Video game glossary
Revision as of 13:29, 18 April 2024 by TheAlmightyGuru (talk | contribs)
This is a glossary of video game terminology.
0-9
- See "1-credit completion."
- Describes completing a game on a single credit with the usual compliment of starting lives, which is usually quite difficult, instead of using multiple continues, which anyone can do. Mostly refers to games of arcade origin. Also referred to as one-credit clear, one-coin clear, and various other similar terms. Abbreviated to 1CC.
1-bit color
- See "monochrome."
1-on-1
- Playing a game with one human player against one other human player. This match up may be varied in any manner: 2-on-2, 3-on-3, 1-on-2, etc. Sometimes written "1V1." See also "versus."
- An Engrish form of the term, "extra life."
1V1
- See "1-on-1."
2-bit color
- Refers to displays which require two bits per pixel and can therefore display up to 4 unique colors at a time.
2D
- Refers to something existing in two spacial dimensions, typically graphics, but may also describe a game world. 2D graphics may be renders as a vector or bitmap. Also written as "2-D."
2.5D
- Refers to something existing in two spacial dimensions, but appearing as though it's in three dimensions. Often applied to games which use early 3D engines which didn't have full 3D capabilities as well games which use an isometric view, or a game with a first-person perspective that is rendered with 2D bitmaps. In more recent years, the term is used for games which use a 3D engine, but use 2D visuals and mechanics.
3½-inch diskette
- A three-and-a-half-inch-wide diskette with a hard plastic shell. Primarily used on home computers around the 1980s to 2000s. Replaced by the CD-ROM.
3D
- Refers to something existing in three spacial dimensions, typically graphics composed of vectors, but may also describe a game world. Also written as "3-D."
4-bit color
- Refers to displays which can display up to 16 unique colors at a time.
4-way joystick
- A joystick with four directional inputs that is specifically designed to prevent more than one directional input from being activated at the same time. Used in many early arcade games that didn't need diagonal movement like Pac-Man. This differs from an 8-way joystick which allows two neighboring directions to be pressed at the same time.
4K
- A display resolution of 4096 × 2160 pixels.
5¼-inch diskette
- A five and a quarter-inch-wide floppy diskette. Primarily used on home computers around the 1970s to 1980s. Replaced by the 3½-inch diskette.
8-bit
- A term used to describe hardware that uses an 8-bit CPU or bus, or games designed to simulate the style of games released on such hardware.
8-bit audio
- A non-specific term which typically refers to any audio played on an 8-bit device, the majority of which used programmable sound generator which have very distinct timbres.
8-bit color
- Refers to displays which can display up to 256 unique colors at a time, typically chosen from a color space of many more possible colors.
8-inch diskette
- An eight-inch-wide floppy diskette. Primarily used on computers around the 1950s to 1970s. Replaced by the 5¼-inch diskette.
8-way joystick
- A joystick with four directional inputs that allows up to two neighboring inputs to be activated at the same time to allow for diagonal motion in the game. This differs from a 4-way joystick which only ever allows one directional input to be pressed at a time.
8K
- A display resolution of 7680 × 4320 pixels.
- Refers to displays which can display up to 32,768 unique colors at a time.
16-bit
- A term used to describe hardware that uses a 16-bit CPU or bus, or games designed to emulate the style of games released on such hardware.
16-bit audio
- A non-specific term which typically refers to any audio played on an 16-bit device, the majority of which used FM synthesis which have distinct timbres.
- Refers to displays which can display up to 65,536 unique colors at a time.
- Refers to displays which can display up to 16,777,216 unique colors at a time.
32-bit
- A term used to describe hardware that uses a 32-bit CPU or bus, or games designed to emulate the style of games released on such hardware.
- Refers to displays which can display up to 16,777,216 unique colors at a time as well as an 8-bit alpha channel.
64-bit
- A term used to describe hardware that uses a 64-bit CPU or bus, or games designed to emulate the style of games released on such hardware.
100%
- Describes completing everything possible related to an aspect of a game, or an entire game. See also "completionist."
- A number common in 8-bit video games due to technical limitations of the hardware.
720
- Refers to a display resolution of 1280 × 720 pixels. Often described as 720p, for progressive display, or 720i, for interlaced display. At the time, it was also called "high definition" or "HD," though few would describe it as such now.
1080
- Refers to a display resolution of 1920 × 1080 pixels, also called "full HD." Often described as 1080p, for progressive display, or 1080i, for interlaced display.
A
A-pose
- In 3D modeling, a pose where a humanoid figure is standing up with their arms out at a downward angle so their body shape resembles an uppercase letter A. See also "T-pose."
AAA
- Refers to a high-budget development studio or games developed by them. Vocalized as "triple A."
abandoned
- When development ceases on a video game. Reasons typically include the inability to find a publisher willing to back the development costs, or an inability to find a way to make the game enjoyable.
- Video games or software which are still protected under copyright, but are no longer sold by the copyright holder. Gamers typically don't have an ethical problem pirating abandonware since, as they claim, the copyright holders won't lose money since they aren't trying to sell the title anyway. "Abandonware" is not a legal term, and still constitutes breaking the law.
ability
- Any action, move, act, etc. a character can perform. There are many different ways of handling abilities from having them intrinsic to the character, needing to be learned, requiring points to use, having a cool down, etc.
ability points
- Points that are spent when a character performs an ability tied to the points. Often abbreviated to AP.
AC adapter
- A power adapter typically used to plug in otherwise battery powered devices. Prior to long-life rechargeable batteries, AC adapters were sold for most portable video game platforms.
accessory
- In games where players can have equipment, accessories typically refer to secondary items like rings, amulets, and various other baubles; contrasted with weapons and armor. Accessories typically affect stats or offer forms of magical protection not seen in regular weapons and armor.
achievement
- An award for the completion of a special task within a game, or the process of getting said award. Also known as a badge, trophy, medal, etc.
- A genre of video game which requires quick reflexes in order to succeed.
- A genre of video game where statistic-based character development is mixed with fast-paced combat mechanics.
- The breakdown of the label, especially on second-generation Activision cartridges.
activation code
- A copy protection system where the owner of a game uses an activation code to prove ownership of a game.
- A puzzle which requires the player to actively interact with it usually due to it changing dynamically or a short time limit. Contrasted with a passive puzzle.
active time battle
- A combat system based delays in between actions rather than turns. Each combatant can perform actions based on a speed-like stat. This form of combat is like a hybrid between turn-based combat and the combat seen in action games and requires players to take a more active role in the process.
adaptive scalable texture compression
- A lossy graphic compression format used for textures based on Color Cell Compression. Although it doesn't compress as well as JPEG, it can decompress much faster, so it's more ideal for weaker hardware.
add-on
- See "expansion."
adult
- A category of video game designed for adults which has erotic or pornographic content.
- A genre of video game in which the player leads a character on an adventure. Often subdivided into text adventures and graphic adventures.
- A video game engine developed by Sierra On-Line and first used in King's Quest and their subsequent graphic adventures until it was replaced by Sierra Creative Interpreter.
AFK
- Short for "away from keyboard." A message left by players so other players online will know they are unable to respond at the moment. See also "BRB."
aggro
- Short for aggravation. An amount of attention from a hostile enemy. AI-controlled enemies are typically programmed to attack the player who cause them the most aggro. This can be exploited by players by having the character with the most defense take aggro from a powerful foe so their weaker comrades don't have to deal with them.
AGI
- See "Adventure Game Interpreter."
agile development model
- A game development model where less emphasis is placed on planning out exactly what the game will be like. Instead, developers frequently design and play test demos in an attempt to find what works and use feedback from the testers to guide the game's progress. Developers usually prefer this method because it makes it much easier to change game play elements that don't appear to be working, but publishers rarely like this model because it's much more difficult to figure out where in a game's development cycle in order to plan for advertising and distribution. The agile development model is contrasted with the waterfall development model.
AI
- See "artificial intelligence."
AI vs. AI
- When an AI faces off against another AI. Some games allow this as a feature, particularly sports games which allow you to serve as "coach" for the AI. Other games use this as the basis of their game play and expect players to program their own AIs to battle each other.
aimbot
- A program that automatically aims for the player. This makes it much easier to hit targets, but, unless it's built into the game, is typically viewed as cheating.
air unit
- A combat unit which can fly, hover, etc. Air units are contrasted with ground and sea units and typically are not affect by terrain and have a stronger defense against ground units, though weak to anti-aircraft weapons.
aliasing
- When a player uses a name different from what they normally use in order to hide their true identity.
alignment
- A measure of a character's philosophical outlook. In Dungeons & Dragons it measures their respect for authority and their morality, though other games may use alternate forms.
all levels
- Describes beating a game including all of the optional levels. A more complete run than a no warps run.
all-rounder
- A character type with evenly distributed attributes. Doesn't excel in any category, but isn't a detriment in any either.
alpha (development)
- A stage in game development where the game is being produced, but enough of it has been completed that it can be played to ensure it's fun and balanced.
alpha (graphics)
- See "transparency."
alphamap
- A map or mask of alpha transparency. When used in texture splatting it may be referred to as a splat map or weight map.
alt
- Short for "alternate." A secondary character used by a player when they don't want to or are unable to play their main character.
- A fiction genre which is set in a world where a major historical event turned out differently.
- The combination of video game elements with and traditional real world game elements.
alternate win conditions
- In a game with more than one way to win, all conditions to win that are not part of the "primary win conditions," are alternate win conditions.
ambient occlusion
- A technique for determining how exposed a point is to ambient lighting, and thus how light or dark it should be based on its location in the scene.
analog stick
- A small analog joystick controller, usually part of a gamepad.
- Refers to the operating system created by Google, the software which runs on it, and the devices which use it.
animator
- A visual artist who works specifically with the motion of objects in a game. Animators are divided into 2D and 3D animators. 3D animators add movement to 3D models while 2D animators work with pixel animation. Animation is a very time-consuming process because it is very hard to make motions both fluid and realistic.
anti-aliasing
- Any process which reduces the distortion known as aliasing. In video games, this typically refers to graphics and describes a smoothing process which eliminates sharp edges or Moiré patterns that occur when textures are scaled.
anti-piracy
- A method for preventing a game from being played by someone who obtained it illegally. See also "DRM."
any percent
- Describes beating a game by completing what is necessary to see the ending sequence. Usually written, "any%."
AOE
- See "area of effect."
Apogee model
- A sales model where a game is sold in multiple episodes, typically three, and the first episode is freely distributed as shareware, but the subsequent episodes must be purchased.
app
- Short for "application." A game that is self-contained and easily distributed across its target platforms, usually from an online store.
- Relating to the company or any of the hardware or software they've sold. Depending on the context, this could refer to one of their computers, like the Apple II or Macintosh, the OS used by those computers, or devices like the iPhone, iPod, iPad, etc.
APU
- See "audio processing unit."
- A place of amusement which houses arcade cabinets or electro-mechanical games.
- A video game machine in a dedicated cabinet.
- A proxy for currency which only has value in an arcade and cannot be refunded. Arcades switched from using money to using tokens to trick players into spending more than they normally would. Tokens have largely been replaced by magnetic cards at major arcades.
arced weapon
- A weapon which, when thrown, travels in an arc. Many players find it difficult to aim and hit targets with such weapons.
area
- See "level (map)."
area of effect
- The region affected by something, often abbreviated to AOE, and typically used in strategic combat. For example, an grenade explosion may have an 25 foot radius AOE, or a wizard may cast a darkness spell with an AOE of a cube with 100 meter sides.
armor
- A measure of something's defensive capabilities, or equipment which increases defensive capabilities.
armor class
- A metric which measures a unit's armor. Initially used by Dungeons & Dragons, but the term has been used in many other games since.
ARPG
- Short for "action role-playing game."
ARPU
- Short for "average revenue per user."
- A genre of video game where the goal of the developer is less about entertaining the player and more about making them feel certain emotions similar to the goal of an artist.
artifact (compression)
- An unwanted aberration which becomes more noticeable as higher levels of lossy compression are used. Common in graphics and sound.
artifact (item)
- An rare item, typically in a fantasy setting, which usually has magical or similarly unique powers.
- An entity in the game that is controlled by a program instead of a human player or the process of doing so.
- An economics term used to describe purposely creating less of a product than is demanded in order to artificially inflate the product's value. Nintendo has been accused of creating artificial scarcity of their consoles for decades.
- A genre of video game where players lob projectiles at each other's character.
artist
- A game developer who creates the visual aspects of a game. This may include textures, character art, models, animation, and the like.
aspect ratio
- The ratio of vertical to horizontal resolution of a video display. When graphics are displayed on an aspect ratio different from what they were designed for, the result is a stretched or squished image.
- A family of low-level programming languages used to write code very similar to a CPU's machine code. Used extensively throughout the 1970s to 2000s to write games for console platforms and for driver-related software in computer games.
asset
- A video game development term which refers to a single aspect of the game. For example, a 3d mesh, a texture, an animation, a sound effect, etc. The term "asset" is typically used to refer to something that can be stored in a file, so graphics and scripts are assets, but algorithms and data formats are not.
assist (design)
- Giving the player help when they're having a difficult time. For example, if the player dies several times in a level, the game may assist them by letting them start the level with a power-up.
assist (scoring)
- In the statistics of video games, an assist is usually awarded to a player who helps another player earn points.
- Refers to the American video game company, and the many video games and video game consoles they sold, especially the Atari 2600.
Atari shock
- The Japanese term for the video game crash of 1983.
- A computer-controlled demonstration of game play used to entice people into playing the game. Attract modes were created for arcade games as a way to attract potential players by showing demos of game play, often focusing on the more technologically advanced aspects of the game. Attract modes also usually showed the game's title screen, high score list, and some backstory, while also serving as a screen saver. Although console games don't really need an attract mode, many game designers included them to make the game feel more like an arcade release, and sometimes designers would cleverly reveal minor hints or secrets in the attract demo for those who bothered to watch them. The home line of Atari 8-bit platforms included an attract mode which cycled colors in order to prevent burn-in.
attributes
- Various values that describe an entity (character, monster, object, etc,) in a game. Attributes are similar to stats, but usually include more variables.
audio adapter
- The components necessary to produce sound for a video game platform. This usually includes an audio processing unit (APU) and the memory it needs to function. Most video game platforms have a built-in audio adapter, while many computers support adding additional audio adapters in the form of sound cards.
audio processing unit
- The circuitry on a video game platform that processes audio including music, sound effects, and speech.
- A way of conveying some information to the player through sound. Common usages include a scream of pain when you've hit an otherwise invulnerable opponent, a change in tone when checking for a secret door, etc.
- In a shooting game, when the game automatically aims at a nearby target thereby helping the player score hits. Some games include a limited form of this as a feature, especially when transitioning from a mouse to an analog joystick, but this is also a common form of a cheat.
auto map
- A map that is automatically generated by the game for the player to view.
auto run
- A feature in a game which keeps the player in run mode rather than walk mode to expedite travel, or one where the player sets a point of destination and the game automatically moves the player to the location while frequently updating the pathfinding.
- When the map scrolls on its own outside of the player's control.
- When an input system repeats the same input on a loop after the initial input. For example, in many games, if you hold down the input button for shooting, the game will keep repeating the shooting action. Sometimes there is a slightly longer delay on the initial input before the repeated input beings at its normal speed.
automatic transmission
- In games which feature driving, a transmission that automatically shifts gears for the player, as opposed to a manual transmission.
autosave
- When the game automatically saves your progress without you needing to do so. Designers usually have the game autosave before a significant event.
avatar
- A representation of the player inside the game. Similar to a character, but an avatar is typically meant to refer to the player herself, not a different character.
average revenue per user
- In commercial games, this is the amount of money the average player will spend on a game. It's used in accounting calculations to see how much money a game is making, and how much it will expect to make over time.
B
- Often abbreviated to BOB or BOTB. Refers to what is printed on the back of a boxed game. Without any other knowledge of the game, potential buyers used what was printed on the back of the box to gauge the quality of the game, and, as such, box designers used them for advertising. The text often over-sold the game, and the impressive screenshots were often from better ports or cut scenes, not the typical game play.
backup
- A copy of video game media (diskette, CD-ROM, etc.) or the process of making a copy, to ensure the original is kept safe. Some nations allow for the owner of any software to make and use a single backup provided it is not shared with anyone else. Also refers to backing up files generated by a game (save states, configuration files, etc.)
- A video game platform which can run games designed for a previous platform.
bad dump
- A copy of a ROM that wasn't made properly. It may be missing data, have corruption, or be larger than the actual ROM itself.
bad ending
- A ending sequence of a game which doesn't present a positive outcome, as opposed to a good ending.
- A genre of video game where the player controls a paddle which must hit a ball.
ban
- To prevent a player from taking part in a game or online community. Bans are typically implemented when a player brakes the rules. Ban may be temporary or permanent. A permanent ban can be referred to as a "permaban."
barrier
- Anything which prevents access to an area such as a wall, locked door, force field, etc. Used to keep the player contained until the designer wants them to have access.
base damage
- The amount of damage something deals solely by itself, not factoring in buffs or debuffs, special abilities, power-ups or the like.
- A programming language whose name stands for "Beginners All-purpose Symbolic Instruction Code." It was the most popular language for the homebrew gaming community from the 1970s to 1990s. Games were frequently distributed in magazines or books as code that needed to be typed in.
BASIC game
- A game written in the BASIC programming language. Typically of lower quality than commercial games and distributed for free as open source.
- Additional volatile memory kept active through the use of a battery. Typically used in consoles which used ROM cartridges before they had hard drives like the NES and Genesis.
- A genre of video game where the player controls a character who beats up other characters. Also called a "brawler" or, when the characters wield weapons, a "hack-and-slash."
beginner trap
- Something that results in a bad outcome with no way to know it's bad until you fall for it. As the name suggests, it's a trap for beginners; only after being burned by it, the player will know to avoid it. An example of "fake difficulty."
- A game with a scrolling background where the player's character can only scroll the map left or right as though they were riding along a conveyor belt.
beta
- A stage in game development where all the principle work is done, but it still needs to be tested for bugs and balance issues. Promotional advertising ramps up at this point.
best testing
- See "quality assurance."
bezel
- On an arcade cabinet, it's the area around the display. Bezels are typically decorated with art befitting the game.
big box
- Describes early video game boxes which were frequently much larger than those from the 2000s when computer game companies began shipping them in smaller boxes similar to the size of console games. The larger boxes were often mostly empty space, but occasionally necessary to fit larger manuals, maps, posters, and trinkets.
billboard LOD
- A flat 3D surface which is always rotated to face the camera. The lower polygon count makes is far less GPU intensive, but the lack of shape makes it only usable at a distance.
billboard sprite
- A sprite in a 3D environment which doesn't have art to allow it to be seen from multiple angles, so it is always drawn to face the player. The wider a billboard sprite is, the more it has to rotate to face the player, and the more fake it looks.
BIOS
- Short for "Basic Input/Output System." Firmware for a device that handles low-level functions like self-tests, handling the boot process, and communication with the hardware.
bird's eye view
- See "top-down."
bit
- Short for binary digit. The smallest amount of information a computer can process. Typically viewed as 1 or 0, on or off, true or false, yes or no.
BITBLT
- Short for "bit block transfer." Describes quickly moving data in memory from one location to another, and is typically used to move bitmapped graphics from a buffer to the screen or another buffer. Masking usually takes place at this time.
bitmap
- A mapping of information to bits. In video games, this is typically the mapping of pixels to bits in order to store graphics.
black and white
- See monochrome.
black magic
- Spells which primarily deal with offense and dealing damage.
blast processing
- A marketing gimmick used by Sega's American advertising agency which doesn't refer to any hardware that was ever actually used in games. The term later became synonymous with useless marketing jargon designed to make something sound impressive when it isn't.
- A video game genre where game play predominately based around pushing blocks.
- A game mechanic which requires the player to move around blocks, usually as part of a puzzle.
- An optical disc capable of storing data which can be read from it with a laser. It was used as the primary video game media of home computers from the 2010s to 2020s as well as several video game consoles.
blue magic
- Any magic which uses the special abilities of monsters. Popularized by the Final Fantasy series.
blue screen of death
- A colloquial term for the system failure screen of the Windows operating system. It is often triggered by an overheating CPU or GPU, bad RAM, or faulty driver. Since 3D gaming typically taxes all of these system, it is often the cause of a blue screen of death. Often abbreviated to BSD.
Bluetooth
- A wireless technology used since the 2000s by a lot of video game platforms.
- A video game rendition of a board game.
bonus
- An additional positive result typically awarded when the player does something beyond what was expected.
bonus stage
- A stage separate from normal game play where the player play a minigame where they can gain extra points or lives and is typically safe from dying.
boost
- Quickly accelerating something's momentum, usually the player's character. Depending on the game, boosting can be done by using an item, power-up, aspect of the environment, etc. It also refers to speeding through a game by purposely taking damage, see "damage boost."
boot (players)
- To remove a player from a game, typically because they are being disruptive or their ping is so high, it's causing lag. If a booted player returns without correcting their problems, they may be banned.
boot (process)
- The process of starting a video game platform. The boot process can be divided into a cold boot or warm boot. A cold boot occurs when the device first receives power and must begin fresh. A warm boot refers to having a device which already has power to perform most of the same processes, but often skips some of them. Some video game platforms have only a cold boot process, while others have both a cold boot and a warm boot.
bootleg
- A game made for a platform without permission from the platform's owner, often circumventing DRM. Typically made by a company and differs from a "homebrew" because bootlegs are made for platforms that are still being supported.
