Gamer lexicon that bugs

Um, Twink is slang for a homosexual...

How about 'Shiggy' to describe Shigeru Miyamoto. I hate that name. M$ for microsoft drives me crazy too. Wii60 is annoying as is PS360 because we all know 2 next gen consoles cannot coexist in the same atmosphere let alone be connected through marriage!

Just wanted to add, do you mean online, or spoken? Because some of the examples wouldn't work spoken out, like Wii-mote or Gaymer.

twink is a young teen gay guy...... as a "gaymer" i think its hilarious its used for something else lol...

I always thought Wi-Fi meant Wireless-Fucking internet.

I say wii-mote all the time. spoken. it sounds cool.

"Twink" has many meanings, including both of the above. I personally heard it as a tabletop RPG term first

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twink

Also, I'm pretty sure you could get across "gaymer" vs. "gamer" or "Wii-mote" vs. "remote" pretty easily while speaking, with sufficient emphasis on the first syllable of the first of each pair.

Ah, #2, you beat me to it with "Shiggy." Well, I'll add using "Squenix" instead of Square-Enix. It's difficult to tell if I'm reading an article in a print mag or somebody's blog (no offense to the fine, diligent game bloggers who pick up the slack of these magazines, of course).

Ya. twink is definitely the worst one on this list...

I'd say "kiddie games" is the worst on the list.


Don't get it. So many people use it. My roommate is 29 and he uses it. If a game doesn't have blood in it we damn near have to force him to play it. And inevitabl he loves it, we've spent months playing some of the four player GC games, and it's been years since he's touched his PS2, but sure enough I bring home Donkey Konga last night and he says "more kiddie games? At least Sony does this stuff right."

And he's already hooked on the damn game, after watching three of us play it for an hour.

As much as I admit to using it on occasion, 1337 is one of the worst things to happen to the english language. As if 14 year olds didn't already have issues with spelling and "grammer". And his point about not wanting to be forced to decipher hieroglyphics is dead on.

'hot coffee' and 'tea baggin'

Whatever, you all are a bunch of NOOBS!

Don't use twink because gays use it for something else? Sorry, but that's a different culture that I have no part of. It means something completely different in MMORPG's, so who cares? What would he prefer people call twinking, higher level characters equipping lower level characters? Obviously some term needs to exist, and if it wasn't "twinking", it would be something else that he doesn't like. Besides, most straight people don't even know the gay definition of "twink". I wonder how many other relatively unknown gay terms he is intimately familiar with?

Wii-mote... again, would he rather it be called the Wii remote or something longer? It's easier to say and type out, what's the problem? It's a hell of a lot better than the "revmote". That was stretching.

Wi-Fi? Yeah, IEEE 802.11 sounds much nicer than Wi-Fi, genius.

I like to use "WiiVoulution" Cause its not a big revolution just a little one

Most of the terms here are pretty inoffensive. Wi-Fi means Wireless Fidelity, and so is just a shortening of a technical term. If you're going to whine about it, I better see you use "Light Amplification by Stimulated Emission of Radiation" soon. I can't get too worked up over Ninty or Wii-mote either. Heck, I find the lisp kind of endearing. And BOOM! HEADSHOT! I suspect is an irritant simply because of the state of the one who hears it (i.e., fragged).

"Kiddie," on the other hand, pisses me off. Katamari Damacy, to use an example, contains no violence, and brightly colored, lego-like graphics. Am I to stop rolling up crap in balls just because it lacks explosions? For shame.

I may be a bit behind here......but I have a question....

Ok...so VG resources compiled this list. Do they say WHY they have a beef with these "travesty" words?

I think they all do their jobs nicely. They communicate an idea.

Every genre, culture, job, or specific group of people has their own vernacular.

And is it REALLY a problem that people don't ask you to connect to their 802.11x protocol network?

I haven't said this to joystiq in a while as I realize they are a fun blog....but what is the point here?

"8) Wii-mote

I hate it for the same reason as "Celda." Actually, I hate it more because this one has been getting some major widespread use. I've seen it across hundreds of websites, as well as major magazines. I wish I could find the person who coined this term, tell him it wasn't clever, and proceed to deliver a swift kick to the balls."

I think Matt Cassamina(sp?) the IGN Wii Head Editor Guy has claimed responsibility for this one, I specifically recall an E3 interview with Perri Kaplan that he did...she used the term first, and he remarked on it, claiming it came from the IGN forums, and asked if it was the official Nintendo term. No straight answer was given, much like the rest of the interview.

