Wednesday, December 31, 2014

Is There Any Terminology In Game That Bugs You?

I was breezing over threads on MMO-C while at work and came across one where a person seemed to be upset with the use of the DPS abbreviation for damage per second being used when groups are looking for damage dealers and believed they should be refereed to as DD as in, LF 2 DDs.

I never had a problem with it, even if I know DPS stands for damage per second, when I see someone post it in trade when looking for players.  My mind reads it as damage dealers.  Simple as that.  Even when I first started the game when I was getting a handle on things seeing people seeking DPS never seemed odd to me.  Maybe I can understand how it irks some people.  I have my own issues with some of the terminology in game.  And I have had my own misunderstandings on some terms over the years as well.

When I first started playing getting a handle on all these things was not really hard, but I never actually asked, I figured them out for myself over time.  The first one I recall seeing and not quite understanding was the when someone said, Selling [Awesome Bracers of Awesomesause] pst.

What the hell does pst mean, I thought to myself.  Kind of sounded like what someone would say when they were trying to get your attention in a quiet sort of way in real life, making a pst sound.  Where they trying to get my attention with a pst? Did they notice that the pst attention getting sound does not translate well in a game?  I would not go as far as to say it confused me, but it sure did not make any sense.

If I were interested in the item I would whisper the person.  I would either ask them what they wanted or I would come right out and make an offer and see if we could negotiate.  It was not so long before I figured out that pst stood for please send tell.  I am sure in some game that made a lot of sense but in terms of warcraft wouldn't psw have been more accurate as in meaning please send whisper?  The odd fitting term not actually fitting does not bother me however.

There were a few other things I had wondered about over time and many of them I still get a chuckle out of up to this day because even if I know what they mean I can not help but read them wrongly.

Like the first time I saw someone post in trade, lf healer for mara.  Being I always capitalize the beginning of a sentence, yes even in game, I read that as an I and not a lower case l.  So to me it read, if healer for mara, and I could not help but think, if healer for mara what?  As if they never completed their question.  If healer for mara gets silenced what do you do?  If healer for mara can not be found can we do it without one?  If healer for mara some question or another.  Finish your thoughts person, ask your question already.  It is annoying.

I still read it as that when I see it.  I hate to make it sound like I am a dope, but when it comes to that, I was a dope.  Every time I read that for the first few weeks I always read it as If and not lf.  It was not until I noticed a few times someone posting it with caps, as in, LF healer for mara, then it started to click.  It is L F and not I F.  Ah, I got it now.  But my mind, when people don't capitalize the lf still sees it as if and not looking for.  This too never bothered me really, just a simple misunderstanding and a wish that people would capitalize things like that.

Then they are are some profession ones that can't help but be joked about when you see them.  Like LF BS.  Well, this is warcraft's trade chat and if you are looking for bull shit you have come to the right place.  Or how about LF JC.  It makes me want to ask them later if they ever managed to find Jesus Christ.  Again, neither of these bother me.

But there are some things that do bother me, some words that will instantly turn me away from even talking to that person.  Some terminology that bothers me.

Bads.  That is one of the terms that bugs me.  Using the group finder I see a lot of people with comments like "no bads" or "bads will be kicked" or things similar to that.  I actively applaud their efforts and that seems like the type of group that will get stuff done.  They will have no tolerance for bad players and will remove them right away.  However the use of the word "bads" means I will never apply to their group, even if I do believe their group might have a good chance at success.

I find the term rude and insulting and up to interpretation.  It is not something that can simply be judged by game play.  The leader could find you bad because you do not know the strategy they use as you usually down it a different way, thus making you a bad.  You could only be putting out 20K DPS and even if that is your maximum potential at your gear level and you are doing exceptional, they can kick you for being bad while you are in fact doing amazing.  You could be healing your heart out and using every trick in the book, but because the DPS are dying to avoidable damage you are some how the bad and must be kicked.

So outside of being a rude and insulting term it is such an open ended term.  If you want someone that can pull 30K HPS, ask for that.  If you want someone that can pull 25K DPS, ask for that.  If you want someone that normally does twins at the door, ask for it.  Do not call someone a bad for not doing or knowing what you want them to do or know when you never told them what was expected from them.  Hate to break it to people that use "bads" in their group finder description but if you use the term "bads" you are most likely the "bad" you are trying to keep out of your group.

Healz (with a z).  This one I can not really say why it bugs me.  Is healer really that many extra letters that it takes so long to type that you have to ditch one letter.  LF 2 heals (with an s).  I swear even typing it I feel dirty, and when I type it with a z I feel as if I lost a few brain cells doing so.  Healers, healers, healers.  They are not heals, they are healers.

