Gamer Lingo

10,000 Dead Cranes Stance: When a character is knocked to the ground (but not knocked out or removed from the fighting arena) and the player opts to keep the character down, completely motionless, instead of getting back to his or her feet. The stance is used to avoid any remaining combos and/or special moves.

Acid Pit: Mysterious things that often appear when the Storyteller is not happy with the players. Usually, a player will suddenly fall into one, resulting in instant death. Almost as common as Mithril.

Ankle Biting: An especially rancid kind of cheese used during a fighting game in which the accused is repeatedly attacking the other character (human or computer) with repeated low hits. Often annoying, but quite effective.

Backed: Any move performed while showing your back which knocks your opponent across the screen. Named after Long the Tiger in the Bloody Roar franchise, who would knock you across the screen by merely touching his back to you.

Backstabbing: In general, going back on one's word in a strategic game, usually at the expense of someone else (Like Klingons shooting at Federation ships as per the ST:TNG CCG). In fighting games, a type of cheese where the attacker hits the poor helpless opponent in the back, often repeatedly and in combos.

Brick: A player who, on character creation, places all of his points into strength and stamina, usually to the detriment (or complete obliteration) of any mental or social attributes.

Button-Mashing: Pressing all the buttons at once, in hope that the character will do something cool and deadly; beginner players usually do this in lieu of actually learning combos. This practice can be surprisingly effective due to its sheer unpredictability, since random attacks are nearly impossible to block. Button-mashing is a derogatory term: it is always one's opponent who is button-mashing, not one's own self.

Cheese: In general, this word (used as verb, noun or adjective) is used to describe ridiculously powerful moves, spells, etc. -- so powerful that they should be outlawed. F.ex., "This Star Ocean boss is pure cheese... he killed my entire party with one hit !" or "He cheesed me with his Lion Speed Deck". Cheese of this sort is not merely annoying -- it breaks game balance in some way by giving one side an unfair advantage. In fighting games, "cheese" refers to a repetitive, rapidfire pattern of moves (such as, for example, juggles) which, due to a loophole in the game or sheer malevolence, is nearly impossible to dodge, block, or resist in any way. F. ex., "He killed me with his Yoshimitsu/Hwoarang cheese". Cheese differs from official 12-hit combos and the like in that it is usually not programmed into the game from the outset; it takes a certain amount of skill to perfect and develop one's own style of cheese.

Cheesemonger: One who uses the same kind of cheese over and over, exclusively, with devastating effect, again and again, without end.

Chicken: A player who, on character creation, places all of his points into dexterity and dodge, usually to the detriment (or complete obliteration) of any mental or social attributes. Combined with "brick" at higher levels to become "chicken brick:" an untouchable character, who, if touched, will never take damage due to his brick nature.

Chunky: A fighting style that, due to the incompetence of the player or the character (or both), does not flow together like a graceful ballet of death -- but, instead, putters along in a series of disjointed, stilted single moves. A chunky fighting style can still be effective, but it's never fun.

Corner Cheese: A type of cheese where the player catches his opponent in the corner, and keeps beating him down with 12-hit combos until he's dead. Normally, such combos can be dodged -- but not in the corner, where the walls surround the victim on all sides. The term actually originated in 2d fighting games such as Street Fighter, but this technique is even more devastating in modern 3d games such as Bloody Roar.

Crispy Toasty Dead: What the enemies become after messing with the mage -- provided he knows his area-of-effect megadamage spells, as any real mage should.

Death Fall: A maneuver that is supposed to let a character that has been launched in the air land safely on their feet. In reality, the move only sets up the performing character for a juggle. According to poorly-translated instruction booklets, this move is called a "Safe Fall". It has since been properly renamed after experimentation.

Die Quietly: Originally a statement uttered when someone was the victim of a Stealth Kill in Tenchu, it is now said generally when any opponent is defeated without a real fight.

Dink: A term to describe the final death of anything, and the sound it makes when it hits the ground. Usually accompanied by a hand gesture where the palm is originally held vertically, edge-on, and then is flipped rapidly into the horizontal position.

Dumb Bitch: A name said in frustration that refers to a female character that performs or behaves in a manner contrary to what the player intends. Coined in FFVII, when Aris was called the afformentioned because of her death. F.ex. "Dumb Bitch! I told you to HEAL".