- A particularly difficult enemy who guards the end of a stage or a section in a game.
boss fight
- A battle against a boss.
- Having to re-fight some or all of the previous bosses from earlier in the game, often in a single long combat.
- When the player is tricked into thinking they have defeated the boss, only to have it replaced with something much worse.
bot
- Short for "robot," often used to refer to an AI-controlled character in a game.
box art
- The graphic art seen on the exterior of a box. Since video game distribution has largely become digital, box art has been replaced by title cards.
- A type of character in a game that relies heavily on hand-to-hand combat.
BRB
- Short for "be right back." Used so other online players will know that someone has left the game but will return shortly.
- A video game played in a Web browser.
- See beat 'em up.
bread and butter
- In competitive multiplayer games it describes a special move or strategy that player performs frequently and consistently.
brez
- Short for "battle resurrect" and refers to resurrecting a dead character while in combat (as opposed to resurrection outside of combat). Often a spell or special ability for healer-type classes.
BSD
- Short for "blue screen of death."
buff
- Something which increases the power of a character. An example would be a potion of strength which temporarily increases a character's strength.
- When data is written to an area of memory that cannot hold it resulting in a bug.
- A coding oversight the results in behavior undesired by the developers. Also called an error or glitch.
- The 3D engine developed by 3D Realms for Duke Nukem 3D and subsequently used for about a dozen other titles.
- A sub-genre of shooter where the player is expected to avoid a large number of enemy projectiles. In Japanese, it's referred to as "danmaku."
bullet sponge
- See "damage sponge."
- A primitive form of combat where you simply bump into enemies to attack them rather than press an attack button. Popularized by Japanese games like Hydlide and Ys.
bunny hopping
- Making frequent short jumps when ever you move in order to make your character harder to target.
burn-in
- The process in which a television or monitor is damaged by showing the same high-intensity display for a prolonged period of time. The term "burn-in" is used because the image will still be seen even after it's no longer displayed, as though it has been burned into the screen. Burn-in is common in CRTs, rear-projection, plasma, and OLED displays, but not as common in LCD displays. Early video games, like those developed for the Atari 2600, had special modes to cycle through colors in order to prevent burn-in.
byte
- A unit of information which is made up of several bits. In the early days of computing, bytes were made up from various numbers of bit, but most manufacturers have settled on eight (also known as an octet). When in a byte, bits are usually not meant to be interpreted as individual pieces of information, but combined to form a value from 0-255. The precise interpretation of this value is dependent on the program using it.
C
- A programming language which is particularly popular in video game development. In the 1980s, most professionally made computer games were developed in the C language until it was supplanted by C++.
calibration
- A process used to ensure the accuracy of control devices by comparing the current value to a know standard. Primary used for analog joysticks and touch pads.
- When a poorly programmed camera causes the player to mess up. Especially common in early 3D games, and a form of "fake difficulty."
campaign mode
- See "story mode."
camping
- Remaining at a certain area in a game. In versus mode, camping is typically done to protect an area from attackers, rack up a high number of frags by having a clear view of a high traffic area (especially a spawn point), or waiting until other players injure each other and then finishing them off. Camping is often looked down upon and some games punish campers by revealing their location to all other players. When not in versus mode, camping is usually referred to as "grinding" or "farming."
canceled
- When a publisher stops funding a developer to make a game or hardware, so the developer must cease development.
- Purposely cutting an animation short, or resetting an in-game variable earlier than usual in order to perform actions faster than normal. Canceling often involves exploiting a bug.
canon
- Aspects of a game that are part of the official story, as opposed to non-canon.
cantrip
- In a fantasy setting, a very weak magic only capable of minor effect. Sometimes referred to as level 0 magic because it is weaker than level 1 magic.
captions
- Dialogue written to the screen just like closed captions in film. Game which have both spoken dialogue and captions often let you disable one of the other.
capture the flag
- A form of multiplayer where teams try to capture an object, often a flag, that is located in the opposing team's base and bring it to their own base. Based on the traditional game. Often abbreviated to CTF.
card
- Could refer to a "ROM card," "memory card," "reference card," or "registration card."
- A video game rendition of a card game.
carry
- Players who do more work on a team than others are said to "carry" the less useful members. Players who are being carried are looked down upon by those who are carrying them, and may be booted from the team. See also "twinking."
cartridge
- See "ROM cartridge."
cartridge port
- A connector where a ROM cartridge can be plugged in. Common on 8 and 16-bit video game platforms.
cartridge tilting
- Deliberately interfering with the connections of a ROM cartridge, often by tilting one side so the contacts aren't fully connected, in order to cause glitches in the game. Tilting the cartridge too much will cause the game to crash or the console to reboot, but just enough will corrupt small portions of the game in a way similar to a corrupter. Cartridge tilting is done to add a twist to existing game play.
case
- An protective covering or carrying device for a, usually portable, game console. Cases are usually made out of plastic, rubber, or silicone. Also refers to the exterior portion of a home computer.
cassette
- See "cassette tape."
cassette tape
- A double-sided magnetic tape housed in a plastic shell with two reels. Data can be stored on it or read from it with a tape recorder. It was a popular media for storing video games, especially in the Japanese and European markets during the 1980s. It was made obsolete by the 3.5" floppy disk.
casual game
- A genre of video game that can be easily picked up and played at a leisurely pace without much commitment. The game play usually has very shallow learning curve and limited controls or possible actions. Casual games typically auto-save the player's progress and can be ended at any time without negative consequences and are usually designed for portable gaming platforms or web browsers so they can be played at any time.
casual gamer
- Someone who plays video games for fun, but doesn't take them very seriously. Contrasted with a "professional gamer."
Cat 5
- Short for Category 5, a type of twisted pair cable used for networking video game platforms together through Ethernet. Usually uses RJ45 connectors.
- A video game genre which revolves around the player trying to catch moving objects.
cathode-ray tube
- The older "tube" style of television or monitor which uses an electron emitter to excite phosphors painted on the back side of the tube. Most games developed in the first six video game generations were designed under the assumption the player would be using a CRT.
- An optical disc capable of storing data which can be read from it with a laser. The data is formatted according to the Yellow Book standard. It was used as the primary video game media of home computers from the 1990s to 2000s as well as several video game consoles. Replaced by the DVD-ROM.
center of gravity
- A game designer term (based on the physics term) used to describe a game's primary focus. Designers often try to determine what a game's center of gravity will be, and then build outward from it asking if the additions compliment or detract from the center of gravity.
- The part of a circuit board which performs the bulk of the processing. CPUs usually take the shape of integrated circuit microprocessors. Typically abbreviated to "CPU."
CERO
- Short for Computer Entertainment Rating Organization, a video game content rating system used by Japan for video game consoles.
CES
- See "Consumer Electronics Show."
- Short for Color Graphics Adapter, a display technology developed by IBM to give color display to IBM Personal Computers.
challenge mode
- A common game style where the player is expected to play the existing game but with additional challenges like less time, fewer items, strong opponents, and the like. Often synonymous with "hard mode."
channel selector
- For platforms that connect to a television through RF output, a switch which lets the user decide which channel on their television the video game signal would be sent to. Common channels for NTSC platforms were 2, 3, and 4. This is sometimes labeled "high and low," and sometimes and analog dial instead of a switch.
chaotic cooperation
- In cooperative games, this refers to players who are trying to achieve the same goal, but haven't developed or practiced strategies together, so they aren't as effective at it. This is contrasted with "symphonic cooperation."
character
- A representation of a character inside a game. Similar to an avatar, but a character is meant to represent someone other than the player. If the player can control the character, it is a "playable character," otherwise it is a "non-playable character."
character advancement
- Various methods which increase the stats of a character. These may include leveling, training, meditating, etc.
character creation
- The process of creating a new character and deciding its attributes. This typically includes the character's appearance, but might also include other attributes like race, class, stats, skills, etc. This is common in character-centric genres like role-playing games.
- A feature in some games which allows a player to import a character or party of characters from a previous game. While this can create cohesion from the story of one game to the next, it also may create setbacks as different games use differing systems of stats and skills.
charged shot
- In shooters, a weapon that allows the player to charge up their weapon in order to shoot a projectile that is more powerful than normal.
charisma
- A character attribute or unit attribute which typically affects how well they interact with other characters or units.
cheat
- The process of exploiting a game by subverting its rules. Also, a piece of software or hardware that allows a player to cheat, or a person who cheats.
cheating artificial intelligence
- When the AI-controlled opponent doesn't have to abide by the same rules as the player.
checkpoint (navigation)
- A location on a map that a player is expected to reach, typically as part of a mission.
checkpoint (video game racing)
- The next location the player must reach before time runs out.
- A semi-unique value used to verify that some information is accurate. Often used to guarantee that a file was downloaded properly, or that a ROM dump is good.
cheesing
- Repeatedly using a tactic in a game, especially one which doesn't require much skill or is overpowered, especially in fighting games. For example, repeatedly using Ryu's hadoken in Street Fighter II: The World Warrior. Cheesing is not the same as cheating, as it falls within the allowed rules of the game, but it is still generally frowned upon because it's annoying to the player on the receiving end and it doesn't result in interesting game play. When cheesing remains commonplace because it's so effective, it is an indication the game is improperly balanced.
chiclet keyboard
- A keyboard which uses a single flexible sheet over a membrane keyboard to give the keys some tactile feedback. Typically associated with lower quality computers in the 1980s. The name is derived from the fact that the keys look similar to Chiclet brand chewing gum.
- See "complete in box."
cinematic
- See "cut scene."
- A video game genre which mixes cinematics and platformers. They typically use rotoscoped animation for characters and make heavy use of cutscenes.
circlestrafing
- Walking sideways around a target while facing it and firing upon it. The movement pattern allows the player to fire on their target while simultaneously dodging counterattacks.
clan
- A group of players or their characters who belong to an group (either in-game or in real life). Some games have additional options for players to affect others in their clan. Also referred to as a guild.
clan war
- A violent dispute between two or more clans. Some games have special options for clans who are at war with each other.
class
- A specific type or category of character which has attributes or abilities befitting it. There are classes common to specific settings, for example knights and wizards in fantasy settings, medics and soldiers in military settings, etc. Classes are typically used in role-playing games, but also show up in various other character-centric genres.
- A video game genre where most of the game play consists of the player performing menial tasks, like repeatedly clicking a button.
client
- Computer platforms that connect to a server.
client-side prediction
- In networked games, a way to reduce latency by having the client attempt to predict what the server will so it can show the player instant feedback. If the prediction fails, the player's character may be snapped or smoothed to match the server. First used in Duke Nukem 3D.
clip
- The process of preventing an entity from going through something which is solid, or the bypassing of such a process.
clutch
- When a player is outnumbered in a multiplayer game, but they're still able to defeat all their opponents and win the round.
cocktail
- A style of arcade cabinet that doubles as a table. Unattached chairs are placed around it and the surface is typically made of a shatter-proof glass.
code wheel
- A wheel-shaped device similar to a decoder ring and used as copy protection. They were typically printed on paper or cardboard and contained many different codes. Most of the codes would be obscured by the wheel, and only a handful would be visible through cut out windows. To operate them, a game would tell the player to turn the wheel to a specific position, then read the code visible in a particular window. These shapes were chosen because they required more effort to duplicate than other methods.
coin door
- A locking door at the front of an arcade machine which gives access to the coins. Often the same as the service door which houses the coin slots and coin return chutes.
Coleco
- Anything related to the Coleco company or its various video game products. Coleco was a major gaming company during the first and second generation of video games.
- When two entities in a video game collide, that it, occupy an overlapping area in game space.
- The area around a video game object which is capable of colliding with something else. Collision boxes often do not match the shape of the shape of the entity they are applied to. In early video games this was almost always a box due to hardware restrictions, but later games employed circles, complex polygons, and, in the move to 3D, 3D polygons.
- The process by determining when two game entities collide. Many different methods have been devised over time, each with different benefits and shortcomings. Poorly designed collision detection causes game entities to exhibit undesired behavior like walking through or getting stuck in solid objects, falling through the floor, taking hits when they aren't visually near another entity, etc.
color artifact
- An unwanted visual aberration seen in early color displays. Clever programmers often took advantage of these artifacts to produce graphics not thought possible by the designers of the hardware.
color cycling
- Shifting the colors in a palette. Early 8 and 16-bit games often used color cycling to create the illusion of animation without having to draw different graphics.
color killer
- An electric circuit which would eliminate the color burst signal of a video transmission, thereby converting color video to black and white. In early computers, a color killer was useful for making text more legible by eliminating the fuzziness created by the color signal, especially on the Apple II line. Monochrome text-based games played on a color monitor benefited greatly from the use of a color killer.
combo
- Short for "combination." A set of actions performed in a series. Common in fighting games and rhythm genres.
- A genre of video game which incorporates humor, satire, jokes, and various other comedic elements.
commercial
- A software distribution model where a game must be purchased before it can be played.
- Anything related to the Commodore company or the hardware they produced. In the early 1980s, Commodore was one of the primary developers of the home computer. Their Commodore 64 remains the best-selling single computer model in the USA.
- An open boxed product with all the items it had when it was new, including manuals, registration and warranty cards, advertisements, etc.
completionist
- A gamer who tries to complete every aspect of a game 100%. For example, unlocking all hidden content, getting every achievement, seeing every ending, etc.
component video
- An analog signal format which separates the video signal into three channels which results in a clearer picture than composite. It usually uses cables with RCA connectors. Many 16 and 32-bit video game platforms used this for video output. Although the plugs are colored red, green, and blue, only a digital signal uses RGB, an analog signal uses YCbCr, but still has RGB plugs.
composite color
- A special mode of the CGA card which took advantage of the color artifacting present in the composite video signal to display 16 unique colors at the loss of half the horizontal resolution. This is contrasted with RGB mode, which had crisper graphics, and double the horizontal resolution, but only 4 colors. This was a common display mode in games written in the Adventure Game Interpreter.
composite video
- An older analog signal format for NTSC, PAL, or SECAM video using a cable with an RCA connector. As the name suggests, everything aspect of the video signal is merged together in a composite signal. Many 8 and 16-bit video game platforms used this for video output.
- A home video game platform designed primarily to play video games. This differs from a portable video game platform, or a home computer. The term "console" typically refers to the primary unit of a home video game system where the bulk of the hardware is housed.
- How home video game consoles are grouped throughout history. The criteria is quite arbitrary and is typically based on release by the best-selling hardware. Typically, each subsequent generation is more powerful than the previous.
- Refers to aggressive marketing campaigns between competing video game companies. Popular console wars included Nintendo and Sega in the 1990s and Sony and Microsoft in the 2000s.
constitution
- A character or unit attribute which typically affects how hard they are to hurt or kill. Often correlated with energy or health units.
- A game mechanic in which the area where the player can move their character about safely decreases over time. This is often done with spiked walls that move inward, a ceiling that crushes downward, a deadly liquid which rises from the ground, and so forth. Like with time limits, constricting spaces create tension, but they also make the game harder as the safe region decreases.
consumable
- Describes items which disappear when used, as though they were consumed in the process (e.g.: food, potions, etc.)
Consumer Electronics Show
- A major electronics trade show held each year in Las Vegas since 1967 where many computer and video game companies reveal their latest hardware.
content descriptor
- A visual aide used by some content rating organizations to depict certain types of content present in video games. Examples include nudity, violence, and drug use.
content rating
- A grouping system handled by a governing body designed to inform parents of possible objectionable content in a game. Examples include the ESRB, PEGI, IARC, etc. Despite their intentions, content ratings invariably lead to censorship.
- After getting a game over, the act of returning to the game while maintaining some or all of your progress. Arcade games require the player to purchase an additional credit to continue, while games made for the home market usually offer a limited number of continues.
- A point in a game from where the player will no longer be allowed to continue if they get a game over.
control panel
- On an arcade cabinet, it's the surface where the controls (e.g., joysticks and buttons) are mounted.
- Any input device used to control an aspect of a video game. Examples include a joystick, gamepad, keyboard, mouse, flight yoke, pressure sensitive mat, etc.
conventional memory
- The first 640 kilobytes of RAM on an x86 Intel computer system (also called the lower memory area, or LMA). Although the CPU could access 1 MB, only the first 640 KB were available for software and hardware, the remaining 384 KB (called the upper memory area, or UMA) was reserved for system use. The initial Intel-based Personal Computers made by IBM topped out at 1 MB of RAM, and programs accessed the first 640 MB in "real mode." Additional RAM became accessible with the release of the 80286, but it had to be accessed vie "protected mode."
- A product which allows one arcade cabinet to be converted to playing a different game, typically at a much lower cost than buying the new cabinet outright.
cool down
- The length of time a player must wait until the next time they can do something. Cool downs are often applied to special moves in order to prevent the player from spamming them.
co-op
- See "cooperative."
cooperative
- A form of multiplayer where the players work together for a common goal.
copy protection
- A deliberately misleading term for "copy prevention."
- Any of the many methods game developers use to try and prevent people from making illegal copies of their games. Some of these methods include requiring the player to type a specific word from the manual, code wheels, writing the data to media in an uncommon way which prevented them from being easily copied, and so forth.
copyrightable content
- Refers to the parts of video games that can be copyrighted. This is often the key area of debate when video game companies sue each other for copyright infringement. Like when Data East sued Epyx over their clone of Karate Champ.
copyright infringement
- A legal crime where one entity duplicates the copyrighted material of another entity, typically to profit off the duplicate.
CORPG
- Short for "competitive online role-playing game."
corrupter
- A device used to purposely corrupt an area of memory where a video game is stored. This is used during the reverse engineering process to help map where specific areas of the game's data are stored by observing what is changed after the area is corrupted. For example, if you corrupt an area of the the game's memory, and it changes the appearance of the character sprite, you can assume that area you corrupted contains the character's bitmap graphics. The Game Genie is a popular hardware-based corrupter, but modern emulators now feature software corrupters.
cosplay
- Short for "costume play." Refers to dressing up in a costume designed to look like a character from fiction, but, in this context, like a video game character.
cover art
- Refers to the art on the cover of a game box or case. Early video games were notorious for having gorgeous cover art that looked far more impressive than the game itself.
cover disc
- An optical disc included with a magazine which is usually filled with game demos, shareware software, and various other programs.
cover shooter
- A sub-genre of the shooter where the player has their maneuver their character behind various forms of protective cover while shooting back at their opponents.
- A, usually brief, length of time after a player moves their character off the ledge of a platform before consequences begin. For example, during this time, the player may be allowed to jump even after they've technically left the platform, or gravity may not affect the character, etc. Coyote time is added to increase the player's perceived control of the game, though it may also be added for comedic effect. Named after the cartoon character Wile E. Coyote who was often animated running out over a ledge and not immediately falling.
CPU (hardware)
- Short for "central processing unit."
CPU (AI)
- Often used as shorthand for a computer-controller player (AKA artificial intelligence) in the 8 and 16-bit eras.
CPU vs. CPU
- See "AI vs. AI."
crack
- A modified version of a video game where copy protection or DRM has been bypassed, or the process of making a crack. Named after safe-cracking. A game which has its copy protection disabled is described as being "cracked."
crack introduction
- An introduction added to the beginning of a game by the cracker who defeated the game's copyright.
cracker
- A person or group of people who crack video games.
cracktro
- Short for "crack introduction."
craft
- Building something in a game from constituent parts. Many games include crafting, especially sandbox games, sometimes in the form of a minigame.
crash (game)
- When hardware shuts down unexpectedly due to a flaw in its hardware or software.
crash (economics)
- A rapid decrease in video game sales. Historically, there have been multiple crashes, the most notable being in 1983 in the USA when many companies went out of business and were replaced by Japanese companies.
credit (unit)
- The cost of a single play for an arcade-style game. Usually, paying for one credit will buy the player multiple lives (or attempts). For many years a credit was synonymous with a quarter, but inflation increased the cost of play, so games would charge more than $0.25 for a credit. Many arcade games let you purchase additional credits before and during game play. If the game supports it, buying a credit after a game over lets you continue where you left off. Although the term originated with pay-to-play arcade games, it was carried over into many home games as well.
credits
- A cut scene which displays the names of the game's production staff. Typically displayed at the ending of game, or, sometimes the beginning, just like with films. Also called a staff roll.
critical
- A special type of attack which does more damage than normal. Typically occurs randomly, though the game may include ways to increase their likelihood. Can also refer to a condition where a character is extremely close to death. Often shortened to "crit."
- See "multi-genre."
crossover
- A game which combines the characters or settings of two established franchises. For example, Capcom vs. SNK: Millennium Fight 2000 is a fighting game which includes characters from several franchises owned by either company.
