(PDF) Gamespeak: Adaptations of Internet Language to Fit the Worlds of Online Gaming
Gamespeak: Adaptations of Internet Language to Fit the Worlds of Online Gaming
GAMESPEAK: ADAPTATIONS OF INTERNET LANGUAGE
TO FIT THE WORLDS OF ONLINE GAMING
by
Courtney M. Lazore
A Paper-in-Lieu of Thesis
Submitted to the Graduate School of
Northwestern State University of Louisiana
In partial fulfillment of requirements for the
Master of Arts in English
May 2017
GAMESPEAK 2
Gamespeak: Adaptations of Internet Language to Fit the Worlds of Online Gaming
By now, it is no secret that the internet has been and continues to be an interesting place
to observe language and how it changes. In recent years, researchers have focused on what
happens when language meets technology; texting, internet language, chatspeak, and netspeak
have all been explored. Studies focused on internet languages have investigated how people
(often teenagers) use new forms of language to communicate with one another, usually excluding
those outside of their social circles. Though researchers have explored texting and online
communities generally, there is a lack of research on communication in one niche area of the
online world: gaming.
The internet has paved the way for mass multiplayer online role-playing games
(MMORPGs) to become more easily accessible to a wider range of people—players can engage
with thousands of other players all across the globe. At the same time, the internet has helped
shape the way players interact with each other within, and sometimes outside of, these game
worlds.
A player does not have to spend much time in one of these online worlds before realizing
the way people communicate with one another is quite different from other forms of
communication; in fact, someone new to the scene may not even understand most of what is
going on. The reason for this comes down to language; the language used in online gaming,
though similar to the language used generally online and in other forms of communication via
technology, is quite different and acts as its own unique subset of the English language. The
words, phrases, clauses, and sentences that make up this subset are formed through a variety of
linguistic processes, including blending, clipping, acronyms/initialisms, coinage, and even
repurposing.
Though it seems only to be referred to in a few obscure sources, “gamespeak” is an apt
GAMESPEAK 3
term for this subset of English. But what exactly is gamespeak? How can it be defined and
distinguished from other lingos (or dialects) that exist online? Where did it come from, how does
it spread, and what purpose does it truly serve? Through the current study, I will attempt to
provide an overview of American English gamespeak, its components, and its purposes, as well
as illustrate some of its features via examples from primary sources. Gamespeak appears to be a
completely unique subset of online communication, and it serves to fill the needs of players of
online games as well as potentially alienate those who are not part of the group.
Literature Review
Before delving into the specifics of gamespeak and analyzing some primary sources, it is
necessary to situate gamespeak into the larger context of computer-mediated communication
(CMC) and online language use. It would be just to say that gamespeak is a descendant of the
slang and jargon that appear elsewhere on the internet—a metaphorical branch shooting off from
the tree that is CMC. Therefore, the present study is rooted in the work of various scholars who
have published their treatments of the internet and language.
Perhaps one of the most important pieces of scholarship for any researcher working with
technology, the internet, and language is David Crystal’s book Language and the Internet
(2001). The book provides a comprehensive overview and some analyses of the languages of
email, chats, the internet, and even virtual worlds, which is most relevant to the current study.
The book also discusses identity and the linguistics behind what the author calls “netspeak.” This
text as well as his later book Txting: The Gr8 Db8 (2008) serve as the springboard for diving into
a more detailed analysis of the language of virtual worlds and, in this case, MMORPGs. The
latter book’s central argument is that the way young people (or people in general) type in text
messages, distorted from Standard English as it sometimes is, has not had a negative effect on
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literacy and students’ abilities to write with correct grammar on school assignments. This
argument is presented in response to the flurry of news articles that appeared (and occasionally
still pop up) suggesting that texting is destroying both the English language and literacy skills. In
the same vein, the gamespeak dialect could also be considered detrimental by those who posit
that texting and internet lingo destroy our ability to write coherently.
Similarly, Sali Tagliamonte (2016) explores how young people talk in today’s
technology-infused world. Her comprehensive study, which covers fifteen years of data
collection, focuses most heavily on oral language, but there is a small discussion of the language
used online. She also points out that some of the hallmarks of online language have existed for
quite some time, such as using “haha” and “hehe” to denote laughter and the use of acronyms to
name official organizations such as NATO; both practices predate CMC technology (p. 207).
Further, she notes that language is always going to change, regardless of technology.
Bogetić (2016) conducted a study that also examines the misrepresentation of how young
people communicate through technology. The study brings the perspective of actual young
people into the mix instead of just relying on what researchers contribute via their adult (and
therefore, somewhat removed) perspectives. By including how teens talk about their own
language (via data collected from personal public blogs), the author was able to further put to
rest some of the complaints about internet language and the destruction of Standard English.
Thurlow (2001) provides characteristics of internet and/or texting language and investigates the
sociolinguistic side of this language change. The five main characteristics he touches on are:
blends; abbreviations and acronyms; lack of punctuation, capitalization, and hyphenation;
misspellings; and the lack of traditional greetings and endings (see also Thurlow & Poff 2009,
which focuses solely on text messaging).
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Though not directly related to the current study, there is also a body of research dedicated
to gaming and second language acquisition, as well as research on gaming and literacy.
Steinkuehler (2010) argues for the place of video games in literacy (specifically digital literacy)
and points out that some students may perform better if given the opportunity to interact with
mediums they are actually interested in (see also Gee 2003). Pasfield-Neofitou (2014) takes on
the task of arguing for online gaming’s effectiveness as a resource for second language learning,
and other similar studies are emerging in this field. There are also studies surrounding critical
thinking and ethical decision-making in relation to gaming (see Gotterbarn 2010, Schrier 2015,
and Bartel 2015).
