comboable

comboable (comparative more comboable, superlative most comboable)

more comboable (comparative)
most comboable (superlative)

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As for the lack of variety in fighting styles, shrug, if you say so, I
think they're quite varied. I mean, the wrestlers are both wrestlers,
so yeah, they grab a lot. But one uses spinning roundhouses and
reversals, and flashy kicks and pounces. The other is more comboable
but plainer looking in moves and flash, but terribly efficient...

1996 January 31, CreeD, “Tekken Strategies NO less than VF2”, in rec.games.video.arcade (Usenet):

OTOH, Jam is pretty damn incredible too. You can do some really insane combos with
her, especially after using the d,d + attack powerups. And her Destroy move is
easily comboable because it has so little startup.

2000 December 18, Jonathan Winkler, “way OT: Guilty Gear X”, in alt.games.sf2 (Usenet):

(video games) Able to perform a combo with or on.


rushdown

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(video games) In fighting games, a strategy that aims to overwhelm the opponent through speed and aggression.


full combo

Did you get a full combo on that song?

(video games) The achievement of correctly hitting all the notes of a level in a rhythm game.


music game

(video games) A game where the player performs actions timed to music, a rhythm game.


boomer shooter

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Doom, Quake, and Duke Nukem 3D are boomer shooters.

first-person shooter
first-person shooter

(Internet slang) A first-person shooter of the kind popular in the 1990s, focusing on action rather than realism.


b-hop

en-verb

b-hop (third-person singular simple present b-hops, present participle b-hopping, simple past and past participle b-hopped)

b-hops (present singular third-person)
b-hopping (participle present)
b-hopped (participle past)
b-hopped (past)


FemHawke

Daaawwww. 2nd playthrough of DA2 and my FemHawke Mage just had the 1st romance scene with Anders. So cute.

2011 March 15, Rexluna (@RexlunaCosplay), Twitter:

I also have one male Hawke and all the rest are FemHawkes.

2013 March 2, MsinVader47 (@Vader47), Twitter:

Pretty sure that Ciri is voiced by the same VA as FemHawke in DA2.... giving me all the Dragon Age feels.

2015 June 17, Kelly (@mindofgeekness), Twitter:

(fandom slang, video games) The female version of the Hawke player character from the video game Dragon Age II.


Femquisitor

You know what's nice? The Qunari Femquisitor is taller than everyone else. Yes. Good.

2014 June 11, Bryce (@robothyenas), Twitter:

Been looking at too many cool Femquisitors and now I want to restart again :(

2015 January 8, Garrus Dating Sim (@aitchsee), Twitter:

i fucking love blackwall, his romance is SO underrated. when i'm playing a femquisitor, he's the one i default to. 💖

2020 December 15, ϯ♄𝚎 ƃစဌ 𝜛ῑϯ⸦♄ (@dalishkadan), Twitter:

(fandom slang, video games) The female version of the Inquisitor player character from the video game Dragon Age: Inquisition.


Quizzy

From an affectionate shortening of inquisitor + -y.

I'm just glad that I can't lose approval with Cullen. He hearts my Quizzy no matter what. TRUE LOVE GUYS TAKE NOTE.

2014 December 24, Ash (@LadyFaceshred), Twitter:

Most of my DA art is of Fenris and Hawke (male) or my elf Quizzies and Iron Bull.

2018 November 29, Diana Davidsson (@Omegasama_art), Twitter:

FINALLY played The Decent DLC with a dwarf Quizzy and I flippin love it more than ever.

2022 June 1, Jen (@jentrevellan), Twitter:

(fandom slang, video games) The Inquisitor player character from the video game Dragon Age: Inquisition.


FemQuis

As a future FemQuisitor I appreciate all awesome artwork and posters that feature our awesome Femquis.

2014 November 6, Rogue_Slayer (@Rogue_Slayer), Twitter:

Luckily, I found a Youtube^([sic]) of the scene that exactly mirrors mine (Dalish Femquis, same mix of companions, etc)

2015 April 1, AutographedCat (@autographedcat), Twitter:

No kidding. I kept trying to romance Cass as a Femquis on PS4 but forgot about that. Flirting with Harding eased the pain.

2015 September 5, Bubblegumnex (@bubblegumnex), Twitter:

(fandom slang, video games) Synonym of Femquisitor.


hackusation

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2021 November 28, “Dr Disrespect Is Worried About 'Hackusations' Invading Halo Infinite”, in GameRant:

2022 March 26, “ZLaner slams “delusional” Warzone fans still making hackusations against streamers”, in Dexerto:

(video games) An accusation against another player of hacking (cheating).


surprised Pikachu

en-noun

surprised Pikachu (plural surprised Pikachus)

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Some of Broncos Country is left fuming over a start so poor that it is the only team in franchise history that has been this inept, but the rest of us are wearing the surprised Pikachu face.

2019 October 2, James Burky, “Fangio not at fault for foul start to season”, in The Metropolitan, MSU Denver, page 8:

Then without saying so much as a goodbye to Laurie or Steve, who has just arrived at the scene with a surprised-Pikachu look on his face, Will marches toward the exit.

2020, Isla Chiu, Ringing in the Lunar New Year, unnumbered page:

"I don't choose my monsters based on how cute they are, you know."
"You don't?! Really?"
Duh. Why the surprised Pikachu face?

2022, Yuu Tanaka, translated by Yuko C. Shimomoto, A Late-Start Tamer’s Laid-Back Life: Volume 3, unnumbered page:

(Internet slang) Synonym of shocked Pikachu.


RP walk

en-verb

RP walk (third-person singular simple present RP walks, present participle RP walking, simple past and past participle RP walked)

RP walks (present singular third-person)
RP walking (participle present)
RP walked (participle past)
RP walked (past)

(video games) To make the character one's playing walk, as opposed to running, which is the default form of character movement in most video games.


BotW

(video games, slang) Initialism of Breath of the Wild, short for The Legend of Zelda: Breath of the Wild.


Metroidlike

So glad I took the time to check out Hollow Knight. $15 is a steal for this gorgeous gem of a Metroidlike (Metroidvania IF YOU MUST).

2017 March 11, MANvsGAME, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-08-02:

Got this today. The package looks amazing. Lets check this amazing metroidlike
#NintendoSwitch #axiomverge #metroidlike

2018 April 18, TheRealPit0, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-08-02:

It's too bad nobody remembers the beautiful, redheaded homage to Samus Aran that was Jenosa Arma from Scurge: Hive (GBA / NDS)
Isometric metroidlike action RPG bounty hunter heroine. She's quite wonderful.

2018 November 2, OhNoItsGlitch, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-05-24:

i love games that are roguelikes and soulslikes, but also metroidbornes and soulsbornes and metroidlikes as well as permabornes, bornevanias and roguevanialikes

2018 November 26, warm_blankets, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-08-02:

Gato Roboto is a sharp and clever Metroidlike, you're playing a cat named Kiki, they is suiting a mech, to save Gary ! #NintendoSwitch

2019 December 29, grosguerrier, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-08-02:

metroidvania is a stupid word, castlevania didn't do shit, everything in that genre pulls way more from metroid. anything new sotn brought is barely ever used (also it sux...!!!)
this is my stupid hot take hill i will die on.
also why i passive-aggressively call them metroidlikes

2021 August 6, NotDolphy, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-08-06:

Only castelvania games can be metroidvanias. The rest are simply Metroidlikes. Give credit where it's due.
If you use "Roguelike" (named after the game Rogue), you can suck it all the way up and give Samus her credit!

2021 October 29, parkerrsimmons, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-10-29:

They're all called Metroidlikes going forward because we're not going to dignify Konami any longer.

2022 February 3, ziggybull, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-02-03:


Simblr

Simblrs may contain a range of content from downloadable mods, sims, houses, and custom content to stories, gameplay shots, animated GIFs, and personal blog posts.

2015, Ruth A. Deller, "Simblr famous and SimSecret infamous: Performance, community norms, and shaming among fans of The Sims", Transformative Works and Cultures, Number 18 (link)

I'm sure you will be impressed by the content of this Simblr: downloads, pictures, a legacy challenge...

2015 March, “Simblrs”, in Sims Vita, number 2, page 71:

I only have a few close friends who know my Simblr, and they haven't spoken to me about it yet […]

2018, Reshaaa, quoted in "Say It Loud", Vibez Sim Magazine, Issue Four (2018), page 22

(fandom slang) A Tumblr blog focused on The Sims.


undub

undub (third-person singular simple present undubs, present participle undubbing, simple past and past participle undubbed)

undubs (present singular third-person)
undubbing (participle present)
undubbed (participle past)
undubbed (past)

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(transitive, video games) To unofficially modify (a video game) so as to restore the original spoken audio that had been localized for export, while retaining the translated text of the target language.


undub

(video games) A version of a video game that has been modified in this way.


(fandom slang) Initialism of Dragon Age 3.


(fandom slang) Initialism of Dragon Age 1.


Dragon Age 4
w:Dragon Age: The Veilguard

(fandom slang) Initialism of Dragon Age 4.


(fandom slang) Initialism of Mass Effect 4.


MEA

Mass Effect: Andromeda
w:Mass Effect: Andromeda

(fandom slang) Initialism of Mass Effect: Andromeda.


DAII

(fandom slang) Initialism of Dragon Age II.


Shenko

Finished my Shenko doodle but tumblr is barfing all over me. *kicks tumblr*

2011 July 8, Kia Purity (@kiapurity), Twitter:

I don't get some Shenko fans. It's like, yeah Kaidan is my space husbando but I ain't gonna flip shit if you don't like him lmao

2012 December 9, hannah (@floraofmoon), Twitter:

I have just read a 500k word Shenko fic that was far better than the game.

2020 February 5, Siân (@alphra_), Twitter:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Commander Shepard and Kaidan Alenko from the video game series Mass Effect.


Surprisingly, ME3 proves to be a fantastic entry point into the series for new recruits.

2012 April, Adam Mathew, “Mass Effect 3”, in PlayStation Magazine, Australia, page 60:

In ME3, they have a deep friendship with hints of possibly more.

2013 June, Francesca Reyes, “Goodnight Shepard”, in Xbox 360 Magazine, page 48:

We know that a lot of you PlayStation fans won't have played the first Mass Effect game because of the fact that it didn't originally release on PS3, meaning that there are a whole contingent of Mass Effect players who only ever played ME2 and ME3.

2016, “Mass Effect”, in Play Magazine, number 266, UK, page 82:

(fandom slang) Initialism of Mass Effect 3.


Shiara

i'm having so many shiara feelings lately and i don't know why oh my god i love liara so much what a cutie

liara and f!shepard are the best. I love them. I love my Shep and Liara, i love seeing other people's f'sheps and Liara. Shiara is too pure

2016 November 17, Yeehaw Todd (@AfroPrincex), Twitter:

Daily reminder that I stan Shiara and that I live and die for them

2021 February 25, Atrast nal Tunsha, salroka (@Illusive_s0ul), Twitter:

(fandom slang) The ship of characters Commander Shepard and Liara T'Soni from the video game series Mass Effect.


[…] and it bores so rarely that ME2 lifts the benchmark for game writing set by the original.

2010 April, Jon Blyth, “Mass Effect 2”, in PC Zone, page 76:

Therein lies ME2's greatest hook: real emotional investment.

