CS Terminology

A
AC	Armor Class
Acceleration Pad	Pads that launch you forward.
Add-ons	Games and game modifications directly related to an earlier game or game series. Many add-ons are created by players themselves, while others are made and released by the company who made the original game. See also: Mod Custom Maps
Admin	One who administrates a server. One who must be obeyed. See also: Sysop
ADSL	(Asymmetrical Digital Subscribers Line) An always on connection allowing low pings and very fast internet speeds, usually 576 download and 256 upload, hence asymmetrical.
AFAIK	"As far as I know"
AFC	"Away from computer"
AFK	"Away from keyboard" or could sometimes mean "A free kill" such as when a player is away from their computer or lagging out and unable to fight back. See also: Waking up dead
Aggro	When an opponent turns aggressive towards a player
AI	Artificial Intelligence. Computer controlled characters. See also: Bot
Aimbot	A cheat program which aims and even fires guns automatically for players.
Alias	Binds commands together to perform multiple tasks at the hit of one button.
Aliasing	A degrading of quality when a complex image is displayed using limited resolution. A common symptom is jagged lines.
All Your Base Are Belong To Us	A phrase reaching cult-like status derived from a poorly translated game, Zero Wing.
Alpha	The first version of a game that can be played. Often this software will merely consist of certain functions and will be missing major features.
Ambush	To briefly stay in one place and remain quiet in order to surprise and kill an unsuspecting player, usually by knowing their position in advance through noise they have made or logical spots in a map.
Ammo	Abbreviation for ammunition. Any projectile that is used to make a weapon shoot. After a certain period of time, most guns need to be re-supplied with ammo.
Anonymity	A state in which your identity and past history is completely unknown.
Anti-Aliasing	The process of removing jagged edges by blending said edges together.
API	(Application Programming Interface) A common set of commands the game can use that take advantage of a certain feature set.
Arena	The place where the action takes place in some FPS games such as Quake 3 Arena. See also: Map
ASAP	"As soon as possible"
ASCII	Graphics formed out of typographical characters
Assault	Game-mode in the game Unreal Tournament ('UT') where players first try to penetrate an enemy stronghold as part of a team, in the quickest time possible. They must then play with the roles reversed; them defending the base. When both teams have had a go at attacking the one who penetrated the fastest wins.
Assist	In capture the flag games, killing the flag carrier and returning the flag, with your team capturing immediately after. Both the killing of the flag carrier and the returning of the flag (2 separate actions), award an assist.
Attacker	A player devoted to grabbing the opponent's flag and bringing it to his home base for capture in capture the flag games.
Autoexec	The autoexec.cfg file is a file that is executed during the loading of the game. It usually follows the config.cfg file. The Autoexec is user created and is NOT generated by the game. To make a autoexec, simply open up Notepad in WIN95/98/ETC and save the file as autoexec.cfg in your cstrike directory. This file will contain your aliases and game related info other than binds.
AWP	The Arctic Warfare Magnum/Police sniper rifle. Usually shortened to the acronym 'AWM' or 'AWP' this sniper rifle is one of the most powerful weapons in CS, capable of killing in a single shot.
Avatar	The virtual incarnation of a participant in a virtual space; the character, figure, or persona they inhabit the virtual space with and present to the other participants.
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Backpedal	To walk backwards.
Ban	A discipline action where a player is ejected from a server permanently. See also: Gag, Kick, Mute, and Slap.
Bandwidth	The amount of data that can be transferred between a client and a server
Base	The area immediately surrounding the team's flag in capture the flag games. It usually has multiple entrances.
Baud Rate	Derived from the name of French inventor J.M.E. Baudot. Baud is a unit denoting the number of signal elements that can be transmitted per second. Commonly used to refer to the bits per second (bps) capacity of a modem (i.e., 9600, 14,400, or 28,800), which is not correct. In fact, since a baud translates into multiple bits, bps is not the same as baud rate. In other words, a 14,400 bps modem is not transmitting at 14,400 baud.
BBL	"Be back later"
BBIAB	"Be back in a bit"
BBS	(Bulletin Board System) Commonly used to denote a range of online services, from small local dial-ups to major commercial online networks.
Beta	Type of software that is nearing completion, but must still undergo bug testing.
BFG	"Big Friggin Gun"
Binds	To create a keyboard shortcut for one particular action or series of actions. When you assign a key to a particular action you are said to have bound the action to that keyboard key. See also: Alias
Bit	Binary digit, represented by 0 or 1 in the Base-2 (binary) numbering system.