While video games are not absent from the academic landscape, there is little to no
scholarship that focuses on the actual language that online games and their players use to
communicate. One book by Ensslin (2011), promisingly titled The Language of Gaming, uses
discourse analysis to cover a wide range of topics related to gaming. Though there is a section
included on gamespeak (referred to as “gamer slang” or “buddylects”), it is not the main focus of
the work, and the games examined in the book are console games, as opposed to online
MMORPGs. It turns out that the best resources for gamespeak currently are non-scholarly
sources on websites and wikis that attempt to compile as much gamespeak as possible into one
place. Two important and very detailed sources are the Glossary page of the DDO Wiki (DDO
here is an acronym for Dungeons and Dragons Online, an MMORPG based on the table-top
version of the game) and Cobbett’s (2015) online compilation of PC gaming terms, both used in
this paper as primary sources. There are also some published “style guides” that act as a sort of
dictionary for CMC and internet slang, such as Hale’s (1996) Wired Style guide, but wiki lists
and website posts are the best we have for gamespeak for now.
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Due to the lack of research in this particular area, the present study attempts to begin to
fill the gap where gaming and language intersect, thus opening the door to future research on the
linguistics of gamespeak. The research is of interest to those engaged in the fields of new media
communications, technology and literacy, as well as anyone interested in any scholarship
surrounding video games and their online counterparts. In particular, this study builds on the
foundations of internet slangs and lingos, as well as some work on console games, in order to
bring to light the rich linguistic cultures (and their characterizations and differences) of online
MMORPGs.
The present study is limited in some important ways, including the number of gamespeak
terms identified and analyzed. There are hundreds of gamespeak terms and expressions, and they
are not all catalogued and classified here, as it is beyond the scope of this project. There is also
the limitation of knowledge and sources regarding the origin and history of some of the terms;
not all words/terms can be traced online, mainly due to loss of data and the tendency to spread
terms via oral and electronic communication. Written samples are limited due to the more recent
trend of in-game voice chats as well as outside software such as Discord and Skype which allow
for easy oral communication while participating in online games, thus eliminating the need for
text-based language altogether.
Methods
Data for this study consist of examples of gamespeak as observed during participation in
online games or sampled randomly from other online media sources created for online gamers.
Data include lists of words and phrases that are common in online gaming communication as
well as some lesser-used terms, screenshots of message boards where gamespeak is employed,
and occasionally the etymology of terms, taken from various sources, such as dictionaries and
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websites that attempt to define and trace technology-inspired vocabulary.
The researcher obtained this data via hours of participating in online gameplay, observing
other gamers engaging in online MMORPGs via YouTube, participating in and observing
discussions on sub-reddits related to gaming and game-specific message boards (such as the
DDO Forums), and holding in-person conversations and email exchange discussions with other
gamers. Data were also obtained by researching compilations of terms such as the
aforementioned DDO Wiki Glossary and by consulting books published for the table-top version
of Dungeons and Dragons. Though YouTube, Reddit, wikis, and message boards are often
regarded as non-verifiable and therefore, non-trustworthy sources, this type of study can only be
completed by engaging with gamers in the electronic spaces where they congregate and
communicate.
The direct gameplay experiences were used to inform the researcher’s understanding of
how and why gamespeak functions as it does while the samples taken from the compilation lists,
YouTube videos, Reddit threads, and DDO forums were used to define and classify the nature of
gamespeak and how its terms function.
The original plan for data collection was reliant on in-game chats, which used to be the
popular medium for gamers to communicate with one another while participating in gameplay.
However, the recent trend is for public chats to be ignored in favor of voice chatting (whether via
an in-game capability or an outside software program), or for the private chat channels (such as
those between friends or teams in the game) to be utilized instead. Although oral communication
and private chats were not tracked as a part of this study, the data is still authentic, since many
gamespeak terms were observed through other areas of the internet.
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Results and Discussion
Though the main focus of this paper is to define and analyze gamespeak by using real
examples collected from around the internet, it is first important to contextualize gamespeak into
internet linguistics by situating it as a descendant of textspeak (the language of text messages)
and netspeak (the language used generally on the internet across many mediums). Despite these
two dialects being unique and separate from gamespeak, they are still necessary for
understanding its roots.
The Internet, Technology, and Language Change
Language changes constantly and for many reasons, so it is no surprise that something as
innovative as the internet would cause a massive shift in how we communicate (Tagliamonte,
2016; Cicognani, 1996). No matter what form of media language comes into contact with, it will
always continue on “in one predictable direction: forward”; but the internet is an interesting
phenomenon because people are able to create new words at any time, which then spread quickly
online and evidence the fact that “new media shifts how we use words” (Hale, 1996, p. 83).
Though such rapid change is an interesting feat and should be considered a positive
development, there are many naysayers who thrive on arguments in support of traditional
English. Numerous teachers, scholars, and those simply prone to the “old way of things” tend to
take it personally or as a specific threat to the English language. Some even go so far as to call it
“vandalism” (Huang, 2008). The internet brings forward the chance for people, especially youth,
to “create new linguistic forms and rework existing forms of expression,” which seems to bring
with it a fear of lack of control (Bogetić, 2017). Though these complaints and fears are largely
unfounded, they have still spurred quite a bit of media coverage.
Despite the complaints, there is actually more proof that the internet is not destroying
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language. Crystal (2008) points out that texting really is not as detrimental as some make it out to
be, and, in fact, it actually helps young people communicate more effectively. Additionally,
some studies have indicated that children and teens who text perform better on reading and
vocabulary tests (Huang, 2008).
Another important counter point is that although the internet brought about drastic
changes, it is certainly not the first time these types of changes have appeared. As Tagliamonte
(2016) notes, “not only have specific forms common in CMC existed for centuries, the use of
acronyms, non-standard spellings, initialisms, and other short forms have long-term precedents
as well” (p. 207). And because language is “always changing” (Tagliamonte, 2016), it is a moot
point to blame the internet. Language changed before the internet existed, and it would still be
changing right now, even if the internet did not exist. Technology does, however, act as a
catalyst, and we see this not only with textspeak and netspeak but also in gamespeak. Indeed,
though many may be against it, language can and will continue to change. Instead of viewing it
negatively, perhaps it is best to look at it as a sort of “innovation” as opposed to “laziness”; a
“new species of communication” instead of a butchering of the old (Huang, 2008; Tagliamonte,
2016).