Dumb Crazy Girl: Coined from a line in Demon City Shinjuku, where the male lead applies this term (in deadpan, toneless monotone) to the female lead, after she tries to go after a horde of demons armed with nothing but her malfunctioning magic zappy ring. The term is now used to describe any character who is acting in a similar manner.

Dumbassitude: A Discipline that included the powers Heart Pendant, Obfuscate in the Corner, Dull Stare of the Dairy Cow, Deer in Headlights, Utterance of the Retard, and Essence of Lobotomy. The Discipline is rumored to be able to make other people believe that the character using it is so stupid that they can't possibly exist, though it can be twisted enough to allow for the ultimate in underestimation.

Elfess: The Elf Sorceress in the PS2 knockoff of Baldur's Gate. By extension, any sort of female Elven magic user (especially if she's utterly useless).

Eye Color Table: Used to describe any tabletop RPG where the character generation process is ridiculously detailed, complex, and random at the same time. Named after the Everquest D20 D&D supplement which actually requires you to roll your eye color (among other things). F.ex., "What ! It wants me to calculate yet another saving throw ? What, do I have to roll on the eye color table, too ?"

Fairuza: The name of a destination used when the actual name of the destination is not known or temporarily forgotten. F.ex. "Hurry and get to Fairuza before it turns night".

Fireball: Also known as Hadouken, a quarter-circle turn of the joystick (or the digital controller) counterclockwise from the "Down" position, followed by one or more attack buttons. Originally, this move was introduced in the Street Fighter game, where this move really does launch a fireball. However, the move has since then been copied by every other game for many purposes; backward-fireballs (a clockwise fireball, i.e. Down, Down-back, Back) also became common. F. ex., "Nagi has this neat backward-fireball + Beast move where she slices you in half"

Flipping China Child: Another name for Xaiyou in Tekken, a known master of Spinny-Flippies.

Flippy Kick: A move in the arsenal of Alice in Bloody Roar that falls into the category of Spinny-Flippies, though it also manages to deliver a very powerful kick, akin to cheese.

Fluffy: Derogatory name given to a player who spontaneously decides that his/her character has something previously unmentioned, because "it would make sense for my character to have that." Usually used to justify a plethora of objects that are insanely powerful and cannot be used properly by said character. Usually a Munchkin. Also goes by the names of "fuzzy," fuzz-bucket," "hairball" or "moron." Term was named after a player of an online campaign who spent 30 minutes trying to justify sole ownership of a node, 3 high-powered talismans and a level 5 familiar.

Food: A noun to describe what a player would be if he really lived in the World of Darkness.

Freem!: The sound a Ray of Frost spell makes when cast.

Frothing: What a very quick runner character becomes when you cast every single powerup spell on her, in an attempt to make her at least marginally useful. This technique was developed originally for use on Rinoa from Final Fantasy VIII (Berserk, Protect, Shell, Strength/Speed up, etc. etc.)

Fwackoom: The sound that is made when a mage casts horrible area-effect, mass-damage, world-shattering spells on a person or kingdom. The sound results from simultaneous earthquakes, raging infernos, flash floods, and tornadoes ripping apart the afformentioned - all accompanied by rainbows in the sky spelling out "Look, I'm Fwackooming Your King". Another term which was borrowed from the excellent book called Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming.

Grand Master: One of few players that can obliterate their opponents with any character at any fighting game. Note that Grand Masters are not necessarily Weapons Masters.

Greed: A term applied when your party is desperately trying to escape from a dungeon because the resident monsters are so powerful that they have killed or horribly incapacitated one or more members that you have no means to heal. During egress, the player in question is compelled to investigate and open every treasure chest in sight despite their panicked flight.

Ground-hogging: A type of cheese that involves beating the living hell out of someone when they're on the ground. Usually in a fighting game.

Hla Olad: A sad, dirty little fishing village whose biggest attraction is the chief's mud hut, and whose main exports are misery, downtrodden peasants, and barely edible fish. Named after the actual Hla Olad village in Morrowind. F.ex., "Aw, your character looks so sad... it's not his fault he was born in Hla Olad !"

Hwa-BAM !: The sound Nightmare's sword makes when, deceptive in its speed, it nails the opponent to the floor (in Soul Calibur 2). In conversation, this term is usually accompanied by a downward-chopping motion of the arm.

