Twenty years ago, all you needed to know about video games was how many 20c pieces it took to get to the final boss on Double Dragon.
In the second of a two-part series, Hayden Meikle offers this glossary of terms to help you understand the gaming world.
MMORPG: Always presented in BIG CAPITAL LETTERS to make it seem MORE IMPRESSIVE.
Stands for MASSIVELY MULTIPLAYER ONLINE ROLE PLAY GAMING.
Newb: Short for former Otago rugby captain Craig Newby. Not really.
A newb is short for newbie: a person new to a game or console.
Noob: The other newb.
A noob is a newb who arrogantly dismisses the suggestion they know nothing.
NPCs: Another rugby term! It actually stands for Non-Playable Characters the artificially intelligent beings you encounter in pretty much every game.
Pwn (also pwned): One of the most obscure but frequently-used gaming terms.
It basically means to humiliate, to thrash the pants off another gamer.
Pronounced pone, pawn or puh-own.
Thought to come from a typo of the word own.
RPG: Role-Playing Game.
Think wizards, warlocks, brave knights and fantasy worlds.
Also see JRPG: Japanese Role-Playing Game, the specific style of game popularised by the Final Fantasy series.
RTS: Real-Time Strategy.
A strategy game viewed from above, where you control units and buildings and the action unfolds without interruption.
Other games have a turn-based strategy, where you make your moves, then wait for the opposition to have their turn.
Sandbox: Any game in an open-world setting that lets you roam, fulfil tasks in different orders and go at your own pace.
Shoulder buttons: On console controllers, those buttons facing the screen.
On the PlayStation, it's L1, L2, R1 and R2.
The Xbox 360 has LB, RB, LT and RT.
WoW: That would be World of Warcraft, the most popular online roleplaying game in history.
About 11 million paying gamers at last count.
I'm a dwarf hunter, if you're interested.
XP: X-perience Points are used in virtually every sword-and-sorcery, fantasy-style game.
The more you earn, the more levels/equipment/abilities you unlock.