Textspeak and netspeak. Both textspeak and netspeak came about thanks to their
respective technologies, cell phones for textspeak and the internet for netspeak. Though these
terms are utilized here, it is important to note that each form has multiple names tied to it. The
modified language we often use for text messages has been called textese, and netspeak is also
referred to as chatspeak, among a host of other terms. Since these terms are often thrown about
loosely and used to describe different lingos by different people, for the sake of simplicity, this
paper will make no distinction between the various terms. However, it is important to understand
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that textspeak and netspeak share many commonalities but are not the same thing, as netspeak is
a broader category of lingos. Netspeak can be thought of as an overarching category of which
gamespeak and other lingos can be thought of as offshoots. Textspeak, while related, is not really
of the same family; however, since it is similar, it will be discussed briefly as a predecessor to
gamespeak.
Textspeak. Though not as ubiquitous as once thought (Crystal, 2008), there are quite a
few characteristics of textspeak that many of us use in our messages. It is often thought that only
young people engage in textspeak, but many adults do as well. Probably the most obvious and
well-known characteristic of textspeak is the use of shortened words. Whether they are
abbreviations, acronyms, or initialisms, textspeak is full of shortened words and phrases.
Logograms, which here often function to shorten the amount of keystrokes, are also present, such
as when a user types “b” for “be” and “2” for “to” (Crystal, 2008).
Initialisms (when a string of words are abbreviated to their first letters and read as the
actual letters) are quite common as well, as seen in the examples of “LOL” for “laughing out
loud” and “TTYL” for “talk to you later.” Initialisms are not anything new in and of themselves
because many brands, companies, and government agencies also utilize this form of truncation
(examples include agencies such as the FBI and EPA).
Closely related to initialisms are acronyms and abbreviations. Often, these terms are
interchangeable, but acronyms differ from initialisms in that their letters are read as words
instead of read by individual letter. An example is “ASAP” for “as soon as possible,” which is
read as “a-sap” instead of “a, s, a, p” (though some people may read it that way too). This
example is not limited to textspeak; in fact, it is quite common in online communications as well.
Most examples of shortened words can be used either in textspeak or netspeak, because they both
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use similar keystroke technologies. Textspeak is much more limited than netspeak, however.
Abbreviations are one of the most common characteristics of textspeak, as many users
will abbreviate words even if they do not have a standard abbreviation. For example, most
people can read entire paragraphs of text where the vowels (or most of them) are removed. So
even if “hmwk” is not a standard abbreviation, most people can figure out that this means
“homework” and read the word without issue. Because we can read truncated words so easily,
textspeak makes use of ample abbreviations. In the end, whatever makes for faster, smoother,
and more succinct communication wins when it comes to texting.
Emoticons are also utilized in textspeak and netspeak (Crystal, 2008). They can either be
drawn out in regular text, such as typing :) for a smiley face, or included in an actual graphic
form. This practice originated in netspeak, where users often typed out various emoticons in
order to convey meaning, usually in instant messages. But as cell phones developed, emoticons
made their way into frequent use there as well.
Crystal (2008) also points out that nonstandard spellings are widely used in texting;
however, hardly any of these are original. He gives a list of examples and indicates where most
of them came from, some of which date from the 1800s. Despite his valid point that the
hallmarks of texting are not as unique as they first appear, what does make textspeak unique is
that it “takes further some of the processes used in the past” (p. 53). Textspeak should still be
considered a subset of English because, although many of these forms exist outside of texting,
we often do not communicate like that unless we are using some form of CMC. It is also
important to note that more advanced smartphones may result in fewer people engaging in as
much textspeak due to the improved keyboards that simplify typing in Standard English.
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Netspeak. As with texting, the language we tend to use when communicating online has
its own characteristics. The specifics can differ depending on the medium of communication
(such as email, instant messaging, Facebook, Twitter, etc.). Again, the main point is to shorten
written communications in order to make it quicker or more efficient.
Email typically uses fewer clipped words, mainly because we can easily write out proper
English in this medium, and emails tend to be less rushed than other forms of communication.
Additionally, if the context is professional or educational, emails can easily be constructed to fit
a certain level of formality. As Crystal (2001) notes, email seems to retain some characteristics
of office memos and written letters. Indeed, email seems to be just a step up from writing a letter
or typing an office memo on a typewriter, though its delivery is instant.
Still, when emailing friends or family, many of us tend to employ different forms of
truncated communication (mainly the abbreviations, initialisms, and acronyms mentioned
above). Emoticons are also utilized, whether in text or graphical form. Emoticons are widespread
across most communication systems on the net, and some programs, such as instant messengers
(e.g., Facebook, Yahoo), even offer animated ones. Following this trend, the use of gifs and
“reaction photos” (images of people, animals, or animated characters meant to visually express
the emotions and reactions of the sender) is a more recent phenomenon found on social media
sites, and even through texting with smartphones, where users can respond with a still picture or
an animated gif in order to convey their feelings instead of typing them out.
The truncations and clippings of texting are ubiquitous online, no matter where one is
communicating. Message boards, instant messengers, chatrooms, and social media all make use
of slang such as “G2G” (got to go, or good to go), “ROFL” (rolling on the floor laughing), BRB
(be right back), “k” (okay), and many more. New truncations are invented all the time, and some
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even get quite ridiculous (such as IANAL, which is “I am not a lawyer,” used when discussing
something legal despite not having any expertise) (Boswell, 2016). There are a number of
compilations of internet slang available online, but some of these lists include abbreviations that
are rarely, if ever, seen in practice. Regardless, it supports the idea that almost anything can be
shortened to an acronym/initialism, abbreviation, or written with missing letters while
communicating in the digital space. The internet itself, more so than email and texting, is a
medium that can foster great creativity when it comes to communication.
Another characteristic of netspeak (that also appears in textspeak) is the loss of
punctuation and capitalization. We can communicate quite effectively while ignoring the
traditional rules of capitalization, as someone will certainly understand “i’m on my way” just as
easily as “I’m on my way.” Capitalization is really just a formality, so communication does not
lose much when it is left out. The loss of punctuation can sometimes make it more difficult to
interpret meaning, but even then, most people can still understand the message. Dropping
commas, periods, and apostrophes makes typing out a message quicker, but of course the lack of
ending punctuation sometimes makes for an interesting situation.
Defining and Distinguishing Gamespeak.