2011 March, Adam Mathew, “Mass Effect 2”, in PlayStation Magazine, Australia, page 70:

The true femmes fatales of the series are the Ardat-Yakshi, and one side quest in ME2 even requires the player to hunt down a serial killer Ardat-Yakshi named Morinth who tries to seduce Shepard and will kill him/her if he/she is unable to resist her.

2023, Sarah Stang, “Desirable and Undesirable Cyborg Bodies in the Mass Effect Video Game Trilogy”, in Julia A. Empey, Russell J. A. Kilbourn, editors, Feminist Posthumanism in Contemporary Science Fiction Film and Media: From Annihilation to High Life and Beyond, Bloomsbury Publishing, →ISBN, →LCCN, →OCLC, page 107:

(fandom slang) Initialism of Mass Effect 2.


PoE

(video games) Initialism of Path of Exile.


no johns

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Coined by Super Smash Bros 64 player Jesse "Zulu" Fuentes in the late 1990s, in reference to his friend John who would often make unconvincing excuses after losing a game.

“No Johns” is such a ubiquitous phrase in the Smash scene that it’s even inspired regional variations around the world. No Stacos. No Tiesos. No Joshis. Igna Yunas, in Swedish. It even made it into Smash itself: One of the “random” names that players can assign themselves in the Wii U and Switch versions of the fighting game is NOJOHNS.

2019 September 16, Cecilia D'Anastasio, “How A High School Smash Bros. Joke Became A World-Famous Saying”, in Kotaku:

(slang, video games, Super Smash Bros) No excuses (after losing a game).


hardlock

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(video games) A situation where a game becomes unplayable, making further progress or action impossible, typically due to a design flaw or glitch.


hardlock

hardlock (third-person singular simple present hardlocks, present participle hardlocking, simple past and past participle hardlocked)

hardlocks (present singular third-person)
hardlocking (participle present)
hardlocked (participle past)
hardlocked (past)

(video games, transitive or intransitive) To be in or cause a hardlock; to transition to becoming unplayable.


cupsona

Just wanted to share again that my cupsona is a beerstein Hahaha I could go for a drink right now #cuphead

2017 October 16, Louie Ramos (@battz_lu), Twitter:

i dont play cuphead but at this point im p convinced my cupsona would jjust be an ikea glass

2017 October 18, ßilly ßadass🌸 (@peerifool_), Twitter:

Had to do it, had to make a cupsona... Well, more like just an oc but still!!

2019 April 19, Amberlea (@Amberlea_draws), Twitter:

(fandom slang) A Cuphead alter ego or self-insert character created by a fan, typically having some form of beverage container for a head.


BYOC

Across the partition is the pitch-black BYOC area. That's BYOC as in “bring your own computer.” A major gaming event like CPL Winter always consists of two separate attractions.

2008, Michael Kane, Game Boys […] , Penguin, →ISBN:

That said, it's important to discuss the ways in which attendees—particularly those simply playing together on the demo stations and bring-your-own-console (BYOC) floor compared to the tournament matches—played socially.

2013, Todd Harper, The Culture of Digital Fighting Games: Performance and Practice, Routledge, →ISBN, page 81:

(video games) Initialism of bring your own computer (or console).


Minecraftian

en-adj

Minecraftian (comparative more Minecraftian, superlative most Minecraftian)

more Minecraftian (comparative)
most Minecraftian (superlative)

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It’s time to go deeper into Minecraft, to not just learn how to be great at playing Minecraft, but to dive into every crevice of Minecraftian knowledge that there is in the world.

2015, Trevor Talley, “Introduction”, in Master Builder 3.0 Advanced: Minecraft®™ Secrets and Strategies from the Game’s Greatest Players, Triumph Books, →ISBN, page 5:

A Note to Parents (…and grandparents, aunts and uncles, teachers, and all other Minecraftian grown-ups)

2015, James H. Clark, Cori Dusmann, John Moltz, The Visual Guide to Minecraft, Peachpit Press, →ISBN, page xii:

Cracked and CollegeHumor have taken its pop cultural musings and made them into a Minecraftian mini-world from which there’s no escape.

2015 October 2, David Berry, “The glory days of National Lampoon revisited”, in Calgary Herald, page C2:

Much, perhaps most, Minecraft fiction follows the robinsonade template, emphasizing the day-to-day life of a character, including nonhuman characters, striving to survive and thrive in a recognizably Minecraftian world by utilizing its resources.

2020, Michael T. Wilson, “Minecraft Fiction”, in Anne H. Stevens, Molly C. O’Donnell, editors, The Microgenre: A Quick Look at Small Culture, Bloomsbury Academic, →ISBN:

(video games) Of, pertaining to, or characteristic of Minecraft.


Minecraftian

(video games, rare) A person who plays the game Minecraft; a Minecrafter.


ggs

(online gaming slang) Initialism of good games.


main menu

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My computer's so slow, it takes two minutes just to load the main menu.

(computing, video games) A list of principal options, usually presented to the user immediately upon the launch of a computer program or video game.


Fortniter

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When a clubhouse attendant brought a PlayStation4 to the Suns clubhouse, the dynamic shifted and helped turn some 70% of the team into Fortniters.

2018 May 22, Gabe Lacques, “Popular battle royale video game extends reach to dugout”, in Statesman Journal, volume 167, number 39, page 5C:

An inveterate Fortniter, Price immediately came under media suspicion of going too deep and too late into his video game starts (anybody know the seven-inning equivalent of a twitch count?).

2018 October 7, Kevin Paul Dupont, “Canucks’ games are all on the ice”, in Boston Sunday Globe, volume 294, number 99, page C5:

Make sure your island is 100 percent completed and fully functional before publishing it. If you need to make changes to your island after it’s been published, it will receive a new code. Any Fortniter can then access the Creative Hub,[…].

2019, Jason R. Rich, Creative Expert for Fortniters: An Unofficial Guide to Battle Royale, Hollan Publishing, →ISBN:

A player of the online video game Fortnite.


WoWer

Well, I have to say I was a reluctant WoWer, but I have been into gaming since I was young, before college.

2007 January 28, John Faherty, quoting Luoluo Hong, “Dean of students accomplishes objectives, forms friendships … and then there’s her job”, in The Arizona Republic, 117th year, number 255, page B2:

Yup, World of Warcraft has been an amazing success: a massively multiplayer game that is easy to learn, addictive, and requires months of overuse to master to reach the highest levels to then join guilds to cruise around in packs with other like-minded WoWers.

2011, Andy Kessler, Eat People: And Other Unapologetic Rules for Game-Changing Entrepreneurs, Portfolio / Penguin, →ISBN, page 206:

These guilds and friendships form across age, class, and gender divides, and yet, in the context of the game, all share a collective identity as WoWers.

2020, Marcella Szablewicz, “Carving Out a Spiritual Homeland”, in Mapping Digital Game Culture in China: From Internet Addicts to Esports Athletes (East Asian Popular Culture), Palgrave Macmillan, →ISBN, page 121:

A player of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft.


VACation

en-noun

VACation (countable and uncountable, plural VACations)

From VAC, initials of the Valve Anti-Cheat software, and vacation.

(video games, slang) A user's enforced absence from the Steam video-gaming service and its community, as a result of being banned for cheating.


Nuzlocke

John Locke (Lost)
List of generation III Pokémon#Nuzleaf
Lost (2004 TV series)

Blend of Nuzleaf + Locke. From the title of Nuzlocke Comics, which features a Pokémon, Nuzleaf, drawn to resemble John Locke from Lost as a recurring character.

Here are the rules for a Nuzlocke:
• If a Pokemon faints, it’s dead. You need to release it, store it in a box for the rest of the run, or transfer it to another game. You can’t use it until you’ve successfully become the Pokemon League Champion and completed the Nuzlocke.
• You can only catch the first Pokemon you encounter in each location. This includes caves, towns, routes, and so on - if the area has an official title, it counts as an independent location where you can capture one single Pokemon, provided it’s the first one you come across. If you make it faint or it flees, you can’t catch a new one - no second chances. This doesn’t apply to static encounters, although using Legendary Pokemon is frowned upon. You can catch Shiny Pokemon regardless of the rules, although the consensus on whether or not they’re allowed to be used is widely disputed.

2021 January 8, Cian Maher, “The Nuzlocke Challenge Is The Best Thing That Ever Happened To Classic Pokemon”, in The Gamer, archived from the original on 2022-09-19:

(Pokémon) A self-imposed challenge where the player can only catch the first wild Pokémon encountered in each area, and any caught Pokémon that faints cannot be used again.

Ok now that Ive done two impromptu nuzlockes of games outside Pokemon (Mario Odyssey and Kirby Super Star). Im starting to think where else I can push it lol
Splatoon 2 Nuzlocke? Start from fresh save file and try to make it to X rank. If you lose a match you lose that weapon 🤔

2020 January 26, Failboat103, Twitter, archived from the original on 2020-01-27:

(by extension) A similarly challenging playthrough of any game other than Pokémon.


code wheel

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A flat circular object consisting of concentric portions printed with codes or patterns that appear at certain positions as the wheel is rotated, used as a form of copy protection distributed with older video games.


TRPG

roleplaying game
roleplaying game#English

(games) Initialism of tabletop roleplaying game.

tactical role-playing game
tactical role-playing game#English

(video games) Initialism of tactical role-playing game.


SRPG

(video games) Initialism of strategy roleplaying game.


damage boost

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(video games) The situation where the player character deliberately takes damage in order to use the resulting brief period of invulnerability to pass an upcoming hazard.


yellow light of death

yellow light of death (plural yellow lights of death)

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(video games) A general hardware failure in the PlayStation 3 video game console and related to an issue on the motherboard, the power supply, commonly caused by a degraded capacitor.


RRoD

Alternative form: RROD

If you no longer have a warranty on your Xbox, and you've gotten the dreaded Red Ring of Death ... there's still hope. The RRoD is displayed by the 360's "Ring of Light" when there's a general hardware failure.

2008, Jake "Biggs" Turner, “Fix the Red Ring of Death! (without towels!)”, in The Best of Instructables, volume 1, Sebastopol, CA: O'Reilly Media, →ISBN, page 247:

After a great deal of pressure, Microsoft tacitly recognized the RRoD epidemic, and announced extended warranty support that would cost the company more than one-billion dollars.

2011 October 25, Gerry Block, “Xbox 360 RRoD Failures Finally Explained”, in IGN:

The Xbox One fiasco is not the first time that Microsoft has tried to ride out a wave of unpopularity by simply pretending the problem doesn’t exist. But with the Red Ring of Death (RROD) it succeeded.

2013 June 21, Roger Hargreaves, “The 10 greatest disasters in video games history – from Xbone to E.T.”, in Metro:

red ring of death
red ring of death#English

(video games) Initialism of red ring of death.


Candy Crusher

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These “candy crushers” are among the millions who have become hooked on the online game Candy Crush Saga, which many play through Facebook.

2013 April 25, Joe Sylvester, “Gamers have a ‘crush’ on ‘candy’”, in The Times Leader, page 1C:

Sure, in the moment you may want to scream at a senior citizen, kick a puppy or burn your home to the ground, but there’s no greater feeling than bonding with another Candy Crusher over how insane the game makes you.