I'm the Princess: A chant that one may say repeatedly while traversing a town in a RPG when the token Princess is leading the party. It has no use other than an external excuse to inform all NPCs that your party contains said member.

Iajutsu Duel: A move possessed by some samurai-type characters. The samurai puts away his sword, looking deceptively vulnerable. When the hapless opponent moves in for the kill, the samurai whips out his katana with lightning speed, slicing his assailant to ribbons. This move was pioneered by the revolutionary game Bushido Blade, but some other fighting games have re-implemented it since. The name comes from the CCG Legend of the Five Rings, where a card by this name initiated a duel between two samurai.

Juggle: A term originally used in fighting games to denote a relentless attacker hitting an opponent into the air, and following up with a multi-hit combo which is impossible to avoid (because one can't dodge or block effectively while in the air). A juggle usually results in death or massive irreparable damage; Reji from Bloody Roar 4 excells at such juggling. Recently, the term has been adapted to denote to any activity which involves a series of attacks in rapid succession, f.ex. "We were playing L5R and he juggled me with his three Breaches of Etiquette in a row". In fighting games, juggles are often used as building blocks of cheese.

Kharmic Strike: When two opponents kill one another simultaneously. This term was originally from the card game L5R.

Laser Dagger: The excellent game Castlevania: Symphony of the Night became easy when this skill was learned. It involves firing daggers so quickly that Alucard's Heart supply reaches zero at approximately the same time that any/every creature dies without having a chance to move. Laser daggers require a trigger finger to execute properly.

Limburger: The most potent form of cheese. Almost always unbeatable, some groups frequently try to ban its various forms as a house rule. Victories (even flawless victories) through use of limburger disqualifies the player from "schooling" anybody, unless the other player is using limburger as well.

Liquidality: Finishing off an opponent with a string of very fast hits that result in the replay of the victory starting somewhere within the combo. By pressing the replay button repeatedly at the stringing interval, the loser gets pounded from different camera angles a multitude of times. F.ex. When Uriko from Bloody Roar uses the "Continuous Gem Bombardment" six-level combo ring ender and it kills the opponent, the replay loop is said to cause a "Liquidality" because the loser is beaten so mercilessly that he or she is believed to eventually dissolve into a bloody puddle.

Lum!: An expression stated to denote an absent-minded and ignorant happiness. It may also be used when one is sufferning from delerium caused by sleep deprivation. F.ex. "Do you like Rayman"? "Lum"!

Master: A player that excels at fighting games. There are two types of masters: those who can use every character lethally in one fighting game and those who have one or two lethal characters in every fighting game.

Master of Mempo: A noun used to describe someone that is stating the obvious, derived from the behavior of a character in Demon City Shinjuku who was really, really good at it.

Milk the Eye: A rather unique winning condition from the card game Fluxx.

Mithril: A substance so common that almost everything is made of it.

Munchkin: Any player who bends or breaks rules, or enacts schemes against other players (or the GM) of machiavellian proportions in order to produce the "winning" character...in a game where there is no "winner." Munchkins have read more rulebooks and supplements than anyone else (just ask them, they'll tell you), and can usually generate nigh-omnipotent characters that are still, technically speaking, legal. F.ex., "I found this great way to make a zero-cost level 5 Chantry. Got the idea from the limited-edition Chantries expansion, only 100 copies ever printed..."

Nagi Blender: A very fast cheese combo possessed by Nagi in Bloody Roar 4 that slices an opponent 5 times for over 2/3rds of their life in damage.

Naples: An asset gained and held only by tenuous agreements with other players (many of them unspoken). Losing this asset triggers a homocidal rage in which the former owner doggedly hammers at the offending player until he is dead, then quits the game. Named for an instance in the board game Machiavelli, where this argument ensued over the Italian province of Naples. F.ex. "Why did you just do that?!" "Naples was mine!"

Neem!: The sound a laser makes when fired. Described in more detail in the excellent book by Steve Jackson Games called Munchkin's Guide to Powergaming.

Ninja Vanish: An escape maneuver known by even the most novice of ninjas. The ninja throws down a smoke bomb, and vanishes in a puff of smoke and evil laughter, leaving his enemies to cough and rub their eyes in confusion.