- Video game platforms which can play games designed for a competitor's platform. Also called "crossplay."
cross-platform multiplayer
- Games which support multiplayer regardless of the platform used by the players. For example, one player may be using a PlayStation and the other may be using Windows, but they can still play the same game together.
crossplay
- A combination of cross dress and cosplay. Dressing as a video game character of a different gender.
CRT
- See "cathode-ray tube."
crunch
- The time during game development when developers work overtime to try to finish the game before the deadline. This usually occurs late in development as the deadline draw near and is a symptom of unreasonable deadlines, poor management, or both.
- A family of video game engines initially developed to run FarCry, but later generalized to run many different games.
CTF
- See "capture the flag."
currency
- Anything that functions like a currency in a game, i.e.: it can be used to buy resources. Currencies in games can be obvious: dollars, gold coins, and the like, but may also include implicit currencies like "happiness" or "karma" which are used behind the scenes in equations.
cut
- A spliced segment of a video recording. Often evidence of cheating when recording a record attempt.
cut scene
- A narrative scene outside of the player's control. If the player has some control, it's a quick time event.
- A sub-genre of shooter which incorporates cute graphics. A portmanteau of "cute" and "shoot 'em up."
D
- Short for "directional pad."
D-subminiature
- A family of connectors used in a wide variety of video game platforms.
DA-15
- A 15-pin (two rows with eight on the top and seven on the bottom) D-subminiature connector used on IBM-compatible home computers for connecting joysticks. This caused it to frequently be referred to as a "game port." It was also used on several video game consoles as an expansion port including the Famicom, Atari 5200, Jaguar, and others.
daily
- Something published on a daily basis, like a daily puzzle, daily quest, daily board, etc.
- Purposely taking damage in order to get through an are more quickly. See also, "rocket jump."
damage over time
- How much damage something like a weapon or special move can do over a period of time.
damage reduction
- An ability, commonly found on armor, which reduces the amount of damage a character receives. Designers have come up with several ways to handle this including reducing all damage by a percentage, nullifying every nth hit, taking off the first n points from each hit, reducing to zero any damage from a weapon +1 or less, and so forth.
damage sponge
- Something which takes an obscene number of hits to defeat.
- A common trope where a woman, often a princess, needs rescuing, usually by a man.
- A subset of rhythm games where the player is expected to dance.
- Japanese for "bullet curtain." Describes games where barrages of projectiles are fired at the player. In English, it's referred to as, "bullet hell."
DAS
- Sort for "delayed auto shift." A form of "delayed automatic repeated input" used in games which allow you to shift objects around the screen, common in match-making games.
dash
- A common control mechanic where a player can cause their character to move at an accelerated rate for a short time. When moving in reverse, this is usually called a back-dash. When moving forward, this is commonly an offensive technique, but, when moving backward, it's commonly a defensive technique. It has similarities with a "slide."
- A genre of video game which attempt to simulate romantic dating. They often have erotic or pornographic content.
DE-9
- A 2-row, 9-pin D-subminiature connector used on a number of 8 and 16-bit video game platforms for connecting controllers including the Atari 2600, Commodore 64, Amiga, Master System, Genesis, Jaguar, and more, as well as used by many home computer models for peripherals.
DE-15
- A 3-row, 15-pin D-subminiature connector most commonly recognized as the VGA connector.
death
- Occurs when an entity takes lethal damage, usually by being hit by an opponent or blundering into a hazard. Death for a character is usually more complex than death for an enemy. If the game uses lives, this will result in the decrease of a life.
- A form of multiplayer versus mode where players try to frag (or kill) the characters of their opponents as many times as possible while being fragged as few times as possible. When you are fragged, you typically respawn. Deathmatches are won usually by the player or team who first gets to a set number of kills, or, if the game is times, the player or team with the highest number of kills at the end of the time.
- Using death, often by suicide, to have the character warp or teleport to a different place in the game world. Typically used to save time during a speedrun.
debuff
- The removal of a "buff," or a decrease in a character's attributes.
dedicated console
- A video game console that is dedicated to the games it comes with and cannot be loaded with external games. This includes most arcade cabinets, most first generation home Pong clones, and most early handheld LCD games.
degauss
- Removing an unwanted magnetic field. Most cathode-ray tube displays automatically degauss when turned on, but arcade cabinets were often left on for many days at a time and the magnetic fields of nearby speakers or other CRTs nearby could cause a visual distortion. Special deguassing hardware could quickly degauss the CRT while it remained in operation. Many higher-quality CRT monitors also featured the ability to degauss while running. Magnetic storage media like diskettes, cassettes, and reel-to-reel tapes can be cleared of data by degaussing them.
delayed automatic repeated input
- When a slightly longer delay occurs before the start of the normal delay between "automatic repeated input."
delivery quest
- A quest where the player is expected to deliver something to another person.
- A remake of a game, but on hardware weaker than the original.
demo (attract)
- See "attract mode."
demo (game)
- A limited version of a full game typically grouped into playable and non-playable demos. A playable demo allows the player to play a portion of a game before ending, while a non-playable demo shows some of the features of a game but doesn't let the player interact in any way.
demo (technique)
- A demonstration of programming techniques which meant to take full advantage of hardware limitations.
demoscene
- People involved in developing software which demonstrates interesting or clever techniques initially not thought possible, usually set to custom music.
depth map
- In 3D graphics, a representation of how near or far things are from the camera, typically at the pixel level. Depth maps are used in a variety of tasks like determining which objects are occluded, adding depth of field effects, shadow mapping, and more.
- A style in which a game is designed in order to best reach the designer's goal, such as profit, enjoyment, etc.
designer
- A game developer who works on the overall design of a game or subset of a game. This often includes what the game will be about, which mechanics it will use, how things will interact, and so forth.
despawn
- When an entity in a game is removed from memory, either purposely through code, or due to a bug.
destructible environment
- Those things in a video game's environment that can be damaged, broken, or destroyed. Destructible environments are especially common in shooters, beat 'em ups, fighting games.
desynchronization
- When two or more devices are no longer in sync, usually due to latency in client/server models. When desynchronization occurs, the clients must be brought back into sync through snapping, smoothing, or server reconciliation.
development hell
- Describes games that have had serious issues during development which have prevented them from being released on schedule. This often leads to them being described as "vaporware." This can happen in all forms of media, but it is especially problematic in video game development because technology is made obsolete so quickly that, by the time the game is finally released, it may look inferior to the other games being released at the same time.
developer
- The company or individuals who created a video game, especially the programmers, but also including the designers, artists, writers, musicians, and so forth.
dexterity
- A character or unit attribute which typically affects how well they can evade attacks and maintain balance.
difficulty
- A measure of how challenging a game is.
- Discrete levels of complexity that can be adjusted by the player, usually at the beginning of a game, but sometimes during game play as well.
- The maximum difficulty level a game will ever reach, usually after a long time of repeating the same game. Difficulty caps are usually instituted to prevent the game from becoming impossible and overflowing buffers.
digital restrictions management
- Any methods used by a copyright holder to restrict the use of a product by the owner. This may include preventing the owner from playing the game on hardware that is unapproved by the copyright holder, preventing them from making legal backup copies of their media, and the like. Copy protection is a form of DRM. Copyright holders prefer the term "digital rights management," because it sounds much more positive, but it's really just control the copyright holder has over the purchaser.
digital rights management
- A purposely misleading term which more accurately means "digital restrictions management."
DIN connector
- A family of circular connectors which stands for "Deutsches Institut für Normung." Typically used by keyboards on older computers.
- An early technology for creating electronic circuits which mixes analog and digital technology. Used to build the Magnavox Odyssey.
DIP switch
- A binary switch made to fit in a "dual in-line package" slot on a circuit board. These appeared on a lot of video game hardware, especially arcade cabinets, and allow the owner to configure the hardware at a circuit level. Many arcade games from the 1970s-1990s used them to configure setting like when players would receive extra lives and the orientation of the display. They were used less and less as affordable permanent storage became popular and the owner could save the configuration on board.
- A control scheme where the player can very accurately and instantly control entities in the game. This is opposed to "indirect control."
direct sequel
- A game which is set immediately, or very shortly after the previous game ends. For example, Half-Life 2: Episode One takes place only a few minutes after the end of Half-Life 2.
- A control device used to input directional movement to a game device and often abbreviated to D-pad. A directional pad serves a similar purpose as a joystick, but was designed to be more compact, less-likely to break, and operated with just the thumb instead of the entire hand. The most common layout is cross-shaped with four physical inputs for up, down, left, and right. A D-pad is typically designed in a housing with a single piece of plastic that can pivot on a center area which allows two neighboring directions to be pressed at the same time, but prevents opposite directions from being pressed at the same time.
- A subset of DirectX which focuses solely on rendering hardware-accelerated 3D vector graphics on a GPU.
- An API developed by Microsoft to allow programmers standardized access to a variety of hardware.
- A floor or similar structure which falls apart, usually shortly after the player's character walks over it. This game mechanic appears in many platformers. See also, "falling platform."
display
- The "video" aspect of a video game, also called a screen, monitor, etc. For most home video game systems, the display is a television or computer monitor. Portable devices usually have a built-in display.
display adapter
- The components necessary to generate graphics (like a GPU and video memory) and send them to an output device like a monitor. Most video game platforms have a built-in display adapter, while many computers support upgrading the built-in adapter with an additional graphics card.
distributor
- The company which distributes a video game, which usually includes the warehousing, shipping, and monetary transaction. Until digital distribution became popular, it was usually the publisher, but now they're frequently different.
DLC
- See "downloadable content."
Don't Copy That Floppy
- An anti-piracy video created by the Software Publishers Association.
Doom clone
- An early term, prior to the ubiquity of "first person shooter," for games which looked similar to Doom.
DOT
- See "damage over time."
- Using an additional area of memory to prepare graphics before they need to be displayed to the screen. This is used to prevent flicker, tearing, and other visual artifacts.
double density
- Refers to floppy disks which used a different storage method from single density which allowed them to store twice as much information.
double jump
- A common control mechanic where a character can jump once into the air, then jump again while still in the air before landing.
double sided
- Refers to magnetic media (floppy disks, cassettes, etc.) where data could be stored on both sides.
downloadable content
- An expansion for a game that may be purchased and downloaded online. DLC became popular slightly before video games shifted to online distribution. Few people had high speed Internet access, so games still had to be purchased on disc media at stores, but additional content was small enough to be downloaded which saved the publishers a lot of money not having to deal with all the packaging.
- A genre of video game where the player drives a vehicle. Similar to racing, but that genre requires the player to competing against opponents or a time limit.
DRM
- See "digital restrictions management."
drop
- Describes what is left behind when an enemy is killed. See also "loot."
dual joysticks
- A control system which requires a single player to operate two joysticks. This may be through "tank controls," a "twin-stick shooter," or simply because the game needs the extra input options of a second controller.
- A genre of video game where the players move through a dungeon environment defeating foes. Common among role-playing games or action adventures with a fantasy theme.
- An optical disc capable of storing data which can be read from it with a laser. It was used as the primary video game media of home computers from the 2000s to 2010s as well as several video game consoles.
- When the game's difficulty is adjusted during game player to fit the player's skill level and keep them challenged. This is contrasted with static difficulty.
- Lighting in a game that changes and based on what is going on in the game.
E
- Something which is hidden in a game by the developer and meant to be found by the player, like an Easter egg hunt.
editor
- A software tool which allows a game designer to create or modify a game asset. For example, a map editor, graphic editor, etc.
- A genre of video game where the player is expected to learn an academic skill while playing.
- A portmanteau of "educational entertainment." Any form of media, video games included, that educates as well as entertains.
- Short for Enhanced Graphics Adapter, a display technology developed by IBM to give additional color graphics to IBM Personal Computers.
- A term popular in adventure games which originally referred to the player, but, as graphical adventure games began including a character, began referring to the character instead.
- Games which use electricity and mechanical movement, but not a video display. These are very similar to video games and includes pinball machines, sporting machines, and various other arcade games.
EMS
- See "Expanded Memory Specification."
- The process by which software or hardware simulates the workings of other software or hardware. That which uses emulation is called an emulator.
encounter
- In an RPG, a meeting of entities. This usually refers to the party randomly meeting enemies in combat, but also refers to scripted meetings with non-hostile NPCs, other player characters, and the like.
end of life
- When the manufacturer of a platform ceases supporting it. Usually occurs once the platform stops being profitable.
ending
- A cut scene which occurs when a player reaches the end of a game. There are a variety of ending types including a game over, bad ending, good ending, true ending, etc. Some games feature two or more endings.
- See "runner."
engine
- Referring to video game software, it's the core portion which primarily runs the video game or an aspect of a video game. By changing the assets, a different game can be made with the same engine.
- When something is poorly translated into English (typically Japanese). The spelling of the term is a based on the fact that Japanese-to-English translations often suffer from conflating the letters L and R. Engrish is sometimes an example of wasei-eigo. The term is sometimes viewed as derogatory.
- Designing the game's environment to inform the player about what is happening rather than explicitly telling the player through narration. For example, if the player sees a massive door broken off its hinges with huge dents on the exterior side, they will probably infer that the people inside were trying to keep something out, but it was powerful enough to bash its way in.
epic fail
- An especially bad mistake or loss that is notable due to being funny or egregious.
epic win
- An especially impressive success that is notable for how difficult it was, includes an unusual fluke, or something of that nature.
episode
- A large section of a game's complete story, usually broken up into several "missions."
eroge
- A Japanese portmanteau of "erochikku gemu," or "erotic game." A genre of adult video game which includes eroticism or pornography.
error
- See "bug."
escort mission
- A mission where the player must lead a person to a specified location while protecting them from harm. Escort missions are typically failed if the person you're escorting is killed or kidnapped.
esports
- Short for electronic sports. Refers to professional competitive video game tournaments where professional gamers compete for money while viewed by an audience.
ESRB
- Short for "Entertainment Software Rating Board," a video game content rating system used by the USA and Canada.
Ethernet
- A family of wired networking protocols used for communicating between devices. Used on computers since the 1970s, but incorporated into home console in the 2000s. Devices are typically wired together using Cat 5 cable with RJ45 connectors.
Expanded Memory Specification
- A technology (typically abbreviated to EMS) for accessing RAM beyond 1 MB, the maximum of Intel's initial x86 architecture. PC games using an expanded memory adapter (XMA) could take advantage of any additional RAM the PC had, initially up to 4 MB, but eventually up to 32 MB. However, the game couldn't access the additional memory directly, it used bank switching to alternate between smaller sections of the total RAM. EMS was largely made unnecessary by the more usable XMS.
expansion
- Additional content to a game that is not part of the original. Expansions are typically made for popular games to capitalize on their success.
experience points
- A value attributed to a character which is increased each time they succeed in a task (e.g., killing a monster, finishing a dungeon, etc.). Usually, when the character earns enough experience points they will be promoted to the next level. The term originated in role-playing games and is still used most commonly in the genre.
exploit
- Abusing a glitch or programming oversight in a video game.
- A video game genre where part of the enjoyment comes from exploring new areas, items, and ideas. Common to adventure and sandbox games.
Extended Memory Specification
- A technology (typically abbreviated to XMS) created to supplant EMS for accessing RAM beyond 1 MB, the maximum of Intel's initial x86 architecture. PC games using an extended memory manager (XMM) could take advantage of any additional RAM the PC had, initially up to 64 MB, but eventually up to 4 GB.
- Video game platforms that are designed to accept future peripherals and hardware upgrades.
- The increase of a player's total lives. Usually presented as an object the player must collect, but is sometimes awarded for performing a difficult task.
F
facing button
- A button on a controller which faces the user as opposed to those on the shoulder, rear, etc.
- A game or section of a game that is hard because it was poorly designed.
fall damage
- Damage that an entity incurs when they fall from a large height, usually increase along with the fall height. Usually exists in games to add realism.
falling platform
- Anything a character can walk on which falls down when triggered in a particular way, typically when walked on. Falling along with the platform usually results in death, though they are also sometimes used in puzzles. Falling platforms are a staple of platformers. See also "disintegrating floor."
- Something in a game that was added specifically to appeal to the player. Initially, this referred to adding material of an overt sexual nature, even if it didn't make sense in the story, but the term has broadened to refer to anything that will appeal to the fans.
- A setting which uses tropes common to the fantasy fiction genre (swords, magic, elves, etc.).
farming
- Working to gain a lot of a particular thing, like money, items, or 1-ups. Similar to grinding, but farming usually has a guaranteed reward.
- A game mechanic which decreases the rate of progress or reward over prolonged play sessions. Used by governing groups, especially China, to prevent players from spending too much time playing games.
Federation Against Software Theft
- A UK anti-piracy organization.
feeding
- When a player keep dying to an opponent's team, they are "feeding" that team's kill count, which is poor gamer etiquette. If a player can't stay alive on their own, they should work in a support role to help better players.
female
- In reference to a connector, the end with an aperture into which the male end plugs into. When attached to a larger object, the female end is usually referred to as a "jack" or "socket."
fetch quest
- A quest where the player is expected to find something and bring it to the quest giver. Named after a pet fetching an toy.
field of view
- The area of a game world displayed to the player. In a 3D game, the field of view on the camera is sometimes adjustable allowing the player to see more on the periphery.
fiero
- The feeling of exhilaration and pride when you successfully defeat very difficult challenge.
- A video game genre where the player controls a character who fights with another character, usually in one-on-one matches. Similar to a beat 'em up, but it focuses on the complexity of the fights rather than the quantity of the fights.
- The last, and usually most difficult, boss in a game.
firmware
- Low-level software held in non-volatile memory which communicates with the hardware.
first generation
- Describes consoles from the early 1970s to the late 1970s like the Magnavox Odyssey. These consoles were dedicated systems which didn't support interchangeable games.
first hit
- A bonus for being the first person to score a hit in a multiplayer game. Commonly used in fighting games. Sometimes called "first blood."
first party
- A company which produces products for a video game platform they own. For example, Nintendo internal development team created Super Mario Bros. for the Nintendo Entertainment System which they also owned.
first-person
- A perspective where the player views the game world through the eyes of the character they control.
- A genre of video game which combines a shooter with first-person visual perspective.
- A camera which is rigidly fixed to the map or an object in the game to maintained focused on what is important, as opposed to a "free-moving camera."
- A sub-genre of the shooter where the player's character is confined to a fixed area on the screen.
Flash game
- A game written in Flash and played through a Web browser for free or with ads. They began in the late 1990s and were especially popular in the 2000s then declined in the 2010s ad Adobe killed the platform.
flashing
- A flashing form of a "visual cue." It's often used to let the player know the flashing thing is important or usable. It is also often used to show how close bosses are to death.
flat shading
- A light shading technique used on 3D objects where each polygon is given a single shading value based on its relation to the light source. It makes the surfaces very conspicuous, but requires far less processing power than Gouraud or Phong shading, and still looks better than no shading at all.
flicker
- A display artifact where a sprite appear to flicker on the screen. This can sometimes be fixed by using double buffering.
flight controls
- An input system where pulling back on a joystick or pressing down on a D-pad causes the ship to raise in altitude, while pressing forward on the joystick or up on the D-pad causes the ship to lose altitude.
flight yoke
- A controller designed to function like those used in airplanes. Like a steering wheel it allows for rotation, but it also allows for the controlling of pitch.
flipper
- In a pinball machine, it's the pivoting arm a player can control which hits a ball further up into the table.
floaty
- Describes character controls where the jumping doesn't feel right, usually because the character doesn't jump or fall fast enough or with the right amount of acceleration. Floaty controls are often purposely used when a character is meant to be in water or in outer space.
- A magnetic disk encased in a plastic protective shell and used to store data. The primary media for video games on home computers from the 1970s to 2000s. Over the years, floppy disks were sold in a variety of sizes and densities.
flow
- See "in the zone."
- A form of generating audio seen in a lot of 16-bit video game systems.
fog of war
- A military term which refers to anything happening outside of the player's perception. Many games actually depict this with actual fog.
Foley artist
- A game developer who creates sound effects for a game.
- The way in which NPCs follow the player character's movements. Examples include party members in an RPG following in lockstep or a ninja shadow performing the same actions of the player with a slight delay.
footsies
- In fighting games, when a player uses weaker long range attacks to safely damage their opponent.
- Video game platforms which are designed to run games made for the next generation platforms.
FOV
- Short for "field of view."
FPS (genre)
- Short for "first-person shooter."
FPS (graphics)
- Short for "frames per second."
- Killing a another player's character in a deathmatch. Taken from military slang which refers to murdering a fellow officer, typically with a fragmentation grenade (thus the name) to look like an accident. See also "team kill" and "friendly fire" which are often used interchangeably.
- A process which prevents a game from running too fast when it's played on powerful hardware. Games are typically used to set to run no faster than 60 frames a second.