And am I the only one who sees a bald, angry, screaming Doug when I read 'BOOM Headshot!'?

Oh good, now I have that guy's permission to punch people in the face. He certainly complains about 14 year olds enough. Maybe he's 13 and jealous that they can get into AA movies (in Canada).

What about plain old "Wii." I've gotten used to it, but I still shudder at explaining what that thing sitting next to my tv is to a non-gaming friend. Awkward moment indeed. "Yeah thats my ps2, oh and that's my roomates new Wii..."

Twink is the worst offender. The term has been used by the gay community for 25+ years. Using a term already being used as slang just emphasizes how narrow the user's field of knowledge is, and how sheltered their lives are. It doesn't make you look like an insider or elite, it makes you look like a bunch of shut-ins. More people are familiar with gay definition than the MMORPG definition.

I hate all of these terms. Why are hard-core gamers so lazy (Wiimote, LOL), or needlessly complex(1337, S0x0RZ). Can't you all just talk like a human. Most hard-core gamers are close enough to being human that they could at least speak like one. You make online gaming a pain in the ass, I don't want to learn a new language just to play an MMO. Every situation (twink, noob) doesn't need to be reduced to one word so you can insult other gamers.

Nintendo fans .. always confused about their age.

Kiddie games refers to games rated "E" which means everyone, which means it can be played by _kids._ thats the equivalent of rating a movie "G"

And no, a game does not have to have blood and explosions to be non-kiddie it just doesnt have to be not rated "E" thats it.

Examples:
Street fighter not "E"
KOF not "E"
Rise of empires not "E"
Metroid not "E"

Mario, Katamari, Pokemon=="E" Kiddie games.

Theres nothing wrong with playing "E" games but dont try to convince anyone that they are not "E" because they are _way complex_. Considering 5 year old kids, play them and beat them on a regular basis.

@22

Keep in mind what Nintendo is trying to do with the -concept- of the Wii: they are inviting and embracing the multitudes of people who are -not- gamers. I consider myself to be a hardcore gamer, but my wife is...well, she plays Bejewelled. And I can think of no better way to ask her to pass me the interface device for the Nintendo Wii than by saying "Pass the Wiimote please"...especially as I've had years of difficulty asking for the TV remote (AKA the converter, the buttonstick, the wand, the controller, the remote) She can't/won't play games that require using both the keyboard and mouse at the same time; but even still, I'm absolutely expecting her to play and love the Wii, especially as she enjoys tremendously when I play games with her. (however as she only ever wants to play Mario Party X, this is a rare occurance)


As to Twink, well, in my experience with bisexual friends who happen to play D&D and MMOs, there has never been an issue. Of course, labelling a player as a twink for his inventory choices is invariably as immature as calling him a fag for having blue shoelaces, so really both definitions apply anyways. And both are equally juvenile, I think. How often does a person's sexuality come up in WoW? (I mean, in a way that doesn't result in a lazy /ignore and is quickly forgotten)

Directly taken from of the World of Warcraft manual in the Common Terms section of the Glossary:

Twink
A low-level character made more powerful by higher-level characters, usually through gifts of armor and weapons that the character would not normally have at such a low level. Also used as a verb to describe the act of giving low-level characters powerful items uncommon at their level.

LunarDuality,

I don't mean to sound like an idiot, but what does 1337 mean?



Oh and bv,
you don't like when people call Shigeru Miyamoto, Shiggy. Well that's fine with me, but keep in mind that Shigeru is a very humble and down-to-earth man. He's probably flattered that the internet community calls him by such an affectionate nickname.

Also, since you seem to have a problem with nicknames (which is strange seeing as how you call yourself "bv"), how come you don't get upset when people call Reginald Fils-Aime by the name "Reggie"?

*cough* Yeah, no, don't feed us that bullshit. You just lost a lot of credibility by singling out Nintendo fans. Anyways, almost every single time, "kiddy games" is used as a indirect insult to anyone who plays said games. You may have twisted it to the point where you define the slang in your own terms, but universally with gamers, that is what it is thought of. An idiot gamer who thinks said games described are for little children only. For the most part, that's not even true. Are there restrictive parents that do their job? Sure. Would most kid gamers want, and do play those games with explosions, violence, and the whatnot? Hell yes.

