The Online Gaming Glossary for Educators

Online gaming, especially Massively-Mulitplayer Online Roleplay Gaming, can be rather confusing for people just getting started.  In fact, there's almost a subculture with its own unique language that has evolved around the online gaming community and particularly World of Warcraft.  Acronymns and "hacker-speak" abound!  Throughout this site, the lessons, and the comments, you are likely to see some unfamiliar terms.  Let's take a moment to define some of them.  If you have some you would like to contribute simply add it to the list, alphabetically, please! :)

-Lucas

DPS - Damage Per Second - a measurement of the amount of damage a player character, non-player character, or an environmental source deals per second.

MMORPG - Massively-Multiplayer Online Roleplaying Game

NPC - Non-player Character - A character controlled by the game (or program).

PC - Player Character - A character controlled by a player.

PvP - Player vs. Player - Gameplay that involves combat against other player characters.  In World of Warcraft, there are servers designated as PvP servers for individuals who prefer this play style.  These servers function in such a way to allow and encourage this sort of interaction. All World of Warcraft servers allow PvP interaction at some level.

RP - Roleplay - A style of play that involves the player acting and speaking as his or her character (avatar) would in the game world.  In World of Warcraft, there are servers designated as RP servers for individuals who prefer this play style.