Though textspeak and the various netspeaks are only briefly addressed in this paper, their
importance to the rise of gamespeak should not be overlooked. For a more detailed treatment of
textspeak and netspeak, see Crystal (2001) and Crystal (2008). Gamespeak’s place in this web of
CMC is that of an offshoot of netspeak. There is certainly more than one dialect of English
utilized online—ever heard of lolspeak?—and gamespeak is the one that rose from these
predecessors once online gaming and MMORPGs became popular. Additionally, gamespeak also
partially owes its heritage to tabletop RPGs (like Dungeons and Dragons) as well as console and
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offline games. D&D, for example, has many published rulebooks that are rife with examples of
gamespeak, though many of these are game-specific. However, a number of these terms are
carried over into other games, thus helping to shape gamespeak as a whole.
Defining the term. What exactly is gamespeak? Should it really be considered unique
from the language used elsewhere online? Is there an entire dialect of English out there dedicated
to games? In order to answer these questions, it is necessary to define what the term
“gamespeak” means. First, this does not appear to be a widely used term. It does not seem to
show up often when searching in online catalogues and databases of published research, nor does
it appear much online. At the time of writing, the first instance the researcher could find of the
term is for a voice chatting program called GameSpeak, which appears to be a part of Ventrilo, a
company that works with voice chatting. While this service appears to be catered to gamers, as it
allows them to easily communicate with one another over a voice chat client, it has nothing to do
with the actual language of gaming.
The second instance is a wiki page on the AssaultCube Wiki titled “List of game speak.”
AssaultCube is a free-to-play first-person shooter game, and the wiki page notes that the list of
terms is for use in-game, but they are not unique to the AssaultCube game. This appears to be the
only instance in which the term is used (with the space between “game” and “speak”) to describe
the language of online gaming.
Despite the term not being used widely, the researcher would like to propose that the term
“gamespeak” (without the space) is an appropriate name for this dialect, as other dialects often
use the same naming convention (as seen in netspeak, chatspeak, textspeak, and lolspeak).
Moving forward with this term, how should it be defined? Gamespeak should be thought
of as the unique language (both oral and written) used when talking during gameplay to other
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characters or when discussing games and their worlds outside of the game itself. Gamespeak is
characterized by shortened words (abbreviations and clippings), nonstandard spellings, the
repurposing of Standard English words, and the coinage of new terms. This is meant only as an
initial definition, as future research in the field will likely expand and edit this definition to make
it more accurate and more representative of a changing form of communication.
Analyzing specific characteristics. With the term identified, it is time to delve into the
actual linguistic characteristics of the dialect. To do this, examples from around the internet and
from various games are presented, classified, and then explained. Where possible or useful,
screenshots and sources related to gamespeak in authentic usage are included, though they
cannot be included for each item discussed.
Acronyms and initialisms. Following the trends of both textspeak and netspeak,
gamespeak is also full of various forms of abbreviations. Since acronyms and initialisms are
often confused and mislabeled, they will be grouped together here under abbreviations.
Many online games use abbreviations for game-specific terms. Though these do not
function as a part of general gamespeak, they are still necessary to understanding and playing
certain games effectively. So even though gamespeak as a whole does spread across most online
games (and even console games at times), there are additional game-specific dialects in existence
that can make it even more challenging for new players (and outsiders) to understand what is
going on.
To give an example of this, in the MMORPG Dungeons and Dragons Online (based
heavily off the 3.5 edition of the table-top game by the same name, abbreviated DDO), one may
come across the initialism TR quite a bit. This stands for “true reincarnation,” which refers to the
game mechanism that allows players to reincarnate their characters once they reach a certain
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level in order to alter that character and replay the game. There are multiple posts on the DDO
Forums as well as the DDO sub-reddit that reference this initialism, and one would be terribly
lost without the knowledge of what this abbreviation stands for. When difficult concepts and
subjects like this are abbreviated, it can cause a lot of grief for new players or anyone who may
be trying to understand the game.
In addition to game-specific abbreviations (of which there are hordes), there are just as
many non-specific abbreviations that run throughout the dialect of gamespeak. For example, the
initialisms of SP, HP, and XP are extremely common. These stand for “spell points,” “hit
points,” and “experience points” respectively, and likely stem from their use in other console and
table-top games. Gamers use these terms in-game and when discussing games elsewhere, but
they also appear on the user interfaces of many games.
Another initialism common in multi-player games is PUG, which stands for “pick up
group” (RedeemerRed, 2008). This is used when a player is seeking others to help them
complete a quest or another game objective. Some online games, like DDO, have a special
function where users can start a group and allow other players to join freely. A related initialism
here is LFG, or “looking for group.”
Yet another common example from multi-player roleplaying games is TPK, or “total
party kill.” The initialism indicates that the entire party (which can range from two to twenty
people, sometimes even more) has been wiped out by an enemy or misadventure (such as an
explosion).
Table 1 below lists a sample of additional abbreviations from DDO. A large number of
terms that are game-specific to DDO have abbreviations (as with any online game), whether they
are initialisms, acronyms, or clippings. It is also clear that these abbreviations are usually for
GAMESPEAK 17
noun phrases, but they do occur for other parts of speech as well. The sampling below is
specifically from the DDO Wiki Glossary, but, as indicated, some are used across other games
while some are specific to DDO. The sample indicates that a wide range of terms can be
abbreviated and easily understood.
Table 1.
A Random Sampling of Gamespeak Terms from DDO Wiki’s Glossary
Gamespeak Meaning Usage
AC armor class A number that refers to how
much defense a character has
due to armor. DDO/D&D
specific.
BAB base attack bonus A number that determines
whether or not a player
character can hit an enemy
character.
BYOH bring your own heals Indicates that a group does
not have a healer character,
so each individual is
responsible for his/her own
healing items
CR challenge rating Indicates how difficult an
opponent is. DDO/D&D
specific.
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DM dungeon master A person in charge of running
the adventure game.
DDO/D&D specific.
FTW for the win Used after a phrase to
indicate the preceding phrase
is something positive. Carried
over from netspeak.
GG good game Used at the end of a game as
a congratulatory message.