2013 June 21, John Boone, “6 Reasons Candy Crush Saga Is the Most Infuriating Game...Ever”, in E! News; quoted in Bob Johnson, “This Crush harmless; or at least that’s hope”, in Daily Journal, 2013 June 25, page B8:

For Facebook users, your progress up the levels can automatically be sent in updates to your Facebook friends (as well as fellow Candy Crushers who you probably don’t even know, so you can see how you measure up).

2013 July 30, Steve Dorfman, “Are you obsessed with Candy Crush? Popular online video game is not so sweet for relationships.”, in The Palm Beach Post, volume 105, number 128, page D5:

Now I must admit that unlike many of you fellow Candy Crushers I am only on a meager level 50.

2013 October 24, Kimberlei N. Davis, “‘Sweet,’ ‘tasty,’ ‘delicious’ … ‘Sugar Crush’”, in The Times and Democrat, volume 132, number 297, page A2:

Still, it’s not just the decline of civilisation that worries me, nor the (related) effect on Tube manners (Candy Crushers are rarely very chivalrous). Moreover, you could argue that if it wasn’t for smartphones, it would be Sudoku or crosswords or scrimshaw.

2014 March 26, Richard Goodwin, “Candy Crush is the crystal meth of the commute”, in Evening Standard, page 17:

It is open to everyone-from hardcore gamers to Candy Crushers and role-playing adventurers.

2014 September 21, “Philanthropies”, in News Sentinel, page 2E:

Each phone is taken from one of two cardboard boxes at the front of the bus, silently passed along between the Candy Crushers and, with an occasional over-the-shoulder gesture, moved through an elaborate process to another cardboard box in the back.

2018, Douglas Lain, The Bash Bash Revolution, Night Shade Books, →ISBN:

These are the slaves to technology: the Candy Crushers, the Facebook fanatics, the Insta-idlers, the Snapchat servants and Twitter twiddlers who spend every spare minute absorbed by their screens.

2018, Jack Lewis, The Science of Sin: Why We Do The Things We Know We Shouldn’t, Bloomsbury Sigma, →ISBN:

She loved music, old movies, and keeping up with family and friends via Facebook and email. She was an accomplished card player, Candy Crusher, and loved all social gatherings.

2019 June 25, “Rose A. Truscio: May 5, 1923 - June 21, 2019”, in The News & Observer, volume 155, number 176, page 7A:

‘I’m quite partial to Candy Crush, I play it on my wife’s sometimes.’ […] Your bad marriage does not mean that my marriage will be bad you Candy Crusher, he thought to himself.

One who plays the tile-matching video game Candy Crush.


hackuser

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(video games) A person who claims someone else in an online game is hacking.


Tetris-like

en-adj

Tetris-like (comparative more Tetris-like, superlative most Tetris-like)

more Tetris-like (comparative)
most Tetris-like (superlative)

Resembling Tetris or the pieces in the game of Tetris.


speedbridge

en-verb

speedbridge (third-person singular simple present speedbridges, present participle speedbridging, simple past and past participle speedbridged)

speedbridges (present singular third-person)
speedbridging (participle present)
speedbridged (participle past)
speedbridged (past)

LL-Q1860 (eng)-Flame, not lame-speedbridge.wav

He's good at speed bridging and he's also organized a 1v1 tournament on the game mode before.

2021 July 19, Bhagyasri Chaudhury, “Who is Purpled? James Charles slammed for posting pic of Minecraft YouTuber, 17”, in MEAWW:

Ten teams of four competitors participate in eight different minigames that test a variety of skills within Minecraft. These skills can range from anything between player-versus-player combat, speedbridging, parkour, building, and more.

2021 October 31, Hannah (Tyler) Dahlberg, “Minecraft Championship (MCC) All-Stars: First half of the competing teams revealed”, in Sportskeeda:

This technique is useful in shooting games, PvP games, Minecraft, and clicking games. It provides fast clicking, with the virtue that you can kill more enemies, do speed bridging, and more.

2022 June 6, RJ Frometa, “Drag Click Test: Improve Your Clicks Per Second Rate With Drag Clicking Technique”, in Vents Magazine:

Knowing how to speed bridge without falling to your death can come in handy in some of these servers.

2022 September 23, Petra Dolovski, “How to Speed Bridge in Minecraft”, in Diamond Lobby:

(video games, Minecraft) To build a bridge under oneself using one of several techniques which minimize the amount of crouching, resulting in a significantly faster pace of construction.


Nintendo generation

For quotations using this term, see Citations:Nintendo generation.

The generation that came of age playing Nintendo video games in the late 20th and early 21st centuries.


dogwater

en-adj

dogwater (comparative more dogwater, superlative most dogwater)

more dogwater (comparative)
most dogwater (superlative)

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Compound of dog + water. According to Know Your Meme, the video game sense was popularized by Fortnite streamer Zachology in December 2020 as a euphemism for dogshit (“rubbish, bad”).

This is kinda my favorite exotic, I'm not gonna lie. Some of the exotic released have been dogwater but this one, so good, so good.

2021 April 21, Matthew Wilkins, quoting SypherPK, “Fortnite streamers are in disbelief after watching how over-powered the Exotic Grappler Bow is”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2023-05-23:

Nadia went on, saying that the player "sucks" and is "f**king ass," not letting them get a single response in, even calling her a "dogwater smelling ass b*tch."

2022 October 7, Jacob Hale, “Nadia pops off on toxic Warzone teammate after being told to "abort herself"”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 2022-12-05:

I'd dabbled a little bit before and made a few that either broke rules I didn't know existed (Lutri, the Spellchaser), or were so incredibly dogwater that they lasted maybe a game or two before being pulled apart (Ishai, Ojutai Dragonspeaker), but Kwain was my first love.

2022 November 27, Joe Parlock, “Is It Time To Retire My Favourite Commander Deck?”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-11-29:

Immediately, a presumably male gamer voice said, "Ay yo you're terrible. Dogwater."

2023 January 30, Tatiana Louder, “I'm a 'gamer girl' and a model – just one hour of playing Call of Duty with men left me disgusted”, in The US Sun, archived from the original on 2023-03-22:

When we tried to get a statement from Danderson's close online friend, [SEN] Unwell, he refused further comments when we brought up his friendship with Danderson. / "Dogwater," was all Unwell had to share after our initial introductions.

2023 March 30, Bamira Burino, “Murchison Tower levels up”, in The Tritonian, archived from the original on 2023-05-23:

(video games, slang) Extremely bad or unskilled (especially at a video game); trash.


aimbotter

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What may seem like an aimbotter to a player could be just a very good player, Smedley pointed out.

2013 February 26, Jenna Pitcher, “PlanetSide 2 boss clarifies banning policies, taking legal action against cheat enablers”, in Polygon:

(video games) Someone cheating in a video game using an aimbot.


hop and bop

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Mainly for younger gamers, An American Tail: Fievel's Gold Rush features kid-friendly, hop-and-bop game play that will challenge players […]

2002, Nintendo of America, Inc, Nintendo Power Advance, page 112:

Game styles for computer and mobile devices include the following: […] In addition, there are action, sci-fi, survival, horror, racing, sports, military, realism, fantasy, hop and bop, puzzle, strategy, gambling, cards, […]

2019, Elaine A. Clark, There's Money Where Your Mouth Is (Fourth Edition):

(video games, often attributive) A style of platform game in which enemies are defeated by jumping on them.


skill issue

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Literally skill + issue (i.e. the issue is related to one's skill); popularized as a general insult around 2020.

—Dude, they nerfed my main and now I can't win any games! —Sounds like a skill issue lol

Perhaps regarded as one of her funniest lines, she can taunt the enemy after eliminating them by saying, "Wow, cringe," in a fittingly condescending tone. Some other voice lines include, "It's a skill issue," "Enjoy that killcam," "Now they're just feeding," and "Outplayed."

2022 October 21, Joanna Koziol, “D.Va Is Overwatch 2's Most Toxic Character”, in Screen Rant, archived from the original on 2022-11-04:

Well, after playing it myself, I have to say that it is a lot of fun to play as long as you can manage to stay alive long enough to enjoy it! Let me be the first to say, this is a 'skill issue' of course, but ultimately, I just thought my zombies would be stronger.

2022 December 27, Dean Clark, “THE UNLIVING First Impression: Feeling Weak Behind My Forces”, in GameTyrant, archived from the original on 2022-12-27:

The game's Reddit forum is swamped with posts about how difficult it is to win a match. Some users may state that this is a 'skill issue.' However, seeing so many players complain about their skill mismatch and inability to win a single match is somewhat concerning.

2023 January 2, Matthew Wilkins, “Is Fortnite Chapter 4 Season 1 the sweatiest season ever?”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2023-01-04:

(video games, slang, sometimes ironic) A lack of skill at a game.


skill issue

Those players who have ever taken to TikTok to complain about bugs and gameplay issues in a game will often be met with the reply "Skill Issue."

2022 November 11, Rebecca Smith, “What Does 'Skill Issue' Mean on TikTok and in Gaming?”, in GameRevolution, archived from the original on 2022-11-28:

(video games, slang, sometimes ironic) Suggesting that a player is just making excuses for a loss.


PvPer

From PvP (“Player versus Player”) + -er.

(video games) A player who participates in PvP activities in a video game.


fullset

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(video games) A complete romset distributed as a single package.


goodset

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From good + set. GoodTools was a set of software tools for auditing ROMs.

(video games) A large romset containing every working ROM available for a particular system.


(video games) Initialism of Mario Kart Wii.


ultra shortcut

(video games) In racing games, a shortcut that allows the player to skip the majority of a track, usually by means of a glitch.


FarmViller

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My roommates and I have become diehard FarmVillers.

2009 November 19, Elena Shufelt, “Farming it all away: One writer examines what’s it like to be down on the Facebook farm”, in Reporter, Minnesota State University, Mankato:

Les Hulcoop, a recently retired Dutchess Cornell Cooperative Extension agriculture educator, said the number of Web-based “Farmvillers”^([sic]) vs. real farmers is 60:1.

2010 March 23, Sarah Bradshaw, “Facebook seen as tool for reaching tomorrow’s farmers”, in Poughkeepsie Journal, 225th year, number 189, page 5B:

"There's a girl I went to school with, and who I never speak to, but I now fertilise her crops for her," she says. To the uninitiated, this behaviour might seem bizarre, but hardened FarmVillers say all of this helps you win extra points and prizes.

2010 March 25, Rajini Vaidyanathan, “Down on the FarmVille”, in BBC News, archived from the original on 2010-03-26:

FarmVillers total something like 1% of the world’s population!

2010 April 23, Bill Scott, “Discombobulating thingamajigs”, in Daily Herald-Tribune, Grande Prairie, Alta., page 42:

In addition to marathon planting and harvesting, a Farmviller^([sic]) can earn coin and experience points by helping friends with their farms.

2010 April 25, Mark LaFlamme, “Ah, life in Farmville”, in Sun Journal, Lewiston, Me., section b, page 4:

There’s a new hybrid of online gamer. They live on Facebook, flooding our news feeds with updates and friend requests. You might know one. They’re called ‘The Farmvillers,’^([sic]) and there are 75 million of them.

