tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post7923385701442579355..comments2024-03-27T10:35:46.596+01:00Comments on Ravalation: Lost in translation: why my friends don't understand me when I talk about MMOsRavanelhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comBlogger30125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-26852562093551331812017-02-28T18:17:37.157+01:002017-02-28T18:17:37.157+01:00American Army veteran, here. I've seen ASAP (w...American Army veteran, here. I've seen ASAP (written many ways) since the early 1980s when I was a teenager, and we've pronounced it both spelled out and as a word. Though I think it's more common to say it as a word now.rowanblazehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/06820814610269599162noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-20290401943107985462017-01-21T14:26:03.318+01:002017-01-21T14:26:03.318+01:00If you like RTS games and are interested in Starcr...If you like RTS games and are interested in Starcraft, I think you can still buy it from the Blizzard store. Keep in mind the graphics are from like 20 years or so ago, in case that bothers you. Otherwise there is the much more recent Starcraft 2. I haven't played that one though so I can't say how good or not it is.<br /><br />Never heard of "zerg build" myself either. This is the first time I hear the term. I tried googling it but didn't find a definition, only discussions about character builds. Since it is been too long since I played the game I couldn't infer what the builds were supposed to be good at. All I could infer is that it was for World vs. World.Rakunohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00253609981961681014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-1117211283984706092017-01-21T13:32:07.626+01:002017-01-21T13:32:07.626+01:00I always thought it was an American army term, too...I always thought it was an American army term, too. Funny how words travel around and gain new meanings in different contexts. Cheers for the input.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-39019729114936454832017-01-21T13:16:06.907+01:002017-01-21T13:16:06.907+01:00Hahaha, thanks, Rakuno, for increasing the nerd le...Hahaha, thanks, Rakuno, for increasing the nerd level of this blog by 100%! Seriously, though, I had no clue, so it's nice to get some background information. I never played Starcraft, either, so in this case I'm particularly clueless. This kind of thing is hard to find out about unless you know someone who 'was there'.<br /><br />Another thing I've heard people mention often in GW2 is "zerg build". I always imagine it's the same as is referred with a 'glass canon' setup in other MMOs, which seems to correspond with your Starcraft story. Any thoughts on that? Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-78251206243735802252017-01-20T14:46:43.629+01:002017-01-20T14:46:43.629+01:00I don't think ASAP is British. We have picked ...I don't think ASAP is British. We have picked it up from Americans, specifically the US Military. You hear it in Hollywood action movies all the time.<br /><br />Interestingly, when I first heard it here in Blighty, people pronounced the letters A.S.A.P. In American media they always seem to pronounce it as a word instead - Asap.Guidohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/07882687017712412137noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-54985418689927074282017-01-20T12:13:08.907+01:002017-01-20T12:13:08.907+01:00A self-winding mechanical crab?! That sounds absol...A self-winding mechanical crab?! That sounds absolutely adorable! :)Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-89738401129210947632017-01-20T02:49:14.781+01:002017-01-20T02:49:14.781+01:00Pulling was a skill worth learning on a veno. Mine...Pulling was a skill worth learning on a veno. Mine ended up quite good at it - rather crucial as a guild leader - but my favourite veno skill was taming new pets, and I collected dozens of them. Favourite was a mechanised crab that stopped ever so often and wound himself up.Roland Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03302133565980901397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-56378941685812052992017-01-20T01:11:58.653+01:002017-01-20T01:11:58.653+01:00I can definitely imagine that gifting can be hard!...I can definitely imagine that gifting can be hard! My brother and I are very different as well. But if there's a single player game that I really enjoy (like Life Is Strange and Valiant Hearts: The Great War) chances are that he will, so I'm lucky in that regard. The Steam gift card is a nice solution for if you don't know exactly which game. But if he really wouldn't want to play anything from Steam and just the shooters, that would make it much harder! So good luck with that. :)Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-31469845057837564442017-01-20T00:11:58.739+01:002017-01-20T00:11:58.739+01:00*** NERD ALERT NERD ALERT EXPLANATION ABOUT THE TE...*** NERD ALERT NERD ALERT EXPLANATION ABOUT THE TERM ZERG INCOMING ***<br /><br />The term "zerging" comes from the game Starcraft. It is a Real Time Strategy game in a science-fiction setting where there are three factions: The humans, who were relatively balanced in everything, the alien Zergs whose units were relatively weak but cheap to build and the alien Protoss, whose units were relatively powerful but expensive to build.<br /><br />During the single player campaign you played with the three factions at different parts of the story. So you got to learn what made each one tick and had to change your strategies to keep up with each of their strengths and weakenesses.<br /><br />Since the zergs were weak but cheap, the easiest strategy with them was to build a ton of them and just overhelm the enemy with sheer numbers.<br /><br />Their design was inspired by insects (or at least reminded me of such) so if you imagine a cloud of grasshoppers flying into a field and eating everything in sight you will get pretty much a good picture of how the zergs are supposed to feel like in the game. :)<br /><br />I played the original Starcraft a long time ago and the Zergs were my favorite faction in the game. So when I saw the term "zerging" being used outside of that game I found it really amusing.