They get gamerspeak in Biloxi

The Sun Herald is a major newspaper with readers from mostly the south Mississippi and Biloxi area. In the Entertainment section of its online version, the SunHerald.com, it recently taught the businessmen and real estate agents of Biloxi all about gamerspeak.

Gamerspeak. They get it in Biloxi. They get it in Des Moines. They get it in Peoria. Do you? Here is the Sun Herald’s list (with a few of our comments thrown in).

• Servers: All the players who play the game can’t fit on one server. So the online universe is copied on several servers. Your character stays on one server and interacts with other characters on that server. You usually have to pay a fee to transfer to another server.
• PvP: Player versus Player. Some servers allow you to attack other players. Also, there are usually some areas in the game universe that are designated PvP or non-PvP.
• PvE: According to the Sun Herald, “Servers that require players to consent to fighting one another (either in a duel or in a battleground) are called PvE servers, for Player versus Environment.”
• For us Carebears (players who prefer peaceful roleplaying), PvE offers a deeper interaction than PvP because PvE games generally have missions where players band together to slay a monster (PvM, Player versus Monster). There are also special scripted events thrown in by the game developers or moderators. Such special events could be missions that require large numbers of players working together to end the mission or scenario.
• Of course, many games aren’t just PvP or just PvE. Most games try to offer a mix of PvP, PvM, and PvE experiences, because both PvP and PvE are rewarding and satisfying in their own ways.
• Guilds can also fight each other in guild wars. There are usually special areas or arenas set up for these fights. One game that offers different PvP and guild war experiences is Guild Wars.
• Toon: Gamerspeak for character.
• Main and Alt: The character the player spends the most time on is called the “main” character. The rest are throwaway characters or alternate characters called alts (or in some cases, “puppets”). There are also some games that really do allow you to control more than one character.

More about buffs, debuffs, and whatnots after the Jump. Click on the “Full Arrticle” link below to read it.

The Sun Herald is a major newspaper with readers from mostly the south Mississippi and Biloxi area. In the Entertainment section of its online version, the SunHerald.com, it recently taught the businessmen and real estate agents of Biloxi all about gamerspeak.

Gamerspeak. They get it in Biloxi. They get it in Des Moines. They get it in Peoria. Do you? Here is the Sun Herald’s list (with a few of our comments thrown in).

• LFG: Looking for Group. This means you’re looking to join a group for a mission or dungeon.
• LFM: Looking for More. This means a group is looking for more members so the group can start a mission or dungeon.
• WTB and WTS: Want to Buy and Want to Sell.
• Instance: In online missions, each party gets its own version or instance of the dungeon (so players don’t have to deal with other groups wandering around the dungeon). According to the Sun Herald’s writer, “Technically, anything requiring more than five players is a raid, but most people use the word instance until more than 10 players are required.”
• Raid: A mission or dungeon that requires more than 10 people to complete. According to the Sun Herald, raid groups are usually assembled by guilds.
• Guild: A player organization to share resources and form groups for missions and raids.
• Stats: Character attributes (health, mana, etc.).
• Buffs: Spells or weapon/armor/item bonuses that boost attributes or decrease damage. These are defensive spells and are usually cast by group members on themselves or on each other.
• Debuffs: The opposite of buffs. They lower attributes and increase the damage you take or increase the chances of taking damage.
• Servers: All the players who play the game can’t fit on one server. So the online universe is copied on several servers. Your character stays on one server and interacts with other characters on that server. You usually have to pay a fee to transfer to another server.
• PvP: Player versus Player. Some servers allow you to attack other players. Also, there are usually some areas in the game universe that are designated PvP or non-PvP.
• PvE: According to the Sun Herald, “Servers that require players to consent to fighting one another (either in a duel or in a battleground) are called PvE servers, for Player versus Environment.”
• For us Carebears (players who prefer peaceful roleplaying), PvE offers a deeper interaction than PvP because PvE games generally have missions where players band together to slay a monster (PvM, Player versus Monster). There are also special scripted events thrown in by the game developers or moderators. Such special events could be missions that require large numbers of players working together to end the mission or scenario.
• Of course, many games aren’t just PvP or just PvE. Most games try to offer a mix of PvP, PvM, and PvE experiences, because both PvP and PvE are rewarding and satisfying in their own ways.
• Guilds can also fight each other in guild wars. There are usually special areas or arenas set up for these fights. One game that offers different PvP and guild war experiences is Guild Wars.
• Toon: Gamerspeak for character.
• Main and Alt: The character the player spends the most time on is called the “main” character. The rest are throwaway characters or alternate characters called alts (or in some cases, “puppets”). There are also some games that really do allow you to control more than one character.