- The process of purposely decreasing the frame rate in order to allow a game to play at a faster speed on hardware too weak to support it. For example, a game meant to be played at 60 frames per second could skip every other frame and play at 30 frames per second. By halving the amount of frames that need to be rendered, the hardware won't have to process as much, and the game's speed will increase with the offset of a choppier display.
frame rate
- See "frames per second."
frames per second
- A measure of how many times a graphic processor can redraw the screen each second. An acceptable FPS is 30, but a mark of a good GPU is 60 FPS. Much beyond that and you're beyond human perception.
framing narrative
- The primary story the game is meant to tell as designed by the game's writer. Framing narratives may have some interactivity, but are essentially predetermined. This is opposed to the "ludonarrative" which is a product of how the player plays the game.
franchise
- A video game idea which has expanded well-beyond a single game. Franchises typically have many games or even multiple game series, as well as novels, albums, comic books, toys, and so forth. Similar to a universe, only the universe refers to the in-game aspect, not just the products.
franchise fatigue
- Becoming tired of playing games from the same franchise.
free
- In tournament games, when a player is able to defeat an opponent so easily, it's as though they had a free victory.
- A camera which moves freely by panning, zooming, etc. as needed to maintain an optimal view of what is important as opposed to a "fixed camera."
free play
- When in this mode, a game which normally charges money for a credit can be played without paying.
free to play
- A business model where a game is given away for free. However, most games which are advertised as "free to play" are more likely to be adware, nagware, crippleware, or some other pay model.
- A software distribution model where a games is given away fro free. Sometimes, a game's publisher will release a previously commercial game as freeware once it is no longer marketable.
- When a player inadvertently injures or kills one of their teammates. A troll will probably do so purposely. See also "team kill" which is sometimes used interchangeably with friendly fire. Often shortened to "FF."
- Optimizing graphic rendering by only processing those objects which are inside a character's visual frustum (a polygon which represents their field of view.
FTW
- Short for "for the win." Used as an exclamation of victory.
G
gacha
- Drawing an object from a random pool of possible options. Named after a term used for toy vending machines in Asia.
- A free cross-platform video game development engine.
- Any activity with established rules played for enjoyment or competition.
- A video game genre categorized, not by its theme or mechanics, but for how closely it plays to another game.
game-breaking
- A problem with a game that is so severe it ruins the experience for the player, possibly by making the game unwinnable.
- The general set of actions a player repeats as they play a game. For example, enter the dungeon, kill monsters until your inventory is full, return to town, sell items, buy new gear, repeat. Not to be confused with a "narrative loop" a "program loop" of the game's code.
- An abbreviated way of telling a player they've reached the end of a game. This may be due to the loss of lives (or attempts), running out of time, etc. in which it's a bad ending, although the term is sometimes also employed when player has won the game to signify when the ending sequence is completed.
game port
- See "DA-15."
- The study of mathematical models as they apply to games of strategy played by rational agents.
gamer
- A person who frequently plays games or is part of gaming culture.
gamer regret
- The feeling of discomfort people get when they realize how much time they've spent playing games rather than being productive.
games as a service
- See "subscription."
gamify
- To apply game elements onto something that doesn't have them. The process of gamification.
ganked
- To be defeated by superior numbers. Commonly used in MMOs when a person is ambushed by several other players. However, if a player wins despite being ganked, they have "clutched."
genre
- A category or group of similar video games. Genres are often made based a game's mechanics, themes, settings, play style, etc.
generation
- An arbitrary grouping of video game consoles and handhelds over time. Generations are grouped less by the capabilities of the hardware or the time between releases, and more by which other consoles they competed with in sales.
genre fatigue
- Occurs when a player repeatedly plays the same genre of video game and becomes bored with it.
GG
- Short for "good game."
- A company which develops video games while letting other companies take credit for them.
- Short for "giblet." When a creature is blown up and their body explodes into a pile of "giblets." Coined by Adrian Carmack during the development of Doom.
GL
- Short for "good luck."
glass cannon
- Describes a character with a high attack power, but little defense.
glitch
- See "bug."
- A visual or auditory cue to let the player know they can advance in the game map. They are used in games where advancement is prevented until the player accomplishes some task. Once the task is completed, the cue is used, and the player can once again continue.
god game
- A game where they player plays a character with god-like abilities, and is sometimes literally a god. For example, Populous.
gods of RNG
- Anthropomorphic gods of randomness. When hoping for good luck, plays may say something like, "pray to the gods of RNG." See also "rngesus."
gone gold
- When development on a game has finished and it is ready to be packaged and distributed.
good ending
- The ending of a game which has a positive outcome as opposed to a "bad ending." A good ending is often the same as a "true ending," but not always.
GOTY
- Short for "game of the year."
Gouraud shading
- A light shading algorithm used on 3D shapes to make them look smoother by interpolating color from the vertices of the polygons. It yields much better results than flat shading, but is inferior to Phong shading.
GPU
- Short for "graphics processing unit."
graphic (design)
- A visual image, typically used to denote those used to promote a video game like on the cover of a box, a marquee, promotional material, title card, or the like.
graphic (display)
- An image displayed on a video screen, usually built from a bitmap or vectors.
- A sub-genre of the adventure game which relies heavily on graphics to describe the environment.
graphical user interface
- A game which uses graphics for most of the interface with the player. Usually though icons, simulated buttons, and the like. This is in contrast to the older text interface.
- An circuit board containing a display adapter. See also "display adapter."
graphics processing unit
- An electronic circuit specifically designed to generate and process graphics. GPUs are a component of a display adapter. Typically abbreviated to GPU.
- A display which consists solely of multiple levels of gray. The exact number of gradations is dependent on the technology, but the brightest is typically referred to as "white," and the darkest as "black." Not to be confused with "monochrome."
green book
- Refers to the technical book which describes the standards for the CD-i (compact disc interactive) format, which is green. Also refers to the CDs made for CD-i players.
- A play on "grayscale." A display which only uses shades of green like the Game Boy.
- A video game genre and mechanic where the player must isolate areas of a grid to control them.
griefer
- See "troll."
- Repeatedly performing a task in a game, typically to increase a value like experience points, but also for items. A player may grind for hours killing monsters in the hope that one will drop an especially rare item. Grinding has similarities to "farming."
ground unit
- A combat unit which cannot leave the land and is therefore affected by terrain. Ground units are contrasted with air and sea units.
- A form of "fake difficulty" common in poorly-programmed text adventures where the player has a good idea what they need to do, but can't guess the precise wording the designer expects. In the conversion to graphic adventures, a similar issue surfaced called, "hunt the pixel."
guild
- An in-game group of players who frequently play together as a team. Most MMOs have built-in features for setting up and running guilds to make the process easier for the players involved in them.
H
hack
- A modification to a video game which changes the behavior of play in a manner not intended by the original developer. A video game which has been so modified is described as having been "hacked."
hacker
- A person or group of people who create unofficial game modifications. The term is sometimes used interchangeably with "cracker."
- A video game theme where the characters use weapons to defeat their foes. Often a form of beat 'em up, although sometimes used to refer to any game where characters use bladed weapons.
- A visual aberration which occurs in 3D games when a texture isn't drawn and results in an appearance not unlike that of a hall of mirrors.
- A generic term for hard or hardest difficulty settings in a game.
hardware
- Physical electronic devices that perform a task usually run by software communicating through firmware.
hardware decoder
- A circuit specifically designed to decompress and decode compressed media so it didn't have to be done with software. Some video game platforms feature hardware decoders, for example, the original PlayStation had a hardware decoder which could decompress a video stream.
hardware scaling
- A circuit specifically designed to resize graphics so they don't have to be resized with software. Several 16-bit video game platforms had hardware scalers.
hblank
- Short for "horizontal blank."
HD
- Short for "high definition."
HDMI
- Short for High-Definition Multimedia Interface, a type of connector and protocol used for transmitting audio and video information. Used on many video game platforms from the mid-2000s on.
headphone jack
- Most portable video game platforms have a headphone jack which fits a 3.5 mm plug.
heads-up display
- A user interface where information is drawn over what the player's character sees. In real life, it is an early form of augmented reality.
health
- A measurement of a character's vitality. Often synonymous with life units, but can also describe status ailments like poison or disease.
heavy
- A unit which can deal and receive a lot of damage. See also melee and tank.
hex
- Short for hexadecimal, a base-16 number system commonly used by computer programmers instead of the base-10 decimal system used by most people. Hexadecimal is preferred in low-level programming because it more-closely reflects the bytes and bits of the hardware.
HF
- Short for "have fun."
- A genre of puzzle game where the player must find objects hidden in large scene.
hidden-surface determination
- The process of figuring out which surfaces are not visible from a character's perspective so they can be excluded from the rendering process in order to optimize graphic rendering.
high definition
- A vague term used to describe a resolution higher than the current standard definition. In the 2000s, it was commonly used to describe a video display of 1,280 × 720. Typically used for video display, but sometimes used for audio or other topics.
high density
- Refers to floppy disks which used an improved storage method from double density which allowed them to store even more information.
- The higher resolution of a GPU which supports multiple resolutions. The precise resolution was determined by the GPU. Games designed in high resolution were typically viewed as superior as it was typically more difficult to take advantage of the high resolution mode. The term was common with early home computers. Used in opposition to "low resolution." Also written as hi-res.
high score
- The highest score in a game, often saved by the player's initials in a top 10 list.
- A publication which consists primarily of hints on how to improve a player's ability to play a video game or games. Usually not as comprehensive as a "strategy guide."
hit point
- See "life (unit)."
- An instant check for a hit toward a target, as opposed to processing the actual physics of a fast moving projectile. Used to shortcut more complicated physics, typically used in a bullet from a gun.
- A multi-purpose microcomputer designed to work in the home environment and often used as a video game platform.
homebrew
- An unlicensed game made for an obsolete console, usually by an amateur developer.
hook
- An aspect of the game that will quickly entice players to try a game, like the lure on fishhook. Hooks are usually based on something striking like unique game play or beautiful graphics or music. Publishers prefer to publish games with a good hook because it makes advertising the game much easier.
horizontal blank
- The brief time when the electron gun of a CRT is resetting to the left of the screen. Programmers will try to perform graphic changes to the scan line during this time.
horizontally scrolling
- A game or section in a game which scrolls only along the horizontal axis instead of the vertical axis. Also called "side-scrolling."
- A genre of story meant to induce fear or terror in the player.
hot seat
- A two player game where players alternate between a single control system when they are the active player.
HP
- Short for "hit points."
HUD
- Short for "heads-up display."
- A subroutine for managing hunger in games which require characters to eat.
- A form of "fake difficulty" in graphic adventures where the player is expected to click on a very small area of the screen, sometimes no bigger than a single pixel, in order to interact with it. A similar problem to "guess the verb" in text adventures.
- A visual or auditory cue used to let the player know they're running out of time. Used to encourage the player to expedite their progress.
hyper tapping
- Bing able to press a button or d-pad direction at a very fast rate. Used when the "automatic repeated input" is too slow.
I
- Short for "invincible frames" or "invulnerable frames." The precise number of frames for which a character cannot take damage. Often used by the speedrun community when talking about purposely taking damage.
IARC
- Short for International Age Rating Coalition, a video game content rating system created to appeal to all nations.
- Relating to the company or the computers they produced.
IBM-compatible
- A term used to describe home computers designed to run software and use hardware that was initially designed for the IBM Personal Computer line.
icon
- A small graphic used to symbolize something. Most games designed to run in an operating system with a graphical user interface have an icon for starting the game. Games which use graphical user interfaces often have many icons within them.
- A series of 3D video game engines developed by id Software. id Tech 1 was build for Doom, 2 for Quake, 3 for Quake III Arena, 4 for Doom 3, 5 for Rage, 6 for Doom (2016), and 7 for Doom Eternal.
- The animation of a character after it hasn't been doing anything for a while. These are often humorous and fourth-wall breaking where characters look at the player impatiently, get annoyed, fall asleep, or the like.
IGT
- Short for "in game time." A length of time measured by a timer inside a game. This can be an important distinction because many games, even those which name their time unit a "second," don't use the same duration as a real life second.
IL
- Short for "individual level." Used by world record seekers to describe playing only a section, often a single level, of a game instead of the entire game. This is usually done as practice for hard sections in a game, but is sometimes done to set a world record just on that section of the game.
immersion
- A measurement of how much the player feels like they're actually taking part in the game world.
imposter LOD
- A lower polygon count 3D object used when the camera is far away so the lower level of detail won't be noticed. Helps to decrease the load on the GPU.
in-house
- A company or team owned and operated by a video game company. See also, "second party."
in the zone
- When you're hyper focused on a game and playing it very well regardless of distractions or setbacks. Also called "flow."
incremental
- A game mechanic where progress is made in small frequent discrete improvements.
- The steady increase of difficulty that occurs within a game.
- A control scheme where the player can't directly affect entities in the game. Examples of indirect control include giving generic commands or modifying the terrain to redirect entities. This is contrasted with "direct control."
input
- Anything that the a game accepts from outside its programming. This is almost exclusively decided by the player from their controls, but could also be additional information from sensors or other devices on a network.
- Storing commands the player sends to a game in a temporary holding area to be processed when the game next allows it. A typical application is jump buffering in platformers which accepts a new jump command as the character is falling so, even if the player presses the jump button slightly before their character lands, the game will still process the input, and make the character jump again.
input random
- Refers to randomness sent to the player entirely outside of their control. Which cards a player is dealt in poker is an example of input random. This is contrasted with output random.
instalock
- Choosing a character or team in a multiplayer game where only one player may play as that character or team in order to prevent an opponent from using it. This is usually done either because a player desires that character or team, or, because they know the another player is particularly skilled at that character or team, and they don't want them to play as them.
intellectual property
- Information owned by a company that is or may be subject to copyright law. Often shortened to IP.
intelligence
- A character or unit attribute which typically affects how many new ideas they can learn and how easily they learn them. In fantasy settings, this is often correlated with magic use.
interlacing
- A display term which describes drawing only half a screen's lines per refresh frame using an interlacing pattern of skipping every other line. On one frame, all the odd lines will be updated, on the next frame, all the even lines will be updated, and then it repeats to the odd lines. This is contrasted with progressive which updates every line in every refresh. Most CRTs and early LCD screens used interlacing.
interquel
- A game whose story is set between two sections of a single existing game. Interquels are typically used to flesh out events that were skipped over in the previous work.
- When an entity cannot be damaged, but is still solid and may experience knock-back.
- When an entity cannot be damaged, and damages other entities when they collide.
- When an entity cannot be damaged, and doesn't damage other entities when they collide.
IPX
- Internetwork Packet Exchange, a network protocol used in early home computer multiplayer games.
IRL
- Short for "in real life." Used when talking to someone online and describing something unrelated to a game.
iron sights
- Aiming a gun using its physical alignment markers as opposed to a scope or laser targeting device.
isometric
- A perspective where the player views the game from a raised vantage point, typically 45°, and at a diagonal angle, also typically 45°.
J
jail bars
- Refers to the visible changes in brightness in vertical stripes seen in the display signal of Commodore 64 and 128 computers, an artifact of their VIC-II GPU.
jailbreak
- Circumventing the DRM on a device to allow it to perform at its full potential.
jiggle physics
- When parts of a character's body are given bouncy movement. Typically refers to the breasts of female characters, a form of fan service, but could also refer to hair, or other similar body parts.
- A controller modeled after the joystick of an airplane consisting of a moveable shaft attached to a base. Most joysticks allow for movement left and right and forward and back, while some also allow for rotational motion. Joysticks can be digital or analog. Joysticks are typically paired with buttons, triggers, throttles, and hat switches for additional input. Most early video game controllers were joysticks, but they were replaced by the gamepad in the mid 1980s. Joysticks made a partial come back with the advent of 3D gaming in the mid 1990s, though in the form of the much smaller analog stick. Full sized joysticks are now really only popular for vehicular combat games, especially flight simulators.
- See "input buffering."
jump scare
- In horror games, when something jumps out at the player to scare them.
K
K/D
- Short for "kill/death ratio."
kaizo
- A Japanese word meaning "modification" or "reconfiguration." Used to describe extremely complex and difficult custom maps for a game, especially Super Mario World, which require the player to know the quirks of the game engine a play with a high degree of precision in order to win.
keyboard
- Any peripheral which has a large number of keys or buttons, typically including keys for the 26 letters of the alphabet. Nearly all home computers rely heavily on a keyboard for input, but many video game consoles have optional keyboards. If the device has just number keys, it's typically referred to as a keypad.
keypad
- A peripheral which has a set of 0-9 number keys and often a few other symbols. Most early phone games expected keypad input and several 8-bit video game consoles featured these as controllers.
keyword dialogue
- A dialogue system which uses keywords to continue topics of conversation. These words are stored in the game and, when entered by the player, issue the proper response. Some games keep the keywords secret and require the player to determine them on their own, other games will highlight keywords words or add them to a list of possible topics. Most of the games in the Ultima series made use of keyword dialogue systems.
kick
- See "boot."
kill quest
- A type of quest where the player is expected to kill a specified enemy.
kill/death ratio
- A statistic in competitive games of how many opponents a player killed to how many times they were killed themselves.
- Reaching a point in a game where the player is guaranteed to die, typically due to a bug.
- Killing an enemy just before another player was about to and thus getting the benefit of the kill without having to take part in most of the combat. Typically frowned upon in the games which allow it.
killer app
- A game that is so successful that it helps sell consoles.
king of the hill
- A form of versus multiplayer where players try to occupy a space in a map, often at the top of a hill, for the longest length of time.
kiosk mode
- A special mode used by some video game platforms when they are expected to run unattended for demonstration purposes. In kiosk mode, the user is allowed to use certain features, but they are locked out of any functions which might modify the system. There is usually a password which can be entered to exit kiosk mode.
kiting
- Remaining distant from an enemy so they can't hurt you while attacking them with a ranged weapon. Often used to defeat an enemy that is too powerful to defeat otherwise.
- Describes how a character is uncontrollably pushed when it is hit or injured. Knock-back is employed by game designers for multiple reasons. It may be used to punish the player for taking a hit, that is, to potentially knock them off a platform or into another hazard, but it is also a helpful way to push a character outside of the enemies collision box. Knock-back can be exploited for a damage boost.
known good dump
- A copy of a ROM that is known to be correct.
- A button sequence consisting of ↑, ↑, ↓, ↓, ←, →, ←, →, B, A. It was created by the company Konami initially to award the player extra lives, and was used in several popular games made by the company. Because of this, other developers began implementing as well, and it has now been included in dozens of games and game-related projects.
L
lag
- A slowdown in a game. This may be caused by the hardware failing to render the game at full speed or a network connection failing to transfer data fast enough for smooth game play. A player who connects to a multi-player game with a slow connection may also cause lag for the rest of the players.
lap
- A complete circuit of a closed track. Races on such tracks usually require multiple laps. Also used to describe getting an entire lap worth of distance ahead of an opponent.
last hit
- A mechanic where the person to score the killing blow on an enemy receives the reward. In multiplayer games, a last hit system encourages "kill stealing."
last man standing
- A deathmatch mode where the victor is the player who is the last to remain alive.
launch
- The stage in game development when a game can be bought. Any bugs found after this point must be patched in post-production.
launch title
- A game the is available to be purchased the same day a platform is released.
LCD
- See "liquid-crystal display."
- Typically refers to video games which use a dedicated LCD rather than those with a programmable LCD like the Game Boy.
- The speed at which a game requires players to assimilate and understand new concepts, so named as if it were plotted on a graph. A shallow curve gives the player ample time to figure out new concepts, while a steep curve requires the player to learn many new concepts in a short amount of time. Part of balancing a game means ensuring that most players will not become bored with a curve that is too shallow or overwhelmed with a curve that it too steep. Games often incorporate tutorials to make the initial learning curve less steep.
LED
- See "light-emitting diode."
legacy sequel
- A game which is set long after the previous game. For example, Ultima VII: The Black Gate is set 200 years after the conclusion of Ultima VI: The False Prophet.
let's play
- A recording of someone playing a video game, typically with commentary.
level (advancement)
- A discrete improvement upon the statistics of a character. Levels are often tied to experience points.
- A discrete section of a game world. Many different synonymous terms are used, often to fit with the theme of the game, such as stage, area, round, map, zone, section, scene, etc.
- The maximum level or advancement that a character can obtain.
level of detail
- Various methods for dynamically adjusting the level of detail in a game in order to maintain a desired frame rate on weak GPUs or take advantage of strong GPUs. This may include imposters and billboards to decrease load, or higher polygon count 3D meshes and 8x anti-aliasing to increase quality. Often abbreviated to "LOD."
level range
- Usually applied to quests, dungeons, or instances; the recommended level a character should be before getting involved.
- When a minimum level is required from a character before they can do or use something. Often applied to equipment and special abilities to prevent twinking.
LFG
- Short for "looking for group." Used in a lobby by an individual who wants to join an existing group of players.
LFP
- Short for "looking for players." Used in a lobby to try to find additional players to an existing game or group.