<br /><br />So, your image of it was pretty accurate, Ravanel, even if you had no idea about its origins. :)<br /><br />*** NERD ALERT OVER EVERYTHING IS SAFE NOW ***Rakunohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00253609981961681014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-44680026907490812792017-01-19T23:41:46.320+01:002017-01-19T23:41:46.320+01:00That's definitely interesting. Also, kudos to ...That's definitely interesting. Also, kudos to your friend that doesn't play games but loves hearing people talk about them - that's a keeper!<br /><br />I've never heard of 'piker'. It must be one of those rare words that are truly unique for a specific MMO and that don't relate to a game or gameplay system. I would argue that "to carry through" in itself has a special meaning in MMOs (even though it also means something in the world outside of it), since it's always used in the same specific context.<br /><br />I still don't really understand what "zerg" in GW2 actually means. /embarrassed<br /><br />I always imagine a big group of people running into another faction in World vs World with great speed, murdering everything around them. It kind of sounds ferocious.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-16925727451127742782017-01-19T19:19:28.801+01:002017-01-19T19:19:28.801+01:00That makes a lot of sense! I guess I'm blessed...That makes a lot of sense! I guess I'm blessed almost everyone in my (cross MMO) guild plays the same palette of MMOs, so that doesn't happen to me very often.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-9600490598313979772017-01-19T19:18:09.939+01:002017-01-19T19:18:09.939+01:00Yes, each MMO has their own language, even though ...Yes, each MMO has their own language, even though a lot of gameplay systems follow the same concept - so confusing at times! It really takes me a while to understand what everything means, and only then I feel truly 'at home' in an MMO.<br /><br />The Venomancer sounds like a class I could've enjoyed. Not many games in which pets are used to pull stuff in group instances.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-46618092724668704362017-01-19T19:14:29.384+01:002017-01-19T19:14:29.384+01:00Those are great examples of using different speech...Those are great examples of using different speech depending on the fandom! I would have no clue about wrestling geek lingo, either. When I think of instances in which I have to try and code switch to other people's fandom speech, it'd have to be Conrad. He enjoys reading Reddit a lot and knows all the memes. He finds them hilarious (me, sometimes, but often I think they're a bit lame) and makes it his mission to explain them to me every now and then. So now I know what e.g. business cat is (probably my favourite one); not that it has much of a use other than being able to share and talk about funny things we find on the internet.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-13586540178186217192017-01-19T14:30:10.660+01:002017-01-19T14:30:10.660+01:00Oh, forgot to mention. This can make gifting each ...Oh, forgot to mention. This can make gifting each other very hard. Since it is not only in games that our tastes differ. It is pretty much in everything else too. But I suppose it is at least somewhat easier for him since he can just check my wishlist on Steam and buy something for me from there. While I have to try to choose something and hope for the best. :pRakunohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00253609981961681014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-8541611200584482172017-01-19T14:24:04.928+01:002017-01-19T14:24:04.928+01:00Oh, yeah. Difference in the types of games is also...Oh, yeah. Difference in the types of games is also something that happens with my brother. He always preferred shooters, sports and fighting games. While I always preferred RPGs and turn-based strategy games. I think the only genre our tastes overlapped was in adventure games but I am not sure about that.<br /><br />He tried to get into MMOs too, back when World of Warcraft was relatively new, even got the Burning Crusade expansion. But that never lasted too much. Even myself I can be quite picky about the MMOs I play but I definitely took more of a liking to it than him.Rakunohttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00253609981961681014noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-10420125380198965742017-01-19T13:51:43.016+01:002017-01-19T13:51:43.016+01:00Thank you, Pepi! There were so many useful terms i...Thank you, Pepi! There were so many useful terms in your post that applied to (MMO) gaming so well! And I feel honoured that it actually made you get me better (even though I do try to keep my gaming terminology to a minimum). Sometimes I feel like I'm part of some 'secret gaming club' when I'm talking about MMOs in the offline world. I don't like that, because I don't want to exclude anyone! But at least it's an interesting subject capable of inspiring many more posts to come.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-85583992404432296202017-01-19T13:39:26.150+01:002017-01-19T13:39:26.150+01:00I think it's the same for me with family. My y...I think it's the same for me with family. My younger brother is the only one who liked games, but he is really into shooters (whereas I really am not), and he doesn't like MMOs. I tried getting him into SWTOR at some point (because he does like Star Wars), and there he liked the warzones (PvP) most, but he got turned off by how many buttons there were that he had to learn. The depth in gameplay that attracts me was a huge threshold for him. Luckily we do have single player games that we both like, including a soft spot for all pokémon games due to nostalgia. And like you, we tend to talk about it when it is just the two of us, or sometimes three if Conrad's around, because he's also a member of "the secret gamer club". xDRavanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-39711961158618791122017-01-19T13:34:06.221+01:002017-01-19T13:34:06.221+01:00Thanks for the feedback; it's nice to know whe...Thanks for the feedback; it's nice to know where that word stems from. I had never heard from "asap" before I started raiding in Lord of the Rings Online, where it was used in guides for boss fights and in written tactics in the in-game chat box. I had to ask people what it meant and if it was important, because I had no clue! I think it's rather the populace of that specific MMO than SF vs fantasy: there are a *lot* of British people playing LOTRO. I suspect that has something to do with the lore; Tolkien being British and creating the Shire as a sort of romanticized rustic Britain. Pretty much like Dr Who is more popular in the UK than anywhere else in the world.