Bitmap	A type of graphic composed of pixels in a grid. Each pixel or bit contains color information for the image. Bitmap graphics formats have a fixed resolution. Resizing a bitmap graphic can result in distortion and jagged edges.
BSOD	Blue Screen of Death Also See: Crash
Bomb-Dropper	A player who drops the bomb at the spawn point because they are a stat whore who can't be bothered with it or a player who fears their skills are not good enough to successfully try to carry it and place it at a bomb site.
b00n	leet speak for n00b. See: Newbie
Boomstick	Shotgun
Boosting	The process of using a teammate (or sometimes a non-player character) as a stepping stone to get up into areas of a map that are otherwise not accessible, or are only accessible through other means.
Boot	To load a program into a computer or to start a computer.
Bot	An artificial/computer controlled player which can participate in a game with other players simulating multiplayer gaming. See also: AI
Botmatch	A game-mode pioneered by the game 'Unreal' whereby players play single-player multiplayer matches against computer controlled bots, as if playing online against real opponents.
BRB	"Be right back"
BTW	"By the way"
Buffs	Beneficial nano spells or items used to increase stats or abilities.
Bug	A fault in the game's programming often resulting in many nasty things like exploits and cheats. See also: Hack and Glitch
Bunnyhop	In prior versions of CS, a bug was present which would allow players to gain extra speed by first hopping and maneuvering left, then right, and so on, resulting in a strange "bunnyhop" appearance. This exploit was fixed.
Bursts	1) A type of high-damage attack that will empty a clip into your enemy. 2) Firing in short, controlled manner at your opponent for better accuracy.
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Cable Modem	A modem allowing a high bandwidth connection via cablevision coaxial cable and an ISP that generally provides the owner with a low ping and a high download speed (20-300k/s).
Cache	An intelligent buffer containing data most often accessed between a slow peripheral and a faster CPU, such as a hard drive.
Camp	To take a position for an extended period and fire on any enemy who comes past. Whether camping is acceptable in a game really depends on the style. See also: Defensive Camp and Offensive Camp
Capture	Touching your own flag in base with the enemy's flag, resulting in a point for your team.
Capture the Flag	Played with two teams and two flags, the aim is to take the enemy flag and touch it with your own team's flag in your own base.
Camper	A player who camps.
CFG	See: Config
Chat	An embedded real-time communication system via the Internet.
Chat Room	A non-spatial environment wherein multiple participants may type and have their text reflected out to all other participants. The sine qua non of chat rooms is IRC.
Cheat	To intentionally do something contrary to the rules that gives you an advantage. Cheating comes in different forms, such as subverting the rules in order to gain an advantage. See also: Bug, Exploit, Hack, and Glitch
Cheater	A player who is cheating.
Choke	The percentage of outgoing packets of data (from client to server) seen as lost.
Circle of Death	1) Used in grouping, when one member of the team, usually the puller, runs around in a circle around the group while they shoot at the mob. The monster will eventually switch over to attack someone else, and then they will run around the group in a circle of death, etc. 2) The sphincter after a spicy Mexican dinner.
Clan	An group of players which play together socially or in organized gaming leagues. Players will often add a prefix or suffix to their names to indicate their clan affiliation.
Client	The machines which individuals play on.
Clock Speed	The speed at which the graphics chip or memory is rated, usually in MHz.
Co-op	(Cooperative) A multiplayer game where players work together to complete the levels.
Concussion Grenade Jump	A jump high into the air or forward made by jumping while holding an exploding concussion grenade. This type of jump has been taken out of the 'Half-Life' 'Team Fortress Classic' game with the 1101 update of Half-Life
Core Clock	The speed at which the actual graphics-accelerator chip runs.
Command Line	The command line is the part of a game's executable file to which you are allowed access. At a minimum (and by default) the command line tells the computer which program to open. However, by using the console language, you can make the program automatically do many other things that you would not normally be able to do automatically.
Config	The configuration of a player's audio, control, and movement settings. This is a file generated by Half-Life and is located in your cstrike directory. It saves the game information from the last time you quit the game. The file contains all of the Half-Life game settings and configurations you chose within the game. You can edit this file in Notepad or within the game using the console.
Console	A command line interface which allows you to alter in game variables and issue commands. Usually accessed via the ` or ~ key.