IC in character Used to describe someone
who is roleplaying as their
game character.
NPC non-player character Used in many games, both
online and offline.
SR spell resistance A spell or effect that helps
players resist magic attacks
directed towards them.
DDO/D&D specific.
UC user channel A chat channel in the game
that allows players to
communicate.
Clippings. Linguistically, words that are “clipped” are simply shortened from their
GAMESPEAK 19
original form. These terms can be much easier to figure out and comprehend since they contain
more information than an initialism or acronym. Depending upon one’s game knowledge,
however, they can still be difficult to understand. Like acronyms and initialisms, there are
clippings of terms that are used across gamespeak as well as clippings of words, place names,
quest names, and more that are strictly game-specific.
One example of this is “crit,” which refers to a “critical hit” when calculating damage to
an enemy character. It is typically used as a noun, but it can also function as a verb, despite the
original term functioning as only a noun (e.g., “I got a crit” [I got a critical hit on that enemy”] or
“I critted with that battle axe” [“I critically hit the enemy with a battle axe”]). Another common
example is “mobs” which is short for “mobile objects.” Though it can be used in the traditional
sense of the word, as in a large group of enemy characters one might encounter during gameplay,
the shorthand form can be used to refer to a group of enemies or one singular enemy, as even a
singular enemy is a mobile object (Glossary, n.d.).
Yet another commonplace clipping is “alt” which here means “alternate character,”
referring to a user’s other playable characters within the game. The term “main” is often used in
conjunction with this term, which refers to the character that the user plays most often. “Alt”
functions as a noun, instead of an adjective as in its full form. Similarly, “character” is also often
clipped to “char.”
An interesting example is “newb,” short for “newbie.” Though this term is commonly
associated with online gaming, it is used in other fields, both on and offline. In fact, according to
the Oxford English Dictionary, the term’s history is uncertain, but it may have derived from the
British usage “new boy” or “new blood,” popular in the 1850s. In this way, the term would have
been clipped from the two-word phrase and fixed with the “ie” suffix, and later on clipped again
GAMESPEAK 20
to “newb.” Both newb and newbie are common across all types of games and other forms of
technology, and the term is often used by a user to describe him/herself. The term can also be
used by others in an attempt to bully, though the actual connotation of this term is neutral. It is
interesting to note that online, this term morphed from “newbie” into “noobie,” sometimes
stylized as “n00bie” (List of game speak, n.d.). “Noobie” is almost always clipped to “noob” or
the stylized version “n00b,” and it is never consider neutral; this term is only used in the
derogatory sense, to bully players who are either 1) new to a game, or 2) a current player who is
annoying and/or doing something the name-caller does not approve of (see the section below on
specific cases for more).
Sometimes, gamespeak terms refer to people or ideas in the real world. The best example
of this is “dev” or “devs,” which refers to “game developer(s).” Though this word is more likely
to appear on forums and websites that discuss the game outside of itself, it can occur during in-
game communications as well.
Additionally, most games shorten their in-game terms via clipping. Great examples of
this are the ability scores from both D&D and DDO. There are six: wisdom, intelligence,
constitution, charisma, dexterity, and strength. They are clipped, and often stylized in all caps as
WIS, INT, CON, CHA, DEX, and STR respectively. This occurs with the class names for player
characters and even place names (or quest names) within the game. With this many clippings
coming from several different sources, it can get quite confusing, especially for new players.
Blends. Blends are words that are combined from the parts of at least two separate words.
Though not as common as clippings and abbreviations, there are a few good examples that
illustrate the potential for creating new terms. A good example of blending is the term “healbot.”
This refers to a character made to heal others without really paying attention to any other skills
GAMESPEAK 21
or responsibilities. It results from the words “healing” and “robot,” which implies these
characters should heal all other player characters repeatedly and automatically. Similarly,
“hagglebot” formed from “haggle” and “robot” and indicates a character that is focused mainly
on the haggle skill in the DDO (or similar) game worlds. “Helf” is the playable race of “half-elf”
smashed together, and “clonk” is made up of “cleric” and “monk” (both playable classes on
DDO). Additionally, “hage” refers to two in-game spells, “haste” and “rage” (Glossary, n.d.).
Despite not being as ubiquitous across gamespeak, blends still illustrate the language change that
can happen when Standard English meets online gaming.
Repurposing Standard English. Gamespeak’s tendency to reuse Standard English terms
and assign different meanings is perhaps one of the more intriguing characteristics of the dialect.
There are quite a few common-use terms that originate in Standard English, morph throughout
the online community, and come to mean something completely different when playing
MMORPGs or other games. Some are quite easy to figure out, whereas others take a bit more
digging.
To start, some terms that are more easily understood include “drop” and “lag.” “Drop” is
used as a noun and as a verb, and it indicates items that are literally dropped by an enemy when
the player character defeats it. It is a reward for completing an objective in a quest or for slaying
a foe. The term can also be used for items found in treasure chests at the end of quests, as in a
specific item “drops in this quest.” It is also used in the phrase “drop rate” to indicate how
frequently an item appears in a quest or how simple or difficult it is to obtain that item.
“Lag” is repurposed from its Standard English meaning of “to fall behind.” It appears in
in-game chats, on forums, and in gameplay footage on YouTube, among other places. It can be
used as a noun (“This lag is terrible”), verb (“I’ll be there soon, lagging”), or adjective (“My
GAMESPEAK 22
connection is really laggy right now”). Though similar to its Standard English meaning, it is an
interesting usage because it indicates that the user’s game is falling behind real time, where the
screen may jump around or even freeze, thus causing the user to be unable to move or complete
any in-game actions. Lags can also cause the user’s computer to disconnect from the game
server, potentially interrupting gameplay depending upon the severity of the lag. A whole host of
technical issues can be responsible for lags, from slow computers to unstable internet
connections, but the in-game consequences can be as severe as the death of the player character.
It is also interesting to note that lags are often blamed for a player’s in-game mistake or inability
to complete a task, even if the player’s connection/game is not truly lagging. As such, some
gamers seem to view the term negatively when used as an excuse (see Appendix A).