This guy seems to have a thing agains homosexuals too -- he rails against "Twink" and "Gaymer" and then uses the term "butt pirate". Yep, that's mature intellectual discourse right there. Also, I agree with most of the others -- Twink has way too many context appropriate uses to complain about.

I have never heard or read of any gamers who happen to be homosexual refer to themselves or each other as "gaymer". Perhaps he takes issue with the WEBSITE gaymer.org. I admit that it is not a particularly clever term, but he shouldn't assume that the whole "homosexual community" likes or approves of it.

On the other hand, he and others are right about for Ninty, Shiggy, Squenix, Kiddie Games, 1337-5p34k, BANG, and Web 2.0 (Web 2.0 for the wrong reasons). Celda, Dual-Shake, and Wii-mote (which only refers to the CONTROLLER, not the SYSTEM) are not nearly as bad as the above.

Rant over

Put "fanboy" on the list.

(along with its other iterations of "fanboi", "fanbwah", etc.)

That word should be BANNED from the English language.
Damn that old Freakazoid episode!
Every 5 seconds you can count on that word ruining a comment board somehow.

While you're at it put that stupid "TEH" type of stuff on the pile too.
That sh*t was NEVER clever.

The word is "The", jackass.
John Lucas

P.S.: And if you don't mind someone slap the person who thought it was crafty putting the number '0' in place of the letter 'O' in words. The person who came up with that crap should be drug out into the street & shot.

All of the words are informative. They educate the listener to various details about the speaker. If you are annoyed at a term "not being a word" or being "a word used improperly", you also educate the listener. You distinguish yourself either as part of the culture or not.

For instance, when someone speaks ill of 'kiddie games', I know that they are an unimaginative gamer. They most likely only consume the most mainstream pablum they can find. Madden and such, most likely. I know not to listen to anything they say about games, because it will all be irrelevant and, most likely, downright wrong. They also have issues with their own personal self-image if they find themselves unable to enjoy a title designed with children in mind. The same applies to 'adult' games.. people view them as adult because they have a problem with their image of young people and can't wrap their heads around the idea that all people enjoy the same kind of things if they are fun.

*cough*
DS Phat!
*cough*

60-70% of that was absolutely retarded, and the rest that was slightly intelligent was ignoble in concurrence with the rest. Honestly, he goes on forever about how stupid terms like "Wii-mote," "Ninty," or "Celda" are and doesn't actually support his "grievances" with anything more than ravings about how much he doesn't like it. Also, everyone already knows what Twink means in real life, dumbass. F- for idiocy.

"Cel-shading," not "cell-shading." "Cel" refers to animation cels, hence the cartoonish look of the visual style.

And, yeah, wi-fi = wireless fidelity. Nintendo didn't coin the term.

#26. Marc:
"how come you don't get upset when people call Reginald Fils-Aime by the name "Reggie"?"
Well, the difference there (in bv's defense) is that "Reggie" is what he goes by. As far as I know, Shigeru Miyamoto has never gone by "Shiggy" or "Shigsy" or the like.
But fannames for Fils-Aime include the like of "The Regginator."

About Wiimote... According to the official Wii page, the controller's official name is Wii Remote.

As others pointed out, Twink and Gaymer are queer references. Bottomline, the online gamer community - aka adolescent boys (or adolescent men) with Kevin Smith propensity of Fart and Dick jokes are the norm. And gay men unfortunately have to bear the brunt of both fart and dick jokes.

If you need a diagram for why gay men relate to fart and dick jokes, go google for some sex education :)

Reading back through the comments and finding myself annoyed even further with each new example I came to the depressing conclusion that I am, in fact, old.

My god, I used to have the handle "KarNage" and think I was the coolest person on the telephone lines.

The guy who wrote this article is a moron. What is he, 12? Seriously, Joystiq is dumb for letting someone rant about prejudice against gays. Why doesn't Joystiq just let people post rants about Jews and blacks who play games, too? And while Joystiq's at it, why not let people rant about German, Irish or Mexican stereotypes? Joystiq, THIS is why most people don't take video game journalism seriously. Keep posting stuff from talented journalists, not this crap written by some 12 year old who doesn't know any better.

Gaymer is the one that irritates me the most.

Where did it come from? I have nothing against the gay community, two of my good friends are gay. But seriously.

You're gay, and you play games.

Why does the first matter? I'm going to frag you regardless. I, as well as most of the gamer community, could give 2 shits about your sexuality/gender/race.