2010 June, Katie Mackay, “Farmville: Are we addicted?”, in Impact, number 204, page 60:

The first question that springs to mind is: are Google+ users going to be similar to Facebook’s? That’s a hard question to answer but an important one nonetheless. Why would people leave the comfort of their familiar and well inhabited social platform to move to Google’s? (No one believes Google will attract a lot of social virgins.) Are these the FarmVillers? Considering the way Google+ is being positioned, you might think “no, they’re not”.

2011 Q3, “GoogleVille: Will Google+ Games Be Anything Like Their Facebook Counterparts?”, in Control: Magazine for the Games Industry, 7th international edition, page 21, column 2:

Farmvillers^([sic]) must plant something called a Serve Money Tree to see a sign-up promotion for the card, linked to a Serve account.

2012 May 22, Catherine New, “FarmVille Gets Its Own American Express Prepaid Card”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 2019-02-06:

Despite being categorized as mind-numbing inculcation of repetitive behavior (Liszkiewicz, 2010), Farmvillers^([sic]) derive a great deal of pleasure from the activities associated with farming but also with the pattern of sociality that is architecturally driven into the game space where “code is law” (Lessig, 1999).

2014, Benjamin Burroughs, “Facebook and FarmVille: A Digital Ritual Analysis of Social Gaming”, in Games and Culture, →DOI:

The social gaming world of Farmville can be taken for inspiration, as a familiar visualization tool and community-building platform for the maintenance of a farm and its related social transactions. The game world simulates the development of a virtual plot of land, and also provides opportunities for individual Farmvillers^([sic]) to collaborate and form social bonds.

2015 October 15, FarmShare, “FarmShare White Paper”, in Medium, archived from the original on 2015-12-22:

That hack exposed the usernames and passwords of 170 million Farmville,^([sic]) Words With Friends, and other mobile game players everywhere. […] Bet you regret building your agrarian empire now, farmvillers!^([sic])

2020 January 7, Rachel Kraus, “Yes, Hackers Might Have Your Apple ID, But Don't Stress Too Much”, in Mashable, archived from the original on 2020-01-07:

A player of the agriculture-simulation social network game FarmVille.


archpaladin

/ɑɹt͡ʃˈpælədɪn/

From arch- + paladin. Originally from the Dungeons & Dragons franchise, in which the fictional deity, Heironeous, is known as The Archpaladin, and the AdventureQuest game.

Foremost in her mind has always been to serve the Archpaladin [Heironeous] and improve the lives of others with His teachings.

2004 August, Rick LaRue, “Greyhawk’s Knights of Holy Shielding: Valor Is Our Blood!”, in Dungeon, number 113, page 94:

Heironeous, The Invincible, The Archpaladin, is the champion of rightful combat and chivalrous deeds.

2007 April, Sean K Reynolds, “Heironeous”, in Dragon, volume XXXI, number 11, issue 354, page 19:

Mostly whiteshirts, from initiate Healers to patrolmen to Electors and ArchPaladins in full battle gear.

2010, Tim Akers, The Horns of Ruin, Amherst, N.Y.: Pyr, →ISBN, page 266:

It's best if you can find a friend or some players to help you out with each quests for Archpaladin.

2019 August 1, SyedXD123, the_beast69, “What Class?”, in reddit.com:

History was wrought romanticised tales of grand crusades lead by heroic Archpaladins of old, spreading God's word to the dark and corrupt corners of the kingdom through their might and zeal.

2021, C. R. Butterworth, The Exile, Liberation (Book 1), C. R. Butterworth:

Things like using Archpaladin to mitigate true damage, or recommending Health Vamp on farming classes that don't benefit from it.

2022 February 18, xiaomole, “Combatting Misinformation”, in reddit.com:

(very rare, science fiction, fantasy, video games) A supreme paladin.


RuneScaper

Providing a time and place can be the first step in building some community with and among your players; if you get all your RuneScapers together in the training center once a week for an hour, it’s going to turn into a genuine event before you know it.

2007, Eli Neiburger, “The Gaming World, and How It Can Be Appropriately Appropriated into the Library World”, in Gamers … in the Library?!: The Why, What, and How of Videogame Tournaments for All Ages, Chicago, Ill.: American Library Association, →ISBN, page 38:

The interface of creating an account enacts the assemblage; it is the gift that inaugurates the being of a runescaper^([sic]) (or run-e-scapist if you like).

2010, Joost Van Loon, “Networked Being: Transactions in On-line Gaming Communities”, in Parallax, volume 16, number 1, →DOI, pages 19–27:

Among us are a diverse populous of Beliebers, photographers, flat earthers, snowboarders, National voters, Armenians, coffee drinkers, Runescapers,^([sic]) wheelchair users, Muslims, bloggers and Ultimate players.

2018 October 8, “Making an ass out of u and me”, in Canta, number 13:

Dutch RuneScaper MarioSonic visited the company for this reason in 2019. RuneScape was a place where MarioSonic felt like himself.

2021, “RuneScape, IRL”, in Ian Tucker, Brett Israel, Sanjay Dharawat, editors, RuneScape: The First 20 Years—An Illustrated History, Dark Horse Books, →ISBN, page 095:

If we talk about OSRS, it became a major hit and you can just see that from the sheer amount of players the game has, which is more than 70% of the whole RuneScape players combined as the RuneScapers just love the old school vibe.

2021 April 22, “Old School RuneScape vs World of Warcraft Classic”, in Nyasa Times, archived from the original on 2021-05-14:

A player of the fantasy massively multiplayer online role-playing game RuneScape.


Terrarian

Join the large community of Terrarians that love and play this game on a regular basis.

2015, Kinetik Gaming, Terraria Game Guide (Unofficial), Lulu.com, →ISBN:

The 3DS port supports up to four Terrarians via local WiFi, while the Wii U equivalent has full online support for up to eight players, or four player splitscreen with classic Wii Remotes.

2015 July 31, Brenna Hillier, “Terraria coming to 3DS and Wii U in early 2016”, in VG247, archived from the original on 2022-12-11:

DO YOU LIKE FICTION FOR MINECRAFTERS? You’ll Love Books for Terrarians! […] Join Miles and his friends on amazing adventures in The Tales of a Terrarian Warrior series!

2016, “[Advertisement]”, in Winter Morgan, Creeper Invasion (An Unofficial Minetrapped Adventure; #5), New York, N.Y.: Sky Pony Press, →ISBN:

Terrarians! Tonight we fish … in Hell!

2016, Terraria: Exploration and Adventure Handbook, Puffin Books, published 2017, →ISBN:

A player of the action-adventure sandbox game Terraria.


MMORPGer

The author immersed herself in the game and the online gaming culture; in doing so she discovered who these MMORPGers really are, and in these pages she destroys many stereotypes about the gamers.

2007, Choice, American Library Association, page 826:

I also know hard-core MMORPGers who tell me, “Do not ever get into WoW. It’s why I don’t have a girlfriend— or a life.”

2009, Carrie Tucker, I Love Geeks: The Official Handbook, Adams Media, →ISBN:

To the MMORPGer, the single-player video game in which you blow up pixilated alien spacecraft is not only antiquated but dull as dishwater because you're all alone and nothing more than the muzzle of a laser gun. […] MMORPGers will play one of their games for years, without ever reaching an “end” or “winning,” because it's about more than winning or reaching a high score.

2010, Kate Stevens, Freak Nation: A Field Guide to 101 of the Most Odd, Extreme, and Outrageous American Subcultures, Adams Media, →ISBN:

But as a scientist, who is also a parent, an avid television watcher, and an MMORPG-er, I cannot in good conscience issue an across-the-board dictum that children should avoid television and gaming altogether.

2010, Esther Yoder Strahan, Wallace E. Dixon, Jr., J. Burton Banks, Parenting with Reason: Evidence-Based Approaches to Parenting Dilemmas, Routledge, →ISBN:

The first study, by Metcalf and Pammer (2011), used a modified Stroop task to investigate the existence of attentional bias for gaming-related words in excessive Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Gamers (MMORPGers). […] Results showed that excessive MMORPGers had attentional bias toward negative and MMORPG words.

2017, Yongjun Zhang, Yamikani Ndasauka, Juan Hou, Jiawen Chen, Li zhuang Yang, Ying Wang, Long Han, Junjie Bu, Peng Zhang, Yifeng Zhou, Xiaochu Zhang, “Cue-induced Behavioral and Neural Changes among Excessive Internet Gamers and Possible Application of Cue Exposure Therapy to Internet Gaming Disorder”, in Xiaochu Zhang, Zhiling Zou, Andreas J. Fallgatter, editors, Beyond Reward: Insights from Love and Addiction, Frontiers Media, →ISBN, page 43:

Regardless of how you do or don’t play games—whether you are an MMORPGer, a console gamer, a D&Der, a Settlers of Catan enthusiast, or someone who has never gamed before but who is perhaps curious about gaming or instructional design—I hope that in reading this book you will find a lens that will be useful to you in your own life, whether for teaching, writing, learnining, training, game development, or simply the enjoyment of games.

2018, Carly Finseth, Teach Like a Gamer: Adapting the Instructional Design of Digital Role-Playing Games (Studies in Gaming), Jefferson, N.C.: McFarland & Company, →ISBN, page 12:


World of Warcrafter

en-noun

World of Warcrafter (plural World of Warcrafters)

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Ellison began to rattle off the list of cliques as he pointed to each table with his sandwich. “The Potheads, Preps, Socially-Awkwards, Nerds, World-of-Warcrafters, Lax-Bros, and the Footballers.” The World-of-Warcrafters sitting at the table next to us overheard him and smirked. A few stood up and did a little cheer while making signs of the letter W with their fingers.

2011, Madison Adler, The Glass Wall, Bento Box Books, →ISBN, page 55:

Only adults use normal television these days. I’m going to stream via gaming channels. Kids all over the world are hooked up. And don’t worry - it’s not just going out to the World of Warcrafters.

2011, C T Furlong, Killer Star, Inside Pocket, →ISBN, page 6:

It was almost laughable how cliché the guys seemed. I saw video gamers who stared down the camera like it was trying to snatch their Mountain Dew and Ho-Hos away from them. Chill, World of Warcrafters! You’re trying to get a date, not ransack my castle. (Is that even what happens in the game? I’m not sure. The only video games I’ve ever played are from the Mario Brothers franchise.)

2012, Anna Goldfarb, Clearly, I Didn’t Think This Through: The Story of One Tall Girl’s Impulsive, Ill-Conceived, and Borderline Irresponsible Life Decisions, New York, N.Y.: Berkley Books, →ISBN, page 243:

Transforming your negative boxes of safety into positive ones: What did you do in your negative boxes of safety? Hang with fellow World Of Warcrafters, play at the local magic card shop, look for smokers, look for stoners -- guess what? You had the perfect skills to find boxes of safety.

2012 September 22, Ken Rabow, “The Slacker's Guide To Success -- Step Nine: Feeling Safe "Out There"”, in HuffPost, archived from the original on 2022-12-15:

Massive Multiplayers / Here is where the noble World of Warcraft player sits. […] Uh. World-of-Warcrafters sit right here, below yawning commuters idly thumbing Android Bejeweled Clone #32, because, precisely, I'm talking about The Real World. Players of Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games are an iconic impression, in the corner of the eye of every earth resident—not just the ones who know about games.