Nuclear Weapons: Preferred method of negotiation.

Omniscan: A term used in Mage: the Ascension, where the Mage in question has one (and only one) dot in every Sphere. All of the Spheres are used together to determine everything about the object, hence the scan. Most often, accompanied by a pantomime of a HUD with a readout and a rotating spherical grid, a la Final Fantasy VIII.

Oops: Spoken when one realizes that he or she has made a fatal mistake, and suffers the consequences moments later.

Pounce: A move in the Bloody Roar series where one performs a fireball command using the beast button. The character lunges forward with a quick and vicious "pounce".

Power Overwhelming: A spell, special move, or some other effect so devastating that you can use it to obliterate a small country in one hit. Originally, this term comes from Starcraft, where the Protoss Archons say "We burn !.. Power overwhelming !!!" before vaporizing your enemies with searing white plasma fire. However, it has since then been applied to other games, as well as general situations. F.ex., "My new Radeon graphics card is Power Overwhelming ! It can run Morrowind at full view distance with no trouble".

Pressing Buttons: A non-derogatory synonym for button-mashing, which is always applied to oneself, never to one's opponent. F.ex., "How ? How did you DO that ?" "I was pressing buttons."

Quasimodo: A character with the physical flaws "monstrous," "disfigured" and "deformed," and high points in Vicissitude to cover it all up and look normal throughout the whole game.

Rag Doll: When a player fails to put up a decent fight during a round and gets horribly beaten down by his or her opponent. During said round, the failing player is said to be "fighting like a rag doll".

Resident Evil Controls: A maliciously counterintiutive control style for 3d third-person games, where the directional buttons (or the analog joystick) move your character along some random world-space axis -- as opposed to moving him in the actual direction that the button is pointing to, which is what most normal people would expect. Pioneered by the all-around bad game Resident Evil, this control style has been (inexplicably) copied by some other games since then.

Roof Pie: A term applied to a victim of telekinesis that ends up crushed against the roof of a structure with such force that only a reddish circular smear of gore remains of said victim. The term "roof pie" is not exclusive, and may be interchanged with other parts of a structure, such as "wall pie" or "floor pie" - determined by the final location of the telekinetically assaulted victim.

Rule #1: "Character Superiority." The order of character selection from most superior to least: Girl-Ninja, Ninja, Teenage Girl, Old Man, Monk (or monk-like character), American, Giant.

Rule #17: "Don't do fancy shit". Invoked when one's opponent attempts to execute a beautiful, stylish, and slow combo -- only to be stopped by a simple yet effective kick to the face.

Rule #2: Don't miss.

Rule #3: "Personal Space" - If a fighting game allows you to move your character (but not take action) before the match starts, it is not wise to get right in your opponent's face. Usually because he now has the advantage at throwing more.

Schooled: When a previously undefeated player (or anybody claiming to be one) is thoroughly trounced by another player. "Perfects" are usually resultant, but not necessarily required. The most impressive forms of "schooling" are a) no use of long combos, b) no cheese, or c) repeated (and consequence-free) breaking of Rule #17.

Scoop Kick: An insidious cheese move possessed by Hwoarang in Tekken that launches an opponent in the air, and is followed by a horrifying juggle. This move is also followed by the assailant's laughter. In general, any kick that launches the opponent into the air.

Shwa!: The sound, used by Brian Clevenger, to describe Shinobi's "stealth dash" maneuver (illustrated here). More generally, the sound made when doing anything stealthy/sneaky/ninja-like. F.ex: any teleporting move in a fighting game may be vocalized with a "shwa," as well as perfect kills in Tenchu, and similar maneuvers. "Shwa!" may be substituted with "Ninja!" if you prefer.

Sidestoop: Past tense of "sidestep", but only when the maneuver was successful. F.ex., "How ? How did that not hit you ? -- I sidestoop."

Soul Reaver Ending: An ending to the story of any game which is incredibly unsatisfying and smells like a setup for a sequel. Named after the original Soul Reaver game, whose ending consists entirely of a giant "To Be Continued" screen.

Soul Soul Revolution: Also known as Dance Dance Calibur, this term refers to two human opponents trying to gain an advantageous position by means of constant sidestepping. These actions result with the screen and characters spinning around and totally missing one another. It may be aesthetically pleasing, but ultimately accomplishes nothing.