Console Language	A kind of programming language used in the console to give you access to commands and options not normally available through the regular Options menus. The console language contains commands and syntax that allow you to write scripts and aliases that can bind keys to certain actions or series of actions, and can help you do things and access information and options to which you would not normally be allowed access. Not only can you access information and options that would not normally be available to you, the console language can help you bind a single keyboard key to a complex series of actions that would normally be difficult or impossible to execute if you tried to perform them manually. Furthermore, the console can actually cause your program to behave in ways different than it normally would; this can help you customize or "tweak" your game for optimum performance given your computer's specific characteristics.
CPU	Central Processing Unit; usually the computers processor, but sometimes referred to as the motherboard/processor combination.
Crash	A malfunction (usually software-related) that causes a system lockup or shutdown. Normally recoverable by rebooting the system. Also See: BSOD
CS	Counter-Strike
CT	Counter-Terrorists
CTF	See: Capture the Flag
Custom Map	A map made by someone other than the game developers.
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D3D	(Direct 3D) A 3D graphic API that allows developers to program 3D environments and objects using a common language.
Deagle	Desert Eagle pistol
DeathMatch	The most basic way of playing a multiplayer 'FPS' game. Simply shooting the opponent in an arena without any extra rules or items. Both Free-for-all and 'Team Deathmatch' are types of Deathmatch.
Defender	A player devoted to keeping his own area safe and keeping a certain game objective from being taken or destroyed.
Defensive Camp	Camping done by the defending team, in the process of defending the objective. On most servers, defense camping is considered a valid (sometimes required) tactic, whereas offensive camping is almost never considered appropriate.
Domination	A game mode in the game Unreal Tournament ('UT') where players attempt to gain and then keep control of various check-points around the level. The team that racked up the most number of seconds from controlling the bases (via their team color) wins the match.
Double Damage	Another word for the "Strength Rune"
Duel	A 1 vs. 1 match
DM	See: DeathMatch
Driver	A memory-resident program loaded by Config.sys or Autoexec.bat to control devices such as a CD-ROM, sound card, or mouse.
DSL	Dedicated Subscriber Line. DSL is a broadband digital connection made using existing copper telephone lines. The DSL modem can drive ordinary telephone lines at speeds far beyond conventional dial-up modems. The modem plugs into an existing local area network (LAN) or can be attached to a single PC.
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Engine	An engine is the code that makes a game run. An engine can be used for multiple games by using different art and data sets.
Escort	Providing your team's bomber (terrorists) or hostage rescuer (counter terrorists) or Flag carrier with help in getting to the bombsite or rescue zone, killing anyone coming near him or damaging him.
Exploit	A configuration or additional software designed to do something disruptive and not intended by the authors of the game, such as to remotely crash the server. See also: Bug
Expansion Pack	See: Add-ons
Experience	This measures the number and difficulty of deeds your character has accomplished in an RPG. It's generally measured with a number, and by reaching certain amounts of experience, the character can gain in "level".
Eye-candy	The graphics when they're on with all the bells and whistles... like light-map lighting, dynamic lights, hi-resolution textures and so forth.
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FB	Flashbang; Flash grenade
FC	See: Flag Carrier
First Person Shooter	A genre of games where you see through the eyes of the protagonist.
Flame	A way of expressing disagreement with someone by the use of strong language or offensive personal verbal attacks to the person at hand.
Flag Carrier	A player carrying the opponent's flag, trying to get it to his home base.
Flag Room	Place in the level in which the flag is kept in 'capture the flag' games.
Flag Running	The skill of bringing the flag home after taking it from the enemy's base.
Flaming	The act of using "flames" on someone else.
Flank	A military term, meaning behind the rest of the party, or behind the enemy forces.
FF	See: Friendly Fire
FFA	See: Free For All
FMV	Full Motion Video
Fog of Death	The swimming fog that kills you when you fall into it. Also See: Broccoli for Dinner
FPS	1. First-person shooter 2. Frames per second which relates to graphic performance.
FR	See: Flag Room
Frag	To kill someone.
Frag Limit	The number of frags required to win a game when the game is set up so that the first person to reach a specified number of frags is the winner. In a Deathmatch, for instance, if the victory conditions are set based on a frag limit of, say 20 frags, the first player to score 20 frags is the winner.
Frags	The number of enemies you have killed during a game.
Frame	A single image which the computer puts on the screen.
Frames Per Second	A measure of the speed at which your computer can display the what is happening in the game
Free for All	A type of deathmatch generally played on public servers where every man is out for his own, trying to kill everyone else in the arena.
Friendly Fire	A game option where getting fired at by one's own team causes damage.
FTP	(File Transfer Protocol) Internet file-sharing protocol used for transferring (uploading and downloading) files.
