Video Games Glossary

Video games glossary is a separate unit in two parts at the gamerisms site. 
The inclusion of video gamer jargon was considered essential because passionate gamerz and the individual video game player influence the language and culture worldwide.

Let's begin with a brief history, to include types of players, known as gamers or gamerz, plus game genres followed by the glossary.

Video game popularity began with games like Pong and advanced with Intellivision, Atari and Commodore 64 to Nintendo, Playstation and Xbox releasing new systems every few years.
Video game player jargon has also come of age with new terms hitting the internet frequently to include the word gamerz.

At gamerisms, it is our intention to offer a comprehensive video games glossary.
In addition, the focus is on video game genres or types of games.
The 10 game genres classified and reported are fighting, shooting, adventure-action and war games, racing, puzzle/board games, educational games, simulation=SIM, sports videogames plus 12 Poker Software Reviews. 
Also, this unit presents 2 Video Games Quiz plus Video Game Facts-Trivia and Videogame Online Play Guide dedicated to passionate video gamers.

Game Players: video games glossary

Casual Gamers: are typically referred to as gamers who enjoy video games but may go long stints without playing and are content to play occasionally or do not really get into the game.

Hardcore Gamers: play every day and sometimes all day.  These gamerz concentrate  on the latest and greatest games, have the best equipment and spend a large portion of their time playing video games. 
Additionally, the hardcore video game player label defines gamers who play one game all the time, are obsessed with it, and have become masters of it as well. An example of a game like this is World of Warcraft.

Retro Gamerz: video games glossary term for players of older systems, such as Atari or Intellivision or the original Nintendo Entertainment System.  Another concept that the typical retro gamers enjoy is playing ROMs on their computer, which are games played through a program that emulates the original system on your computer, either Mac or Windows.

Import Gamerz: these gamerz are focused on games that either 1) are released overseas and often in a different language, released prior to the release in the gamerz country or 2) gamerz who collect and play games that are exclusive to another country and thus must be imported.
 
Cyber Athletes: video games glossary term for gamers who play for a living.  In recent years, professional organizations for enthusiastic video game players have taken off and become big business.  Gamerz who play for money and as a career in some cases are referred to as cyber athletes.

Sports Gamers: refers to gamers who only play sport related titles.  Most sports have a corresponding video game today.  From baseball to soccer to paintball, all sports are represented.  The growing popularity and ease of access to online play has propelled the sports gamer industry to a new level.  It is now possible for a video game player to connect with people from around the world. Sports gamerz find this especially challenging since they can test their skills one on one with gamers on another continent.

Genres: video games glossary
In general, these are the main game genres: fighting, war, shooting also known as first person shooter, racing, sports and educational games. Educational games include puzzle, quiz, logic, strategy and math game titles. Action-adventure and/or role-playing games=RPG are two phrases that cover the majority of game titles.

Within these game genres are titles that offer these features to a video game player:
simulations=SIM, role-playing game=RPG, first person shooter=FPS or Massive Multiplayer Online Role Playing Game=MMORPG.
Links to the game genres introduction page plus four genre-specific review articles are at the bottom of this glossary.

Video Games Glossary: A-B

• l33t: gamerz speak=leet, is an abbreviation for elite meaning a powerful video game player.
• A Game: first of 3 game ratings. This is a fair to good game title.
• AA Game: middle rating, known as a Double A Game or Double A Title video game.
• AAA Game: term for a Triple A Game or Triple A Title video game. The best rating. Additional ratings are from fair to worse at B, C, D, and F respectively.
• AI: a branch of computer science related to teaching computers to think and act like humans=artificial intelligence. In computer games, AI techniques are used to find shortest paths through complex situations, anticipate a gamerz moves and fight like a human opponent, adapting quickly for each move.
• Analogue Stick: Although we take it for granted today, the analogue stick on a controller first hit the mainstream with the Nintendo 64 controller. It is now a basic feature and a standard in any video games glossary.
• Auto Aim: game play procedure where the Ai of the game will assist you in aiming. This is most commonly seen in third person shooters although it is in other video games as well. The aiming square, circle, etc. will automatically go over your nearest target.
• Auto Save: a common feature of many video games in the modern era, it is the technique of automatically saving your game. Usually, should you go through a certain check point, the game will save. Most games that have this feature will warn you before you start. This is done in order that you do not turn off your console while the game is auto saving.
  
• Back Tracking: when a game forces you to back track over an area that you have already passed. This is common in many adventure games. Generally, you will back track through an area in order to take back an item.
  
• Boss: the major antagonist related to the game title. His/her death is generally the goal of the game.
• Bug: game title hiccup.
  

Video Games Glossary: C

• Camping: game play style wherein the player decides to sit in a particular area of a game due to the regen rate of creatures or to continually rekill respawning player characters at their point of origin.
• CD Rom: the media of choice for many game consoles is the Sega CD, Sony Playstation and Sega Saturn in the mid 90’s.
  
• Cartridge: was the way that games were played for the most part until the mid 90’s.
  
• Clan Tag: In many games, a group of gamers who play together on a regular basis, or who are at the same skill level will create a clan.  This group usually plays team games or games where being familiar with each other’s playing style, will be beneficial to the outcome of the game.
• Code: programming that permits game play.
• Console: video games glossary term for hardware device used to play games. Consoles perform as a camera when connected to a TV via the Vectrex.
• Controller: device used to play video games to include a D-Pad=direction pad along with start and select buttons. Wii remote is another example with alternative features.
• Combo: jargon for unique game action when the video game player performs a quick movement utilizing several controller buttons. Also referred to as a combo move.
• Coop: jargon for group of gamerz with the same goal of battling the AI.
• Crash: malfunction of the game, console or online server resulting in loss of further game play. Bummer to the nth degree.
  

Video Games Glossary D – Z follows
gamerisms suggests these links to video game genres reviews starting with
Video Games Genres Introduction  
OR
Online VideoGame Guide