- A video game which is based on another entity's intellectual property, like a book, movie, TV series, or the like, and whose publishers secured the rights to make such a game.
life (attempt)
- An attempt at playing a game. Some games only give the player a single life, or one attempt to play the game, while others give the player multiple lives (see starting lives). A life is lost if the character dies in the game, and many games feature a way to increase lives as well (see extra life).
life (unit)
- A unit tied to a character's survival. In most games which use them, being hit by enemies or hazards decreases life units, while finding revitalizing objects increases life units. A character usually starts a game with a set number of life units, and, if they ever reach zero, the character dies. Life units are frequently represented by bar graphs or discrete graphics like rectangles, hearts, or similar shapes. Life units go by a variety of names like health, hit points, energy, and so forth.
light-emitting diode
- A semiconductor which produces light when a current is passed through it. Most video game consoles and computers feature one or more LEDs, usually to indicate when they're on or processing data. Later controllers used LEDs as well for a variety of reason like indicating when they're turned on, connected via wireless, or set in analog mode.
- A video game controller which simulates the function of a gun by using well-timed flashes of light to judge a hit from a miss.
- A game which employs a light gun as a controller.
life steal
- The act of stealing another entities life (health, hit points, etc.) to add to your own. Many games apply this ability to characters or monsters. In fantasy or horror settings, it's typically associated with the undead.
lighting
- A technical system which handles light sources and ambient lighting in the game.
linear game play
- Games which must be played in strict adherence to a script or structure. The direct opposite of an open world game.
liquid-crystal display
- A display technology which uses liquid crystals. Early LCDs were monochromatic or used gray scale and typically utilized on handheld video games, but when display manufacturers began producing color flat screen televisions and monitors, they became a common display device for console and computer video games. LCDs are less likely to suffer burn-in than other display technologies, but they usually have a high refresh latency which makes it hard to synchronize with player input.
- In some 8-bit home computers, the colorful flashing horizontal bars seen around the edges of the screen when a program is loading.
- A screen displayed to the player when the game is loading assets from storage into memory. Many loading screens have progress bars indicating how far along they are in the loading process.
localization
- The act of not only translating a game's dialog into a different language, but also refactoring the graphics, sound, and game play to better suit the cultural expectations in which it's being localized to.
localizer
- Someone who works to localize a game. Typically one who is skilled in two or more languages and cultures.
- A physical obstruction that prevents unlicensed access to video game hardware. Often used as a region lock.
- A microchip designed to prevent unlicensed access to video game hardware.
LOD
- See "level of detail."
- A recording of a player beating a game from beginning to end and including most of the game's content. Not to be confused with a "speedrun" or "let's play." While it is sometimes written as two words, "long play," most gamers write it as a single word.
loot box
- An in-game object which, when used, gives the player beneficial items or upgrades. Loot boxes are often expected to be purchased with real money making them a "pay-to-win" feature, and are consumed when used.
looter shooter
- A video game genre which combines shooters with the loot mechanics of RPGs. A popular example is Borderlands.
low resolution
- The lower resolution of a GPU which supports multiple resolutions, used in opposition to "high resolution." The precise resolution is determined by the GPU. Games designed in low resolution are often viewed as inferior. The term was common with early home computers. Also written as lo-res.
ludology
- The study of games and how they are played.
ludonarrative
- The portion of the game's story that is described by how the player plays the game. Because each player plays a game differently, the ludonarrative is different each time a game is played. This is in contrast with the predetermined framing narrative created by the game's writers.
ludonarrative dissonance
- A variation of the term "cognitive dissonance." The disconnect players feel when the actions they take as part of the ludonarrative do not fit with the way their character is described by the framing narrative. For example, committing heinous acts of evil in a game where the player's character is supposed to be a virtuous hero, but the cut scenes still depict the character as good.
M
- A portmanteau of "machine" and "cinema," describing movies made using video game engines.
- Refers to the line of computers created by Apple and the software which runs on those computers.
mage
- A character class which focuses on magic use. Also referred to as wizard, sorcerer, warlock, etc.
MAGFest
- Short for "Music and Gaming Festival," an annual conference held outside of Washington D.C. which celebrates video games and video game music.
- Sort for "Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator," a software emulator of a large variety of arcade games. Since 2015, it also integrated MESS.
main game
- The default game, not including any add-ons, downloadable content, expansions, mods, or the like.
main menu
- The primary menu in a video game, the one the game often starts into and lets you navigate to secondary menus.
mainframe
- A term to describe very large, powerful, and expensive computers first produced in the 1950s and used by major corporations and government agencies. Despite their professional intent, many video games were first developed on them.
male
- In reference to a connector, the end with the bare metal protruding out of it which is inserted into the female end. Commonly referred to as a "plug."
mana
- Typically used as a unit of magical ability and synonymous with "magic points."
- An API designed by AMD for rendering hardware-accelerated 3D vector graphics on a GPU.
- A booklet, often included with a video game, which gives useful information about the game. This typically includes fleshing-out the game's story, describing how the controls work, and so forth. Manuals were more popular when games had to be fit into very limited space and couldn't include all the necessary information for playing the game. These days, most games have their manuals built into the game making a printed manual unnecessary.
manual transmission
- In games which feature driving, a transmission where the player must shift gears as they accelerate and decelerate, as opposed to an automatic transmission.
map (item)
- An item in a game which allows the player to see their surrounding area.
map (level)
- See "level (map)."
map (technical)
- A discrete area of a game world stored together in the game's data. Usually, an entire map is loaded into memory and moving from one map to another incurs loading time. In 2D games, the player can typically scroll around a map, but there is a different segue when traveling into a new map (like a fade out). In 3D games, traveling from one map to another requires a bottleneck of some sort like an narrow tunnel, elevator, etc. Some games feature seamless maps which require the game to constantly load and unload chunks of the map as the player moves around them.
- On an arcade cabinet, it's the area facing the player above the monitor which typically includes the game's title. Marquees are frequently backlit to help advertise the game.
mask
- A secondary bitmap used to affect a primary bitmap, usually applied to create regions of transparency, clipping, or other visual effects.
- The highest score possible in a game. Computers can't hold infinitely large numbers, so all games which keep a score have to restrict them eventually. When this is coded for, the game will usually prevent the score from getting larger or roll back to zero. If it is not coded for, the game will eventually glitch.
- A genre of video game where the game play takes place in a maze.
- A sub-genre of the maze genre where the player must traverse all or most of the maze.
mechanical keyboard
- A keyboard which uses mechanical switches in each key which offer good tactile feedback. Typically associated with higher-end computers.
melee
- Relating to close combat as opposed to ranged combat. Could refer to a unit without ranged attack, a type of weapon, a class of character which is particularly good at close combat, or fighting which is mostly devoid of ranged attack. Sometimes written in the original French, mêlée.
membrane keyboard
- A keyboard which uses a series of switches covered in a membrane sheet. Offers little to no tactile feedback and is associated with the cheapest quality computers.
memory
- Could refer to "RAM," "ROM," "memory card," or "battery backup."
- An small external device which can store information, usually save game data. Memory cards were frequently used on consoles which didn't have internal non-volatile memory or cartridges which could include battery backups like the PlayStation and Saturn.
- Short for "Multi Emulator Super System." A software emulator of a large variety of computer and video game platforms. Merged into MAME in 2015.
Metal
- An API for rendering hardware-accelerated 3D vector graphics on Macintosh operating systems.
- A subset of the action adventure video game genre, typically presented as a 2D platformer, which focuses heavily on non-linear exploration and frequent combat with minor importance. Often uses power-up based lock-and-key mechanisms.
- A term used in the 1970s to describes computers small enough to fit on a desktop, like the Apple II, TRS-80, and Commodore PET. Microcomputers sparked home video game design by including BASIC in nearly every unit sold. The term fell out of use in the 1980s since most of the people using them were unfamiliar with mainframes or minicomputers, so they just called them "computers."
- Short for Musical Instrument Digital Interface, a technology for electronic music. Includes technical specifications for connectors, data transmission, and file formats. Used in a large number of video games, video game platforms, and electric audio devices.
midquel
- A game whose story is meant to take place between two existing games as a sequel to one and a prequel to the other.
mini-DIN connector
- A family of connectors based on the DIN connector, but smaller. mini-DINs popular in video games include the PS/2 and S-video.
- An enemy that is more powerful than the generic enemies in a game, but not as powerful as a boss. Like a boss, they typically prevent progress until they're defeated, but defeating them usually doesn't complete a stage or unlock anything special.
- Describes computers from the 1960s and 1970s that were smaller, cheaper, and weaker than mainframes, like the PDP-8 and HP 2100. Minicomputers were usually used by large businesses and universities and students frequently wrote games on them in BASIC. They fell out of favor in the 1980s after microcomputers became popular. The term isn't used much anymore having been replaced with "sever."
- A smaller game within the main game. Minigames are frequently optional and give the player a special reward when they win.
minimap
- A small map of the local area that is usually left on-screen. It can often be expanded into a larger map.
mirror match
- In competitive games, when opposing players use the same character or team.
miss
- A generic term for failing to succeed at a task including dying or getting a game over.
mission (map)
- A discrete section of a game, see "level (map)," often part of a larger story called an "episode."
mission (objective)
- A major objective in game with a military or espionage theme.
- Short for "massively multi-player online."
- Short for "massively multi-player online role-playing game."
- Progress that applies to a game not just in the run you're plying, but to future run as well. Examples include, unlocking a new playable character or causing new items to spawn in procedurally generated dungeons.
mob
- A mobile object in a game, usually one which will attack a player's character. The term is typically used in MMOs, elsewhere they're called monsters, enemies, etc.
- Short for "multiplayer online battle arena."
mod (modification)
- Short for "modification." A modification for a game, or the modified game itself.
- Short for "module," a format of music, or variation of the format, which modulates samples to create music. Also, a song using a module format. Mods are typically created with a tracker. Many video games, especially those out of Europe, use mod music. Although it is rarely described as such, the bulk of SNES games use audio formats similar in style to mod.
mode
- A style or form of game play. Popular modes include story mode, versus mode, and puzzle mode.
- A form of hardware scaling incorporated into the GPU of the SNES and used in games like Super Mario Kart. The SNES has 8 display modes, but the others are standard fixed 2D modes, only mode 7 has hardware scaling and it was hyped a lot in the platform's advertising.
mode 13h
- A graphical display mode used by VGA with a screen resolution of 320×200 pixels in a linear block of memory with 256 color indexes from a 6-bit RGB palette system. This was the most common graphical mode used by games which supported VGA graphics.
mode X
- A graphical display mode used by VGA with a screen resolution of 320×240 pixels using planar memory with 256 color indexes from a 6-bit RGB palette system. This was a less-common and undocumented graphical mode, but made popular because it increased the screen size beyond what VGA was designed to do and allowed for square pixels. Other less common modes included mode Y and mode Q.
modem
- Short for modulate demodulate, a device for converting an analog signal into digital information and vice versa. Used for remote communication between two platforms in order to play multiplayer games. The first modems converted digital information to sound to transfer over voice phone lines. Later modems were designed to use cable line and DSL line which are dedicated digital lines.
monitor
- A display device. Typically used on computers, although video game consoles may be connected to them because they offer a clearer display than most televisions.
monochrome
- Refers to displays which consist of only one color. Common monochrome displays were white, green, or amber. Sometimes called "1-bit color." Because grayscale television and photography was often referred to as "black and white," the term "monochrome" is often incorrectly used interchangeably with grayscale.
- A puzzle with a solution so obscure, even when you know the solution, it still doesn't make sense.
- A time when the media and public becomes hysteric believing a video game will bring about the collapse of society. Past moral panics in the USA occurred with pinball machines, Death Race, Dungeons & Dragons, Doom, Grand Theft Auto III. In reality, the US public has always loved violence, gambling, and sorcery, but it has to be in forms we've normalized into our culture.
- A program that monitors player decisions and judges their moral behavior. The results are typically hidden from the player and used to adjust future events in the game.
mouse
- A motion-tracking controller originally created for computers, but made for some video game consoles as well.
MP
- Short for "magic points" or "mana points."
- When multiple balls are simultaneously in play in a pinball machine.
- A game which uses two or more disparate genres.
- A game which allows two or more players to play. Multi-player games can be subdivided into cooperative and versus.
multiplayer online battle arena
- Often abbreviated to MOBA. A video game genre where multiple players fight in a combat arena over a network. Often employs elements of real-time strategy and real-time tactics. One of the most popular esports genres.
multiple endings
- A game which has more than one ending. This may include bad endings, good endings, and a true ending.
musician
- A game developer who creates music for the game, including ambient music, leitmotifs, the score, etc.
N
- A software distribution model where a game is released for free, but the player is frequently nagged for donations.
narrative
- The story being told by the game. This can be broken down into the framing narrative which is created by the game's writers and the ludonarrative which is created by the player as they play the game.
- Occurs when a player makes it though all of the game's unique content and it loops back around to a previous section. For example, after finishing stage four in Tiger-Heli, the game loops back to stage two. This was a common practice in early video games which didn't have the memory to create a lot of unique content. Some older games required the player to beat the game through multiple loops in order to see the good ending. Not to be confused with a "game loop" or "program loop."
Nerf
- To weaken something, usually through a software update, in an attempt to balance a game. The term is named after the company which produces soft foam toys for children.
- Replaying a game from the beginning, but keeping all or most of the abilities you gained from the previous play-through.
newbie
- Some who is new to a game or gaming culture. Also written as newb, noobie, noob, n00b, etc.
- The Japanese video game company, also a reference to any of their video game platforms, especially the Nintendo Entertainment System.
no clipping
- The ability for a player to move their character through solid objects like walls. The term comes from early 3D games where a player's movement would be "clipped" inside the interior region of a wall. No clipping is typically a form of cheating, however, some games incorporate limited no clipping as a power up.
no deaths
- Winning a game without dying or otherwise losing a life. A more challenging way to play a game, especially when combined with no warps or all levels.
no hits
- Winning a game without taking a single hit. A much more challenging way to play a game, especially when combined with no warps or all levels.
no-scope
- Hitting a distant target without using a scope, see also "quickscope."
no warps
- Winning a game without using warps to bypass any levels as a more challenging way to play a game. Not necessarily the same as "all levels."
non-canon
- Anything related to a game that the creators view as being unofficial. Games made by unlicensed developers, works made by fans, etc. are almost always viewed as non-canon. Sometimes a game's creators may decide that older games or unpopular games are no longer canon rather than try to retcon them.
non-playable character
- A character in a game that the player may not directly control. Contrasted with a playable character.
non-zero-sum game
- A classification of games in which one player's benefit is not equal to the other players' detriment, named in contrast to a "zero-sum game." In a non-zero-sum game, there may be a net positive result: one player's gain is more than what the other players lose, or a net negative result: one player's gain is less than what the other players lose.
normals
- Describes normal actions as opposed to special actions. For example, in a fighting game, if a player defeats the opponent without using any special moves, they won using only "normals."
not-so-RNG
- A random number generator which has rules to prevent it from always acting randomly. For example, it may be designed to prevent too many bad results in a row in order to prevent the player from getting frustrated. Similarly, a poorly-written randomizer which doesn't yield fair results.
NPC
- See non-playable character.
NTSC
- Short for National Television System Committee, one of three popular color encoding systems for analog television (along with PAL and SECAM). NTSC is used primarily by the USA, and Japan.
nudging
- Helping a player move their character through an opening by pushing the character toward the opening. This makes it so the player doesn't have to line up their character perfectly, just close enough. This is typically use with top-down perspective games, but is sometimes used in platformers to help a character jump up into a narrow opening.
null modem
- Communication between two computers directly through a cable. The term stems from remote communication which normally uses a modem for each device, but a null modem setup bypasses both modems by connecting the devices together directly using a modified connector. Many early multiplayer computer games supported null modem communication.
O
obsolete
- Hardware or software that is so old it is no longer useful. Hardware is usually viewed as obsolete when the latest software or games can't run on it anymore, or when the latest hardware no longer interfaces with it. Software is usually considered obsolete when the latest hardware no longer supports it, or, when other software is released with significantly better features.
occluder
- An opaque object that cannot be seen through. When optimizing the rendering process of a 3D scene, it is important to know which objects occlude others.
OCR
- Short for "optical character recognition."
okizeme
- When a player puts additional pressue on an opponent when they're still recovering from a previous attack. Most popular in fighting games when a player continues to attack a downed opponent. The word is derived from the Japanese words okiru (meaning wake up) and semeru (meaning attack), with the s pronounced as a z, thus the spelling.
OLED
- Short for "organic light-emitting diode display."
one more game
- Similar to "one more turn," a term used when players justify playing a game longer than they should by saying they will only play one more game, then quit, although, they frequently still play another game after that. Common with games where each session is pretty short like like versus arena games or rogue-likes. Often an early sign of video game addiction.
one more turn
- A term used by players when they continue playing after they know they should stop. They justify continuing by telling themselves they will play just "one more turn," but they often keep saying it over and over again. Often an early sign of video game addiction. Popularized by Civilization.
one-time activation
- A mechanism to prevent video game owners from selling their game to other people by tying their ownership of a game to a single account and not letting it be transferred.
OOM
- Short for "out of magic" or "out of mana."
OP
- Short for "overpowered."
open world
- A game where the player has essentially free reign to move around the map where ever they like and may reach objectives unconstrained. This is in direct opposition to a linear game.
open source
- Video games that are released along with their source code.
- Short for "Open Graphics Library," a cross-platform API for rendering hardware-accelerated vector graphics on a GPU.
opponent
- In versus games, the player you're trying to win against.
optical character recognition
- A process that converts a visual representation of text into digital text. Used in some games to convert hand written input into machine-usable information.
- A game which allows the player to use permadeath rules if they desire.
organic light-emitting diode display
- A type of flat screen television which uses OLED technology. Although they produce a better contract ratio than other technologies, OLED televisions can suffer from burn-in when playing video games.
original release
- How a game was initially released to the public. Many games, especially older popular games, have been re-released numerous times across multiple platforms and are different with each release. Others have many upgrades or patches which change the game play.
out of bounds
- When the player is able to move their character into an area of the game the designers didn't intend for them to be. Often caused by a glitch or programming oversight.
output random
- Refers to randomness based on a player's decisions. A player may choose to have their character attack a foe, and whether they hit and how much damage they do is the output random. This is contrasted with "input random."
over-the-shoulder
- A perspective where the player views the game world over the shoulder of their character; a form of third-person perspective.
over world
- A region that is on top of the ground, as opposed to an underworld or sky world. Also referred to as "above ground" or "surface."
overlay
- A sheet, usually of plastic, cardboard, or paper, designed to be laid over a controller, keyboard, or screen, to give the player useful information or add to the verisimilitude of the game.
overpowered
- Something in a game that is too powerful and causes the game to be unbalanced. Overpowered things tend to be Nerfed through software patches.
P
- A challenge where the player must beat a game by killing or damaging as few enemies as is technically possible, usually only bosses or scripted enemies.
- A video game that comes bundled with a video game platform as an incentive to buy it.
- A controller, usually taking the form of a rotational dial, used to manipulate a character in a video game. Common for video games in the ball and paddle genre.
- Short for "Phase Alternating Line," one of three popular color encoding systems for analog television (along with NTSC and SECAM). PAL is used primarily by the UK, the nations they colonized, and most of Europe except France.
palette
- The limited number of colors that can be used by an artist to make their graphics. Early games had very limited palettes.
palette shifting
- See "color cycling."
- A graphic which uses the same pixel layout as another, but has different colors. It was common in early video games to use palette swaps because the hardware didn't have enough memory to fit unique art, but, by changing the colors, the graphic could look different enough.
- A genre of game meant to mock or spoof on an existing established genre in the same way a parody film mocks existing films.
- When multiple sections of the screen are scrolled at different rates in order to give the impression of distance. Frequently used in horizontal scrolling games. The technology to perform this feature is also used in the wavy effect.
parallel
- A game whose story takes place concurrently with a previous game. Also called a "paraquel" or "sidequel." For example, Half-Life: Blueshift takes place during the events of Half-Life, but through the eyes of another character.
party
- A band of characters in a role-playing game, adventure, or similar genre.
- A puzzle which can be solved passively. That is, the rules, structure, and pieces remain constant unless the player alters them, and it doesn't enforce short time limits. Contrasted with an active puzzle.
- A series of letters, numbers, or other symbols which encode information about the state of a game and allow a player to return to that game state in their next game session. Passwords are utilized when saving isn't feasible.
- A bug fix, balance fix, or improvement to a game. Usually distributed as a file or collection of files which replace the unpatched files.
patched
- A game which has had a patch applied to it.
- A set of computer algorithms for finding the shortest route from a starting point to a destination (or series of destinations). A popular pathfinding algorithm is A*.
PAX
- An annual exposition specifically for gaming, both video and conventional, put on by the creators of Penny Arcade. Originally stood for "Penny Arcade Expo."
- A derogatory term for games which feature benefits that can be purchased with genuine currency. This tends to hurt game balance for those players who don't buy the benefits. The term is a play-on-words of "play-to-win."
- A simple speaker attached to computers which typically played very primitive audio.
PEGI
- Short for "Pan-European Game Information," a video game content rating system used by the majority of the European Union.
perception
- A character or unit attribute which typically affects how well they notice things and how easily they're surprised.
- When the player performs at the optimal level. Depending on the game, this may refer to a single action, a series of actions, or an entire segment of a game. Some games have built-in bonuses for when a player plays perfectly.