FWIW	"For what it's worth"
FYI	"For your information"
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G2G	"Good to go"
GA	Green Armor
Gag	A disciplinary action where a player is unable to use world or team chat communication. See also: Ban, Slap, Kick, and Mute
Game play	The important and hopefully entertaining interactions between a player and the game world.
Gamer	A person who plays games.
Gate	See: Portal
GG	"Good Game" It is customary to say "gg" to your fellow players once a map ends (whether or not you actually had a good game).
GGA	"Good game all"
GH	See: Grappling Hook
Gib	An abbreviation of "Giblet." Similar to a frag but a bit more messy. Instead of just killing the other player you spread their remains around the map. Pronounced "jib"
Gibbing	Killing an opponent with a sufficiently large amount of damage as to result in his explosion, thereby reducing him to 'gibs'.
God Mode	A cheat mode in which the player is impervious to damage.
Glitch	The term used to describe a fault in a map that wasn't intended by the programmers. See also: Bug, Cheat, Exploit, and Hack
Grappling Hook	Item introduced in Quake 1 CTF, which allows the user freedom of movement by being able to cling on any surface in the game by throwing the grappling hook at it and pulling in the rope. Still mainly used in 'capture the flag' games.
Grognard	A war-game fanatic or expert.
GUI	(Graphical User Interface) A program interface that uses icons and graphics with a mouse or other pointing device as its primary control.
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H8	"Hate"
Hack	To use a piece of a software, which is not a part of the regular game package, in order to cheat. Also, the name for such a piece of software. See also: Bug, Cheat, Exploit, and Glitch
Hack & Slash	A sub-genre of RPG games or a playing style, in which the objective is to kill, kill, kill with your swords, knifes, maces etc. This is often used in a derogatory way about games that lack story or features to make role-playing interesting.
Hacker	A player who is using a hack. See also: Cheater
Hardcore	A game player who is familiar with games, gaming terms, and the gaming industry.
Hardware	The physical aspect of computers, telecommunications, and other information technology devices.
Haste	A time-based power-up or force power that allows the user to move and fire twice as fast. Games such as Requiem and Quake 3 feature this.
Haste Rune	A power-up in the form of a rune which can be picked up and bestows the owner with doubled movement and firing speed. The rune is ejected and left behind when the owner dies.
Hax	Diminutive of hacks. See: Hack
H4x0r	l33tsp34k; See: Hacker
Heads Up Display	Additional annotations that are displayed on the player's screen, superimposed on the rendered display. These shows things such as player health and armor, weapon selected and remaining ammunition, and so on.
HL	Half-Life
Hostie	Diminutive for hostage.
HP	"Hit/health points." The amount of damage you can take before being killed.
HP?	"Hit/health points?" as in, "What was your HP?" You are being asked by one of your victims how many health (or hit) points you had the last round, or during the last skirmish in which he was involved (and presumably he died).
HS	"Head Shot"
Hub	Central device in which computers' network cables are plugged into to allow connection and transfer of data between units.
HUD	See: Heads Up Display
Hybrid	A game with both solo home play and online play capabilities, but with no or limited elements of persistence. Most often refers to retail games of the likes of an Unreal, Age of Empires, Half-Life or Rainbow Six.
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IMO	"In my opinion"
IMHO	"In my humble opinion"
Instajib	Popular mutator whereby there is only one kind of weapon on a level, but one successful hit from it kills.
Intercept	The act of fragging the enemy's flag carrier, making him drop the flag.
Internet Service Provider	The company that connects you to the internet and then to your multiplayer game.
IP	(Internet Protocol) A series of numbers giving the address of a game server.
IRC	(Internet Relay Chat) A way for gamers, and others, to chat with each other over the Internet.
IRL	"In real life"
ISDN	(Integrated Services Data Network). ISDN is a type of connection with an ISP which generally allows for low pings.
ISP	See: Internet Service Provider
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J00	l33t s34k for "You"
JK	"Just Kidding"
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Keyboarder	A player who uses predominately his/her keyboard during game play rather than a mouse, joystick, etc.
Kick	To forcibly eject a player from the game, usually due to misbehavior. See also: Ban, Gag, Mute, and Slap.
Knifing	To wound or kill a player using a knife in game...ONLY in game. Not in, like, a restaurant or something.
KS	(Kill Steal) The act of taking a kill from another player that has already initiated combat (Very much looked down on).
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[lag]	Louisiana Anti-scripting Group
L33tsp34k	"leet speak" or elite speak; A communication code developed by hackers by replacing letters with numbers and symbols, by using a lot of abbreviations and by specials terms that was taken over by disaffected teens and reduced to a way of typing that is simply annoying.