2013 January 21, Tim Rogers, “The Hierarchy of Video Game Haters”, in Kotaku, archived from the original on 2019-02-09:

World of Warcrafters, LARPers, Settlers of Catan? Weird. Beliebers, Swifties, Directioners? Weirder. Paleos, vegans, carb loaders, ovolactovegetarians? Definitely weird. Face it. We’re all weird. So why are companies still trying to build products for the masses? Why are we still acting like the masses even exist? Weird is the new normal. And only companies that figure that out have any chance of survival. In this book, Seth Godin shows you how.

2015, Seth Godin, We Are All Weird: The Rise of Tribes and the End of Normal, Portfolio Penguin, →ISBN, back cover:

Virtual communities are well-established, so the real winners of this pandemic may be the Redditors, the World of Warcrafters, the amateur porn-trepreneurs.

2020 March 16, Dan Zak, “Coronavirus is a test that no one knows how to pass”, in The Oklahoman, page A8:

A player of the massively multiplayer online role-playing game World of Warcraft.


Warcrafter

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Within a few weeks of its release, avid Warcrafters had uploaded dozens of home-brew scenarios, filling up the file areas of online services and bulletin boards. […] Warcraft II may be the current king of the scenario editing hill, but the battle is far from over.

(Can we date this quote?), Computer Gaming World:

734 Maps for Warcraft II, from newcomer Cybertooth Technology, offers exactly—wild guess here—734 new maps for map-starved Warcrafters, including hundreds designed specifically for multiplayer battle.

“Abandon all hope of a real life, all ye who enter here.” There’s no warning label like that on the “Warcraft III” box, but there should be. […] So I took a crash course at the elbow of a veteran Warcrafter, who offered his expertise to get me started in the latest incarnation of the game.

2002 August 19, Phil Larose, “Game goes beyond addictive”, in The Island Packet, page 9-B:

A player of the Warcraft franchise of video games.

Choose from the classic Warcraft races and character types for your avatar, and then join thousands of other Warcrafters to investigate dungeons, huge cities, snowy mountains, magical forests and scorching deserts.

2003 February, “World of Warcraft”, in Hyper, page 28:

To players, this equates to smooth, stable and secure Internet-based gameplay with thousands of other Warcrafters, simultaneously, in that communal orgy of ogre-slaying way of MMORPGs. World of Warcraft is undergoing extensive beta testing with retail launch scheduled for October.

2004 September 3, The Palm Beach Post, volume 96, number 147, page 19:

Not liking the thought of jail, some of the biggest private servers disbanded. Toxic Wow, Ani Wow, Wowfusion, Wowscape: all gone. This, many Warcrafters believed, was the beginning of the end.

2010 April, Pavel Barter, “Are You Being Served?”, in PC Zone, page 16:

If you've played World of Warcraft you'll know it's not the most restrained social arena (particularly if you're trying to annihilate Kaz'rogal in the Battle for Mount Hyjal) and the prospect of online altercations spilling over into the real world scared many people. […] Some respondents during the ensuing 2,000-page discussion on this topic dared to suggest that privacy wasn't really an issue, but they were forced to eat their words when a Blizzard employee, after revealing his real name in defence of the system, suddenly found his phone number, address, details of his parents, siblings and spouse, and even pictures of his childhood home posted online by Warcrafters trying to make a point.

2010 July 14, “Rhodri Marsden: Online anonymity lets us behave badly”, in The Independent, archived from the original on 2022-12-15:

Thankfully Blizzard have realised that this expansion is likely to draw in some Warcrafters who left the cause years ago, and also a fair load of newbies.

2013 November 8, Matt Purslow, “World of Warcraft: Warlords of Draenor catapults all players to level 90, features Outland pre-fiery death”, in PCGamesN, archived from the original on 2013-11-10:

As "Warcraft: The Beginning" hits theatres, Warcrafters here at CNET and GameSpot -- alongside the film's director, Duncan Jones -- share some of their favourite memories of the game.

2016 June 3, Richard Trenholm, “Memories of Warcraft: Fans including Duncan Jones remember their WoW experiences”, in CNET, archived from the original on 2022-12-15:

Warcrafters can join guilds and engage in epic battles to overcome various challenges.

2022, David Seelow, quoting Gabor, Games as Transformative Experiences for Critical Thinking, Cultural Awareness, and Deep Learning: Strategies & Resources, CRC Press, →ISBN:


VSRG

Spotco and Sputlil invented RoBeats, which is also known as VSRG.

2022 June 9, Benny Sagayarajan, “Funky Friday codes in Roblox: Free Emote and Points (June 2022)”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2022-06-18:

(video games) Initialism of vertical-scrolling rhythm game.


amogus

amogus (countable and uncountable, plural amoguses or amogi)

Etymology tree
Old English on
Proto-Indo-European *ḱe-?
Proto-Indo-European *ḱóm
Proto-Germanic *ga-
Proto-West Germanic *ga-
Old English ġe-
Old English mang
Old English ġemang
Old English onġemang
Old English amang
Middle English among
English among
Proto-Indo-European *n̥smé
Proto-Germanic *uns
Old English ūs
Middle English us
English us
English amogus
Corruption of Among Us, the name of a 2018 social deduction game developed by Innersloth. Popularized by memes around January 2021, in which a StoneToss comic is edited to say "amogus" in a humorous non sequitur.

etymon

Can I get a^([sic]) ipad,^([sic]) and pillow that looks like Amogus and a Baby Alive. Love, Kyleigh […] For Christmas, I would like an Among Us plushy^([sic]) because I love Among Us. […] Love, Jaxton

2021 December 15, “Santa Letters”, in The Cadiz Record, volume 138, number 50, page S5:

While the peak of Among Us memes has been comfortably left in 2021, there are still dark remnants of the past remaining in pop culture today. One has to look no further than a surprise "amogus" in LEGO Star Wars: The Skywalker Saga.

2022 April 13, Jamie Dunkin, “You can't escape 'Among Us' memes, even in 'LEGO Star Wars'”, in We Got This Covered:

We reached out to Innersloth to hear the devs' thoughts on the popular amogus art template. Community director Victoria Tran sent over a brief comment.

2022 October 17, Austin Wood, “Among Us is now the best worst art tool, and the devs say it's "absolutely inspired"”, in GamesRadar+:

For example, the Scholar’s Scavenge that spanned most of the first day sent randomised teams to the Siam Amazing Park to tick off a list of increasinbly bizarre ice-breaking prompts, including “film a singing duel between the best and worst singers”, “show a WSC staff member a wild amogus”, “Initiate a dinosaur-alpaca feud”, and many, many more.

2022 September 30, “Winning World Scholars at the Global Round!”, in Patana News, volume 25, number 7, Bangkok Patana School, page 4:

(Internet slang) A crewmate or impostor character from the video game Among Us.

Among Us
Innersloth
Know Your Meme
StoneToss


Pokédex

Blend of Pokémon + index, adapted from Japanese ポケモン図鑑 (Pokémon Zukan, “Pokémon illustrated encyclopedia”).
The English version was introduced in the dub of the pilot episode of the Pokémon anime, originally aired in September 8, 1998.

der

They're all able to make up new punny names based on their altmode without being told what they turn into--presumably their computers might even recognize the scanned Beast Mode immediately, like a Pokedex; "You've scanned a cheetah. Cheetahs are really fast."

2012 June 5, Onslaught Six, “Does Beast Wars Deserve a Revisit?”, in alt.toys.transformers (Usenet):

Entomologists use catalogues and checklists to record species, such as the Atlas of Living Australia (ALA) online database. The ALA includes data like a Pokédex does, including species distribution and collection information.

2021, David Shaw, Jasmine Fellows, Puzzles and Projects, CSIRO PUBLISHING, →ISBN, page 5:

(Pokémon) A fictional electronic encyclopedia with information about Pokémon.

Pokémon (TV series)
Pokémon, I Choose You!


deathmatcher

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(video games) One who plays in a deathmatch.


hardstuck

en-adj

hardstuck (comparative more hardstuck, superlative most hardstuck)

more hardstuck (comparative)
most hardstuck (superlative)

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I've been hardstuck at diamond 4 for like 6 months.

You're not hardstuck, don't worry about how many games you've played, just keep going. You'll get there

2018 January 9, @MeteosLoL, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-07-06:

im playing Overwatch for the first time in more than a year and im hardstuck low masters at best, im so bad it's awful

2019 November 12, @Slasher, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-01-28:

Imagine being single on Valentine's Day AND hardstuck in Valorant

2022 February 4, @starriebun, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-01-01:

if u are hardstuck gold or lower in a video game my best advice is just start drawing or playing an instrument just find a new hobby this gaming shit isn't for you

2022 July 7, @funnysmartguy12, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-07-07:

I don't know who needs to hear this but your teammates aren't the reason you're hardstuck

2022 July 28, @HisWattson, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-07-29:

(video games, slang) Firmly stuck at a particular rank or Elo level; unable to progress in skill.


pisslow

pisslow (comparative more pisslow, superlative most pisslow)

more pisslow (comparative)
most pisslow (superlative)

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If anyone wants any idea how pisslow my MMR is in Valorant, I just had a teammate say over voice comms "Finally my kid is asleep so I can play more"

2020 April 26, @IWDominate, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-01-01:

"Can I please stop getting hardstuck pisslow teammates!?"

2020 July 20, @NickichLoL, Twitter, archived from the original on 2020-07-23:

ok 6 digit pisslow hivemind repeat after me: the pp changes suck

2021 January 16, @aetrna, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-01-16:

after losing 10 games in a row on PC league I decided to play wild rift and won 8 games in a row. I feel better about myself now. nothing like beating up a bunch of 12 year old pisslow zoomers while laying on my bed. nice.

2021 March 31, @IKeepItTaco, Twitter, archived from the original on 2021-03-31:

this is the girl who flames you in your pisslow immortal valorant ranked games

2022 January 6, @cloudyerin_, Twitter, archived from the original on 2022-07-19:

epic pisslow gaming moments

2022 April 10, @sarah_frags, Twitter, archived from the original on 2023-01-01:

(video games, slang, vulgar, chiefly League of Legends) Having a low rank or Elo level; lacking in skill.


two-tap

en-verb

two-tap (third-person singular simple present two-taps, present participle two-tapping, simple past and past participle two-tapped)

two-taps (present singular third-person)
two-tapping (participle present)
two-tapped (participle past)
two-tapped (past)

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Remember that you'll always be at a disadvantage if you aren't outnumbering humans by at least five individuals since you can easily get two-tapped with headshots.

2020 November 1, Gökhan Çakır, “How to play Zombies mode in PUBG”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 2022-05-21:

This is an interesting PvP choice because Harmony on a 120 when activated should in theory be able to two-tap enemy guardians.

2022 July 21, Paul Tassi, “The 'Destiny 2' Solstice Weapon God Rolls You Should Be Hunting”, in Forbes, archived from the original on 2022-07-28:

This setup allows the P890 to two-tap at close distances.

