If you ever feel lost or confused about any terms people use within gaming, I have made a list of all the terms I can explain! These will be categorized by what genre they are commonly used in such as first person shooter, real-time strategy, and role playing games, etc. The terms will not be any particular order. This will be a running list so if I miss anything let me know so I can add them!
General
Terms that are used in all types of games
AFK
Acronym for the phrase “Away from keyboard” used to describe a player who is idle or not actively playing the game.
MIA
Acronym for the phrase “Missing in action” used to alert that the enemy is currently missing to allies.
KDA
Acronym for the in-game statistics of Kill, Death, Assist, usually presented in a ratio that appears to spell out the acronym K/D/A.
Animation Cancel
To prematurely end the animation of a certain action in order to achieve efficiency, such as canceling an animation or reloading a weapon to fire it sooner.
Comms
An abbreviation for the word “communications”. Forms of comms can be either messaging apps such as Discord, Skype, and Teamspeak or can be in-game services like voice chat or text chat.
Clear Comms
A request to silence communications, either to achieve organization or as a joke to mock professional’s.
Grind / Grinding
The practice of doing something over and over again to gain some sort of progress.
First Person Shooters
Terms that are commonly tied with games that put the player in a first person perspective and have the gaming experience of shooting enemies.
FPS
Acronym for the word first person shooter.
Hip-fire
Firing a gun without aiming down the sights, usually to the disadvantage of inaccuracy.
ADS
Acronym for the action aim down sights or aiming down sights. Aiming down sights usually increases accuracy.
Spray Pattern
Common in games such as Counter-Strike and Valorant where firing a gun causes its bullets to follow a pattern. Part of the skill of these games come from controlling the spray pattern in order to get all the bullets to land where desired.
Camping
When a player sits and waits, usually in a corner or some form of concealment such as bushes, for enemies to come and kill them.
One-shot
A call out to allies that an enemy is one shot away from being dead.
3rd Party
To jump into a fight between 2 people/squads. Common in battle royale games.
Trickshot
To kill an enemy in a flashy, impractical way. Most iconic example being a 360 no scope.
360 No Scope
To spin around in a circle and fire a sniper rifle without aiming to kill an enemy.
Real-Time Strategy
Terms that are commonly used in games that have the player control multiple units/characters.
Macro
Refers to the management of economy and unit production.
Micro
Refers to controlling units to get the most value for them. Short for micromanaging or micromanagement.
Housed/Pop Capped
When you have reached the limit of how many units you can make.
Role Playing Games
Terms that are commonly used in games that have the player create character(s) and/or edit specific attributes like strength or intelligence and have them participate in a story either created by the developers of the game or by and with other online players.
Fail-rp
To break character or fail to roleplay. More common in role playing servers in Garry’s Mod.
KOS
Acronym for kill on sight.
Multiplayer Online Battle Arena
Isometric games where teams of 5 fight against each other
MOBA
Acronym for the game genre multiplayer online battle arena. Example being, League of Legends, Dota 2, and Heroes of the Storm.
Faker
Refers to Korean esport player legend that goes by the name Faker, used to describe a player who is displaying professional level performance. Usually found in the game League of Legends.
Fighting Games
Invincibility Frames (I-Frames)
Refers to a time when you are invincible to damage.