...Unless you're korean and this is starcraft. Then its a lose/lose for me.

@hjungle
i know exactly how you feel

"Every time I pop in a video game, I don't need these people shouting at me how I'm a homophobic monster because I don't agree with the way they live."

He rants against Ninty and Wii-Mote, then drops a "These people," then gets props from Joystiq. I am shockfused.

I'm honestly not bothered by anything on this list, but I do find it kind of stupid that they'd include "wii-mote" but not "nunchuck" (or "nunchuck" or "numchuck" or however it's misspelled) as a reference to the as-of-yet officially unnamed Wii controller add-on. Not only is the correct word "nunchaku", but the add-on device looks nothing *like* nunchaku.

Fsckin' plebeians.

RE: 21
"Twink is the worst offender...Using a term already being used as slang just emphasizes how narrow the user's field of knowledge is, and how sheltered their lives are"

Exactly what I thought when I learned that the gay community hijacked *our* term "twink". It has been around longer than D&D books had bindings (anyone else ever play with the 3 ring binder tomes?). If anything, the gaming community has more legitimacy than you as they are at least using the term close to its original meaning, not completely pulling something out of their...

To be honest, it doesn't matter anyway. "Gay" has gone through many different definitions over the years. People like you (self-absorbed elitists) are laughable. Railing against a community because they use a term that you use...which you in turn stole from another community and completely bastardized becuase, wait have to go back and read your post...oh, yah, because you are ignorant and a shut in.

Back on topic, the author needs to get a life. As well as some common sense. This sillyness is no different than, "Oh snap!" or "Rad!" It always has and always will be. I can't think of a more inane and rediculous "point" to write on. OH MY GOSH! Communities are evolving words!!! Whew, sssssssssslow news day.

Wi-Fi != Wireless Fidelity
The consumer advocacy group hired an advertising agency to come up with 'WiFi', and afterward some moron added the tag line 'The standard in Wireless Fidelity' to all their advertisements. WiFi is a meaningless word, it's just the marketing name for 802.11whatever. The tag line was really stupid anyway, WiFi is not a standard, and 'fidelity' is actually a meaningless term in the context of 'wireless' or any binary data. Binary data always has perfect fidelity or it's a failed connection! The WiFi group has since stopped using that tag line, and regrets ever having printed it.

----
I had never heard the non-gamer connotation of twink, but picked it up from pen & paper RPGs a long time ago. I got some funny looks from my GF when I used it in reference to WoW. I figure context is enough to figure it out, and at any rate 'young homosexual'(from WP, much tamer definition than what I heard, which included the word 'prostitute') is almost fitting for a 'young' character that gets 'pampered' by an older character.

As for the rest, nicknames don't bother me at all, I use wiimote in conversation, and my gripe with Wind Waker was not that it was cel shaded, but the graphic stylization of the characters, kinda similar to Parappa. It didn't hurt the game, imo, but I didn't prefer it.

http://www.wi-fi.org/

Wi-Fi is not a fanboy term. It is the official name of the organization and technology standards it promotes. These are primarily standards decribed under the designation 802.11 by the IEEE.

Nor is the implication of 'fidelity' by making a play on the audiophile term hi-fi inaccurate. Much of what the IEEE standards exist to do is get data in its exact form from one place to another with no physical connection between those two points. In that respect it corresponds perfectly with the definition of fidelity.

The author blames the nickname 'Ninty' on fansites run by 14-year-olds. That nickname has been in use since the late 80s, before those site operators were born. It is a direct result of the near universal recognition of the Nintendo name and brand. Get over it. More importantly, stay away from British magazines and sites. They slap a nickname like that on just about everything. You can say 'speccy' to a Brit who never owned a Sinclair Spectrum long ago but was into computers in the 80s and he'll know exactly what you mean. I never owned a Radio shack Color Computer but knew that CoCo was the common term applied by its user base.

Web 2.0? yeah, it's been overused but it represents a real set of goals by the people who started it. If one bothers to look closely enough it was in fact those people who really do shape the internet because they set the software standards that define what can and cannot be easily done.

I can understand the objections to the 1337 idiocy but every generation has its form of moron jargon. This shouldn't be confused with the reasonable shorthand that inevitably evolves around a focused interest. Any new TV show that gains enough fans to have a newsgroup or web forum dedicated to it will need a glossary before the first season is in repeats.