2022 November 26, Charles Burgar, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Best P890 Loadout”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-11-29:

(video games, slang, transitive) To kill an enemy in two shots.


three-tap

three-tap (third-person singular simple present three-taps, present participle three-tapping, simple past and past participle three-tapped)

three-taps (present singular third-person)
three-tapping (participle present)
three-tapped (participle past)
three-tapped (past)

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The ban phase is a welcome touch to ranked play because, more often than naught, I'm not in the mood to get three-tapped by some Caveira player squatting in a seemingly inconsequential hallway.

2021 February 8, Calvin Edwards, “Rainbow Six: Siege Is Not as Fun as It Used to Be”, in KeenGamer, archived from the original on 2022-09-09:

Since the falloff has been reduced, players still have to take close-range fights against other Guardians to three-tap them.

2022 July 23, Soumyadeep Banerjee, “Bungie has accidentally buffed The Last Word in recent Destiny 2 update”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2023-01-03:

Some of these perks are absurd, mainly High-Caliber Rounds and Vorpal Weapon. With Vorpal, you can two-tap Golden Gun or three-tap every other Super in the game.

2022 September 7, Charles Burgar, “Destiny 2: The 10 Best Scout Rifles For PvP, Ranked”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-12-12:

(video games, slang, transitive) To kill an enemy in three shots.


one-tap

one-tap (third-person singular simple present one-taps, present participle one-tapping, simple past and past participle one-tapped)

one-taps (present singular third-person)
one-tapping (participle present)
one-tapped (participle past)
one-tapped (past)

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A reference to first-person shooter games in which a gun is fired by "tapping" the left click button on a mouse.

This guy is camping so hard that I can barely move off of spawn before getting one-tapped.

This was an issue during Valorant's beta, where players used to complain about getting one-tapped to the head before them being aware.

2020 December 20, Satyaki Das, “Should Valorant remove the delay before a player is accurate during strafing?”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2021-01-24:

This allows players to instantly escape danger after one-tapping an enemy, making the difference in crucial situations.

2021 February 8, Jalen Lopez, “Lothar highlights binding Reyna's Dismiss ability to turn invulnerable after one-tapping in VALORANT”, in Dot Esports, archived from the original on 2021-05-10:

The pistol is about one-tapping the enemy with headshots and taking them out before they have the time to turn around and spot you.

2022 October 25, Abhishek Mallick, “Modern Warfare 2 "Nessie" achievement guide: How to kill all guards unseen”, in Sportskeeda, archived from the original on 2022-10-25:

Capable of "one-tapping" opponents and wiping them out before they can even react, this is the perfect setup for aggressive players who aren't afraid of getting into the thick of the action.

2022 November 14, Alex Garton, “Modern Warfare 2 expert claims "one-tap" shotgun dominates close-range”, in Dexerto, archived from the original on 2022-11-15:

It only takes two shots to kill someone at all ranges, and you can one-tap enemies with a single headshot up to 30 meters.

2022 November 22, Charles Burgar, “Call of Duty: Modern Warfare 2 - Best LM-S Loadout”, in TheGamer, archived from the original on 2022-11-22:

(video games, slang, transitive) To kill (an enemy) in one shot.


turbo controller

en-noun

turbo controller (plural turbo controllers)

(video games) A gamepad with an autofire facility.


border gore

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From border + gore (“murder, bloodshed, violence”), jokingly suggesting that such borders are so gruesome they might cause someone to become physically ill.

com

You started a world war, killing millions, just to fix some of your border gore?

For the most part, you can enjoy a game of Crusader Kings II without ever playing as a merchant republic. Although, it's worth noting that their trade posts can cause quite the border gore when using its specific map mode.

2018 November 27, Jason Rodriguez, “Crusader Kings II: Best And Worst DLC Expansions”, in PCInvasion, archived from the original on 2022-12-04:

The Kingdom of France can end up having more Finnish land than French. The Spanish King might decide to conquer just the north of Ireland. An Indian prince may end up ruling Poland. This delightful phenomenon is known 'bordergore' and adds a flavour to the game that many others struggle to replicate.

[2020 October 11, Robert Macilraith, Joshua Walker, “Tutorial Level: Crusader Kings 2- More Than Just a Colourful Map”, in The Oxford Student, archived from the original on 2022-06-26:

The developers add that this new feature "will allow you to ask for things directly without resorting immediately to war, which will remain a last resort when you need to topple a king whose tolerance of border-gore clearly proves their illegitimacy".

2021 September 22, Andy Brown, “Royal Court DLC for 'Crusader Kings 3' will let players formally beg for help”, in NME, archived from the original on 2021-10-22:

France, but the shape of a giraffe, with a number of its counties belonging to Wales, with an odd little exclave far up North in Norway? That's border gore.

2022 August 24, Ruth Cassidy, “Crusader Kings 3 update looks to tone-down the 'border gore' of endless conquest”, in PC Gamer, archived from the original on 2022-10-03:

I will be blunt dear reader, I was never a fan of the Peace Conference system in Hearts Of Iron IV up until this point; it felt underdeveloped, was prone to border gore, and it was hard to get a decent settlement for your efforts.

2022 November 4, Chris Hall, “Hearts Of Iron IV: By Blood Alone Review: Planes and More!”, in KeenGamer, archived from the original on 2023-01-19:

South Georgia could unite with Florida. Eastern Colorado could join Kansas. We might end up with some ugly boundary lines — what map-based video game enthusiasts call "border gore" — but that's a small price to pay for a little more harmony.

2023 January 18, Grayson Quay, “One State Unveils Crazy Plan That Just Might Save America”, in The Daily Caller, archived from the original on 2023-01-23:

grand strategy games
grand strategy game#Noun

(grand strategy games, slang) Political borders which appear extremely messy and unaesthetic when viewed on a map, typically due to being extremely jagged or involving many enclaves.


nruling

(video games) In some roguelike games, a type of fictional demon composed of many tiny sparks, each wielding a whip of flame.


raising sim

Thankfully, it was fan-translated in 2001, and should be familiar enough even for those who've never dabbled in raising sims.

2011 June, “Wonder Project J”, in Retro Gamer, number 91, page 59:

The long-running Princess Maker series is a good example of a raising sim, requiring the character to raise a daughter to become a princess.

2021, Matt Barnes, Dazz Brown, Greg S-C, Region Locked: The Key To Gaming's Buried Treasure, page 208:

Those who play these Raising sims are responsible for characters’ clothing, as well as their battle training.

2021, Selen Çalık Bedir, “Combinatory Play and Infinite Replay: Underdefined Causality in the Neon Genesis Evangelion Anime Series and Games”, in Jose Andres Santiago Iglesias, Soler Baena, editors, Anime Studies: Media-Specific Approaches to Neon Genesis Evangelion, page 316:

non-player character
non-player character

(video games) A life simulation game in which the player acts as the custodian of a subordinate non-player character (typically a child, student, pet, etc.) and manages and develops this character's stats with the goal of achieving a specific outcome.


Soulsborne

Blend of souls + bloodborne, after the Dark Souls trilogy and Bloodborne.

As the director of each of the Soulsborne games, Miyazaki is a strong influence on all aspects of the final product, including visual design, gameplay, and narrative content.

2019, “Introduction”, in Matthew Wilhelm Kapell, editor, Narrative Design and Authorship in Bloodborne: An Analysis of the Horror Videogame, page 4:

Sekiro: Shadows Die Twice was created by FromSoftware, the developers behind the Soulsborne titles.

2020, James Palmer, "Why did UK games sales drop in 2019?", The Boar (University of Warwick), 13 February 2022, page 32

Sure, “Death's Door” does little to hide its love for both the Zelda and Soulsborne franchises, cramming in dense lore to creepy dungeons filled with puzzles and enemies galore, but it manages to take the best part of these series and form something wholly unique.

2021 July 29, M. Deitz, “Fighting against your death in 'Death's Door'”, in The Michigan Daily, University of Michigan, page 9:

(fandom slang, video games) A loose series of dark fantasy action role-playing video games developed by FromSoftware, generally held as including Demon's Souls (2009), the Dark Souls trilogy (2011-2016), Bloodborne (2015), and Elden Ring (2022).


Soulsborne

en-noun

Soulsborne (countable and uncountable, plural Soulsbornes)

Because FromSoftware's Demon's Souls is the granddaddy of the soulsborne genre, and one of the PlayStation 3's overlooked classics.

2020 October, “Have Your Say: Demon's Soul”, in PlayStation Official Magazine, page 27:

“Blasphemous” is a masterfully crafted game that would entice hardcore fans of Soulsborne and Metroidvania games.

2022, Gabrielle Cabello Torres, "From The International: Video Games From Different Cultures", Mace & Crown (Old Dominion University, Norfolk, VA), Spring 2022, page 36

The Soulsborne formula has been imitated countless times but mastered by few apart from FromSoftware, the original pioneers.

2022 December 29, Cameron Rasmusson, “Elden Ring recaptures magic of video game discovery”, in Reader, page 17:

(fandom slang, video games, uncountable) A video game subgenre influenced by this series, characterized by high difficulty, trial-and-error progression, esoteric enemy movesets, environmental storytelling, and complex lore.

Do you have room for another Soulsborne in your life?

2018, "Team Ninja's Nioh 2 is back for more", PlayStation Official Magazine (UK), August 2018, page 11 (image caption)

Diagrammatics allows us to properly think about how something like a “soulsborne” can be created: It is a set of mechanics, modes of storytelling, and player expectations that branch out and proliferate from the original object.

2020, Cameron Kunzelman, "How we deal with dark souls: The aesthetic category as a method", in Hybrid Play: Crossing Boundaries in Game Design, Players Identities and Play Spaces (eds. Adriana de Souza e Silva & Ragan Glover-Rijkse), unnumbered page

Lee confirms it offers the challenge of a soulsborne but with a greater level of flexibility in how you approach that challenge.

2020 December, “Godfall”, in PlayStation Official Magazine, UK, page 56:

(fandom slang, video games, countable) An individual game of this genre.


life simulation

life simulation (plural life simulations)

Activision's Autumn titles were up and running, and some Winter games were previewed, including Alter Ego, a "life simulation" game, and Fast Tracks, a slot car racing program.

1985 November, Chris Jenkins, “PCW Show: promises, promises!”, in Commodore Horizons, page 10:

Life simulations and dating games also influenced Yasuhiro Wada, the designer of the gentile farming sim series Harvest Moon, which first appeared in 1996 on the Super NES.

2010, Tristan Donovan, Replay: The History of Video Games, page 157:

While the mechanics changed very little in the DS version, Nintendo's snarky little life-simulation title [Animal Crossing] found its perfect ally.

2010, “Animal Crossing: Wild World”, in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, page 610:

(video games) A subgenre of simulation game that replicates real-world systems or experiences (such as businesses, communities, ecosystems, or social relationships).


farm sim

A PlayStation update of the SNES and Game Boy cult smash, this is essentially a farm sim in which you have to milk cows, herd sheep, feed chickens and pull up oodles of home-grown veggies.

2000, "Orient Express", Official PlayStation Magazine (Australia), August/September 2000, page 16

The Playstation 2 is quickly becoming a harbor for sequels to nearly every genre that you can come up with—even super-odd, farm sims that only people like ECM and Shidoshi can love.

