The Proteus Paradox

by Nick Yee

  GLOSSARY OF ONLINE GAMING TERMS

  This glossary covers online game terminology that appears in this book. For a more comprehensive glossary, please refer to: http://www.nickyee.com/daedalus/archives/001313.php.

  Add. Noun. Short for additional. Refers to an additional mob that unexpectedly appears (and thus must be dealt with) during a fight.

  Aggro. Verb/Noun. Short for aggression. As a noun, aggro refers to the amount of hostility the player has generated on a mob by damaging it. In turn, mobs attack the character that is highest on its aggro list. As a verb, aggro refers to drawing a mob’s attention, either intentionally or accidentally.

  Alt. See Alternate.

  Alternate. Adjective/Noun. Refers to an alternate character a player has apart from his or her main character. Commonly abbreviated to alt. This is a fluid and personal categorization that varies from player to player. Sometimes players get tired of their main and spend more time on their alt.

  Bind. Verb/Noun. In certain online games, characters are teleported back to a designated safe spot when they die. The act of designating a spot is called binding. In some games, characters can bind themselves. In other games, they must interact with a specific NPC or ask characters of a specific class to bind them.

  Boss. Noun. Usually short for a boss monster, a challenging mob at strategic points in a dungeon or raid.

  Bot. Noun/Verb. Short for robot. Refers to automated scripts that play the game for a character using simulated mouse and keyboard commands. This practice is often explicitly banned in games and can lead to termination of the account if uncovered by the game developers.

  Buff. Noun/Verb. A spell that temporarily boosts a character’s abilities or attributes. In verb form, buff refers to the act of casting this spell.

  Camp. Verb. To wait in an area to hunt one or more specific mobs. Can be used negatively to imply the selfish hoarding of a mob or an area.

  Class. Noun. Refers to combat professions in online games and role-playing games. Examples include warrior, cleric, druid, and necromancer.

  Corpse. Noun. In some online games, a corpse appears where the player has died. Sometimes all the player’s items and money are left on the corpse and the player is teleported back to his or her bind spot. Corpses typically decay after a certain time proportional to the character’s level.

  Corpse Run. Noun. The act of retrieving your corpse after you have died. This is typically a perilous task because people tend to die in dangerous places rather than safe places.

  Crafting. Adjective/Noun. A general category of skills that allow players to create usable objects and equipment from raw resources. Examples include tailoring, blacksmithing, and cooking.

  Crit. See Critical.

  Critical. Adjective/Verb/Noun. When dealing damage with spells or weapons, characters have a low probability of landing a particularly heavy blow, referred to as a critical hit, critical for short, and often abbreviated as crit. A crit often deals 50 percent or more damage than usual.

  DPS. Noun. Short for Damage Per Second. In the context of combat statistics, DPS refers to the mathematical calculation of damage dealt by a character per second. Thus, a character with higher DPS can inflict more damage over time than a character with low DPS. In the context of combat classes, DPS refers to classes that deal high DPS and is one of the three combat archetypes in online games. See also Healer and Tank.

  Drop. Verb/Noun. Refers to a specific item that a mob may provide as treasure when killed. In this usage, drop can be thought of as one specific item among a mob’s loot—the sum of its drops. As a verb, drop refers to the act of a mob providing loot when it dies.

  Dungeon. Noun. A series of passages and rooms with mobs and bosses in an online game. These are not necessarily underground, although many are. See also Instance.

  Experience. Noun. Characters need to accumulate experience points to level up. Experience can be gained by killing mobs, completing quests, and accomplishing other in-game objectives.

  Farm. Verb. To kill a mob repeatedly to accumulate or find a specific drop. Often used in the same context as camping (see Camp).

  Gold Farming. The act of accumulating in-game currency to sell for real-world currency. A player who is suspected of or confirmed to be accumulating in-game currency to sell for real-world currency is called a Gold Farmer. These labels are often used pejoratively.

  Guild. Noun. A long-term player organization that can range in size from one to more than two hundred players. Players often have to pay a small fee to start a guild. They can then name the guild and recruit other players to it. In online games, guilds facilitate larger dungeon and raid encounters. They also enable sustained social interaction among a group of players.