This might be right up there with the guy getting upset over the use of usage of DPS instead of DD in terms of silly reasons to be irked by the use of a term but it does really ring a bell for me and it is a bell I do not like rung.  I am sure we all have some weird things that bug us but this one is my one real weird one.

Over the years I have become more accepting of the term heals (with an s).  There are times where heals fits.  Like I need heals for my threes team.  We could have downed that boss if we had some more heals.  So it is understandable why people use heals as an abbreviation and I have come to terms with accepting it, some.  However, when they spell it healz (with a z), all bets are off.  That really gets on my nerves.  Do you think it makes you look cool to use a z in place of an s?  News flash for you, it doesn't, it makes you look partially illiterate.

Are there any terms in game you once did not know what they meant and have a funny story about them?  Are there any terms in game that just annoy you, like DPS for that one guy and healz for me?

20 comments:

  1. I won't apply for a group that says 'no bads' either. It seems like a lazy advertising, and if someone is lazy in their advertising they're likely to be lazy in their raid leading, which will lead to undercommunicating and wiping no matter how un-bad their group is.

    And I'm a mythic tank.

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    1. Nice to hear I am not the only person that dislikes that saying.

      I would prefer, "must do X DPS, X HPS, know mechanics and avoid the avoidable or be kicked."

      Basically, that says the same thing as no bads, but without being a jerk about it. Also, you know what to expect there. Not sure what to expect with no bads.

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  2. I remembered figuring out "pst" pretty quickly, but I came from City of Heroes and Star Wars Galaxies, where it was actually called a "/tell" instead of a whisper.

    I am probably guilty of weird abbreviations myself. This is mainly because I get bored in game and entertain myself by speaking strangely. Like I dont say DPS I say Deeps. That probably pisses a lot of people off.

    :D

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    1. Never played either of those games which could explain why it did not originally occur to me that it meant tell.

      I am not a deeps one either but that seems a rather acceptable one for most over all. A lot better than healz for sure.

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  3. Any time "ffs" or "go" (usually repeated) are posted in LFR or LFD, I instantly vote to kick!

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    1. go go go go go

      Those people are annoying as hell and are usually the first person that will screw something up because they are in a rush and do not understand that just because it is "trivial" content for them, it is not for randoms. The go go go people don't understand that sometimes an inexperienced tank or healer needs a couple of seconds between pulls.

      Heck, I am an experienced player and I would rather wait a few seconds between pulls than take the chance of wiping to an over pull any day.

      Delete
    2. holy cow. I hate "go" so much.

      as a tank in randoms...

      me: healer you good on mana?

      healer: no response.

      me: you good?

      healer: go.

      arghaghargh
      --
      Regards,

      regardsanon

      Delete
    3. Go or the more detailed just go are both very annoying. Even from the standpoint of a DPS myself. When someone in my group yells that I want to kick them. It is just rude. If you wanted to dictate the pace of the run, roll a tank.

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  4. I think that GG meaning "Good God, I assume" is used improperly a lot. It does piss me off, but it does make me puzzled when I see it used as a verb.

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    1. I can see how that one could be considered good god. From where I see it usually I always figured it meant good game and read it that way. For all I know that is not what it means and I've been reading it wrong all these years.

      Delete
    2. Anon, Grumpy's former Guild Leader:

      Context gives the meaning Good Game or alternately, a GD for Good Duel, most often used by duelists, especially in Goldshire. Yes, it took me a while to figure this out. GRIN...other times, it may well mean Good God or God Damn, again all in the context of the message.

      I used to always read LFM to mean Looking for Mage, instead of More. Gotten over that habit, but it took years.

      Otherwise, never had any problems with the standard acronyms for the game, having looked them up and pretty much memorized them early on. Leet speech on the other hand...I will be nice and say that I do not care for it.

      I generally expect that folks who use the word BAD are bad and for that reason, I have no desire what so ever to ever group with them. As an actual description of a bad player, for me, it depends on the attitude of the player and little to do with the skill level of the person.

      As an example, we have a pair of hunters in the guild, a husband and wife team, that are not particularly skilled players and DO HAVE significant trouble following directions, being easily distracted at inopportune times. But they are not BAD players, merely unskilled and distractable. They will try to follow directions and will succeed at it part of the time. In truth, they are much better PvP players, dealing with the chaos of a battlefield better than the set piece battles of PvE.