A couple of verbs that are repurposed are “farming” and “grinding.” Both have similar
meanings in gamespeak, but they have different connotations. Farming refers to gathering a
bunch of items or materials from a quest or other game area. The purpose these items/materials
serve can range, but it is usually to create or upgrade an in-game item. It is common to see the
term used in conjunction with “running a quest” as in “I’m going to run the quest to farm
_____.” Grinding, on the other hand, refers to repeating quests or specific parts of the game over
and over again in order to get specific items/materials or, more frequently, in order to gain
experience to level up one’s character. While farming has a neutral connotation, grinding is seen
in a negative light (Glossary, n.d.). Players often lament the fact that they must “level grind” to
take on the next stage of the game. The term is also occasionally used as an adjective, as in “a
grindy game,” which refers to a game where the player must repeat levels or quests in order to
gain items, experience, or other materials.
“Kiting” is also a repurposed verb, taken from its Standard English usage meaning to
GAMESPEAK 23
write a bad check. “To kite,” in gamespeak, means to attack an enemy from a distance while the
player character moves around to avoid damage from the enemy. It is a gameplay strategy, which
characters who specialize in ranged weapons commonly partake in, though it is possible to do so
with a melee character.
Examples of nouns that have been repurposed include “tank” and “build.” In gamespeak,
tank is used to describe certain character classes that typically help prevent other player
characters from taking damage. These characters are created so that they can withstand a lot of
hits without perishing, and they are typically high damage-dealing melee characters who rush
into battle on the frontlines. Tank can also be used as a verb (“tanking”) to describe the act of
serving as a tank character.
“Build” refers to how a character is made up, and, in this sense, it is very similar to the
term’s original meaning in Standard English. A character build does not refer to physical
attributes but rather what abilities were included when creating the character. Players often post
their own builds on forums as examples for other players to follow, and many new players will
ask for advice from seasoned players about what build they should play.
Curious to those native to American English, the term “aggro” is also a repurposed term,
carried over from British English. As defined by Merriam Webster, the British use of aggro is a
noun that means “deliberately aggressive, provoking, or violent behavior.” When used in the
game world, it refers to an enemy character’s aggression towards player characters. Player
characters can attempt to “aggro” a monster character by dealing a large amount of damage so
that the monster will focus on him or her. This is another gameplay strategy which helps divert
the monster’s attention away from weaker player characters (usually directing the attacks
towards the tank). In the game world, aggro can be a noun or a verb.
GAMESPEAK 24
Coinage of new terms. Any game world is likely to need new words in order to name
certain features, whether those features are playable character races, classes, game currencies,
weapons, spells, or locations. But beyond the creation of terms for the lore of the game, new
terms are also coined for general use. The examples that are covered here include “glass
cannon,” “meat shield,” and “zerg.”
The two noun phrases are both located in the DDO Wiki’s Glossary page, though their
use extends to other games. A glass cannon is a phrase used to describe a “very powerful but
very fragile character build” and “meat shield” is usually used for tanks, since they run in on the
frontlines and typically take the most damage (Glossary, n.d.).
Perhaps the more unique term here is “zerg,” which has several different definitions
across the online gaming communities. One definition says that it is “a slang term for a group of
low-level gamers who depend on overwhelming numbers to achieve victory, rather than relying
on technique or strategy.” The definition then expands the usage by stating, “Gamers essentially
team up and agree to attack a specific opponent at the same time. By forming a zerg, the gamers
can usually kill an enemy while taking general—but not fatal—damage as a group. This strategy
itself is known as zerging” (Techopedia, n.d.). By this definition, we can see that the term can be
used as a noun (the group itself is the zerg) or a verb (zerging).
However, the term is defined differently in other communities; it seems that the more
widely accepted meaning is players who zip through a quest at quick rates without taking time to
enjoy the narrative of the game or its finer details.
GAMESPEAK 25
Figure 1. Zerg in context on the DDO Reddit.
The origin of the term indicates that it was first a coinage and then repurposed. The term began
in the online game Starcraft, where it is the name of a playable alien race. These aliens are
known for their tendency to “use large numbers of fast, weaker units that can be built or rebuilt
quickly” (Zerg, n.d.). From here, the term was then repurposed into gamespeak in general as a
noun/verb indicating the speedy completion of quests or game objectives, since speed was the
identifying characteristic of this race of characters.
When it comes to the coinage of new terms in gamespeak, the possibilities are endless.
Though just a sampling was shown here, it is clear that terms can and will be created for
anything from in-game locations and races to unique ideas and strategies.
Case Analyses
In the previous sections, specific examples of gamespeak are classified by type,
identified, and briefly described. While this is not an exhaustive study, a few specific case
analyses will no doubt be helpful for understanding more fully what gamespeak is and how it
works. In lieu of in-game chat evidence, screenshots from forums and other primary sources are
included where possible.
General examples. On the official DDO Forums, user aletys posted a message reading
“Devs: Lag in Delara’s Graveyard is insane. Just went into Delera’s Graveyard to farm some
keys & chocolates” (2016). In this excerpt, we can see examples of two types of gamespeak:
general gamespeak terms and the gamespeak that covers the lore of the game. The words can be
GAMESPEAK 26
classified as follows: Gamespeak: devs (developers), lag (slow or crashing game), farm (gather
materials in large quantities). In-game knowledge: Delera’s Graveyard (area in the game), keys
and chocolates (items that appear in this game area, materials for obtaining other items).
Another example, taken from the DDO Reddit, can be seen below in Figure 2. The
language can be categorized as such: Gamespeak: Farming (gathering materials), THF (acronym
meaning “two-handed fighting”), barb (clipping of class known as “barbarian”), gearing (to put
armor and items on a character), and run (to play through a quest). In-game knowledge: first life
(in DDO, characters can be reincarnated, thus having multiple “lives”). In this example, we can
also see some attributes carried over from netspeak. We see the lack of apostrophes in “I’m” in
two instances, as well as a lack of capitalization for both “I’m” and “I.” There’s also a lack of
apostrophe in “it’s” and level is abbreviated to “lvl,” following a standard netspeak/gamespeak
tendency to leave out the vowels in words. “U” is also used in place of “you,” which is extremely
common in netspeak and textspeak, and there are also some misspellings, another hallmark of
texting/chatting online, as obvious mistakes are not corrected since it is assumed the audience
will figure it out. Most of the time, gamespeak is mixed with various netspeak/textspeak terms,
abbreviations, or stylistic choices. This can be attributed to all the communications being of the
CMC variety.
