The Rise and Evolution of Gaming Lingo

No matter what hobby you enjoy, you’ll build a niche vocabulary that helps you communicate with your like-minded friends. The terms are sometimes necessary to explain the unique objects, activities, and thoughts that are applicable only to that hobby. 

For instance, if you’re into flying model aircraft or drones, you’ll quickly understand that yaw refers to movement on the vertical axis, roll is movement on the longitudinal axis, and pitch is the movement of the tail. 

Similarly, petrolheads will often talk about engine displacement, over and understeer, and traction. The word roll is also used amongst members of this community, though it means something entirely different to when it's used by the aviation enthusiast folk.

To an outsider, all of these words and phrases can seem alien, like people are speaking an entirely different language. 

The same is true for gaming. This space has one of the biggest and most diverse sets of vocabulary of all the hobbies, thanks to the sheer size of the gaming community, the wide variety of options that can be played, and the different types of gamers that take part. 

It’s also one of the fastest-evolving sets of lingo. Terms used by gamers 10 years ago would sound dated amongst players today, with some so seldomly used that they may not even be recognised by newcomers. 

Game-Specific Terms

Some of the earliest gaming terminology comes from use within specific games. Each title’s rules, mechanics, and lore will create specific definitions for words and phrases that players will quickly learn as they progress. 

In Minecraft, for example, players will quickly learn about the different types of ore and materials used within the game, as well as the different NPCs and how they can affect you. These “Mobs” can attack you as you play, causing you to die and lose your items or they can be helpful by helping you buy and sell items. But it’s only by understanding the different names that you can make sense of the game. 

We see something similar in poker. The game is so vast and varied, and with such a diverse mix of players, that an entire dictionary of poker-specific words and phrases has evolved. These include obvious terms like “all-in” which refers to a player betting all of their chips at once and important ones that may be less self-explanatory, such as “button” which is the marker that indicates the dealer during that game. 

Text Chat

Some gaming terms have evolved independently of any specific games. Some of the earliest lingo was a set of short acronyms that made it quicker to communicate via text chat. In the 1990s and early 2000s, internet connections were not always fast enough to support voice communication, so typing on a keyboard was the only way to connect.

However, typing takes you out of gameplay, and in fast-paced shooting games this can mean the difference between virtual life and death. Therefore, short messages were advantageous, giving birth to the likes of GG, BRB, and LOL. 

Influence of Computer Culture

Some other gaming lingo has entered the parlance of players from adjacent cultures, most notably computing. Leetspeak is an online jargon that evolved amongst internet users, particularly more advanced ones during the 1990s and 2000s. 

Words like noob (aka n00b, newb, and newbie) and pwn came about to describe newcomers to this digital realm and to express superiority over others. 

Since there is a lot of crossover between computing enthusiasts and video gamers, these phrases quickly entered the gaming world. As voice chat became more prominent, it would be very common to hear people shouting “owned” and “pwned” at each other as they bested their opponents in Call of Duty or Halo. 

Other internet slang, such as “epic fail”, which exploded in use after 2006 also quickly entered the gaming world. There, it was used to describe incidents where a player would be unable to accomplish an objective or where they made a mistake that led to a comical consequence.