The same applies to a new game system. Wii-mote is a perfectly reasonable coinage to indicate a very specific piece of hardware. As a bit of slang it's very effective in that it immediately tells the first time reader that this is Wii related and using 'mote' in a form already familiar in other slang references to remote control devices.

Azrael -

I guess that means that Gran Turismo 4 and Madden are also kiddy. Right?

If anything, I see "kiddy" as being a very arbitrary term, which is why I don't really like it all that much. There isn't any real consistency to it. It is used from anything that is on a Nintendo system to anything the individual views as compromising the appearance of his mental age.

"Kiddy" is used when a game doesn't fit in to an individual's idea of cool. As if being seen playing games all the time is something to be impressed with. Games are, by their nature, all "kiddy". Children don't face reality because that isn't in their level of mental development. Games are an escape from reality. Anyone who choses to run from what is real is engaging in childish behavior. Thus, all games are, by default, "kiddy". Those who throw the term around are engaging themselves in a higher degree of childish behavior because they are attempting to further remove themselves from the reality that playing games is not exactly something that we typically view mature adults doing.

Did anyone mention "pwned"? Anyone who uses that phrase on some kind of internet message board congers up the following:

1) He has a step dad
2) Drinks Mountian Dew
3) Once a Bizkit fan (JUST ONE OF THOSE DAAAYZZZZ!)

I think that the two uses of "twink" are probably related. Check these:
http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=Pederasty

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Category:Pederasty

I'd be willing to bet that, given the common practice for so many years (far older than Gary Gygax and his D&D) of older homosexual men acting as patrons to younger protoge "twinks," and providing for those "twinks" both materially and intellectually, that the MMO term is similar. I know that bak in the old UO days, I'd interpret the term as exactly that: a reference to a homosexual relationship between a new character who was given equipment from a veteran character.

Man, that was hard to write while avoiding bad double entendres.

Well, WoWers, use 'twink' however you like, but just know that the rest of the world will think you're talking about a 'young gay guy' when you blurt it out in public. The word is already taken. Which makes me wonder why it came into use on WoW, as a mildly derogotory description that few would call themselves... A noob bestowing his or herself with whatever money can buy, rather than earning it... WoW really doesn't seem to get along with the gay community, or at least acknowledge it very well. 'Don't ask, Don't Spell,' I guess.

Same with "Gaymer." Funny and obvious, but I suspect it's a word created more to describe or pinpoint a group in a condescending manner than to respectfully acknowledge the gay gaming community. Can we create 'Straimer' (straight gamer) 'Blamer' (black gamer) 'Waymer' (white gamer), 'StraiWaymer' (straight white gamer), 'Hispaimer,' 'Kaimer,' etc... I mean, since we seem to need to pinpoint a group, why not get ultra-redundant?

This has been a fairly innocuous comment section... But go look up the WoW 'gay clan' issue or the 'homo-Link' mentions a few months ago... people get downright nasty.

I would qualify as a 'StraiWaymer' here, but that doesn't keep me from getting bummed when I come on Joystiq or any other forum and see how homophobic and negative fellow video gamers can be.

Brings me down, that's all.

illtrooper, I agree with you 100%

ill trooper,

you speak the truth. I, by your system, am a StraiBlamer. It is sad to see how fast gamers are ready to turn on each other.

I'm just glad that me and my friends can get along pretty easily (seeing as how I'm for Nintendo, another is for Sony, and the last is for Microsoft but she's in denial)

That was one of the worst articles I have read in a while. Not that he made bad points. "Boom Headshot!" is hideously annoying and the whole "kiddie games" thing is just stupid. However, whoever the writer is spent most of his time mindlessly bitching over arbitrary and rather harmless terms.

He seemed waaaay too pissed off about tiny little issues like the fact that Wi-Fi isnt a 100% accurate use of terminology. What the hell cares? Tons of product names and selling points are named like that, with no true meaning. Its like this guy has a personal vendetta against any play on words.

Then, in order to solidify himself as a hypocrite, he lists "Ninty" as the #1 worst gamer term/nickname, but gives no true basis for his hate of the term. He even defnds the nickname "the big N" and gives no justification for that either except his personal opinion that one of the nicknames sucks and the other doesnt.

Sounds like a whiny frustrated gamer venting in the guise of a serious article. If I had been talking to this guy in person and he presented this rant to me, I would punch him in the face.