L337	Elite.
Ladder	A list of clans and their ratings on a given server or service. Clans can fight each other in formal matches, moving up or down the ladder.
Lag/Laggy	Describes a slow connection in which the information from the server taking a long time to reach the client
Lag Kill	A kill that was scored against someone who was having latency problems and could not fight back. To the victim, this usually looks like a connection problem and then suddenly they are dead; to the attacker, the victim usually seems to either not moving or moving very slowly or erratically. See also: Wake up dead, Warp
Lag Out	In many FPS games, when a player drops from the game abruptly, it takes some time for the server to timeout the connection. During that time, the player will still appear in the game but will not move. Eventually the disconnection is detected and the player disappears; in the interim, while the server is timing out, the player is generally referred to as "lagging out."
Lame	General term used for bad, obstructive or negative actions, players or behavior. See also: Bomb Dropper, Camper, Cheater, Hacker, l33tsp34k, Llama, Nade Spamming, Newbie , Spammer, Stats Whore, Wanker, and Whiner
Lamer	A person who is regarded as being or acting "lame".
LAN	"Local Area Network" A network of machines that are directly connected via Ethernet, and do not require any sort of ISP connection to communicate with each other. LAN machines will have extremely low pings (less than 10 ms) and are ideal for organized tournaments so that everybody will be on the same ground in terms of latency.
LAN Party	An event where individuals bring their computers to a common place to play games against one another for a specific period of time.
Latency	The measure of how fast or slow it takes data to be transferred from a client to a server, measured in terms of the ping. Low latency means low ping; high latency means high ping.
Legit	Used either as an adjective or noun to represent a player/character who does not use game cheats, hacks or Exploits.
Level	One distinct portion of a map or of a game. Some games consist of many levels on a single map, some consist of many levels on many different maps. A level is a somewhat ambiguous term when applied to FPS games in general, but usually is fairly specific within each individual game. See Also: Map and Arena
LG	Lightening Gun
Llama	Another term for a lamer.
LMK	"Let me know"
LMAO	"Laughing my ass off"
LOD	Level of detail; Usually used in conjunction with the complexity of 3-D models
LOL	"Laughing out loud"
Loss	The percentage of incoming packets of data (from server to client) seen as lost. If there is significant loss the game will appear to "stutter" or "warp". See: Packet Loss
LOTD	"Lord of the Dance"; Refers to a player that attempts to evade fire by jumping around in a sort of impressionistic dance of a kangaroo in heat.
LTNS	"Long time no see"
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Map	A single space, or level, in which game play takes place.
Massively Multiplayer	A game with hundreds or even thousands of players.
Mech	Short for "mechanized robot." This term has been popularized by games such as MechWarrior and MechCommander.
Melee Weapon	Most FPS games give every player one close-defense weapon that cannot run out of ammo. These weapons are generally difficult to use since they require very close-combat tactics to use. But these weapons are also usually quite deadly when used properly. Some examples include Quake 3's Gauntlet, Unreal Tournament's Nailgun, and Half-Life's Crowbar.
MHZ	Abbreviation for megahertz, a frequency of 1 million cycles per second.
Midfield	The area between the teams' bases in capture the flag games.
Midfielder	A person who roams the midfield in capture the flag games, generally camping the important items, intercepting the enemy's flag carrier and escorting his own flag carrier.
Mod	Modification which alters the game in some way. CS is a Mod for Half-Life. See also: Add-ons
Model	A construction of polygons. The player and weapons are all models.
Moderator	A person who assists an admin in policing a server or forum.
Mutator	A type of mini-mod that only alters a small part of a game, e.g. providing only one type of weapon on a level, but making it so that one successful hit kills (Instajib).
Mute	1. To silence a person during game play in such a way that only affects one's game rather than everyone's. 2. A disciplinary action in which a player is unable to use voice communication. See also: Ban, Gag, Kick, Mute, and Slap
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N	"No"
N00B	Derogatory term pronounced "noob". See: Newbie
Nade	Diminutive for grenade.
Nade Spamming	The unsportsmanlike practice of buying and throwing grenades over and over again.
Network Games	A classification of games that can be played over a computer network against other users. This can either be a local area network (LAN) or the internet.
Newbie	A new player; someone not familiar to the game.
NJ	"Nice job!"
NM	"Never mind"
No-clipping mode	A mode of play where the player can walk through walls and other solid barriers. In some games, no-clipping mode removes your ability to pick up objects.