Figure 2. Examples of gamespeak in context.
Specific Examples. Delving into some more specific examples, it becomes clear how
diverse gamespeak really is. Though many words and phrases could be taken as specific case
analyses, the two mentioned here were selected for their uniqueness.
GAMESPEAK 27
Waggro. A more humorous term, “waggro” is a blend word between “aggro” (described
earlier in the paper) and “wife.” The term is supposed to describe when a wife makes her
husband quit playing his games in order to attend to adult-life matters (described on the DDO
Wiki as “going to Bed, Bath, and Beyond”) (Glossary, n.d.).
Figure 3. Imaginative “waggro” graph. Posted on the DDO Forums by user carll78 in a
discussion on the term.
The term does not appear to be incredibly popular, but it stands as a testament to the variety and
possibilities of gamespeak. Though it can be used rudely, the equivalent terms of husband aggro,
kid aggro, and parent aggro (haggro, kaggro, and paggro respectively) also exist.
Piking. “Piking” is a term that takes a bit of digging to get a good grasp on its origins. If
one were to ask different gamers what the term means, various answers would emerge. It is listed
on the DDO Wiki as “a player character that intentionally contributes nothing to a quest and
allows other party members to complete quests for them. This behavior is frowned [upon] by
some while permitted/encouraged by others” (Glossary n.d.). This meaning appears to be
accepted, at least in the world of DDO, and it also seems that the term is mostly unique to this
GAMESPEAK 28
game, though one Reddit user has mentioned seeing it used in City of Heroes (Corisilvermoon,
2017).
But how this term was brought into gamespeak is convoluted. On a Reddit thread I
created asking if anyone knew the origins of the term, several people responded with various
contributions. I was first told, via in-person communication, that the term was taken from
medieval pikemen who were sometimes regarded as useless; therefore, players who contributed
nothing to quests were considered useless and so called “pikers” (R. Clayton, personal
communication, January 2017). Players on the Reddit thread suggested that it came from “pikey”
which was a slang term for Gypsy in Middle English. A few also noted the usage in-game
originally came from the European game servers and then spread to others.
One user on Reddit contacted me privately about the origin of the term on DDO game
servers, and they also posted publicly the below information.
Figure 4. Explanation of piking posted in response to researcher’s Reddit thread.
From this we can see the term came about thanks to two individuals who permeated its use
throughout the game, where it caught on both in the game and on the forums. However, as
GAMESPEAK 29
evidenced in the screenshot, the old forums were deleted, thus tracing the term becomes difficult.
Regardless, it is clear that the term has been used in-game for quite some time. It is likely many
gamespeak terms come about and spread like this; such is the nature of the internet.
Derogatory examples. The internet is full of negative (and sometimes, downright
abusive) comments towards other users. The anonymity of the medium makes it far too simple
for users to antagonize one another. The world of online gaming is certainly no different. Players
can be harassed both in-game and outside of the game, whether on forums, YouTube channels,
or even on their personal social media and email accounts. While unfortunate, the negative uses
of gamespeak still warrant investigation. It is likely that much more negative usage occurs in
private chats and in-game voice chats, but there are still samples of it living elsewhere on the
web.
As previously discussed, the term “zerg” refers to players who prefer to zip through
quests as quickly as possible, without really taking the time to enjoy the details. Some players,
however, do not take well to this play style. Due to this, “groups that engage in zerging may be
called ‘zerglings’ in a derogatory sense” (the term “zergling” exists in Starcraft too, but not in
the derogatory sense) (Techopedia, n.d.).
Likewise, the term “noob” and its variants are perhaps one of the most common online
insults, both inside and outside the realm of online gaming. On one forum website, a user posted
a thread titled “When Noobs Strike” and asked others to post their “noob encounters” (Eli10293,
2015). In the screenshot (Appendix B) included with the post, an in-game chat in Minecraft is
shown. Another user writes in the chat “this cuause [sic] ur a noob but hackingg [sic] is
cheeating [sic],” and it is assumed this comment was directed towards the original poster. The
person who posted the screenshot appears to have spawned an item in-game and was then
GAMESPEAK 30
promptly labeled a “noob” for hacking, which here refers to using cheat codes in order get ahead
in the game or gain access to items a player normally would not have yet. Other users then
proceeded to respond to the original post with their own stories, often of being unfairly called out
on cheating or hacking, when in reality they all believed those doing the name-calling were the
actual noobs. In these instances, “noob” is thrown around by sore losers who believe their
opponents can only win by cheating.
There are also a couple of great examples of the negative side to gamespeak within DDO.
The first example is “Hi Welcome,” a phrase meant to convey “This problem has been here
forever. You must be new” that is “always considered derogatory” (Glossary, n.d.). It is a snarky
response to someone who complains about a known issue, most likely because the player is new
to the game or has not played for a while. While the player is unaware, most of the community is
familiar with the issue, so they appear to be irritated by posts like this. There is actually an entire
page on the DDO Wiki dedicated to this phrase, and it traces its usage from individual users,
demonstrating that it spread quickly. The phrase was later banned by the DDO Forums, though it
lives on elsewhere on the internet, namely Urban Dictionary (Hi Welcome, n.d.).
Another example from DDO is LTP (learn to play). LTP (also L2P) is a rude remark
directed towards users who are not playing as well as other players think they should. In Figure
5, the poster is writing in response to someone else. The tone is extremely condescending, and
the L2P occurs after an opinion that is worded quite rudely. Though immature in nature, it does
serve to illustrate how some gamers communicate negatively.
GAMESPEAK 31
Figure 5. Example of L2P in context.
