By Jennifer Tan AKA Mrs Fett
Recently my father and 14 year old sister came down from Big Bear to visit. As with all of our visits, I go through my sisters clothing, and replace her destroyed tees and hoodies with my good ones. I found a tee shirt, with a turtle on its back, with “FML” in bold letters above it. When I asked my dad WHY he bought her that shirt, he said, it meant female, and he thought it was funny. I told him “ummm, no dad. FML means EFF MY LIFE” (I didn’t say EFF). “If it WAS female, then WHY would you buy her a shirt with a slutty turtle on it?!
“This opened my eyes to the fact that there is a huge communication barrier between gamers, and their peers, their parents, and the real world. A fact that, if addressed, will either create stronger bonds or, in the worst case scenario, attain hilarious misuse of the terms by your grandma.
Let’s start with some basic terms: AFK- Away From Keyboard. If you leave a battle for a hot pocket, you are AFK, and will most likely get yelled at for it. OP- Over Powered. If you were to smash an entire village with a gnomes fist…. you’re OP. BBL or BBOL means be back later, or be back ON later, which is self-explanatory.
Now, let’s talk trash talk! These are terms used to “troll” (another gaming term meaning to intentionally aggravate) an opposing team/player. To the foreign eye, these terms mean nothing, and yet the can spark a broken controller or worse in a heated game.
BIO, or Bring It On, is subtle, but will get the point across. GOML, means, “GET.ON.MY.LEVEL” and usually ends in someone rage quitting. And of course, one of my personal favorites, “Come At Me BRO!” Just another way of saying “You’re a jerk, and I could care less what your KDR (Kill/Death Ratio) is, BIO!”
This is literally the tip of the gaming terminology iceberg, but I hope it at least sparks an interest in what the gamers in your life are really saying. So when your kid comes home with an A, don’t say “Good job.” NO! Call them a “Boss!” and then give em’ taters! (fist bumping…) And when your spouse starts playing Blops, and throws a fit because he went negative, tell him to STOP camping, and start wall banging. (It’s not dirty, I swear)