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    3. I have always hated the leet speak people. It just makes me think that some kid that got hit in the head with a hammer a few times was suddenly allowed to play on a computer.

      Delete
  5. Haven't seen anyone else post this but there is one that has now seems to have become the go to saying that drives me crazy. "Toon", let me switch to my other "Toon" etc.

    I hate this sooo much. WTF is a toon this isn't a cartoon. I so don't get it and still hate it so much. It should be char (for character), or alt, or anything else. Avatar is a bit weird to me but not offensive.

    Not sure why "Toon" bothers me so much, but truly hurts my soul, and pretty much everyone now uses it that I see.

    I am also very bothered by shortening of words for no reason, I love acroynms a lot (BRT, BRB, AFK, ect) but I can't stand w8, thx, u.

    Whisper is still weird to me I always /tell not /whisper or /w but I started with MMOs in DAoC and played a few others before WoW.

    I have been following more esports stuff (Starcraft, LoL, even Hearthstone) lately and it's a bit interesting seeing terms that are super common there that arn't as big into the MMO community. GLHF (good luck have fun) I feel like typing at the start of battlegrounds now (but typically don't)
    GG (good game), this seems pretty common in wow BGs now.

    BM is another that is weird to me (Bad Manners) which isn't even a term I'd heard before but some Canadians in my guild used it before so I think it is regional term.

    Anyway sorry for the ramble I find the short cuts/terms interesting.

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    1. Toon is not new at all. Actually remember people using that 15 years ago, maybe even longer. Sure, even then character was more popular, but toon has always been around and is used quite often. It does not sound "right" when compared to character, but it is not wrong to use either.

      I hate things like w8, plz, etc as well. One of the ones that really gets me is neway, as in anyway. What are you really saving, one letter?

      Never heard of BM being used for bad manners. Guess because in wow BM means beast mastery and has since the same started.

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  6. There aren't really any terms used that bother me a lot. I'm not really a fan of 'healz' but it doesn't set my teeth on edge. What does is people misspelling stuff like 'rogue' as 'rouge' and the like. Even worse if it's an actual rogue. It's right there on your character and if you feel uncertain about it take two seconds to check.

    As for stuff I didn't get at first there are two abbreviations I remember seeing that threw my brain for a loop (and in the wrong direction.) OS 3D I used to see people looking for groups for it in trade and I wondered what sort of a thing in WoW was specifically 3D. lol
    The other on happened to me in Pandaria. I'd see people posting 'LF1M DPS for HS' and without fail every time I'd wonder why they needed a group for High School. Even after I figured it out my brain still read High School first before remembering it was Heroic Scenario.

    Pst seemed like Psssst to me when I first saw it too.

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    1. Glad I am not the only one that read pst as psssst. lol

      I call my rogue a rouge on purpose on voice chat. I think I rarely refer to him as a rogue just as a joke. Funny part is nearly everyone in guild calls it a rouge instead of a rogue. Probably to make fun of it but it turned out to be that is what it is called now. If someone says rogue on voice chat we say, no, its rouge.

      Did not even think of OS 3D, I can see how that could really get many people.

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  7. Oh, and another one that gets me grumpy!
    When people refer to each other by their role or class in random groups, it really sets my teeth on edge.
    "wtf tank!1"
    "huntr u r bad"
    " omg healz"

    It's not bad enough to reach for the vote-kick button yet, but it just strikes me as being unforgivably lazy.

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    1. That one sometimes bothers me. If it is a random dungeon I do not mind. It is easier than trying to remember everyones name. So if someone says hunter trap the square I do not mind.

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  8. Generally speaking I don't have a problem with excessive abbreviations as long as they serve some sort of functional purpose, e.g. "LF2M DPS SoO 14/14 exp" lets everyone know exactly what's going on. It's abbreviations that are used for no good reason that get to me the most. Back in TBC I'd regularly see people typing things like "LFG heroic slabs" followed by one or more people (sometimes via macros) informing them that "there's no S in labyrinth."

    The other issue I have is when people abbreviate random things seemingly for no reason. For example, when IKR first started being used I thought it was the dumbest thing ever. I eventually accepted it (grudgingly) as shorthand for "I Know, Right?" It has since been replaced by the newest dumbest thing ever which is DAE - "Does Anyone Else."

    DAE hate random abbreviations as much as I do?

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    1. I don't think I have ever heard of the DAE yet, until now, but the IKR I have seen popping up a lot more often. Sometimes I see some weird combo of letter and honestly have no clue what they mean.

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