2001, Haohmaru, "Harvest Moon 3", GameGo! Magazine, Volume 1, Issue 2 (2001), page 21

Jenga is by all means a greater tragedy, but in a way, Jenga would never have happened if literally every other possible thing weren't already a game. And farm sims certainly had a role in that.

2008, Seanbaby, "Nintendo's Party of Pain", Electronic Gaming Monthly, July 2008, page 93


life sim

Although there are other life sims such as Theme Park, Sim City and so on, they've all had a gameplay objective, a purpose for playing.

2003 November, “The Usual Suspects”, in Cube, UK, page 35:

In fact, as far as full-fledged life sims go, The Sims has pretty much been it for most gamers.

2005, Sean Carton, 2005 Gamer's Almanac, page 282:

Kynseed: The most Fable-y of the games on this list, Kynseed is a life sim currently in early access, from ex-Fable devs PixelCount Studios.

2019 November 21, Jack Yarwood, “Leaving Albion: The epic making of Fable”, in Wireframe, page 25:

(video games) Synonym of life simulation.


city-building game

city-building game (plural city-building games)

(video games) A genre of simulation game in which the player builds and manages a city.


farming sim

Down on the farm... Clear your land, till the soil, plant some seeds – there aren't many farming sims out there, but Harvest Moon proves that they should be more popular than Lara.

1999 December, “Arcade's Top 10 Game Boy games”, in Arcade, page 119:

While many millions of people are wasting away their life on social game Farmville, many of us have been there, done that with the master of the farming sim, Harvest Moon.

2010, "The Cheat Mistress, The Games of the Decade, unnumbered page

Created by Eric 'ConcernedApe' Barone, Stardew Valley is an inspiration to indie developers everywhere. Not only did Barone create his much-loved farming sim entirely by himself, but the game's also gone on to become a storming success, with over ten million copies sold to date.

2020 February, “Interactive: Spirittea”, in Wireframe, page 25:

(video games) A simulation game which centers on running a farm and/or raising crops and livestock.


town-building game

town-building game (plural town-building games)

city-building game
city-building game#English

(video games) Synonym of city-building game.


city sim

Caesar II stands a step above common city sims by adding the war element to game play.

1996, "Et tu, Build Rome!", InterAction, Spring 1996, page 32

Most modern city sims content themselves with jazzing up some core element, offering a simpler, more accessible experience, or transplanting the production to an unconventional setting.

2006 September, “City Life”, in Computer Gaming World, page 98:

This is exactly the kind of playfulness I expect from Tropico—it may be a city sim, but it’s never been about building by the book.

2010 September, Evan Lahti, “Totalitariani-sim”, in PC Gamer, page 84:


tile-matching game

tile-matching game (plural tile-matching games)

(video games) A type of puzzle game in which tiles arranged in columns and rows are shifted or eliminated by the player in order to align a set number (usually three or four) of the same type.


dating sim

Unlike typical Western games, the goal in Japanese dating sims is to attain true love rather than defeat level bosses.

2004 September, “Dating Lessons With Anime Play?”, in CPU: Computer Power User, page 9:

Tokimeki Memorial was hugely influential not just in kickstarting the entire dating sim genre in Japan but also in the way its gameplay influenced the love mechanics I've already described in Persona 4 and Dragon Age: Origins.

2015, Nicholas Ware, “Interative romance and button-mashing sex: Gameplay design and video games' Nice Guy Syndrome”, in Evan W. Lauteria, Matthew Wysocki, editors, Rated M for Mature: Sex and Sexuality in Video Games, page 234:

Short had enjoyed playing dating sims in grad school, but grew frustrated by their focus on the desires of cishet men. "I was like, 'Ah, I gotta make a game where you can date whoever you want, because this is ridiculous'," she recalls.

2021 December, Edwin Evans-Thirwell, “Kitfox Games”, in Edge, page 93:

(video games) A social simulation game centered on building and maintaining a romantic relationship with one or more NPCs.


match-three game

match-four game (plural match-three games)

match-four game (canonical)
match-three games (plural)

A match-three game built into a very basic RPG framework, Infinite Interactive's title was a sleeper hit, sucking people in before they'd realized they were even in danger.

2010, “Puzzle Quest”, in 1001 Video Games You Must Play Before You Die, page 741:

This enjoyable match-three game features warriors with different special moves to help you clear a path on each grid.

2015, “Quick Hits”, in Android Magazine, number 55, UK, page 85:

This great match-three game offers dozens of modes and hundreds of levels, so I'm sure it will keep me busy for quite some time.

2016, "Around The IPhone Life Office", iPhone Life, Spring 2016, page 12

(video games) A tile-matching game in which sets of three must be matched.


match-four game

match-four game (plural match-four games)

Like many match-four games of its ilk, Game of Drones offers plenty of opportunities to generate Bucks (the game's currency), which can be spent to purchase more lives, as well as items that help with particularly tricky puzzles.

2018, Eddy Webb, “Buy Gems to Woo Your Lover: Free-to-Play Narratives”, in Toiya Kristen Finely, editor, Narrative Tactics for Mobile and Social Games: Pocket-Sized Storytelling, page 238:

He looks up from the recliner, where he's idly playing a match-four game on his phone. "What?"

2021, Ramsey Hootman, Cyril in the Flesh, unnumbered page:

I puttered around on the computer for a while, mostly playing match-four games instead of actually doing anything that resembled work.

2021, Molly Fitz, Pet Whisperer P.I., unnumbered page:

(video games) A tile-matching game in which sets of four must be matched.


brick-buster

Love them or hate them. Breakout clones are released on the market with extraordinary regularity and just when you think the theme has been exploited to the limits, somebody releases the ultimate brick-buster!

1988 August, “Action Packed”, in ST Action, page 2:

Lots of levels and cool power-ups make it last longer than most brick-busters.

2009, “iPod Click Wheel Games”, in iPod + iPhone Buyers' Guide' 2009, page 102:

The Power Glove is indeed bad in the literal sense of the word, but not when used for Super Glove Ball, which put a new slant on such brick-busters as Breakout and Arkanoid.

2016, Pat Contri, Ultimate Guide to the NES Library 1985-1995, page 313:


city-builder

Impressions Games' line of historic city-builders like CAESAR and PHARAOH have long appealed to hardcore gamers.

2000 August, Robert Coffey, “Where All All the Strat Games?”, in Computer Gaming World, page 131:

The Tropico series takes the best elements of strategic titles, city builders and manager games and thrusts players into a beautiful tropical paradise where you’ll work to improve the quality of life for your citizens.

2009 September, Mike Griffin, “Tropico 3”, in Play, page 76:

Cities: Skyline excels and delivers the new gold standard of modern city-builders.

2015 May, Brian Shea, “Cities: Skylines”, in Game Informer, page 92:


grand strategy game

grand strategy game (plural grand strategy games)

[…] and World Empire, a Risk-style computer grand-strategy game published in 1991.

2013, Nick Dyer-Witheford, Greig de Peuter, Games of Empire Global Capitalism and Video Games, unnumbered page:

As [Marc James] Carpenter (2021) prompts us to consider of one popular grand strategy game, “will a seasoned Europa Universalis player who succeeds at the enormous challenge of pushing back colonial invaders playing as the Cherokee gain an appreciation of Cherokee sovereignty, or an arrogant assumption that colonial conquest could have been avoided with superior strategy?"

2021, Kristine Levan, Steven Downing, Crime, Punishment, and Video Games, page 91:

Crusader Kings II is a grand strategy game set in medieval Europe, North Africa and the Middle East.

2022, Jere Kyyrö, “Particularizing the universal: Medievalist constructions of cultural and religious difference in Crusader Kings II”, in Reima Välimäki, editor, Medievalism in Finland and Russia: Twentieth- and Twenty-First Century Aspects, page 138:

A type of advanced strategy wargame in which players must devise their own grand strategy by controlling a territory's military movements and using its resources. The genre, which includes both tabletop games and video games, differs from the similar 4X genre in imposing asymmetric starting conditions (i.e., some territories begin with a stronger military or more resources).


tactical role-playing game

tactical role-playing game (plural tactical role-playing games)

(video games) A genre of role-playing game that features a combat system (either turn-based or real-time) similar to that of a tactical wargame.


management sim

These touches take WCBM into a different league to your average, run of the mill, ho-hum everyday kind of management sim.

1990 June, “World Championship Boxing Manager”, in Amstrad Action, page 54:

Guide your chosen team through not just one season, but a decade of play, making all the selection and transfer decisions in the manner of a simplified management sim.

1999 January, Chas Davies, “NBA Live 99”, in Arcade, page 122:

Introversion has officially updated Prison Architect to the hallowed version 1.0, and the result is one of the most distinctive and fascinating management sims since Theme Hospital.

2016 January, Rick Lane, “Prison Architect”, in Custom PC, page 80:

(video games) A simulation game focusing on the management of a business, institution, sports team, etc.


tactics RPG

For example, Tales Of Eternia is action-based and has a single-plane 2D battle system, while PoPoLoCrois is more of a tactics RPG, requiring you to move your team around a grid during battle.

2004, Anthony Enticknap, “PoPoLoCrois”, in GoPlay, number 3, page 74:

Perhaps Nippon Ichi's most enjoyable tactics RPG to date. Great fun.

2005, Nick Powell, “Makai Kingdom: Chronicle of the Sacred Tome”, in Play, number 135, UK, page 74:

Alas, the story is secondary to the system, and in a tactics RPG, the system is everything.

2008 June, Heather Campbell, “Final Fantasy Tactics A2: Grimoire of the Rift”, in Play Magazine, page 68:

(video games) Synonym of tactical role-playing game.


utsuge

Borrowed from Japanese 鬱ゲー (utsuge, “depressing game”), a combination of 鬱 (utsu, “melancholy, gloom”) and ゲー (gē), a shortening of ゲーム (gēmu, “game”), itself from English game.

bor

Utsuge, on the other hand, stands for pretty much the opposite of nakige, aiming to be as depressing an experience as possible.

2019, Robert Ciesla, Game Development with Ren'Py: Introduction to Visual Novel Games Using Ren'Py, TyranoBuilder, and Twine, page 90:

The related genre “utsuge” (“depressing game”), unlike “nakige”, does not typically achieve a happy ending.

2019, Ema Bícová, "Visual Novel and Its Translation", thesis submitted to Palacký University Olomouc, pages 12-13

Nitroplus, the company behind Saya no uta, specializes in utsuge containing body horror, gore, rape, and depression—in short, as scholar Clarisse Thorn puts it, games that are “not ‘fun’ in the way most people think about ‘fun,’ that’s for sure.”

2020, Ana Matilde Sousa, "She's Not Your Waifu; She's an Eldritch Abomination: Saya no uta and Queer Antisociality in Japanese Visual Novels", Mechademia, Volume 13, Number 1, Fall 2020

A Japanese visual novel genre characterized by tragic plots and pervasively bleak tones.


tycoon game

Since its 1999 debut, Rollercoaster Tycoon has become one of the most successful and influential computer games of the past decade, selling millions of copies and inspiring every third-rate game designer to cash in on its success with their own tycoon game.

2002 November, Jeff Green, “RollerCoaster Tycoon 2”, in Computer Gaming World, page 55:

At its core, Casino Inc. is an average little tycoon game where you buy gear, place it around an empty interior, hire staff, and watch the money roll in.