- External hardware add-on devices like controllers, keyboards, cameras, printers, etc.
permaban
- Short for "permanent ban." When someone is banned from an online group and will never be invited back.
- When a character dies, they are permanently dead, and the player must begin again with a new character.
persistent world
- A game which continues to function regardless of whether anyone is playing it or not. Persistent worlds are usually run on a server and players connect to the server to play.
- Stands for "Programmed Data Processor." A line of minicomputers developed by Digital Equipment Corporation through the 1960s and 1970s including models like the PDP-1, PDP-8, and PDP-12. Many early video games were developed on this line of computers.
Phong shading
- A light shading algorithm which interpolates points on a 3D shape to add smoothing, highlights, and shadows. Superior to Gouraund shading, but much more processor intensive.
phasing
- Modifications of the game world for a specific character based on the progress of that character. For example, a game may have a mission to prevent intruders from attacking a building. If the character successfully completes the quest, returning to the building later may show it being repaired by grateful owners, but, if the character were to fail, returning to the building may show it razed to the ground. However, only the character involved in the mission will see it this way, if a different character approaches, they will see the attack in progress and start the mission for themselves.
ping
- The time it takes to send information from one computer on a network to another. If the ping becomes too long, the player will experience lag, and may be booted to prevent problems with the rest of the players.
piracy
- The process of sharing commercial copies of a game without paying for them.
pirate
- A person or organization which makes copies of games illegally.
- Short for picture element. The smallest unit of a picture that can be shown on a display device. A graphic is made up of many pixels.
- See, "hunt the pixel."
- A condition in a game where the designer purposely ends the game even if the player hasn't died, run out of time, etc. A planned game over is typically used to prevent the player from overflowing memory and encountering a kill screen.
planning
- An early stage in game development. The team figures out what type of game they want to make, what their budget will be, and on which platforms they intend to release. This occurs before any programming or art is made.
plasma display
- A type of flat screen television which uses a plasma technology. Plasma televisions are notorious for suffering from burn-in when playing video games for prolonged periods of time.
platform (system)
- Anything capable of playing video games including hardware or software. The Genesis, Commodore 64, Windows, and Linux are all examples of platforms.
platform (map)
- A part of a map in a gravity-bound game world that objects collide with and may walk on.
- A genre of video game which combines a platformer and a shooter, and typically features a scrolling background. Commonly referred to a run-and-gun.
- A genre of video game where the player controls a character who is gravity bound to platforms across the map. The character can frequently climb ladders or jump to reach other platforms.
- Abbreviation for "Programmed Logic for Automatic Teaching Operations." An educational computer system developed through the 1960 and 1970s at the University of Illinois. Many early video games were developed for this system, especially Western RPGs and real time tactics.
play test
- The act of trying out a game to see if it works, the rules are clear, and it's enjoyable. Usually occurs in the prototype stage before alpha or beta testing. One who participates in a play test is a play tester.
playable character
- A character in a game that the player may directly control. Contrasted with a non-playable character.
player
- The person playing the game. In many games, a player controls an on-screen character or object.
- A cooperatively multiplayer mode where several players try to stay alive in a hostile environment, often by fight AI-controlled opponents. Frequently abbreviated to "PVE."
- Frequently abbreviated to PVP. A multiplayer mode where players are allowed to, or are expected to, fight other human-controlled opponents.
playing alone together
- The phenomena where players (particularly introverts) seek out multiplayer games over single player games. While they still prefer not to interact with other players, they like the fact that there are other players in the same game world.
- Any of the several home video game consoles produced by Sony bearing the name PlayStation: PlayStation, PlayStation 2, etc.
plunger
- In a pinball machine, it's the shaft attached to a spring that must be pulled back and released to set a ball in motion up the shooting lane an into the play field. Typically positioned to the far right on the front of the table.
- A computer small enough to fit into a person's pocket, first manufactured in the 1980s. Early pocket computers came with BASIC which could write and run simple video games, but today's pocket computers are often designed specifically for playing video games.
poggers
- A term of excitement or joy which originated on Twitch.
- Refers to a place in a game (typically adventure or RPG) where the player cannot return to previous areas or those areas are irrevocably altered.
poison
- A common status ailment which typically reduces a character's health at an incremental rate.
polling
- The process of checking the status of a external device, like a game pad or mouse, to get its current values. Polling is usually performed at regular intervals several times a second in a game's program.
port (game)
- A version of a video game modified to run on hardware different from what the original game was designed for. In the early days of video games, porting was necessary for pretty much every additional platform, but it is less common now that so much hardware is identical across platforms and programming languages feature cross-platform compilers.
port (network)
- A further segmentation of a network address. Up to 65,536 different ports can exist at a single address and they help designate which traffic is meant to go to which program or device. Some older networked games ran on a specific port (the game Doom famously used port 666), but most modern networked games let the player choose a custom port.
port forwarding
- A process of translating a network address to redirect communication from one address and port number combination to another. Most computers which use routers will have to setup port forwarding if they want to act as a server. The router must be configured to translate the network traffic from a specific port to a different IP address.
porter
- The company or individual which modifies a game to work on hardware different from what the original game was designed.
post-production
- A stage in game development after the game has been launched when patches for bug fixes are released and any further content like add-ons are released.
POV
- Short for "point of view." Used by players to refer to what they're able to see from their character's location.
POV hat switch
- A directional switch, typically at the top of a joystick, usually used to control the player's point of view. It's called a hat because it is similar in shape to a conical Asian hat.
- An item or power-up found in many games. It typically affects the enemies on the screen or gives the player's character a special attack.
- An electrical circuit which converts the supplied electricity to whatever the device uses. For arcade machines and modern consoles and computers, these are usually built inside the device, but many older or compact devices use an external power supply which plugs into a wall socket.
power creep
- An unbalancing of a game which occurs over multiple updates. Often expansions will allow a character to become more powerful by increasing their level cap or providing them with more powerful items, and this will disturb the balance of existing content.
- An item in a game which grants a player or character abilities better than when they're in their default state. Power ups are often temporary either being eliminated after a number of uses, a length of time, or kept until the player dies.
prequel
- A game that is developed after a previous game, but its story takes place before it. Prequels are usually created to expand upon concepts or events from the previous game that were not fully developed.
primary win conditions
- In a game with more than one way to win, this represents the most typical way to win, as opposed to "alternate win conditions." If a game only has one way to win, its win conditions are, by default, the primary win conditions.
- An action taken by a player which demonstrates expertise in a game. Also used satirically when a player makes a big mistake.
pro tip
- Also "protip," a game play hint published in early video game magazines, especially GamePro. Also used satirically to describe doing something in a game that's very obvious.
- The generation of something according to a set of rules with some randomness involved. Gives much better results than purely random generation.
producer
- Someone who handles the business side of game development. They typically deal with accounting and budgeting, hiring and firing employees, and ensuring that everything that needs to be done gets done.
product manager
- In video game development, it is their job to ensure the game is being built according to specification. Often employed by the publisher.
production
- A stage in game development where the team begins actively developing the game. Programmers write code, writers finalize their stories, artists create graphics, musicians write music, etc.
professional gaming
- The industry around professional gamers.
professional gamer
- Someone who makes a sustainable income playing video games. Money can be made by streaming themselves playing, or by competing in esports tournaments. Contrasted with a "casual gamer."
profiler
- A development tool which measures how resources are assigned and utilized while a game runs. They are used by programmers to find and correct flaws like slow down and memory leaks.
projection type
- How graphics are projected from the camera. Perspective projection means objects will appear smaller the further they are from the camera, while orthographic means they stay the same size regardless of distance. Typically, 2D games, or 3D games made in a 2D style use orthographic, while 3D games use perspective.
- A loop of code which occurs within the software of a game and usually consists of taking in player input, processing the game state, and updating the screen. Video games are programmed with many program loops including the main loop and a variety of sub-loops. Not to be confused with a "game loop" or "narrative loop."
- An early audio chip seen in most 8-bit video game systems.
programmer
- A game developer who writes the game's source code. They translate what the designer wants into code the computer can process.
progressive
- Describes video displays where every line is updated every refresh frame as opposed to using interlacing.
projectile
- Any object that flies through the game world. It will typically damage whatever it hits.
proof of concept
- A working prototype game developers use to show that a specific idea is possible.
protected mode
- A memory addressing mode use by Intel's x86 CPUs and first introduced on the 80286 and expanded on the 80386. Protected mode supports segmentation, virtual memory, paging, and safe multi-tasking. This not only allows access beyond the 1 MB barrier, but prevents programs from overwriting each others' memory space, a common problem in "real mode." Games written for DOS after the release of the 80286 typically use protected mode.
prototype
- A middle stage of development when there is a working model of a game or piece of hardware, but it still uses temporary designs and assets. Prototypes are made to see if the product will be both functional and enjoyable. Also refers to a game that never left this stage. When a game is in this stage, writers create their scripts and storyboard the expected flow.
PS/2
- A connector port based on Mini-DIN primarily used by computers for a keyboard or mouse.
pseudorandom
- Something which appears random, but is actually determined. Most random number generators used by video games are pseudorandom and always give the exact same set of random numbers based on their seed value. However, the seed value is usually something very difficult to predict, like milliseconds since midnight, so the game always gives the appearance of random.
- See "programmable sound generator."
- Abbreviation for the PlayStation based on its original code name, "PSX."
- A game where the copyright holder has relinquished their ownership, or never sought copyright, and may therefore be used in anyway by anyone else.
publisher
- The company which sells a video game. Usually includes funding, promotion, and distribution, although these may each be handled by individual companies.
pulling
- Luring an opponent away from a safe area to one where they can be defeated more easily, often by exploiting enemy AI.
purist
- A gamer who prefers to play games in their original form with original hardware instead of remakes or in emulators.
- When the player purposely causes their character to take damage. Typically to put their character into an invulnerable state to bypass a difficult section.
puzzle (task)
- Any part of a game which requires logical thinking and memory to devise a plan to achieve a goal.
- A genre of video game based on solving puzzles.
- Short for "player versus environment."
- Short for "player versus player."
pwn
- To have dominance over an opponent. Initially came from the misspelling of "own," but later purposely misspelled. Pronounced "pōne."
Q
QA
- See quality assurance.
- See quick-time event.
quad buffering
- Two double buffers, one for each eye, used in virtual reality.
quality assurance
- The department where testers ensure a game is well-balanced, bug free, and everything works as expected.
quality of life improvement
- Describes a minor change to a game which has little affect on the game play or mechanics, but makes the game less annoying. Quality of life improvements are commonly made to the interface, menu system, or similar areas. For example, the original Final Fantasy would only let you buy a single item at a time at a shop which meant buying a dozen potions took a long time, but later remakes included a quality of life improvement where you could buy as many potions as you wanted in a single transaction. Often abbreviated to QOL. Not the same as "balance."
quest
- The primary objective in a story-based game. Often used synonymously with side-quest.
quick kill
- A term used for killing something, usually a boss, faster than what is normally possible. This is often done by exploiting a glitch.
quick load
- Loading a game without going through the normal loading process. Usually introduced to decrease the length of time it takes to load by not requiring the player to choose a save slot or confirm having not saved their current game. Most games which include a quick load feature also let the player quick save.
quick save
- Saving a game without going through the normal saving process. Usually introduced to decrease the length of time it takes to save by eliminating having to choose a save slot, naming the save game, or confirm overwriting an existing saved game. Most games which include a quick save feature also let the player quick load.
- A moment in a cut scene when a player is expected to give input within a limited length of time.
quickscope
- Shooting very quickly after scoping in and still hitting the target.
QWERTY
- The standard keyboard layout used on computer keyboards.
R
race (attribute)
- A common attribute employed in games with a fantasy or science fiction setting which identifies the biological type of person the character is. Common fantasy races include elf, dwarf, and gnome while sci-fi races tend to use a variety of aliens.
race (competition)
- A task which the player is trying to perform faster than their opponents or within a time limits. Races which occur on a closed track are often broken up into laps.
- A genre of video game where the player attempts to perform a task faster than their opponents or within a time limit. Common races include running and driving a motorized vehicle. Similar to the genre driving, but driving doesn't use competitive elements.
- A technical process where programmers, lacking a frame buffer, draw graphics to a CRT display as the electron gun is refreshing. This requires the programmer to time their program with extreme accuracy, otherwise the display will become corrupt.
radio frequency
- Refers to how early video game platforms connected to a television for output. These platforms typically had RF output and an RF channel selector to choose the output's channel.
ragdoll physics
- A physics model used to simulate a lifeless body in real-time in order to replace a pre-made death animations. These models simulate bones and joints so the body can move in a realistic manner. By using a physics model instead of a scripted animation, there is much more variation.
ragequit
- A player ending a game prematurely because the way the game is going is making them angry.
raid
- A group mission where players try to collectively accomplish a difficult task that would be too difficult for an individual, like defeating a super boss.
- A shooter where they character's movement is confined to a predetermined path, as though they were riding on a rail.
- See "random access memory."
- When something happens in an unpredictable manner. Typically the result of a random number generator. Random can be broken into to main types, "input random" and "output random."
- Memory that can read to and written from in a non-sequential manner.
random encounter
- An encounter which occurs randomly. Typically as combat against a monster.
- The generation of something according to random values. Typically gives poor results and procedural generation is preferred.
- An algorithm that generates pseudo-random numbers. Common algorithms for generating random numbers include linear-feedback shift registers, the Park-Miller generator, and the Mersenne Twister.
- The act of making things random. Traditional methods include shuffling, rolling dice, etc. A video game does this by numbering objects then applying a randomizing algorithm.
ranged
- Refers to combat from a distance rather than melee combat. Can be used to describe a unit which has a ranged attack, a weapon that can damage enemies from afar, a class which excels in ranged combat, or combat consisting mostly of ranged attacks.
- A 2D graphic bitmap. Nearly every raster graphic is made up of pixels. This term is out of date as most modern display technologies no longer use raster scanning.
rasterization
- The process of converting vectors into pixels so they can be displayed on a raster screen.
- When the map only scrolls in a single direction and prevents movement in other directions, similar to how a ratchet can move forward, but not backward.
- A 3D rendering process where, for each pixel that needs to be rendered, a geometric ray is cast into a 3D scene to determine the color of where it eventually settles.
RCA connector
- Short for Radio Corporation of America which designed the connector. A single pin connector used for a variety of older forms of transmission like composite and component video and analog audio.
- Memory that can only be read from, not be written to.
real mode
- A memory addressing mode use by Intel's x86 CPUs. In real mode, all memory addresses always correspond to the actual place in memory as the address. Real mode has a 20-bit segmented memory address space (1 MB of addressable memory) with unhindered direct access by software. This made it very easy for programs overwrite the memory space of other programs, or even the OS and drivers, so Intel created "protected mode." Most early PC video games use real mode.
real-time
- Describes games where entities are processed irrespective to the player's actions. That is, even if the player doesn't do anything, the game will continue. This is contrasted with turn-based games.
- A genre of video game where the player must devise a strategy and carry it out in real time. Similar to real-time tactics, but more emphasis is placed on building and maintaining a base of operations. Contrasted with a turn-based strategy.
- A genre of video game where the player must devise a strategy and carry it out in real time. Similar to real-time strategy, but more emphasis is placed on giving units tactical orders. Contrasted with a turn-based strategy.
rear-projection television
- A television which uses a mirror to project a display onto a surface larger than that of a CRT and the first consumer-level televisions to exceed 40 inches in size. Early RPTVs would be damaged by burn-in if video games were played on them, but later models used improved technology to prevent burn-in.
reboot (hardware)
- The act of power-cycling hardware, or, as it is more commonly described, turning it off and back on again. Rebooting is typically done after system-level changes have been made to hardware or to fix a problem of unknown origin. See also, boot (process).
reboot (series)
- Occurs when an existing series is abandoned in order to be given a fresh start. Typically occurs when game series has become stale, or when so much time has passed since the last game was released, few remember it. A reboot differs from a remake or reimagining because it doesn't try to remake an existing game, but rather creates all new stories based on the originals.
red book
- Refers to the technical book which describes the standards for the compact disc audio format, which is red. Also refers to CD-ROM games which have audio tracks in red book audio format, and can therefore be played in a standard CD player.
red ring of death
- A colloquial description for the circular shaped diagnostic LEDs around the power button of the Xbox 360. When there is a problem, one or more of these indicators lights up red. In particular, this phrase refers to three of the four indicators lighting up red which describes a "general hardware failure," often caused by a manufacturing flaw of the console which plagued owners and typically indicated the console was severely broken.
reference card
- A card with many game details printed on it. Often included in games which required the player to know a lot of information.
refresh
- The updating of something. Typically a value stored in memory or something on the screen (see "refresh rate").
refresh rate
- How frequently a display screen is completely redrawn, typically measured in Hertz, with the higher number being preferred. A typical television or computer monitor will run at about 60 Hz.
- A device which prevents a game from working in a region in which it wasn't designed to work. For example, a game made for the European region may be region locked so that it will not run on a console made for the American region.
- A postcard or similar document included in pre-Internet games where the purchaser could mail their contact information to the game's publisher. While this would often be advertised as a way to get bug fixes for the game, it was usually used by the publisher to send further advertising.
reimagining
- When an existing game is remade, but the story, characters, and mechanics are changed significantly.
remake
- When an existing game is remade using modern technology and techniques. Remakes may include higher quality graphics, music, voice acting, etc. and even a little retconning, but the story and game play are quite similar to the original work, unlike a reimagining or reboot. Closely related to a remaster.
remaster
- Recreating a game using modern technology, to use higher quality graphics and sound, while also including bug fixes and quality of life improvements, but staying very close to the original story and mechanics of the game, even more so than a remake.
render
- The process of converting game information like bitmapped graphics and vectors into a visual display for the player to see.
render distance
- How far in the distance the game will render objects. The further the render distance, the more realistic the game world will feel. When the render distance is short, players will see objects pop into existence which hurts immersion.
- A form of dynamic difficulty where a game replaces the weak enemies in an older area with more powerful enemies to keep pace with the player character's progression thereby maintaining a challenge.
res
- Short for "resurrect."
rescue mission
- A mission where the player must defeat an enemy that is attacking an entity before the enemies destroy it.
resource
- Anything that functions like a commodity, i.e.: it can be bought or sold. This can include all manner of things depending on the game, but common examples include timber, food, stone, oil, and the like.
- When a character is brought back to life after being dying. Respawning is typically paired with a punishment like a time delay, reduction in score or stats, or being sent back to a previous "respawn point."
- A place where something restarts after it dies. Often has overlapping functionality with a "spawn point."
rest
- A mechanic popular in RPGs where the party rests to regain lost stats like hit points, stamina, and magic.
resurrect
- To bring a dead character back to life. Resurrection is often differentiated on whether it can be done while still in combat or not.
retcon
- Short for "retroactive continuity." Refers to altering an existing story in order to make it compatible with differences created in a new story. This is typically done to change unpopular decisions or correct overlooked or unpredicted mistakes. For example, in the Ultima series, the heroes of the first three games are independent characters, but, in the fourth game, they're retconned to be the same person, the hero of the fourth game.
retrobright
- Also written retr0bright, a process used to correct discoloration of old ABS plastic. It uses multiple chemicals and ultraviolet light to restore the plastic to it's original color.
rev
- Short for "revision."
revision
- An updated release of a ROM-based game. An update to game stored as files on a disk is called an "patch," or "update." Also an update to something related to a game like a manual or the box. Companies like Nintendo would label revisions with the text "Rev" followed by a letter, number, or symbol.
rez
- Short for "resurrect."
RF
- Short for "radio frequency."
- A device which converts the signal of a video game platform to the radio frequency signal a television interprets. RF adapters take baseband input from the video game platform, convert it to a radio frequency the TV can interpret and sends the signal to the antenna input of a television. Most RF adapters were also switch boxes which had a connector for an antenna and could switch between game and antenna signals. Once televisions began including composite and component input, consoles stopped using RF adapters and connected directly to the those inputs, however, during the transition period, many platforms still had RF adapters for backward compatibility with older televisions.
RGB
- Short for "red green blue," the primary colors of light, and, the manipulation of which is how color is displayed on nearly all color displays.
RGB mode
- A color graphics mode used by the CGA card which offered crisp graphics, but a very limited color set. Contrasted with "composite mode" which had more colors, but fuzzier graphics.
- A genre of video game where they player is expected to perform an action in time with a song.
- An economics term which describes how much someone is willing to risk for a particular reward. Commonly used in game design to determine how much a player is willing risk for a specific reward.
rip
- An aspect of a game's data that has been extracted from the game and is now stored in a usable format. For example, a graphics rip, sound rip, or text rip. A person who makes a rip is called a ripper.
RJ45
- Short for registered jack 45, also seen as RJ45S for registered jack 45 standard. Used most popularly for Ethernet as the connectors for Cat 5 cable.
- See "random number generator."
- A portmanteau of "RNG" and "Jesus." See "gods of RNG."
