Gaming Glossary
Define: Patch
Sadly, in the gaming sense, patches have nothing to do with pirates. Unless it’s a pirated version of a new patch, but now that’s just getting a bit confusing. I thought I’d just quickly explain patches as I’m aware that League of Legends released a new patch last week, which had my partner pretty excited. [...]
Define: Smurfing
(Image Source: Smurfs Wiki) If you’re like me, a smurf only really refers to one thing. Those funny little blue guys. Well apparently, in the gaming world, ‘smurf’ means something completely different. The term ‘smurfing’ is used to describe gamers who create an additional, lower ranked account on which to play. Individuals may create smurf [...]
Define: Mana
I often hear my partner shouting “LOW ON MANA” or I’M OUT OF MANA” while he’s gaming, and I can only imagine that other Partners of Gamers do too. If you don’t know what they’re going on about with all their mana talk, in very basic terms, mana is a measure of someone’s “magic points”. [...]
Define: APM
APM, or Actions Per Minute, is: …A measurement of a player’s load-handling capacity and is one of the metrics for judging player skill. (Source: StarCraft Wiki) In other words, the higher someone’s APM, the faster their hands move as they’re gaming, whether it be mouse clicking or button bashing. It’s unbelievable to see how fast [...]
Define: AFK
Things AFK could mean: Aww, Free Kittens. Anyone For Kebabs? AHH, Freddy Krueger! Things AFK actually mean: Away From Keyboard Used when referring to yourself or another player as not being at their computer, for example: “I’ll be AFK for 5mins so I can go tell my girlfriend how great she is”
Define: Ganking
This is one that comes up pretty often in most of the games my Gamer Guy plays, which are (here’s a fun acronym for you) MMORPGs, or Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games. This rather unpleasant-sounding word, “ganking”, refers to: …An overwhelmingly large group killing you and/or your group. It frequently carries the implication the attack is overwhelming or [...]
Define: Farming
This one comes up a lot in multiplayer games like League of Legends, World of Warcraft, Skyrim, etc. so keep your ears peeled. Techopedia tells me: …Farming refers to a gaming tactic where a player, or someone hired by a player, performs repetitive actions to gain experience, points or some form of in-game currency. You [...]
