Twenty years ago, video games were a niche hobby dominated by hardcore enthusiasts, tucked away in obscure online forums. Now, gaming references have entered common parlance. At the end of 2024, video game terms including "cheat code" and "cutscene" were added to the Oxford English Dictionary. They increasingly crop up in politics too: the official White House X account posted footage of military strikes on Iran interspersed with clips from Grand Theft Auto and Wii Sports. Democrat representative Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez also used gaming slang, calling Stephen Miller a "World of Warcraft NPC". To help navigate this new world of gaming-inspired "slopaganda", here is a guide to key terms.
A - Any%
A method of beating a game by any means possible, including glitches to skip bosses or levels. For a real-world example, see Elon Musk's approach to the so-called "department of government efficiency" (Doge).
B - Boosting
Paying someone else to level up your character, generally viewed as cheating. Elon Musk admitted to boosting in Path of Exile 2 and Diablo 4.
Buff
An enhancement that increases a character's power or effectiveness. The equivalent of having two pints to buff your confidence.
Bullet sponge
An enemy that takes absurd damage before being defeated. Also derogatory military slang for a person who attracts enemy fire.
Button mashing
Repeatedly pressing random buttons in panic, often used by inexperienced players.
C - Camping
Staying in one spot for strategic advantage, often to snipe other players. Can lead to accusations of griefing.
Cheesing
Using tactics not technically cheating but avoiding the intended challenge, like exploiting glitches. In Crash Bandicoot: Warped (1998), players could avoid damage by standing in a safe spot; the 2017 remake punished this by pelting players with cheese.
Class
A character's role (warrior, samurai, etc.) with specific strengths and weaknesses.
D - DLC
"Downloadable content" – extra parts of a game purchased separately, such as new levels or weapons.
DPS
"Damage per second" – a measure of weapon effectiveness.
E - Easter eggs
Hidden messages or features. Originates from Atari developer Steve Wright, who compared a hidden room in Adventure to an Easter egg hunt. The room contained the signature of coder Warren Robinett.
Emotes
Short gestures characters perform to show emotions, popular in Fortnite and World of Warcraft for mocking opponents.
F - Farming
Repeatedly performing an action to gather resources, similar to grinding.
G - Gank
Ambushing weaker players, usually in a group.
GG
"Good game" – sportsmanship at match end. Extended to GG WP or GG ez.
Glitch
A bug causing unintended consequences. The "Corrupted Blood incident" in World of Warcraft saw a curse spread rapidly, later used by scientists to study infectious diseases.
God mode
Being invincible, often via hacks. During Doge's overhaul of US agencies, a USAID leader said: "Doge has achieved God mode."
Griefing
Deliberately annoying or disrupting other players, e.g., by killing without reason or stealing items.
Grinding
Repeated tasks to gather resources or level up.
H - HP
"Hit points" or "health points" – used to measure health or damage. Used in memes: "minus 10 HP".
I - In Minecraft
A phrase added to threats to avoid legal repercussions, adopted by far-right sites. Backfired in 2023 when a man was arrested despite ending threats with "in Minecraft".
K - KDR
"Kill/death ratio" – compares kills to deaths to measure skill.
Killstreak
A series of kills without dying. The White House used a Call of Duty killstreak animation in a video featuring real war footage from Iran.
Kiting
Hitting an enemy from range while maintaining distance, leading them like a kite.
L - Loot
Items collected as rewards. "Loot boxes" allow real money for randomised virtual items, popular in Genshin Impact and League of Legends.
M - M-maxxing
Prioritising one skill or attribute. Originates from "min-maxing". Now mainstream via looksmaxxing and Chinamaxxing.
MMORPG
"Massively multiplayer online role playing game". EVE Online saw a battle with 7,548 participants in 2014.
Modding
Fan-created modifications that change appearance or add features. A favourite Skyrim mod turns dragons into Thomas the Tank Engine characters.
N - Nerf
To weaken a weapon or ability. Originates from Nerf toy guns.
Noob
Derogatory term for a beginner, sometimes spelt "n00b".
NPC
"Non-player character" – increasingly used as slang for predictable or robotic people.
O - OP
"Overpowered" – a character or item that makes winning easy. Opposite of "nerfed".
P - Pwned
Misspelling of "owned", meaning humiliating defeat. Emerged from leetspeak. Used in the website "Have I Been Pwned".
R - Ragequit
Suddenly stopping play out of anger. In 2017, Vanity Fair accused Steve Bannon of threatening to ragequit the White House.
RPG
"Role playing game" – story-driven games where players assume roles and make decisions.
S - Side quest
Optional missions not part of the main story. Used in general slang for whimsical daily activities.
Skins
Different designs for characters, like Fortnite's banana costume "Peely".
Smurfing
Skilled players creating new accounts to play against lower-ranked opponents. Originates from Warcraft 2 players using usernames PapaSmurf and Smurfette.
Speedrunning
Completing a game as fast as possible, often using glitches. "Scientology speedruns" in 2026 saw participants filming themselves running into Scientology buildings; one video had 90m views.
T - Tanks
A class designed to withstand large damage, also called meat shield or bullet sponge.
Trolls
Players who annoy others for fun, including by being offensive.
Turtling
A defensive strategy building heavy fortifications, like a turtle shell.
X - XP
"Experience points" – measure of skills and progress. Used in real life: streamer Sykkuno said "My XP bar is low" regarding dating inexperience.