- The use of an explosion to help catapult an entity further than they would otherwise be able to move. This will probably damage the entity, but the ability to move further than normal may be worth the damage. For example, a character is not able to jump far enough to span a chasm, so they fire a rocket so that it will explode very close to them, and jump just as it explodes. The added push from the explosion gives them more momentum and they span the chasm. This was made popular by first-person shooters, particularly Quake, though it was certainly not the first game to use it. See also "damage boost."
- A genre of video game which is similar to Rogue with features like turn-based actions, procedurally generated maps, random items, permadeath, etc.
- A genre of video game which has similarities to Rogue, but has significant changes from the original formula. They may be real-time, eliminate permadeath, add meta-progression to make the game easier, etc. These changes are typically added to make the games less punishing, so Rogue-lites are typically easier than Rogue-likes.
- A video game genre which focuses on the development of characters in a fictional setting. Based on earlier pen-and-paper RPGs.
rolling
- Lightly pressing a button while quickly rolling your fingers along the back of a controller in order to press the button very rapidly. Often used by Tetris players when the game runs so fast using the built-in "automatic repeated input" is too slow.
- Short for "read only memory."
- An interchangeable card consisting of a circuit board with a thin ROM chip loaded with software, usually encased in plastic, which can be connected to a video game platform which will run the software. From the 1980s to 1990s, this method of distributing video games to home consoles was a less-common than ROM cartridges.
- An interchangeable cartridge consisting of a circuit board with a ROM chip loaded with software, usually encased in a plastic shell, which can be connected to a video game platform which will run the software. From the 1970s to 2000s, this was a primary method of distributing video games to consoles.
ROM dump
- A copy of the data within a ROM.
- See "role-playing game."
rotoscoping
- The process of overlaying animation on real life video footage to generate realistic motion. Commonly used in cinematic platformers.
round
- See "level (map)."
RS-232
- Short for "Recommended Standard 232," a serial communication data transmission protocol. Very popular in home computers prior to USB for devices like a mouse, modem, Ethernet, and many others. Usually used a DA-15 or DB-25 connector.
- See "real-time strategy."
rubber band AI
- A form of dynamic difficulty used in racing games where the trailing players are given additional bonuses to help them catch up, the leading players are prevented from doing better, or both. So named because it's as though the trailing player is attached to the leading player by a rubber band which keeps pulling them forward.
rule
- A regulation that players are expected to follow. Breaking the rules often results in a played being accused of cheating and may result in them being banned.
- Rumors that exist around video games.
run (attempt)
- A single attempt at winning a game.
run (computing)
- To start a game or similar program.
- See "platform shooter."
- A genre of video game where the player controls a character that travels along an course. It's common to require the player to avoid obstacles and collect items.
S
S tier
- The highest rank in a tier list. S stands for shu, which is Japanese for excellent.
S-Video
- A type of mini-DIN connector used to transmit video typically at resolutions of 480i or 576i.
S3 Texture Compression
- A family of lossy compression formats used to compress textures and based on Color Cell Compression. While it doesn't compress nearly as much as formats like JPEG, it is much faster to decompress, and therefore works better on weaker hardware.
- In digital audio, this is the number of audio samples per second. The higher the number of samples, the better quality of playback. Compact Discs use a sample rate of 44,100, while high-end audio hardware typically uses 48,000 which is the maximum the human ear can distinguish. Early audio hardware often ran at 8,000 or 11,025 samples per second, with mid-range equipment running at 22,050 samples per second. Audio engineers will sometimes work at higher sample rates so that less quality is loss during production due to rounding errors, then down-sample to 48,000 for the final recording.
- Applies to games which give the player enough freedom to be creative. So named because it makes the player feel like a kid in a sandbox.
save
- Saving the progress of a game so that the player may return to it later.
save point
- A designated place in a game where the player is allowed to save.
- When the player frequently saves their progress to the point where it interferes with game play.
scaling
- The process of resizing graphics to be smaller or larger than their original size. Some video game platforms feature "hardware scaling" which performs scaling faster than software-based scaling.
scan line
- A horizontal line displayed using a CRT, or the visual spacing between lines seen on a CRT, or the emulation of that visual spacing.
- See "Sierra Creative Interpreter."
- See "science fiction."
- A setting which uses tropes common to the science fiction genre (space ships, aliens, laser guns, etc.).
- A video game engine developed by Lucasfilm Games initially for their game Maniac Mansion, but was later used for a variety of titles.
- A virtual machine which simulates antiquated hardware initially designed to run games designed in the SCUMM engine, but later expanded to include hundreds of titles.
- A video game engine developed by Sierra On-Line first used in King's Quest IV: The Perils of Rosella and used in all their subsequent graphic adventure games.
- A major video game company which primarily developed and published games for home computers from 1979-2008.
scripted death
- A character that dies according to the game's script. Because of this, there is nothing the player can do (short of exploiting the game) to keep them alive.
scripted encounter
- An encounter which is expected to happen in a particular time or place and in a particular way. Boss battles are usually scripted encounters.
scrolling
- Describes when something appears to visually move across the screen, typically the background of a scene.
- A genre of video game which takes a shooter and puts it in a scrolling background.
SCSI
- Short for Small Computer System Interface, a family of connectors and protocols for sending data.
SCUMM
- A video game engine developed by Lucasfilm Games for Maniac Mansion and used for their many subsequent graphic adventure games. Stands for "Story Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion."
SCUMMVM
- A virtual machine which serves as a hardware replacement making it possible to play over 400 computer games on modern computers. Named after the SCUMM engine.
SDK
- See "software development kit".
- Short for "Simple DirectMedia Layer," a collection of open source hardware drivers written in C which standardizes a way for programmers to access hardware.
sea unit
- A combat unit which is confined by water. Sea units are contrasted with air and ground units.
SECAM
- Short for Séquentiel de couleur à mémoire, one of three popular color encoding systems for analog television (along with PAL and NTSC). SECAM is used primarily by France, the nations France colonized, Russia, and several former members of the USSR.
Second generation
- Includes consoles from the late 1970s to early 1980s like the Atari 2600. Interchangeable games from ROM cartridges became dominate at this time.
second party
- A company which is contractually obligated to produce products for a video game platform's owner, often because they are an in-house developer or owned by the video game manufacturer. For example, Intelligent Systems, though technically its own company, makes games exclusively for Nintendo using Nintendo brands, and often shares staff with Nintendo.
section
- See "level (map)."
- The Japanese video game company, or a reference to any their video game platforms, especially the Genesis.
- Making a game harder than normal by playing with requirements that are not normally part of the game. For example, not being allowed to collect power-ups, playing all optional levels, etc.
senseless difficulty rise
- When a game's difficulty increases even though it has nothing to do with the narrative. For example, in the game Breakout, the player's paddle becomes smaller when they break a brick in the seventh row, and the ball moves faster over time for no particular reason. A senseless rise in difficulty is often viewed as poor game design.
sequel
- A game that continues the story of a previously-released game.
- When something causes the scripted game encounters to occur out of order. This is usually triggered by a glitch or a programming oversight.
series
- Several games that are related, often forming a coherent narrative.
serpentine
- Moving in a zigzag movement pattern in order to make your character harder to target.
server
- In online games, this refers to the computer which runs the game that players connect to as clients.
service door
- On an arcade cabinet, the front door, often the same as the coin door, which can be unlocked an opened to gain access to the service panel.
shadow mapping
- The process of casting shadows on 3D objects when lighting is present in a game.
- A software distribution model where a game is given away for free and players are encouraged to share it with their friends, but the publisher requests those who like it to become a registered owner by paying a fee.
shoot 'em up
- See "shooter."
- Any genre of game where the player shoots at targets.
- A sub-genre of shooter where the player views a scene from behind the character they control and shoots at targets in the scene. Examples include Cabal and Wild Guns. Light gun games are often shooting galleries as well, though they are typically differentiated because the player's character doesn't fire moving bullets and the player doesn't have to maneuver a targeting reticle.
shooting lane
- In a pinball machine, it's the long track above the plunger which the ball must traverse before entering the play area.
shoulder bumper
- See "shoulder button."
shoulder button
- A button on the top sides of a controller. Sometimes referred to as a bumper due to their shape.
shoulder trigger
- A, usually analog, trigger on the top sides of a controller.
- A compilation of bad games published in the hope that the quantity over quality will justify the cost to potential buyers.
- A set of items that is shuffled with each new play-through and must be discerned through trial and error.
side-quest
- A smaller, often optional, quest within the main quest. Side-quests are a good way for a designer to adjust the pacing of a game and increase the amount of content within a game.
side-view
- A perspective where the player views the game world as though they're looking at it sideways from a distance; a form of third-person perspective.
Silliwood
- A portmanteau of "Silicon Valley" and "Hollywood." Refers to companies which blended B-list actors and video games by adding a lot of full-motion video to game such as Night Trap. Many of these games were panned by critics and gamers alike.
sim (genre)
- See "simulation."
Sim (prefix)
- A common prefix used on simulation video games published by the company Maxis.
- A genre of video game which simulates a real world process. Common simulators are management simulators, flight simulators, and various vehicular combat simulators. Often shortened to "sim" due to the popularity of the Sim games produced by Maxis.
single density
- Refers to floppy disks which use the earliest technology and store the least amount of data. Later replaced by double density and high density.
sit-down
- A style of arcade cabinet which includes a seat in which the player may sit.
skill
- A special character ability. This may be intrinsic to the character's class, or something they have to learn.
- The change in a game's challenge as the player's skill improves. Depending on how the game is designed, the challenge can remain the same, stay inline with the player's skill, decrease, or increase.
skin
- A set of replacement textures or graphics for an object. When an object is reskinned, it looks different, but functions the same. Skins add more repeatability and customization to a game.
skip
- The process of bypassing a section of a game, usually by exploiting a glitch. Also called a "shortcut" and "sequence break."
- The simulation of the sky within a 3D environment. Over the years, a variety of methods have been used as skyboxes from the earliest use of a single bitmap, to actual 3D boxes, to later domes.
sleep
- A common character state in games often divided into mundane and magical sleep. Magical sleep often prevents the character from awakening even when they sustain damage.
- Also cover a "sheath," "protector," etc. A covering which protects video game media. Sleeves are typically made of paper, cardboard, or plastic.
slide
- A common control mechanic where a player can slide their character forward in a crouched or laying position, often to maneuver under narrow ledges. Often used as a defensive maneuver. Similar to a "dash."
slingshot
- In a pinball machine, its a device which, when hit by the ball, kicks the ball away from it at a rapid speed. They are usually triangularly shaped and surrounded by a rubber band and placed on either side of the bottom half of the table above the flippers.
smoothing
- A process to eliminate desynchronization whereby the server tells a client to incrementally adjust something into the correct state. The incremental correction is less abrupt than snapping.
smurf
- Someone who is skilled at a game, but creates a new character and plays among new players at a low level. However, because the person is already very good at the game, they usually route other players around their level.
snapping
- A process to eliminate desynchronization whereby the server instantly forces something on the client into the correct state. When dealing with position, this results in the object appearing to "snap" into a correct position.
sniper
- A class of character which utilizes accurate long range weapons. Also, a class of weapons which are accurate at long range.
- When further progress is prevented in a game due to a programming oversight or bug and the player must restart the game.
software
- A high-level program which is usually loaded into volatile memory. Video game and apps are usually written as software.
software development kit
- A set of software tools to work with a particular platform or engine. Often abbreviated to SDK. The creators of most video game platforms also create an SDK for third party game developers.
- A popular brand of audio hardware owned by Creative Technology which includes sound cards and speakers. Over the years, many computer video games were designed specifically to take advantage of Sound Blaster products.
sound card
- See "audio adapter."
source code
- The original programming used by a video game. Having access to the source code makes it much easier to modify a game and learn how the game works which is why source code is typically kept private by a game's developer. Some companies sell their source code to other development groups and others release the source code after it is no longer marketable rendering it "open source."
- A 3D engine developed by Valve for Half-Life 2 and used for hundreds of subsequent games. Initially built off of GoldSrc, a heavily modified version of id Tech 2.
spam
- Something which is unwanted or overused. Named after a Monty Python sketch in which a restaurant keeps trying to sell their customers Spam despite their objections, and later applied to unwanted emails. In gaming it is used to refer to anything done in excess to an undesirable degree such as a player repeatedly using a single form of attack in a fighting game, or a player constantly yelling in a lobby's chat.
spawn camp
- To remain near where opponents spawn in order to defeat them shortly after they spawn in hopes of catching them unawares.
- A location in a map where entities enter the game. In versus mode, there are usually many spawn points. In team modes, there is usually a single spawn point per team. Similar to a "respawn point," and sometimes has overlapping functionality.
spawner
- Something which creates new entities in a game.
specular highlight
- In 3D graphics rendering, it refers to a bright reflection on an object making the surface appear highly polished.
speedrun
- An attempt to win a game as fast as possible. Speedruns are divided into various categories based on how much of the game is completed in the process (e.g., no warps, any percent, no damage boost). A speedrun played by a computer is called "tool-assisted speedrun." It is sometimes written in its more proper two-word manner, "speed run," but most gamers write it as a single word.
spell
- A particular castable form which magic can take. Spells are common in the fantasy genre and differ from other forms of magic like potions and scrolls in that they are typically reusable.
spin-off
- A game which takes characters already established in an existing game and places them in a different setting.
- An input device like a dial which can be turned infinitely in either direction. Depending on the hardware, the spinner can usually determine which direction it is being turned and how fast it is turning. Used in tube shooters like Tempest and brick breakers like Arkanoid. Often uses similar internal mechanics as a steering wheel.
spiritual sequel
- A game which has no direct link to the previous work, and isn't even set in the same universe as the original, but reuses the game's genre, style, and motif. For example, Deltarune is a spiritual sequel to Undertale.
spread
- In shooters, a weapon that shoots multiple projectiles in a spread out manner. Also called "spray" or "wide."
sprite
- A bitmap on a video screen which moves around the screen, is animated, or both. A "hardware sprite" is one in which the hardware controls independent of the background layer, while a "software sprite" is part of the background layer, and must be redrawn as the background is redrawn.
- In graphics programming, it describes a large batch of sprites that are drawn all at once by the GPU rather than individually by the programmer.
- A special type of sprite composite which uses several sprites chained together in order to form a long body capable of varied motion. Sprite chains were created to allow for snake-like movement without needing the large number of graphics that would be necessary for a regular sprite composite. Sprite chains are especially popular for snakes, dragons, worms, and the like.
- Tying multiple sprites together to build a larger sprite. Most video game hardware had severe limitations to the size of their hardware sprites, often only 8x8 or 16x16 pixels. By placing several sprites right next to each other and ensuring they always stay touching, designers give the illusion of a much larger sprite, though it is really just a composite.
- A single graphic with all of a sprite's frames of animation. Often used so developers don't have to keep track of thousands of files. A map of the sprite sheet will contain the X and Y coordinates of each frame. Many old games often have their graphics ripped to a single sprite sheet by the gaming community.
square pixels
- Refers to video displays which use square pixels rather than rectangles or other shapes. The shape of the pixel affects the aspect ratio of graphics designed for such a screen.
stackable
- Buffs or debuffs which compound their effectiveness each time they're applied.
staff roll
- See "credits."
stage
- See "level (map)." A term typically synonymous with a level though it's used less-frequently these days.
stamina
- A player attribute which affects their fortitude, endurance, and energy level.
stand-up
- A style of arcade cabinet where the player is expected to stand in front of it. The most common arcade cabinet style.
standalone sequel
- A game which is set in the same universe as the main franchise, and may feature some of the same characters, but it is not directly related to the previous works.
- The compliment of lives a player is given when they start a game.
stat
- A numeric attribute describing a character.
stat death
- When a character is killed because a stat reaches zero despite still having positive life points.
- When a minimum stat is required from a character before they can do or use something. Often applied to equipment and special abilities to prevent twinking.
- A game where the difficulty level is set by the designer and doesn't change regardless of the player's skill level. This is opposed to dynamic difficulty.
status ailment
- Something which affects a player's stats in a negative way.
- A section of the user interface, usually across the top or bottom of the screen, where information about the game is displayed. Similar to a HUD.
steering wheel
- An input device that functions like the steering wheel of a motor vehicle.
- Describes a video game platform with the original hardware from when it was manufactured without add-ons or modifications.
- Being able to injure or kill an opponent by jumping and landing on them. Popularized with Super Mario Bros.
- Any storage media used to house video games. Common forms include ROM cartridges, diskettes, and various optical discs.
story mode
- A play mode which tells a story, also called "campaign mode." Often contrasted against other play modes like versus mode, puzzle mode, and the like.
- A plan used to defeat an opponent or a genre of game which requires the player to develop strategies.
- A publication which describes helpful strategies for winning a video game. Often synonymous with a "hint book," but a strategy guide is usually more in-depth.
strength
- A character attribute or unit attribute which typically affects how much damage the attribute can do in combat and how much weight they can lift.
studio
- A video game development office, usually one owned by a larger publisher. For example, the publisher Activision owns about a dozen development studios.
- Temporarily preventing a player from controlling their character. Usually used as a special attack for monsters or after the character takes a particularly nasty hit. Similar to "knock back."
- A character is said to be in stun lock when they are unable to perform any actions because they keep getting hit before they can do anything. Many games feature ways for the player to put enemies in a stun lock, however, it is often considered unfair by players to allow their own characters to become stun locked.
subscription
- A business model where clients pay a recurring fee in order to play a, usually online, video game. A subscription typically buys access to a single game, but sometimes it pays for a library of games.
- When a player purposely kills their character. Typically far a strategic reason.
suicidal overconfidence
- A common trope where, no matter how powerful a character becomes, enemies will still attack them. For example, the Imps at the very beginning of the first Final Fantasy will still attack the party even very late in the game. Later RPGs began instituting basic enemy AI where monsters will run away from obviously strong opponents.
sum of bests
- When speedrunning, the total time it takes a player to beat a game if you were to add only their personal best times for each section.
super boss
- An exceptionally powerful boss that usually takes many players working cooperatively to defeat.
support
- A category of character classes which are better-suited toward helping other characters rather than directly engage with the enemy.
- Short for Super Video Graphics Array, an unrelated family of display technology developed by multiple companies to give even higher resolution color graphics to home computers.
- A mechanism which can switch between two or more different forms of input. In video games, a switch box changes between the signal from a video game platform and a television antenna. Most switch boxes were also RF adapters. Early video games connected to a television by sending an RF signal to a television's antenna input, but this prevents the user from being able to watch television without first disconnecting the video game and reconnecting the antenna. To prevent this, video game manufacturers used a switch box which would have both the video game and antenna connected to it, and the user can switch between either input. The first versions of the switch box required the user to manually switch between them, but later models would use the antenna by default, but switch over to the video game when the console was turned on. After televisions began including standardized input like composite and component, the consoles stopped shipping with switch boxes.
symphonic cooperation
- In cooperative games, symphonic cooperation refers to players who work well together to achieve a common goal. In order to achieve symphonic cooperation, players not only practice together, but they develop strategies where each player follows a role in a larger team effort. Professional gamers and contestants in e-sports practice symphonic cooperation. This is contrasted with "chaotic cooperation."
T
T-pose
- In 3D modeling, a pose where a humanoid figure is standing up with their arms out parallel to the ground so their body is shaped like an uppercase letter T. See also "A-pose."
tabletop
- A style of arcade cabinet which is designed to sit atop a table.
- When two or more characters are tied to a single player's input so they all move in the same way. This was common in early sports video games before it was possible to handle a separate AI for every other character on the team.
tank
- A type of character or unit that can absorb and deal a lot of damage. Often sent into melee combat to aggro opponents in order to keep them from attacking weaker characters who a better suited for long range attacks or healing. Named after the military vehicle.
- A "dual joystick" input system where the left and right joysticks control the left and right treads of the vehicle. So, press both joysticks forward moves the vehicle forward, pressing both back moves the vehicle in reverse, and pressing one forward and one back causes the vehicle to rotate.
- Short for "tool-assisted speedrun."
TCP
- Short for "Transmission Control Protocol," a network protocol used in many multiplayer games which prefer stable communication over the faster, but less stable, communication of UDP.
teabagging
- Mocking an opponent by repeatedly standing and squatting over their character's fallen body to make it look as though the character is hitting the opponent with his scrotum. Named after a teabag being dipped in and out of water.
team
- The players who share a common a goal with you in a multi-player game. Also a form of multiplayer where players form teams to compete against each other.
team kill
- When a teammate kills a member of their own team, typically on accident. See also "friendly-fire" and "fragging" of which the term is sometimes used interchangeably.
tearing
- An unwanted visual artifact where the graphics on the screen are being changed as they're being drawn. This usually occurs in the middle of a refresh making it look as though the screen has been torn. This is solved by using vertical synchronization, however this requires more powerful hardware.
technical requirements
- The bare minimum of hardware needed to run a game. Often listed next to "recommend hardware" which will allow the game to run at a decent speed.
technical requirements checklist
- A set of technical requirements that owners of a platform require developers to meet if they want to publish a game on their platform. For example, Nintendo requires all games published on their platforms to clearly display "Licensed by Nintendo" during the game's starting screens. Often shortened to TRC, also known as Technical Certification Requirements (TCR).