NP	"No problem"
NPC	(Non Player Character) Any character in the game that is not controlled by a player of the game.
NS	"Nice shot"
NT	"Nice try"
Nub	See: Newbie
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O/C	See: Overclock
Offensive Camp	Camping that is done by the offensive team (the Counter-Terrorists in a hostage rescue or assassination map, or the Terrorists in a bomb/defuse or escape map). This is usually considered disruptive since it interferes with the flow of game play; if the team which is supposed to be accomplishing its objective is instead camping somewhere, either the defending team will be forced to go hunting (turning the objective on its head) or the round will timeout.
OIC	"Oh, I see"
OMG	Oh my God! Expresses disbelief.
Open GL	A set of specifications for a cross-platform 3D graphics API, developed initially by Silicon Graphics Inc. There are several implementations of Open GL, provided by different vendors. A Win32 version is provided by Microsoft. Open GL includes routines for shading, texture mapping, texture filtering, anti-aliasing, lighting, geometry transformations, etc. Most of these functions can be hardware-accelerated.
OpFor	(Opposing Force) A military term sometimes used in FPS games (especially military FPS games) that refers to the soldiers acting as the "enemy" (or opposing force) in a military war-game.
OTOH	"On the other hand"
Overclock	The fine art of boosting the performance of one's CPU/Video card by increasing the clock speed of the particular chip beyond its intended factory specification. Kids, don't try this at home
Own	To dominate a map/player.
Ownage	"Owning" someone. A term often used after a player repeatedly defeats another player, thus meaning he controls them or is their daddy.
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Packet	The unit of data that is routed between an origin and a destination on the Internet or any other packet-switched network.
Packet Loss	Packets of information lost between the client and server resulting in jerky game-play
PAK	File containing game data (maps, models, sounds).
Para	Short for the M-249 Parabellum machine gun. A hard to use, but devastating weapon, capable of dishing out mayhem left and right.
Patch	Files produced by a game's developer to fix "bugs", add new things to a game, or change current things in the game. The player will generally have to download the latest patch to be able to play the game.
Pickup	1) In capture the flag games. The act of grabbing the flag after the flag carrier has dropped it due to being fragged. See also: Takeover 2) "Say, Baby. I wanna shake yo lemon tree till I can't pucker no MORE."
Ping	A measure of lag/latency rated in milliseconds (ms). Lower values are better.
Pixel	The abbreviation for Picture Element. Basically the tiny dot on the screen that, when used in groups, produces images on the monitor or television screen.
Ploss	See: Packet Loss
Pldecal.wad	The graphics file that contains a player's spray located in the halflife/cstrike directory.
Point	A military term, meaning out ahead of the general party; on scout.
Polycount	The number of polygons in a 3D model. The higher the polycount is the more memory and processing power is needed to display it.
Polygons	The little shapes that video game characters and landscapes are composed of.
Popper	One who sits still, lines up a shot and fires, lines up again, fires, lines up (POP!....POP!....POP!..). See: Snipe
Portal	A teleporter you can see through.
Power-up	A place or item which gives the player a special ability, usually for a short period of time.
Played	As in "Well played"
PPL	"People"
Primary Fire	Essentially this is another name for the "trigger," used to fire the weapon the player is currently holding in his hands. See also: Secondary Fire
Private Server	Server which requires a password or is for clan members only.
Protocol	Rules and procedures governing communication between devices.
Public Server	Sever which is open to anyone.
Pushlatency	A console command to increase playability in net games.
pwn	A deliberate misspelling of "own."
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Q3A	Quake 3 Arena
Q3F	Quake 3 Team Fortress
Quad Damage	A time-based power-up in Quake that multiplies all damage inflicted by the owner.
QT	"Cutie" [Editor's note: Anyone who refers to me as this term will choke on their own spleen.]
QW	Quake World
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R0x0rs	Another way of saying "rocks". Similar to l337sp34k and just as annoying.
RA	Red armor
RAM	(Random Access Memory) Memory accessible at any given instant by your system's microprocessor.
Rate	The amount of data per packet.
Rats Map	A custom map in which the map scale is out of kilter, and the players are effectively the size of mice or, at least, are smaller than normal.
RBF	reconnaissance by fire
RDY	"Ready"
React	For one unit to come to the aid of another under enemy fire
Real Time Strategy	Refers to strategy games where the action takes place in real time mode. Two or more players can attack, defend or build simultaneously.