Spinny-Flippies: Used to describe the constant spinning and/or flipping movements of a character that result in all incoming attacks being dodged. Most often, this term is applied to pre-pubescent Asian female characters and their fighting style.

Storm Drain: A preferred thing to slam an opponent's head into. Often at the end of a combo.

Storyteller's Prerogative: In general, the method used by a Table-Top RPG storyteller to cheese. Usually this is done not to curb munchkin-ism (like the famous acid pit), but to force the game to go in the direction he wants it to, at the expense of the enjoyment of everyone else involved. F.ex., "He spends HOW MUCH willpower in one turn ? Is this even legal ?" "Storyteller's prerogative."

Swit: A vulgar but common slang term that originates from the Dunmer language in Morrowind - it loosely translates to "shithead" in English. F. ex. "You stole my fries for the last time, you swit!"

Taco: A name given to a female game character's reproductive organ when she deals or receives damage from that area. F.ex. "Oh man, you just gave her a kick right to the Taco. Ouch."

Tap: To turn a card in play 90 degrees clockwise, indicating that its special power has been used up. The opposite of tap is untap. Wizards of the Coast popularized this concept with their ground-breaking CCG, Magic: The Gathering. Unfortunately, WotC apparently copyrighted the words "tap" and "untap" as well, forcing other CCGs to use some weird synonyms, such as "bow/straighten", "turn/unturn", "engage/disengage", or even "crank/uncrank". No CCG player actually uses these words; the only meaningful word for tapping is "tap".

Tekken Stance: A way of holding the PSX controller where the index finger is positioned over the Square button, and the middle finger is positioned over the Triangle button. This stance allows for easier (and faster) execution of "double-punch", "double-kick", and "punch-punch-kick-kick" combos in Tekken.

The First Rule: In any fighting game, if there is a ninja character, it's probably good. If there is a female character, chances are that she's even better. If it's a ninja girl, the choice for which character to pick becomes painfully clear.

The Last One: The justification used to create a character that has no earthly business even existing, such as the "Sphere-weilding, cantrip throwing, chi-using, mokole abomination antitribu." Lesser infractions include "Dream Weaver mage raised by Bone-Gnawer pack" or "Caitiff who was given Ventrue and Brujah blood on 'accident.'" Also known as "the Exception," or "Day-Walker Syndrome."

Throwing More: When a player gives a character the command to throw his opponent, but is the victim of a throw instead. When the player voices his concern and states that he threw his opponent first, the other player replies "I threw you more."

Tracking: A combo that "homes in" on the opponent, making your character turn to follow and pummel him relentlessly even as the frightened opponent is trying to sidestep to safety. F.ex., "You can't dodge Reji. All his moves are either 360 or they track".

Trigger Finger: An unusual genetic abberation that allows for rapid button pressing in succession, at frequencies approaching 1GHz. The term was coined when playing Area 51, where the ratio of hits to shots fired approached 1:100.

Turtle: A player who does nothing but block until the opponent makes a mistake, then comes back with an attack. When finished, the player goes back into his "shell." Computer opponents are notorious for this at higher difficulty levels of the game.

Twink: A player that allocates all points into a specific attribute to be the "best" at it. Most are typically Chickens or Bricks. The Chicken-Brick is the holy grail for most Twinks. Frequently synonymous with Munchkin.

Umbrapopping: A technique where the character (often a shapeshifter, and mostly a Corax) uses the Umbra as a personal teleportation tactic.

Very Quick Runner: A skill possessed by a character that is, for all intents and puposes, useless. This can also be said to degrade a character's utility at the expense of the character's player as well. One that possesses this skill can also be referred to as a Dumb Crazy Girl.

Wall-Humping: Pressing your main character against a wall (or any other obstacle) and repeatedly pressing the action button while moving along the wall in an attempt to find hidden items, passages, or buttons/switches. Named from Final Fantasy X-2 or the Tomb Raider series, where performing this action created the appearance of the protaganist attempting to mate with the wall.

Weapons Master: A player who can excel at fighting games using any style of controller, button configuration, or combination of the two.

Yoga Flame: The half circle motion of the joystick (back to down to front) followed by one or more attack buttons. Like "Fireball," it originated in Street Fighter, and has been duplicated in the vast majority of fighting games since.