- A ranking system similar to the grading system in Japanese schools. Tiers are S (short for shu, meaning excellent), then the letters A-F, with F being the worst. This results in seven tiers, but, for more granularity, a tier list is expanded by attaching a plus and minus symbol to each tier as well.
- Killing someone by teleporting into the location they're currently at, assuming the game allows for it. Popularized by Doom, though existed in earlier games like ZZT.
teleport
- Immediately moving an entity from one location to another without having to traverse the distance.
television
- A display device which decodes radio frequency signals. Home video game platforms are often connected to televisions a video game platform and the video game console generates an RF frequency in PAL, NTSC, or SECAM encoding. Televisions used to all be CRTs, but they later expanded to rear projection, LCD, and plasma. Today, most television use LCD or OLED technologies. Televisions are typically larger than monitors, but have lower refresh rates and a smaller maximum resolution.
testing
- An aspect of game development where people called testers test a game's programming an look for bugs while purposely trying to circumvent the rules (i.e., break the game). Testers record the results of their tests and report their findings to developers who fix the bugs or rework the game to prevent problems. Like with game development, testing is often broken into alpha and beta stages.
texel
- In 3D graphics, a texel is the fundamental unit of a 3D texture map and is sometimes called a texture pixel. Sometimes confused with a graphic pixel or 3D surface.
- A sub-genre of the adventure game which relies heavily on text to describe the environment.
- A game which uses text for player interaction. Since the 1990s, most interfaces are now graphical.
texture
- A graphic that is overlaid on a vector. For example, a wall texture.
texture map
- The instructions for how a texture is applied to a 3D object. Texture maps are broken up into texels.
texture splatting
- A graphic technique for seamlessly merging textures together using an alphamap.
TGS
- See "Tokyo Game Show."
THAC0
- Short for "to hit armor class zero." A stat used in Dungeons & Dragons for how likely a character is to hit and damage their opponent in combat when taking into account their armor class.
third party
- A company, not owned by the manufacturer of a video game platform, which produces products for that video game platform, often without permission from the owner. The name comes from legalese, where someone who is not part of a contract is referred to as a "third party." For example, Activision became the first third party video game developer in history when it started making games for the Atari 2600.
third-person
- A perspective where the player views the game world from the outside looking at the character as though they are a third party. This is opposed to viewing the game through they eyes of the eyes of a character in first-person.
throttle
- A lever or pedal on a controller which is used to control a value in a game, typically the speed of a vehicle. Throttle are typically analog instead of digital.
THX
- Short for "Tomlinson Holman eXperiment," a quality assurance standard used to closely recreate an audiovisual experience. Initially created by Lucasfilm for movie theaters, it has since been adopted by various video game development studios.
tilt
- A state a pinball machine can be put in as a punishment if the player nudges it too hard. When in tilt, most of the game shuts off, and the the flippers stop working guaranteeing the loss of a ball. Named because tilting a pinball machine will activate the state.
- An imposed length of time within which the player must complete a task. Common in racing games and active puzzle games.
time to kill
- How long it takes to defeat an opponent or an average of how it takes to defeat opponents over multiple rounds.
title card
- A static image used to easily identify a particular work of media. Originally used in film where it's called an intertitle, video games adopted them to replace box art when physical boxes gave way to digital distribution.
title screen
- A screen in most video games where, upon starting the game, the title is displayed.
Tokyo Game Show
- A major video game trade fair held in Japan each year since 1996. Often abbreviated to TGS.
- Using a computer to control the input sent to a game in order to beat it faster than humanly possible. Often abbreviated to "TAS."
top-down
- A perspective where the player views the game world from above looking down; a form of third-person perspective.
- Something placed on top of an arcade cabinet, usually title art for a game. Typically used on cabinets whose marquee is not dedicated to a specific game because is uses interchangeable games, like the PlayChoice-10.
- An input device which uses a ball the player can spin around inside a harness. Sensory hardware can usually tell which direction in 2D space it is spinning and how fast it is spinning in that direction. Used in games like Marble Madness and Centipede.
- Music composition software where the composer sets up various tracks, patterns, or loops of music. Common with mod music.
trainer
- A program which allows a player to cheat in a game, typically by adding infinite lives, granting invincibility, or the like. In the 8-bit and 16-bit eras, trainers were typically setup prior to starting a game and would adjust the game's binary or monitor and adjust the game's memory. Later trainers ran alongside the game and allowed the player to alter the game's memory dynamically during the game. The name comes from the fact that these would help a player to train on the game by giving them easier access to different parts of the game.
training
- The act of practicing something inside a game, often used as a way for a character to increase their acumen with a particular skill or used as a step to increase in levels or stats. Not to be confused with simply practicing at the game itself.
transistor-transistor logic
- The use of transistors for logic and amplification to create electronics which can perform calculations. Most of the very first dedicated video games of the early 1970s used TTL instead of CPUs because, although they more difficult to produce, they were considerably cheaper. However, once CPUs became affordable, TTLs became obsolete.
transparency
- The part of a bitmap which is not intended to be drawn to create the effect of transparency. When an entire channel is used for transparency, it's typically referred to as alpha.
trial and death
- A play on the phrase "trial and error," where the error results in death. Often a way to get through unforgiving adventure games and cinematic platformers.
trial and error
- A mechanic where the player is expected to try doing something to determine whether the outcome will be good or bad.
trigger
- A mechanism on a controller meant to resemble the trigger of a gun or joystick. Typically digital, though sometimes analog.
trinket
- Also called a "feelie," a small item like a figurine, coin, stone, etc., included in a game box to increase its value. Some franchises, like the Ultima series, became popular because they always included trinkets in their game boxes.
triple buffering
- Similar to double buffering, but a third buffer is used. While the second buffer is being blitted to the screen, it cannot be updated, so the display adapter must wait until it finishes before it can render the next frame. With triple buffering, a the graphics card begins rendering to a third buffer during this time so it can prepare the next screen.
- Questions of insignificant importance and the genre of video game where the player is expected to answer them.
troll
- A person who plays a game in bad faith with the purpose of ruining the enjoyment of others. Named after the fictional ugly monster.
troll game
- A genre of game purposely designed to frequently frustrate the player through unfair level design.
trough
- In a pinball machine, its a area where a ball falls when it isn't successfully rebounded by a flipper.
true ending
- A game's ending which is meant to complete the story of the game. This is frequently also a good ending, although they may be separate, and usually includes credits.
TTK
- Short for "time to kill."
TTL
- Short for "transistor-transistor logic."
turn-based
- Games where the play is divided into discrete lengths of time called turns where only certain actions, typically for only one player, may take place. This is contrasted with real-time games.
- A genre of video game where the player must devise a strategy and carry it out across a series of discrete turns, typically by managing units. Contrasted with a real-time strategy.
- A genre of video game with a "dual joysticks" control scheme where one joystick moves the player's character in its direction, and the other fires a weapon in it's direction. Popularized by Robotron: 2084.
- A low-level character being given high-level equipment, usually from a high-level character, that the low-level character wouldn't normally be able to acquire on their own. This places them at an advantage compared to other characters around their level whose equipment tends to match their level. The term is often used derogatorily and is based off the slag term "twink" which refers to a smaller effeminate gay man with a larger boyfriend. Twinking is often prevented by requiring minimum stat or level requirements on equipment.
twitchy
- An adjective describing games which require fast reflexes to succeed.
U
UDP
- User Datagram Protocol, a network protocol used in many multiplayer games because of its faster roundtrip communication compared to TCP.
- Short for "ultra high-definition." A display term which describes video systems with a resolution of at least 3840 × 2160.
- An optical disc capable of storing data which can be read from it with a laser. It was used as the primary video game media of home computers from the 2010s to 2020s as well as several video game consoles.
under powered
- Something in a game that is too weak to be balanced. Under powered things tend to be upgraded in patches.
underworld
- A large underground region of a game. Underworlds are common in mythology from which game designers no doubt draw inspiration. They're typically dark and feature dangerous inhabitants. Smaller underground areas may also be referred to as caverns or caves, while underground regions that are hewn are typically referred to as dungeons. Games which feature an underworld typically also have and over world.
undumped
- Games whose ROMs have not been dumped, and, therefore, are at risk of being lost forever. Dumping a ROM is often the first step toward working emulation.
unit
- One of several game piece that can be manipulated by the player, especially in strategy games.
- A popular video game development environment and engine which incorporates many libraries and uses the C# programming language by default.
universe
- Everything related to a video game franchise including the games, books, films, etc.
- Video games that are published on a platform without approval from the platform's creator.
unlock
- To gain access to locked game content (like an optional character or map) or a locked object (like a door or treasure chest).
unlockable
- Something in a game which can be unlocked. This may refer to an object (like a locked door or chest) or additional content (like unlockable characters or difficulty levels). When objects are unlockable they typically require a key or similar object, but, when content is unlockable, it typically requires the player to perform a specific task. For example, winning the game might unlock an additional character with which to play the game again.
unpublished
- Video games or hardware that was completed, but, for some reason, never published.
- A commercial video game engine developed by Epic Games, initially for their Unreal game series, but has expanded into a more generic engine.
unstackable
- Buffs or debuff which do not compound their effectiveness when applied multiple times.
- When it becomes impossible to win a game due to an action of inaction by the player, and they won't notice for awhile, or never.
update
- See "upgrade."
upgrade (hardware)
- The process of replacing weak hardware with more powerful hardware. It is common to upgrade the hardware in home computers, less so with consoles.
upgrade (mechanic)
- Increasing something's power, typically an item, vehicle, or similar inanimate object. Upgrades are often the result of completing a quest, crafting, or increasing levels.
upgrade (software)
- An improvement in the quality of a program. Usually by patching bugs and adding new features.
upside down PlayStation
- A low-tech fix to a manufacturing flaw common in PlayStations. The rails holding the laser reader in place in the first PlayStation would wear out over time making it impossible for the laser to read the disc. While the rails could be replaced, it is much cheaper and easier to simply turn the console upside down, which keeps the laser inline with the disc so it works properly.
USB
- Short for Universal Serial Bus, a family of connectors and protocols designed to handle most data transmission needs. Introduced in 1996, it quickly became the dominant connector for most computers, video games, and electronic devices.
USK
- Short for Unterhaltungssoftware Selbstkontrolle, a video game content rating system used by Germany and some areas of Austria.
V
- A pejorative for a game that was announced a long time ago, and the production company claims it's still in development, but still hasn't been released, and there are no plans for it to be released any time soon.
vblank
- See "vertical blank."
vector
- A shape or collection of shapes drawn from lines and vertices in either two or three dimensions. When in two dimensions, vectors often employ curved lines and complex shapes, but, when in three dimensions, vectors typically consist of an object composed entirely of triangles.
vector graphic
- A graphic made up of vectors rather than pixels (i.e., raster graphics).
vector monitor
- A CRT display device which, instead of using raster lines to draw the screen, uses arbitrary lines to draw shapes. Vector monitors were used in the Vetrex and a number of early arcade games.
vehicular combat
- A genre of video game where the player controls a combat vehicle (e.g., tank, ship, jets) and uses it to fight with other vehicles.
- A trick used by programmers to make an Atari 2600 game appear to have more sprites on a scanline than it actually supports by alternating scanlines between the sprites. The horizontal bands give the appearance of Venetian blinds. This trick was first used in Video Chess.
version
- Used to denote a specific build of a game. Many games go through numerous updates while they're still supported.
versus
- An aspect of a game where a player competes against another, usually human-controlled, opponent.
versus mode
- A form of play that focuses primarily on competition with another, usually human-controlled, opponent. Popular subcategories of versus mode include "deathmatch," "teams," "capture the flag," "king of the hill," and "last man standing."
vertical blank
- The brief time when the electron gun of a CRT is resetting to the top of the screen. When using vertical synchronization, this is when the video game must refresh the screen.
vertical slice
- A demonstration of a game that's still in development in order to show the financial backers how the major features are coming along. Often demanded when the backers aren't confident about the game's progress or are unsure what the game is about. The term comes from the idea of showing a slice of food to the potential buyer so they'll know what the inside looks like.
vertical synchronization
- Refers to only refreshing the screen when the display hardware is in its vertical synchronization (or vsync) mode. This is done to prevent tearing.
vertically scrolling
- A game or section in a game which scrolls only along the vertical axis instead of the horizontal axis.
video game
- An electronic game which is represented primarily in a visual medium.
video game crash
- The sudden drop in sales of video game-related products which has devastating effects on involved businesses. There have been several, but the most well-known is the crash of 1983 which caused many US video game companies to go out of business. This was mostly isolated to North America and had little effect the Japanese or European markets.
view volume
- The amount of game world that is rendered on screen. Related to camera zoom, "field of view," and "render distance."
- Short for Video Graphics Array, a display technology developed by IBM to give higher resolution color graphics to their line of computers.
VGA connector
- A DE-15 connector originally designed to send VGA data from the video card to the monitor, but saw continued used long after the VGA standard was obsolete. Replaced by DVI and HDMI.
- The in-game economy, as opposed to the real-world economy.
- The creation of a system in software usually to emulate hardware or provide a platform independent environment for software.
virtual purchase
- The act of using real-world money to buy virtual goods. Although this is looked down upon by many gamers, some games allow players to sell their in-game items and characters for real world money.
virtual reality
- The simulation of an environment in a manner that makes it feel real to the user, typically with a VR headset which uses two displays, one for each eye, that are slightly offset from each other to simulate binocular vision. This causes the wearer to feel a stronger sense of immersion in the game world than a traditional display. The immersion is extended when the headset is tracked in 3D space and controllers are used which give haptic feedback.
- A way to convey some information to the player through something's appearance. Common visual cues include highlighting something important, flashing a boss to know when they're close to dying, putting cracks in a wall that can be destroyed, etc.
- A genre of video game where the player reads a novel. The novel is typically highly illustrated and usually has some level of interactivity.
voice actor
- An actor who performs the voice for a character in a game.
- A graphical unit which exists on a regular grid in a 3D environment. Voxels are typically square-shaped and can be thought of as 3D pixels.
VR
- See "virtual reality."
VRAM
- Short for "video random access memory," and often called "video memory." Memory used solely by the display adapter to store information about how to update the screen.
vsync
- See "vertical synchronization."
- A cross-platform API for rendering hardware-accelerated 3D vector graphics on a GPU. It was designed to supplant OpenGL.
W
wake up
- How a player responds to an attack that has left them vulnerable. Typically used in fighting games for how a player responds after being knocked down.
walking simulator
- A pejorative for games with sparsely populated environments or little action. Instead of playing an exciting game, the player just walks around the game world.
walkthrough
- Instructions for completing a game from start to finish. The author is effectively "walking the player through" the entire game. Walkthroughs are often consulted when hints are not enough to help a player get through a difficult section of a game.
wall jump
- A movement mechanic where a player can bouncing off a wall in order to jump higher. This is sometimes the result of exploiting a game bug.
wall-mounted
- A style of arcade cabinet which is designed to be mounted on a wall. This cabinet style didn't become feasible until after the invention of flat-screen displays.
wallhack
- The ability to see objects, or their outlines, through opaque walls. As the name suggests, this is typically the result of hacking the game, a form of cheating, although some games include it as a power up.
- Something that causes a character to be teleported to another section of the game.
- An area in a game world with a warp. The term was popularized by Super Mario Bros.
WASD
- Referring to the keys on a QWERTY-layout keyboard. When a player is expected to hold the mouse or similar one-handed control device in their right hand, the W, A, S, and D keys are used by the left hand for directional movement instead of the arrow keys. This is an especially common control setup for first-person shooters.
waterfall development model
- A game development model that is broken up into clear sequentially ordered stages such as planning, design, implementation, testing, and distribution. At the completion of each stage, the next one begins, with progress flowing in a single direction, like a waterfall. Publishers prefer this model because it makes it easy to track the progress of a game's development. Although this model typically works well with application software, where the goals are much more obvious from the start, video game development doesn't thrive under such a rigid structure. Much of a game's development requires designers to figure out how to make something fun, which often leads to reworking or scrapping segments when they're discovered, far along in development, to not be enjoyable. The waterfall development model is often contrasted with the agile development model.
wave
- Describes an attack by a number of enemies at a time. Similar to a level, except the player's character usually remains stationary while the enemies come to her.
wave movement
- A movement pattern where an object moves like a sine wave. A notable example is the medusa heads in the game Castlevania. Many players find it difficult to predict the path of objects traveling in this pattern.
wave table synthesis
- An audio technique where the musician creates an instrument by defining the shape of its sound wave, then uses it to play music. Some audio chips had hardware support for wave table synthesis including the APU of the Famicom Disk System, the Game Boy, and the TurboGrafx-16.
- A graphical effect common in 8 and 16-bit games where background graphics are drawn in a distorted manner. A similar trick is used to create "parallax scrolling."
weighted random
- Random values that are influenced by other factors, typically used to prevent long runs of similar values. For example, if a game uses a random number to determine whether a player hits a foe, they will eventually get a random sequence which causes them to miss many times in a row. Despite this being a product of randomness, the player will probably find this annoying and may think the game is cheating. To prevent this, developers often add various weights to their randomness to ensure that players don't see long runs of similar results, perhaps by continuing to increase the chance of a hit each time the player misses until a hit is guaranteed.
whisper
- In multiplayer games, a "whisper" is used to communicate with as few other players as possible. Depending on how the game's chat system is set up, this may be only characters adjacent to your own, specific players chosen by name, or the like.
white magic
- Spells which deal primarily with healing and defense.
win
- Occurs when a player successfully completes a game. Also referred to as beat, complete, finish, etc.
win conditions
- The criteria which must be met in order to win a game.
- Relating to the series of operating systems developed by Microsoft.
wisdom
- A character or unit attribute which typically affects their decision-making abilities. In fantasy settings, it is usually correlated with certain magical abilities.
wizard
- A common name for a class or class grouping which uses magic. Often includes, or is similar to, a mage, sorcerer, illusionist, druid, elementalist, warlock, necromancer, etc.
- A trope related to the "damsel in distress," where the damsel, upon being rescued, rewards the player with something romantic or sexual, like a kiss, the removal of clothing, etc.
- A genre which relies on various forms of word play.
world (map)
- The entire area of a game, including all playable and non-playable areas.
world (section)
- A large section of a game, usually divided in smaller sections; see "level (map)." For example, a game may consist of "fire world," "water world," and "air world." World's often go by other names like zone, episode, act, etc.
WP
- Short for "well-played."
X
x-joystick
- A joystick that is mounted at a 45 degree angle in the control panel making it look like an X. Used in games where the player is expected to move only in diagonals, like Q*Bert. Instead of facing up, down, left, and right, it faces up-left, down-right, up-right, and down-left.
- Any of the several home video game consoles produced by Microsoft bearing the name Xbox: Xbox, Xbox 360, Xbox One, etc.
XP
- See "experience points."
XMS
- See "Extended Memory Specification."
Y
yell
- In multiplayer games, a "yell" is meant to communicate a message to the largest number of people possible. Depending on how chatting is setup in the game, this may be everyone in the local area, everyone on the server, or everyone in your guild or on your team. This is often contrasted with "whisper."
yellow book
- Refers to the technical book which describes the standards for the CD-ROM (compact disc - read only memory) format, which is yellow.
yellowing
- The result of acrylonitrile butadiene styrene (ABS) plastic discoloring after several years of exposure to oxygen in the air. The cases of many home computers and video game consoles were made of ABS so they turn from gray to a dull yellow over time. It can be corrected through a process called retrobrite.
Z
z-culling
- Determining which objects, pixels, or surfaces are fully occluded in the scene so that they can be excluded from the rendering process. This speeds up the rendering process and allows for more detailed environments.
z-order
- When rendering graphics to the screen, z-order refers to an object's distance relative to the other objects. Objects where are the furthest away (and thus have the greatest z-order) will be rendered first with other objects drawn over top of them to simulate 3D space. The closest object (with the lowest z-order) is drawn last and over top of all the other objects, so it will look the closest to the camera.
zero-day
- Refers to a bug in a game that has not yet been patched. The term describes the number of days since a patch has been made to fix the bug, and, since a patch has not yet been made, it has been "zero-days" since the fix.
zero-player game
- Any game where human players can't take an active role. See also AI vs. AI.
zero-sum game
- A classification of games in which one player's benefit is equal to the other players' detriment. Named as such because if you add the increase from one player to the decrease of the others, the sum equals zero. For example, in poker, if one player wins $100, the other players have to lose $100. This differs from a "non-zero-sum game."
zine
- Short for "magazine." Any magazine relating to video games like Nintendo Power or EGM.
zone (map)
- See "level (map)."
zone (multiplayer)
- A large section of a game world sometimes with specific rules and in-game communication limitations.
Links
- gamicus.fandom.com/wiki/Category:Terminology_in_video_games - Codex Gamicus.
- tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/VideoGameTropes - TVTropes.
- ign.com/wikis/gaming-terms-lexicon - IGN.
- crpgaddict.blogspot.com/p/glossary.html - Glossary for computer RPGs.
- whatgamesare.com/glossary.html - What Games Are.
- ipdb.org/glossary.php - Pinball glossary.
