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What is it with MMO gamers and stupid language?


Crixaliss

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I've played various online games in my time, but this is my first real full step into the MMO world. I thought I'd seen it all - people pwning terribad nooblets for teh lulz... but no, apparently I've been missing out on a further lump of this depressingly pitiful speech thats been sitting here in MMOs all along.

 

Playing the game, you'd think that everything was fine and dandy - all the people I've spoken to in game, all the groups I've joined, everyone's spoken in perfectly normal everyday language, been polite, and not used dumbed down internet-speak. And yet, enter these forums, pick any thread you like to read through and you enter a world with a completely different language.

 

Ones that have grated on me the most so far browsing these forums:

 

- Faceroll easy (really doesn't need to be used in every single instance of saying something is easy does it?)

- epeen (come on, really? You're better than this, just use the word ego)

- Carebear (this one is just petty and childish)

 

And the final one that I actually find mildly amusing, is the insult: 'Kid'. The insulter is clearly only using it as a means to annoy and infuriate the person they're saying it to, which is a rather childish thing to do, thereby turning themselves into a 'kid', the very thing they're suggesting someone else is in order to annoy them... my mind is blown by the stupidity of it all.

 

We're clearly capable of talking in a normal manner in-game, can't it be the same when posting on the forums please? Enough dumb derogatory comments to people here please :)

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All game genres have their terms. Getting fragged with FPS games, for example.

 

A lot of the MMO terms originated from mistypes, from what I gather. "Pwned" for example began because the P and O keys are often mixed up when typing in a hurry. The term was originally "Owned", though I'm not sure who came up with that term or why.

 

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Faceroll, Epeen, and Carebear all have definitions that other words can't express as easily.

 

I could say "He's a PvE player who gets flustered by PvP and gets really angry when he gets ganked." or I could say Carebear and express that sentence in one word.

 

I could say you're "online reputation", or epeen. I'll take epeen, it's shorter.

 

I could say "So easy you could roll your face across the keyboard and win" or I can just say faceroll.

 

Language is meant to convey ideas, and the faster you can convey those ideas the better.

 

Of course, I'm one of those crazy people who is pro-universal phonetic English spelling reform.

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Faceroll, Epeen, and Carebear all have definitions that other words can't express as easily.

 

I could say "He's a PvE player who gets flustered by PvP and gets really angry when he gets ganked." or I could say Carebear and express that sentence in one word.

 

I could say you're "online reputation", or epeen. I'll take epeen, it's shorter.

 

I could say "So easy you could roll your face across the keyboard and win" or I can just say faceroll.

 

Language is meant to convey ideas, and the faster you can convey those ideas the better.

 

Of course, I'm one of those crazy people who is pro-universal phonetic English spelling reform.

 

l33t reply, man. You are epeen, you pwned this thread :cool:

 

Hehe, it is a well thought out and considered response. Very informative.

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All game genres have their terms.

 

Being a terminologist, I can say that the words would rather qualify as "professional slang" (they don't deserve to be called "terms/termini").

Actually, this is quite a natural process - people working/playing in the same field will sooner or later start to develop shortened words/assign new meanings to existing words for the sake of convenience and...ehh - epeen? Acronyms are extremely prevalent in internet-English, as I'm sure you've noticed.

It can be annoying and confusing for someone who is not familiar with them. Most people will explain things in standard English if you point out that you don't know the specilised slng too well, however. Either that or he'll say lolwtfl2porgtfonoob.

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The one that I'm beginning to find tiresome is accusing anybody with a different opinion of having "entitlement issues".

 

Well, to be fair, sometimes the opinion they have has been formed due to them having a false sense of entitlement.

 

Just because someone insults you for having a different opinion doesn't mean your opinion wasn't stupid. Sure, they could have shot it down more politely, but being rude doesn't invalidate a point.

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I've played various online games in my time, but this is my first real full step into the MMO world. I thought I'd seen it all - people pwning terribad nooblets for teh lulz... but no, apparently I've been missing out on a further lump of this depressingly pitiful speech thats been sitting here in MMOs all along.

 

Playing the game, you'd think that everything was fine and dandy - all the people I've spoken to in game, all the groups I've joined, everyone's spoken in perfectly normal everyday language, been polite, and not used dumbed down internet-speak. And yet, enter these forums, pick any thread you like to read through and you enter a world with a completely different language.

 

Ones that have grated on me the most so far browsing these forums:

 

- Faceroll easy (really doesn't need to be used in every single instance of saying something is easy does it?)

- epeen (come on, really? You're better than this, just use the word ego)

- Carebear (this one is just petty and childish)

 

And the final one that I actually find mildly amusing, is the insult: 'Kid'. The insulter is clearly only using it as a means to annoy and infuriate the person they're saying it to, which is a rather childish thing to do, thereby turning themselves into a 'kid', the very thing they're suggesting someone else is in order to annoy them... my mind is blown by the stupidity of it all.

 

We're clearly capable of talking in a normal manner in-game, can't it be the same when posting on the forums please? Enough dumb derogatory comments to people here please :)

 

I type the way I would speak(even if my typing/Grammar is terrible at times).

That's just internet Tough Guys and Trolls for you though. Some of them are even too stubborn to admit their wrong and it's really fun to toy with those ones. :)

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