The word "esports" entered the dictionary this May, marking a watershed moment in video- gaming history. Life provides a quick guide to commonly used gaming lingo, so that you can hide your noob-ness and talk like a 16-year-old pro.
Esports: Refers to competitive video gaming, especially among professional gamers. Live tournaments have become as popular as football or tennis matches, drawing thousands of fans who pay to watch their favourite gamers duke it out.
Defense Of The Ancients (Dota) 2 and League Of Legends (LoL): Two of the most popular multi-player online battle arena (Moba) games, in which two teams of up to five players attempt to destroy one another's bases. Dota 2 commands the biggest prize pool in esports, more than US$17 million (S$23 million) for this year's The International 5 tournament, which begins on Aug 3, while LoL has the biggest following worldwide (67 million players monthly).
StarCraft II: A real-time strategy game which has been likened to playing chess at lightning speed. In the game, players control an economy to build an army and direct their units to wipe out their opponents' bases.
Shoutcasting: The act of video-gaming commentary, which can be done by amateurs and professionals. As the term suggests, there is a fair bit of yelling involved and many casters have shouted themselves hoarse.
Twitch: The YouTube of game-streaming with a chat function so users can talk to one another while watching live games. Gamers and commentators can start their own live streams and are paid from the website's advertising revenue if they have enough subscribers.
Own: To have a decisive victory or dominate your opponents in a game. Example: "Wow, I got owned so bad in that game just now, I almost teared up". Also sometimes stylised as "pwn".
GG: Short form for "good game". Used to concede defeat in games. Example: "We don't have a shot in hell of winning this, looks like we have to call GG."
Noob: Short form for "newbie". It is used to refer to new players and also as an insult to describe poor quality play. Example: "Why did you walk into five enemies by yourself and die? Noob."
Lee Jian Xuan and Lisabel Ting