  Healer. Noun. Combat class that focuses on restoring the health of team members during fights. One of three combat archetypes. See also DPS and Tank.

  Instance. Noun. One of many parallel versions of an area, usually a dungeon, in an online game. To avoid overcrowding in dungeons, each player group entering a dungeon receives its own version of it, termed an instance of that dungeon. This usage of instance is a reference to object-oriented programming. In contemporary online games, instance is often synonymous with Dungeon.

  Loot. Noun/Verb. As a noun, loot refers to the collection of items and in-game currency that a mob drops when it dies. As a verb, loot refers to the act of gathering items and in-game currency from a dead mob. See also Drop.

  Mana. Noun. A resource that magic users draw from to cast spells. Players use mana to cast spells, after which their mana recovers slowly over time.

  MMO. Often used as the abbreviated form of MMORPG, although it can also be used as a more inclusive category of all persistent online games that can support many players at once.

  MMORPG. Short for Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Game. Often abbreviated to MMO or MMOG.

  Mob. Noun. Short for mobile, a coin termed in MUD by Richard Bartle to refer to computer-controlled monsters that would move around the map on their own.

  Mod. Noun/Verb. Short for modify or modification. In a gaming context, a mod is a third-party-created piece of software that extends an existing game in some way. For example, a player might create new textures for the existing 3D models. To mod a game is to create this additional functionality. Different games have varying rules in terms of whether modding is allowed and in what contexts. Most online games do not allow modding.

  MUD. Short for Multi-User Dungeon, or text-based multiplayer online world, created in the late 1970s. The predecessor of online games.

  Nerf. Noun/Verb. As a verb, the actions taken by game developers to reduce a character class or race’s abilities in order to balance an online game. Owing to the complex rules of and interactions in online games, it is often difficult for game developers to ensure that every character class performs equally well in combat throughout the game’s content. When imbalances are noticed, developers may bring certain abilities in line with the average. This almost always has the effect of upsetting players who were playing those classes or races. As a noun, a nerf refers to the specific rule change that reduces a certain ability.

  Newbie. Noun. A new player.

  Ninja. Verb. As a verb, to purposely loot a drop off a monster by disregarding the agreed-upon rules of the group—in a sense, stealing the item. Depending on the game, this can occur in different ways. In World of Warcraft, it was possible at one point for a player to roll on an item that he or she could not use. A ninja might exploit this mechanism to attempt to win a roll this way. Players who ninja an item are referred to as ninja looters. See also Roll.

  Noob. Noun. The pejorative form of Newbie.

  NPC. Short for Non-Player Character. A character controlled by the computer.

  Patrol. Noun. A mob that has a set, looping path. In a dungeon, it is important to be aware of patrols and their spawning intervals. Abbreviated to Pat.

  Pull. Verb. To initiate combat with one or more monsters by luring it toward the
group. In most dungeons, the group will stay at a safe location while one character, the puller, lures monsters toward the group.

  PvE. Adjective. Short for Player Versus Environment. In this context, environment refers to monsters controlled by the computer. In other words, you cannot be killed by other players except under mutually consensual conditions.

  PvP. Adjective. Short for Player Versus Player. In other words, players may freely kill each other outside a few safe areas.

  Race. Noun. In the context of online games, race refers to fantastical creatures. Examples include Elves, Trolls, and Gnomes.

  Raid. Noun/Verb. As a noun, raid refers to a challenging dungeon for a normal or large group of players. In World of Warcraft, some raids require up to twenty-five players. Raids involve more challenging mobs, bosses, and tactics than normal dungeons and may require many hours to complete. In World of Warcraft, a group may attempt to complete a raid over a one-week period if it cannot complete it in one run. As a verb, raiding refers to an attempt at completing a high-level dungeon.

  Rez. Noun/Verb. Short for resurrection or resurrect. As a verb, the act of using a spell or ability to return a dead player to life. As a noun, rez refers to the actual spell or ability.

  RL. Short for Real Life.