2003 July, John Fletcher, “Casino Inc.”, in Computer Gaming World, page 89:

Recettear is a tycoon game about managing an adventurer's shop.

2011 March, Randy Smith, “Hi, Im Randy”, in Edge Gaming, page 152:

(video games) Synonym of management sim (“a simulation game focusing on the management of a business, institution, sports team, etc”).

management sim

The popular tycoon games that were part of this event included Theme Park Tycoon, which offered a chance to win an exclusive accessory for your avatar; Retail Tycoon, which offered a special virtual item for your avatar; and Miner’s Haven, which also offered a new virtual item for your avatar.

2017, Christina Majaski, The Ultimate Unofficial Guide to Robloxing: Everything You Need to Know to Build Awesome Games!, New York, N.Y.: Sky Pony Press, →ISBN, page 67:

Have you ever wanted to run your own business? You might enjoy tycoon games. In one game, you might get to build your own theme park. You can pick out different rides and other attractions for visitors to enjoy. In another game, you might get to run your own restaurant or ice cream shop. Try to make as much money as possible with your new business!

2021, Josh Gregory, Games and Genres in Roblox, Cherry Lake Press, →ISBN, page 19:

In modern renditions of tycoon games, developers will often take advantage of non-player characters (NPCs), more complex ways of unlocking new items, infinite expansion capabilities, and sometimes stunning visuals.

2022, Zander Brumbaugh, Coding Roblox Games Made Easy, 2nd edition, Packt, →ISBN, page 217:

(video games) Synonym of tycoon (“a type of subgame within the massively multiplayer online game Roblox, involving the use of a base to generate bricks and cash (similar to an idle game or clicker game)”).


nakige

Borrowed from Japanese 泣きゲー (nakige, “crying game”), a combination of なき (naki, “crying”) and ゲー (gē), a shortening of ゲーム (gēmu, “game”), itself from English game.

Nakige are known for their sense of melancholy. Take 2001's Kimi ga Nozomu Eien (The Eternity You Desire), for example, which was released by eroge label âge, a division of ACID. Soon after high school student Takayuki Narumi falls for his classmate Haruka Suzumiya, she goes into a coma after a car accident. Depressed and shocked, Takayuki develops post-traumatic stress disorder and becomes involved with Haruka's best friend, Mitsuki. "To put it simply, a nakige brings players to tears as they read the in-game text," says [ACID CEO Hirohiko] Yoshida.

2010, Brian Ashcroft, Shoko Ueda, Japanese Schoolgirl Confidential: How Teenage Girls Made a Nation Cool, page 154:

The medium is dominated by nakige, the crying genre, much like how superheroes dominate comics and sitcoms television.

2011 November 10, Alex Mui, “Visual Novels: Unrecognized Narrative Art”, in The Johns Hopkins News-Letter, Johns Hopkins University, page B5:

A Japanese visual novel of a genre characterized by melodramatic plots intended to move the player to tears.


tactical RPG

As far as tactical RPGs go, Vandal Hearts is one of the best.

2000 January, “Vandal Hearts II”, in Electronic Gaming Monthly, page 234:

The PSP is a treasure-trove of tactical RPGs, with stuff like Disgaea, Tactics Ogre and Growlanser, but for many FFT is the pinnacle of the genre.

2013 May, Sam Smith, “Final Fantasy Tactics: The War of the Lions”, in Play, page 95:

Still, Valkyria Chronicles remains one of the best tactical RPGs of the 2000s, with a fresh take on the genre, an involving story and gorgeous visuals.

2022, Felipe Pepe, editor, The CRPG Book: A Guide to Computer Role-Playing Games, Expanded Edition, page 405:


nukige

Borrowed from Japanese 抜(ぬ)きゲー (nukigē), a combination of 抜(ぬ)く (nuku, “to jerk off”, literally “to extract”) and ゲー (gē), a shortening of ゲーム (gēmu, “game”), itself from English game.

ja-r

Eroge is a hugely popular genre of visual novel both from established producers and fan circles, and can be further divided into smaller categories such as nukige (抜きゲ) or ‘jack-off game’, referring to a game that is intended to provide easy access to sex scenes or other erotic material to facilitate masturbation.

2016, Matthew R. Bird, "Eustia of the Tarnished Wings: The Visual Novel in Translation", thesis submitted to the University of Massachusetts Amherst, page 17

As well as the effect of loosening content restrictions, the key point here is that Japanese videogame regulation is fractured by platform multiplicity. Small publishers producing games such as dating sims, visual novels, and ‘nukige’ (masturbation games) cohere to self-regulate, and more serious sexual content is confined to the PC market, dominated by adult consumers.

2019, Catherine Driscoll & Liam Grealy, "In the name of the nation: Media classification, globalisation, and exceptionalism", International Journal of Cultural Studies, Volume 22, Issue 3, May 2009 (link)

Unlike nukige, visual novels that focus primarily on sexual interactions between characters, the focus of eroge is on the story, including more romantic or emotional relationships.

2022, William Schrage, "Hiding Hobbies and Saving Social Lives: About the Representation of Otaku Struggles in Ore no imōto ga konnani kawaii wake ga nai", Mechademia, Volume 14, Number 2, Spring 2022

(video games) A Japanese visual novel genre featuring sexually explicit content for the sole purpose of masturbation or sexual gratification.


Mobian

From Mobius, the fictional planet such characters would inhabit in some incarnations of their universe.

Now, their accents do in fact fit them well, and do represent (as someone said formerly) the fact that they're a group of Mobians from different cultural worlds..

1998 August 25, RazJMastrs, alt.fan.sonic-hedgehog (Usenet):

"Sonic the Hedgehog: Triple Trouble" (1995) has manifestations in both a comic book trilogy and as a video game. We'll simply make note of the saga's floating islands. “Panic in the Sky” starts off with a group of happy Mobians playing volleyball until interrupted by a shadow.

2015, Richard J. Heggen, Floating Islands: an Activity Book, published 2021, page 172:

Both [the Pokemon and Sonic franchises] are home to a wide variety of creatures capable of feats of great strength and speed and elemental manipulation. The only difference is that those from the Sonic universe, also known as Mobians, can speak.

2023 February 4, Dexter Adams, “9 Pokemon That Look Like Sonic Characters”, in TheGamer:

(fandom slang) An anthropomorphic character from, or in the style of, characters from the Sonic the Hedgehog universe.


blast 'em up

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As destruction games go, Silkworm is fine. It's definitely a bit easy (I completed it after a dozen goes), but if you find the normal level of blast-'em-ups too difficult, this one should be rewarding. The two-player option is brilliant (one takes control of the jeep and the other the helicopter) and increases the addictivity.

1989, "Silkworm" (video game review) in Crash (issue 66, pages 24-25)

(video games) A shoot 'em up video game.


EverQuester

en-noun

EverQuester or EverQuester (plural EverQuesters or EverQuesters)

EverQuester (canonical)
EverQuesters (plural)

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Well, millions of Quake freaks would beg to differ, but there’s no doubting the depths of the Everquesters’^([sic]) passions; already tales are circulating of companies’ banning the game from their in-house machines and college girlfriends stealing the discs from their boyfriends’ PCs.

1999 June 21, Michael Krantz, “Grab Your Breastplate!: Everquest^([sic]) reinvents the Web role-playing game”, in Time, volume 153, number 24, page 63:

The new race and its new tracts of land have been welcomed with open arms by EverQuesters.

2000 September, Alex Handy, “EverQuest: Ruins of Kunark”, in Computer Gaming World, number 194, page 118:

Such players, say the EverQuesters, discount the fun involved in questing and, due to their desire to get quality items, increase a propensity among players for camping near monster hotspots.

2001 April, “EQ Banned: eBay Cracks Down on Item Farmers”, in PC PowerPlay, number 59, page 13:

Internet humor is abundant on EverQuest in particular, depicting the lifestyle of an EverQuest'''er as a comical addict, hooked on “digital crack” or EverCrack.

2001 February 15, John VanDenburgh, “Caught in the web: Thousands of gamers have been bitten by online role-playing bug”, in The Arizona Republic, 111th year, number 273, page 35:

Community is certainly something Gollop and his Codo cohorts are keen to build up, for while Nemesis won’t be offering the same kind of persistent world EverQuesters enjoy for 15 bucks a month, for the same price you will get six months of tactical gameplay, in which each battle won gradually gets you higher and higher up the Nemesis league table.

2002 January, Richie Shoemaker, “Laser Squad Nemesis”, in PC Zone, number 111, page 89:

Want to spend hours just chatting with and annoying other EverQuest'''ers? It’s your call.

2003 January, Shane Bettenhausen, “EverQuest Online Adventures”, in Electronic Gaming Monthly, number 162, page 86:

That places the playtime of the 400,000-strong nation of EverQuesters higher than that created by the full-time work of countries such as Syria, Egypt and China.

2003, New Scientist and Science Journal, page 44:

Hard-core EverQuesters will see new challenges, keeping many of the great elements that were integrated over the years, but other MOGs have helped improve the genre since EverQuest’s release as a first-generation MOG, and EQII takes advantage of some of those improvements, as well.

2004, CopperAngel, Sharkdog, “EverQuest I to EverQuest II”, in EverQuest II: Prima Official Game Guide, Prima Games, →ISBN, page 6:

Friends and family members of EverQuest'''ers often feel abandoned and angry about the amount of time (nearly one day a week for the average player) that their loved ones spend with the game.

Monk says, “Bye bye Everquesters^([sic]) ... monk gona^([sic]) go FD [feign death is a monk specific ability used to fool monsters that you are dead] one last time in Qeynos [one of the hometowns] .... if i knew you, well met ...... see you on EQ2 [Everquest 2] or WoW [World of Warcraft]”

2006, Mikael Jakobsson, “Questing for Knowledge—Virtual Worlds as Dynamic Processes of Social Interaction”, in Ralph Schroeder, Ann-Sofie Axelsson, editors, Avatars at Work and Play: Collaboration and Interaction in Shared Virtual Environments (Computer Supported Cooperative Work; volume 34), Springer, →ISBN, page 218:

Some Everquest'''ers^([sic]) gave up their day jobs to turn pro, building up virtual collections to sell

2008 August, Kate Berens, Geoff Howard, The Rough Guide to Videogames, Rough Guides, →ISBN, pages 40–41:

In the magical realm of “Everquesters,”^([sic]) where players from around the world create characters who travel through different “planes of power,” there are graduated levels of shawl quests involving ever-more powerful textiles.

2011, Beverly Gordon, Textiles: The Whole Story: Uses, Meanings, Significance, Thames & Hudson, →ISBN, page 262:

A player of the 3D fantasy-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game EverQuest.


wavedash

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A technique within competitive Super Smash Bros. performed by air dodging diagonally into the ground.


gameware

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It is very likely that children's use of computers in public libraries is similar to their home use – more for entertainment than for learning. Because recreation is a legitimate part of the public library mission, librarians need not be concerned to present only purely educational gameware but will exercise judgment in selecting materials in this area as in all other formats.

1995, Holly G. Willett, Public Library Youth Services: A Public Policy Approach, Norwood, NJ: Ablex Publishing Corporation, →ISBN, page 52:

(software, video games) Video game software.