack him, and not the squishy players with him.

NPC: Non-playable character

An NPC is a character that isn’t controlled by a human being. These range from quest givers to monsters, and any seemingly sentient virtual being that’s controlled by AI.

__PAGEBREAK__

Loot: Valuable items

Any valuable items that you gain from a quest, or from slaying a monster, is called loot. Alternatively, when you take dropped items from a fallen creature, it’s referred to as “looting” the creature.

Mob: Monster

A “Mob” is a monster that gives you experience points, monetary rewards, loot, or is beneficial to you in some way when killed.

Aggro: Aggravation

Aggro is the system MMOs have in place, that defines which party member a monster is likely to attack. Also known as ’threat’, most abilities used by party members generates a certain amount of it, and the one with the highest threat/aggro is the one the monsters attack. Aggro usually resets after a character gets done with a fight. The term can also be used in the following way – “Help me, I have aggro!” – which is a way of telling others that you’re on top of the threat list and the mob is attacking you.

Add: Additional Mobs

A monster aggravated by a party member unintentionally while your party’s already in combat, is known as an ‘add’.

Pat: Patrol

Mobs that walk around any area with a fixed route are known as pats or patrols.

HP/MP: Hit Points or Mana points

The amount of health you have is counted numerically, and denoted as hit points. Similarly, the amount of magical energy your character has is counted in MP or mana points.

OOM: Out of Mana

Most classes that cast spells require mana to do so. OOM is their way of informing the raid/party that they’re out of mana, so that others can deal with it appropriately.

PVP: Player versus Player

The whole segment of MMOs that focuses on players fighting other players is referred to as PVP.

PVE: Player versus Environment

All activities that involve the AI being your primary opponent, or you interacting with the environment of the game rather than being pitted directly against other players, is called PVE.

I could go on and on with the limitless terms MMOs feature since every new MMORPG brings with it more features, and thereby more terms and abbreviations. For now, these basic terms should educate you enough to converse with other MMO players quite fluently.