  Roll. Noun/Verb. As a verb, the act of using the in-game random number generator to decide which character should receive the loot. Thus, each character rolls a virtual hundred-sided die, and the character with the highest result wins the loot. As a noun, roll refers to the actual random outcome.

  RW. Short for Real World.

  Server. Noun. For technical reasons, it is often difficult to maintain a stable online world with thousands of players. Most online games thus split the game population into parallel universes, each on its own server. When players start playing an online game, they select a server to join and their character lives specifically on that server.

  Shard. Noun. Synonymous with server. Originally used to refer to servers in Ultima Online.

  Solo. Verb. The act of playing an online game alone. More specifically, the act of being able to kill mobs that are the same or even higher level than the character with relative ease and safety. In online games, certain classes are designed to be able to solo well while others are more dependent on groups.

  Spawn. Verb. In reference to a mob, to reappear after being killed. In most online games, mobs respawn after a set interval, as in, “He’s waiting for the goblin chieftain to spawn.”

  Spec. Noun/Verb. Short for specialization. In online games, each character class’s abilities and skills can be configured in many ways. Each combination is referred to as a specialization, or spec for short. Although there are many configurations, optimal configurations are described by their intended goals. For example, a druid may have both a healing spec and a DPS spec.

  Tank. Noun/Verb. As a noun, one of the combat archetypes. A tank is a durable character who shields the group from the brunt of the enemy’s attacks by standing in front and taunting the enemies. As a verb, it means taking on this role in a fight.

  Wipe. Noun/Verb. As a verb, in reference to a group, to be completely overwhelmed and killed by mobs or a boss, generally in difficult dungeons or raids. As a noun, a wipe is a specific instance of this happening.

  XP. Noun. Abbreviation of Experience.

  Zone. Verb/Noun. As a noun, a bounded geographical area in an online game. As a verb, the act of crossing a geographical boundary in a game.

  INDEX

  Abrams, J. J., 57

  add-on tools, 159–161, 169–171, 192–193

  ADVENT, 13

  advertising, targeted, 77, 115, 157–158, 174–175, 211–212

  aggressiveness and black uniforms experiment, 147–148

  Agreeableness personality factor, 167, 168, 173

  Aion, 171

  Alone Together (Turkle), 194

  altruism: and in-game death penalties, 181–183; and returning lost objects, Japan versus US, 177–178; and social interaction, 184–188; as system trait, 188, 194

  America Online (AOL), 14, 15

  Andrejevic, Mark, 176

  anonymity, 128, 174–176

  arcade games, 22, 99

  Armory (World of Warcraft), 169–171

  Arneson, Dave, 11

  Aron, Arthur, 146

  arousal and bogus heartbeat rate experiment, 144–146

  ARPANet, 14

  Asheron’s Call, 16, 55–56

  attitudes and behavior, 144–146

  attractiveness, 1–2, 148–151, 153

  avatars: attractive, 1–2, 148–151, 153; and basic gameplay, 17–19; confidence and height of, 151–152; death penalties, 179–183; as digital doppelgängers, 155–156; and gender-bending, 111–113; and immersion motivations, 32–33; inefficiency of, 202–203; male versus female appearance of, 104–106; online games reliance on, 21; and reimagining reality, 213–214; and replicating reality, 199–201, 204–208; retirement savings and aging of, 154

  Bailenson, Jeremy, 1–2, 141–142, 147, 148–153, 157

  Barlow, John Perry, 198, 201, 207

  Bartle, Richard, 13–14, 18, 19, 20, 29

  Beck, John, 75–76

  behavior and attitudes, 144–146

  behavior-personality link, 167–169

  “Being in Nothingness” (Barlow), 198

  Bettelheim, Bruno, 135–136

  Big Five personality factors. See OCEAN (Big Five personality factors)

  binding, 184–185

  Blizzard, 17, 45, 159–160, 168, 169–170, 206

  Blomme, Rick, 12

  brain. See human brain

  broken reality, 142–144

  Burger, Jerry, 140

  Bush, George W., 141–142, 212

  Buss, Allan, 188

  Cable, Daniel, 151

  California, University of, Berkeley, 165

  California, University of, Davis, 201

  California psychological Inventory, 165

  Capilano Suspension Bridge experiment, 146

  Castronova, Edward, 4, 96, 211

  Chainmail, 10–11, 21

  Chan, Dean, 85

  Chang, Iris, 90–91

  China, gameplay in, 3, 26

  Chinese Exclusion Act (1882), 90–91

  Chinese gold farmers, 81–89

  Chinese immigrants, 89–91

  Chinese in America, The (Chang), 90–91

  City of Heroes: death penalties, 180; gay players in, 209–210; grinding in, 80; and romance, 124; sexism in, 102, 105