Redeemer	The now infamous 'UT' weapon that is, in effect, a portable nuclear missile. Can be remote control piloted or, with the aid of the Strange Love mutator, physically flown.
Regeneration	A time-based power-up that gives the owner a constant addition of health. The power-up is ejected and left behind when the owner dies.
Regeneration Rune	A power-up in the form of a rune which can be picked up and bestows the owner with the constant addition of health to himself. The rune is ejected and left behind when the owner dies.
Resistance Rune	A power-up in the form of a rune which can be picked up and bestows the owner with halved damage from all sources. The rune is ejected and left behind when the owner dies.
Resolution	The term used to describe the length and width of the screen by pixels. The higher the resolution, the better the graphics produced by the television screen or monitor.
Respawn	The act of an item spawning again after being picked up before. Also the act of a player reappearing in the game after a death.
Return	The act of touching a flag in capture the flag games after the enemy's flag carrier has been fragged, to make the flag return to its original position in base.
RG	Railgun
RGR	"Roger"
Rig	A slang term for your computer.
RL	Rocket Launcher
Rocket Jump	A trick maneuver that can be performed in several different FPS games in which the player carrying a rocket launcher shoots the ground beneath his feet and jumps at just the right moment to achieve a particularly high jump.
ROF	Rate of fire
ROFL	"Rolling on floor laughing"
ROFLMAO	"Rolling on floor laughing my ass off"
ROM	(Read Only Memory) Memory where values are permanently burned-in, and are not lost when the system is turned off.
Round	One 3-minute cycle on a map (a server setting)
RPG	(Role Playing Game) An adventure game where the players select which character they will be. Many games let the players select some of the attributes of their characters and some let them assemble more than one type of player into a team. A game that allows you to assume the role of a major character and act, in the game, as if you were that character.
RTFM	"Read the friggin' manual"
RTS	See: Real time strategy
Rush	To run headlong for the enemy in an attempt to rapidly overwhelm their defense and overrun their position.
S Back to Top
Screen Shot	A single image containing the contents of an individual's monitor screen.
Secondary Fire	This is a second trigger for the weapon the player is currently holding. Often this unleashes either a special ability or a special way of firing the gun. See also: Primary Fire
Seconary Weapon	In some FPS games, each weapon has a second mode of attack which is generally distinct from the primary weapon in some way. This secondary weapon can be unleashed by pressing the secondary fire button.
Server	Computer which controls multiplayer games. If it is dedicated, it is used exclusively for this purpose, which improves performance
SG	Smoke grenade
Shard	Armor Shard
Shottie	Diminutive for shotgun.
Skin	A graphics texture file that is wrapped around a 3D model that a player appears as in game. Commonly refers to the texture around the actual character model, hence the term "skin".
Slackman	The second man back on a patrol, directly behind the point
Slap	A disciplinary action that causes a player to lose a slight amount of hp. See also: Ban, Gag, Mute, and Kick.
SMG	Submachine gun
Smurfing	Playing under multiple handles or smurfing under smurfy smurfs.
Snipe	To take position in a relatively hard to reach place and take potshots at players who pass through.
Sniper	One who snipes.
Spam	The process of doing the same thing -- particularly something annoying -- over and over again.
Spammer	Someone who produces 'spam'.
Spawn Point	Place where the players begin at the start of each round
Spawn Camper	Someone who camps at a "spawn point" to get easy frags by killing freshly spawned opponents or someone who intentionally camps their own spawn point in order to force the opposing team to come get them.
Spawn Kill	The act of killing an enemy player immediately after they spawn.
Spectate	An optional mode where players can watch other players play. To prevent cheating, usually players cannot see what spectators type.
Speed Hack	A cheat that allows a player to move at incredible speeds.
Spike	A sudden surge of latency that lasts for a brief time and then goes away. Such surges are often indicative of dropped frames, where a series of server updates gets lost.
Splash	The damage caused by an area effect weapon, such as an exploding rocket or grenade. Splash damage is indirect fire that comes from fire despite not scoring a direct hit.
Splash Damage	Damage caused by projectiles exploding near their target and thereby "splashing" damage onto the target.
Spray	An individual player's graphical signature used in game to tag a certain area or kill.
Spray and Pray	A technique in which an unskilled player will aim his/her weapon in the general direction of the enemy and fire uncontrollably. This usually means certain and absolute doom.
Spread	How good the gun is at hitting what your shooting at with rapid fire.
Sprite	2D bitmaps from the very earliest of 3D shooter days that are used in cases where 3D geometry or effects would be too complex. Things like steam, smoke and explosions are all produced by sprites.