Gaming is also not without sexist language, most often aimed specifically at female
players. Players who identify as female are harassed (mostly online but sometimes offline as
well), threatened, and generally mistreated by a subset of the male gaming population. Female
game developers are often disrespected, and some female gamers who dare criticize the very
male-oriented field of gaming receive graphic and violent rape and/or death threats. One
prominent example of this in recent history is known as Gamergate. Gamergate started when a
female game developer became the subject of an ex-boyfriend’s blog post about how she traded
sexual relations for advancement in her field. Though a person’s private life has nothing to do
with the games they develop, some in the gaming community latched on to the scandal,
threatening the female developer with rape and murder, eventually causing her to leave her
home. Some users posted her private photos as well as her home address online, making the
threats very real. In the fallout, several other females in the gaming industry were targeted, each
receiving harassment and threats so violent they were forced to get the police involved. Some of
them left the industry because of the mistreatment (Dewey 2014). Though misogynistic language
is widespread in gaming, since it does not relate to actual gamespeak (the language used is often
just Standard English, albeit crude and inappropriate language), this type of derogatory language
is outside the scope of this paper.
GAMESPEAK 32
How is Gamespeak Unique?
This final section will attempt to answer the questions of why gamespeak is unique and
what purposes it fulfills. To start, it is clear gamespeak shares many of the characteristics of
textspeak and netspeak. Many people rely on abbreviations, clippings, and the coinage of new
terms to communicate both quickly and effectively via text and online. Though not everyone
partakes in these dialects, they certainly do exist and thrive, typically carried on by younger
users. Online and digital languages usually omit punctuation, capital letters, and even words that
are not necessary to understand the meaning of a sentence. The result is that people can
communicate much more quickly, which mimics speech through text.
Gamespeak, at least in the in-game chats and to a lesser extent on forums and Reddit
threads, also tends to omit punctuation, capitalization, and parts of words. It also ignores
conventional spelling at times. It makes use of clippings, abbreviations, repurposed words,
blends, and new terms. Usually, these terms are unique to gamespeak, and sometimes they are
even unique to individual games. The initialisms popularized by netspeak and textspeak (e.g. lol,
ttyl, brb) make an appearance in gamespeak as well, but gamespeak takes it a step further by
having its own words not found in netspeak. It would be difficult to find non-gamer internet
users who know what the gamespeak usages of farming, piking, L2P, zerging, aggro, and the like
actually mean. Appendix C illustrates an example of a user struggling to play the game because
of the difference in language. In the post, the user comments they are a “total newb” and then
describes their issues with the game. The first two problems deal with gameplay mechanics and
the game itself, but the third problem is “trying to understand what everyone is saying.” This
user seems frustrated as they relate that “there are so many acronyms and other terms people use
that I have no clue what half of it means.” This is a typical reaction to gamespeak, even for those
GAMESPEAK 33
who are familiar with other games. Many times, users must spend a sizeable amount of time
learning the language of their game of choice before they can truly join the conversation.
Gamespeak appears to spread quickly and easily, thanks to the nature of the internet,
where online forums are utilized by many and it is very simple for a term to go viral. All it takes
is for one well-known user to utilize a term or a small group of users to repeatedly use a term for
it to become standard to the vernacular.
While textspeak and netspeak catch on because they allow users to communicate
effectively and quickly, this fact is even more important in gamespeak, where communicating
quickly can mean the difference between life and death of the player characters or completion or
failure of a quest. Use of a specific lingo also makes it easier to deal with in-game knowledge
and lore, since an entire concept can be summed up in a term or two. Gamespeak fills a gap
where gamers do not always have the necessary words to convey meaning, but it can also serve
to bully others, as evidenced by the examples highlighted in the derogatory section above. People
will always find ways to bully one another, whether that is online or in person, and gamespeak is
unfortunately no exception to this. It gives users yet another specialized lingo to use how they
please, whether that is simply to play games effectively or to ostracize those not “in the know”,
like cliquish teenagers. While it is likely this aspect of gamespeak is most prevalent in private
communications, it does happen quite a bit on forums and other online spaces.
Overall, gamespeak is an interesting phenomenon—how its terms and their origins come
about, how they spread and become part of standard use, and what kinds of terms can be created
are very diverse. There really are no limits.
GAMESPEAK 34
Conclusion and Future Research
The purpose of this paper is to provide an overview of the major attributes of gamespeak
as well as to report on its use, creation, and purpose. Due to the lack of research regarding
gaming and linguistics, much future research in the field is necessary. Larger studies would
hopefully include more detailed analyses of selected terms, including tracing their origins.
Observational studies of actual gamers using gamespeak in real time would also be beneficial, as
would studies on specific games.
Gamespeak, like its predecessors of netspeak and textspeak, is a unique dialect of English
that occurs when language meets yet another technology. Technology has huge effects on
language change, as evidenced by the studies that exist on other digital dialects. Gamespeak
covers a wide range of online games, with many terms overlapping in usage and even more
terms that are specific to each game. In order to be successful while playing with the masses, one
must be well-versed in both gamespeak and the language of the game lore. It is almost akin to
learning a separate language (though definitely not as complex), and one must learn the
specializations of that language as required by each game.
The main hallmarks of gamespeak include the use of abbreviations, blends, clippings,
new terms, and the repurposing of Standard English words. There is a lot of creativity that goes
into making these terms, and their spread is often viral thanks to the internet. Gamespeak is
found in in-game chats, YouTube videos, forums, sub-reddits, and many other websites.
Like all languages and subsets of language, gamespeak has its own forms of praises and
insults. Though the dialect can be used to bully and offend others (and a study related to
cyberbullying in the gaming world may prove useful here), it is largely used strictly for
communication purposes when speaking in game and about games.
GAMESPEAK 35
As a digital language, gamespeak will continue to change as the landscape of online
gaming changes. New terms will be created, old ones will die off, and the dialect will continue to
spread, mimicking the ways in which standard spoken and written languages morph over time as
they change and adapt constantly. So long as the world of online gaming exists, so too will its
gamespeak.
GAMESPEAK 36
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GAMESPEAK 40
Appendix A
Examples of outrage over using “lags” as an excuse for performing poorly.
GAMESPEAK 41
Appendix B
Screenshot demonstrating derogatory capacity of some gamespeak.
GAMESPEAK 42
Appendix C
An example of a user not understanding, due to gamespeak. Third paragraph from the bottom.