What Is a Noob? - The First Person Shooter's Glossary and Online FPS Etiquette

What Is a Noob? - The First Person Shooter's Glossary and Online FPS Etiquette
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What Is a Noob?

Short for “newbie,” a noob is a novice video game player, someone who hasn’t quite learned the etiquette of online gaming, who habitually and often unknowingly interferes with other players’ (sometimes very seriously competitive) enjoyment of the game. A noob gets in the way, gets killed a lot, and generally disrupts the flow of the game with ridiculous antics and dumb mistakes. Every sport and industry has their “noobs.” They are the “rookies,” the “greenhorns,” the one’s who are still “wet behind the ears.” They are the ones given to compulsion, naivete and confusion.

A noob is someone who walks out into the middle of a firefight, then gets up from the computer to make a sandwich, leaving the other players to wonder what happened. A noob will sprint while firing their loud automatic rifle at distant target best left for a sniper, pouring though ammo and announcing his and your squad’s location. Noobs make a mockery of the experienced players’ enjoyment of the video gaming world with a behavior that says they haven’t bothered to learn the game or the controls, and aren’t interested in doing so. Plus, they get in the way of others, which is an inconsiderate disregard of other players’ gaming enjoyment. It may not seem like such a serious slight, but people do get angry.

A noob is someone who refuses to take cover, jeopardizes their platoon, or someone who might kill their entire squad with an accidental grenade. A noob is someone who plays seemingly without knowing who the enemy is, perhaps killing everyone blindly in sight during a friendly capture the flag match. This is all noob behavior. Don’t be a noob. If you are noob, then please read on and inform yourself with this make-shift glossary. Everyone was a noob at some point, and a noob that is willing to learn won’t be a noob for long, and will receive better treatment at the hands of veteran players in the meantime.

I’ll make no claims as to its usefulness or completeness, but at least it is a good place to start, if only for a laugh or two. Remember the best way to prevent noob-ness is to read the manual, learn the controls, and show other players respect.

An Introduction to Multiplayer Online First Person Shooter Video Game Etiquette

Of course there are those of us who, even after years of playing, still make the same dumb mistakes. We walk directly into mine fields, we sprint upright into sniper territory, we accidentally squeeze off a grenade down at the homebase. Our teammates groan, “noob.” Some of us never learn, and we may always act foolish no matter how experienced and skillful we become. Heck, it’s even right good fun to goof off during a video game match, especially when everyone is taking it way too seriously, right?

The problem is: FPS games generally have military settings, and we all know the military is serious business. Goofing off is often not just goofing off: it is like dressing as a clown and doing summer-saults in a cinema during a suspense film. That is why even though it’s just a video game, foolishness is often frowned upon. In fact, horsing around could probably get you killed in a real-life military situation, and when someone does it blatantly in game, it’s a frontal assault on the immersion and suspension of disbelief crucial to entertainment, whatever the medium. But if you have to ask this question and really have to know, it means that you probably are indeed a noob, and that you have the poor and unfortunate distinction of not knowing that there really are some unwritten rules to online gaming. So look here and you’ll be well on your way to minding your video game playing manners and having fun with people, instead of at their expense.

For ye, fair noob, we bring you these articles as a sort of quick and dirty glossary. This is where you go if you find that you are angering online players, receiving angry messages mid-game, or generally if you are becoming a nuisance to the legions of expert gamers who find your presence in their games bothersome. These serious gamers will be very vocal about your lack of gaming skills, and may harass you repeatedly and let you know your lackluster shooting, grenading, and hiding skills are not welcome. But if you are willing to wait it out, watch and learn, and obey the codes of conduct for online FPS multiplayer gaming, then you’ve come to the right place. Generally, this is a good place to start for a friendly introduction to online multiplayer FPS (first person shooters) etiquette, or flesh out a detail if you keep seeing something in chat you don’t understand. Here you have it, gamers, everything you ever wanted to know about online FPS multiplayer video games, but were too busy getting killed to ask.

The next page has some common acronyms people use to communicate when playing FPS games.

Acronyms

CTF, BRB, AFK, FFA? What? What does it all mean?

Sure it can seem like a complex, even foreign language. Here are some acronyms you might encounter in an online video game match:

Here is a short list of video game acronyms. This originated in chat-room slang, and has been adapted into text-messaging during in-game communications. Remember to use these expressions if you get up from the computer mid-game to make a sandwich or something. Don’t leave your fellow players hanging. Some nerds and geeks (read: me) with good typing skills prefer text communication in-game. Others like voice using software such as TeamSpeak. We just give what the acronyms stand for here, the rest of the series will explain things in more detail.

AFK-away from keyboard

BB: Bye-bye

BRB- Be right back

BBL-Be back later

CTF: Capture the Flag.

FFA: A free for all

FF: firefight

FPS: First Person Shooter

GG: good game

GTG: got to go

LOL: laugh out loud

NM: never mind

NS: nice shot

ROFL: rolling on the floor laughing

RPG: rocket-propelled grenade

STFU: shut the f— up.

TK: Team-killer

TY: thank you (always thank teammates that get you up from incapacitation, give you a ride, or provide cover fire, or heal you, unless you are under fire, which can present the added difficulty of typing while playing)

WTH: what the “heck”

WTF: what the “fornicate”

VGG: very good game

This post is part of the series: Guide To Online FPS Multiplayer Video Games

This is a series of articles about multiplayer FPS online video games. FPS means (first person shooter). Articles cover things like strategy, concepts, playing styles as well as slang terms and acronyms. Also covered are server and connectivity issues.

  1. FPS Glossary: Introduction and Acronyms
  2. FPS Glossary: Griefers, Hackers, TK’ers, and Aimbots
  3. FPS Glossary: Game Types, Playing Styles, Camping, Sniping, and Spawn Killing
  4. FPS Glossary: Hardware and Servers