SRY	"Sorry"
SS	See: Screen Shot
Stats	A collection of quantitative data consisting of kills, deaths, etc., that lists players by numeric place value.
Stats Whore	A player who is consumed by their own quest for statistical glory that they generally ignore completing their teams objective.
Strafe	To move sideways left or right without turning.
Strength Rune	A power-up in the form of a rune which can be picked up and bestows the owner with doubled damage given to all opponents. The rune is ejected and left behind when the owner dies.
Suppressive Fire	Fire intended not necessarily to directly inflict damage, but rather to deny or make more difficult entry via a certain passage, or to prevent or delay the enemy from pursuing.
Sysop	(System Operator) The person who controls special options in a multiplayer game. These options might include setting the level, assigning players to teams, or kicking misbehaving players out of the game. See also: Admin
T Back to Top
T	Terrorists
Takeover	The act of grabbing the flag in capture the flag games after the flag carrier has dropped it due to being fragged. See also: Pickup
TC	Total Conversion
TCP/IP	(Transmission Control Protocol/Internet Protocol) The basic communications protocol that is the foundation of the Internet. Developed by the U.S. Department of Defense's Advanced Research Projects Agency (ARPA) in the early 1970s as standard military protocol.
Team Deathmatch	The type of deathmatch where the players are divided into two teams and work together to kill the opponents.
Team Fortress	Game played where a number of 'classes' of player are on offer. These include a sniper, medic, and spy. Each has there own skills.
Team Fortress Classic	A "Team Fortress" Mod for half-life.
Team Kill	Killing someone on your own team.
Team Stacking	The process of deliberately keeping teams unbalanced so that one group of players can continue playing with each other. Not to be confused with one team simply being better than the other or one team playing grab ass rather than working together to meet their objective.
Team Wound	Causing your teammate to lose health points by shooting or knifing them.
Telefrag	To kill an opponent by teleporting to where they are standing.
Teleport	To change the position of a player or an object, like beaming in Star Trek.
Texture	The images displayed on walls, floors, weapons, etc.
TF	Team Fortress
TK	See: Team Kill
TTYL	"Talk to you later"
Turn-based	A game type where all the players act one after another in their own turn.
TY	"Thank you"
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U	"You"
UR	"Your" or "You're"
UT	Unreal Tournament
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V	A type of ambush set up like the letter.
VGA	(Video Graphics Array) First introduced by International Business Machines Corp. (IBM) in 1987 as a video display circuit that supports graphics up to 640x480 resolution.
Video Card	A device in computers that deals specifically with displaying to a monitor. Without one, you cannot see what's going on in your computer.
Vultch	To circle over an airfield, waiting for opponents to materialize on the runway, swoop down and destroy them before they get off the ground, and then return to circling and waiting for another to materialize.
VXD	Virtual Device Driver for Windows
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W2G	"Way to go"
Waking up dead	When a player has such a slow connection that he is killed before he can gain control of his character.
Wallhack	A cheat which allows a player to see through walls.
Wally	A texture editing program.
Wanker	A player that, when connecting to a server, joins the winning team.
Warp	Players who have a bad connection to a game often "warp," or teleport around as the server attempts to predict their movements from the last packet they received from the player's computer. The server will occasionally get a new position from the player, and "warp" them to the correct position.
Watch your Six	"Watch your back"
WB	"Welcome back"
Weapon	Depending on the game, FPS games feature any number of weapons types. Games like Quake and Unreal Tournament feature mostly fictional weapons, games like Half-Life, Half-Life Counter-Strike, and the Rainbow 6 series feature more real-world type weapons, and games like Team Fortress Classic combine the realistic with the fictional. Some games also include such things as mines, grenades, and bombs, while others include weapons as mundane as a wrench, a knife, or a crowbar. Still others include things like swords and crossbows.
Whiner	A player who is always complaining.
W00t	l33tsp34k; A shout of "ALRIGHT! or YEAH!"
WON ID	A unique identification number for the game Half-Life that identifies a specific copy of the installed game.
WTF	"What the fark?"
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X	A type of ambush set up, shaped like the letter.
Y Back to Top
Y	"Yes"
YA	Yellow Armor
YMMV	"Your mileage may vary"
YW	"You're welcome"
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Zip	A popular file archiving (compression/decompression) scheme developed by PKWARE under the name PKZIP. Used to compress large files into small files for uploading and downloading. WinZip and PKZIP for Windows are two of the best Windows-based utilities available for creating and unpacking zip files.