  City of Villains, 126, 134

  Clinton, Bill, 212

  Code (Lessig), 177

  Collins, Nathan, 141

  comic books, 22–23

  commercial activity and economies, 59–64, 91–94. See also work

  CompuServe, 14, 15, 117–118, 129

  confidence and height study, 151–152

  Conscientiousness personality factor, 166–167, 173

  Copenhagen, University of, 19, 97

  corporations: in EVE Online, 63–64; gamification, 5, 75–77, 199–201, 204–205

  Cosmos, 189–190

  Crawford, Chris, 97

  Crowther, Will, 13

  Curtis, Pavel, 203

  Daedalus Project statistics: female players introduction to online games by males, 100–101; gamer profiles, 6–7, 24, 28, 209–210, 220n.5, 221n.8; gender-bending, 111, 227n.17

  Dark Age of Camelot: commercial activity in, 93; guilds, 71; motivations for playing, 30, 31; and romance, 121; rules and social interaction, 179; setting of, 16

  data-sharing initiatives, 159–161, 169–171, 189–194

  dating. See online dating websites; romance

  death penalties, 179–183

  De Castell, Suzanne, 101

  Diablo III, 107

  Dibbell, Julian, 82, 203–204

  dice-rolling automation, 11–12

  Difference Engine Initiative, 115

  digital doppelgängers, 153–158

  digital e
nclosure, 176

  diplomacy skills, 49–50

  Discovery Channel, 212–213

  dishonesty. See honesty and dishonesty

  doppelgängers, 153–158

  downtime and social interaction, 184

  DPS (Damage Per Second) classes, 18

  Ducheneaut, Nicolas, 160

  Duhigg, Charles, 174–175

  Dungeons and Dragons, 11, 13, 19–20

  Dungeons and Dragons Online, 49–50, 57, 110

  dungeon seeding, 45–46

  Dutton, Donald, 146

  economic conditions and negative stereotypes, 94–95

  economies, player driven. See commercial activity and economies

  Electronic Frontier Foundation, 198

  emotes, 19

  enchanting (over-enchanting), 47–48

  Entertainment Software Association, 96

  entrepreneurship, 59–63

  epidemics, 211

  escape and freedom, 2, 4–5, 34–36, 174–176, 209–210

  Essex University, 13–14

  ethnic stereotypes, 79–83, 83–89, 94–95

  EVE Online: corporations in, 63–64, 75; guilds, 68; and romance, 123

  EverQuest: altruism and social interaction in, 181–183, 184–188, 191; death penalties, 180, 181–183; downtime and social interaction, 184; guilds, 68, 70, 72; heroes and cowards in, 194–195; motivations for playing, 28, 32, 33, 35–36; number of players of, 16; and romance, 120, 121, 122, 123, 125, 127, 130; rules and social interaction, 179; sexism in, 106; superstitions in, 39, 43–45, 51

  EverQuest II: death penalties, 180; guilds, 73, 74; motivations for playing, 31, 34; and romance, 124, 125, 126, 130, 133, 134; and sexism, 96, 102, 103, 109

  Extraversion personality factor, 167, 173

  faces: the brain’s priority treatment of, 139–140; eye gaze and engagement, 143–144; and morphing technology, 141–142; similarities of, and perceived attractiveness, 140–141

  “Farm the Farmers Day,”78–79, 85

  finalElf, 78–79

  Final Fantasy XI, 48, 55

  finders-keepers mentality, 177–178

  fixed interval rewards, 40, 41–43

  FlyFF, 131, 132

  Foldit game, 77