<br /><br />There is also a temporary dimension. We're talking ~8 years ago now, when I wasn't using voice chat yet and hence relied more on written chat. I haven't read the word in more recent years, which can either mean it's used less or it's just because I don't pug in LOTRO anymore and generally use voice chat rather than typing. Either way, vocabulary is always in motion.<br /><br />As for Shintar's second paragraph: I am always so confused by chat when I try out a new MMO! Even though you'd think that after trying out all these different ones it'd be easier, it all sounds like some secret language until I find out what all the names and acronyms mean. I generally just turn it off for the first couple of months while I explore my surroundings.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-34361525954436915592017-01-19T12:41:07.891+01:002017-01-19T12:41:07.891+01:00Very interesting post.
I have some gamer friends ...Very interesting post.<br /><br />I have some gamer friends so we talk about the games we play and the MMO we play. I have one friend that doesn't like playing games but she loves hearing people talk about playing games. Then there's my other friends that probably don't even realize that I am a gamer. Very interesting how I separate things out with out even thinking.<br /><br />When my husband and I played DDO there was a term called piking. It meant that the player let them self be carried through a quest or raid. So being called a piker was not generally a good thing. I haven't heard this term in any other MMO I've played.<br /><br />GW2 I learned that zerg didn't necessarily mean to run past mobs in a quest to get to your objective. It means a large group of players working for the same goal. If you want to run past mobs in a dungeon it's called skipping.<br /><br />And I never learned what an add meant until I played LOTRO... DDO didn’t use a term for the extras. It was just kill the mobs!cfcallierhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/15521080251095181782noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-20440577697214576172017-01-19T09:51:08.542+01:002017-01-19T09:51:08.542+01:00Those are some great examples of same thing, diffe...Those are some great examples of same thing, different name between MMOs! I'm not sure whether it's a curse or a gift either. For now I'll stick to 'interesting phenomenon'.Ravanelhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03447777640056476366noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-54225383696575652732017-01-19T01:28:00.418+01:002017-01-19T01:28:00.418+01:00Quite an interesting post. For sure, my friends ...Quite an interesting post. For sure, my friends don't get me when I talk about MMOs. Of course I don't get my guildies sometimes when they use some jargon from an MMO I've never played. Kathy Hullhttp://krysanthe.comnoreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-36321622694070750422017-01-18T06:48:23.235+01:002017-01-18T06:48:23.235+01:00Great post. I can so relate to many of your exampl...Great post. I can so relate to many of your examples and those in the comments. As you know, Rav, I play SWTOR and LOTRO mainly and they have different lingo. I've also played quite a few other games so there are moments I switch to the wrong 'language'. One of those games was Age of Conan so I laughed at the 'kite' tale. Reminded me of some fervent 'dungeon instance' group leaders in Perfect World screaming at the poor Venomancer - fox women who were only class who could tame pets - to correctly pull the mobs one by one with her pet. Roland Clarkehttps://www.blogger.com/profile/03302133565980901397noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-23319783139006099352017-01-18T01:55:58.745+01:002017-01-18T01:55:58.745+01:00Interesting and well put together post! Something ...Interesting and well put together post! Something I don't really think on too often, but you're totally right. My hubby had to teach me wrestling geek lingo, for example, just so I could somewhat follow along when he goes on his tangents. :p Then there are times I'll be talking to my dad, who isn't that nerdy at all, but on occasion something might come up that does have its own sort of lingo, and I have to reign myself in, just a tad. It's interesting how we are able to do that. It sounds similar to how people are able to act differently around different people. The social chameleon thing. Hannah @ Dragons and Whimsyhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/00669527928501514046noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-14925568061435284452017-01-17T20:46:30.255+01:002017-01-17T20:46:30.255+01:00WOW! I love this post!!!! This is gold! This post ...WOW! I love this post!!!! This is gold! This post helps me get you better :) I love that you took your time and decided to let others know more about gaming vocabulary. (I would have been zone out pretty quickly). Please, keep writing posts like this!!!!Anonymoushttps://www.blogger.com/profile/04940563209016584459noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-5922857679980740630.post-19966579339992196182017-01-17T19:52:06.598+01:002017-01-17T19:52:06.598+01:00I'm with Bhagpuss on "asap" being bu...I'm with Bhagpuss on "asap" being business jargon, not MMO lingo. If I had to think of an example sentence featuring the expression, it would be something like: "Make sure to finish that report asap."<br /><br />That aside, I don't run into these particular language problems very much since I tend to be quiet about my hobbies around people who I know are not interested in gaming. I do often have fun with the minor differences you describe though, such as when I explain to a WoW player that "warzones are SWTOR's battlegrounds" and stuff like that.Shintarhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16758343475446510635noreply@blogger.com