Perfect Ten: The MMORPG terms we use but never define, from murderhobo to sandpark (original) (raw)

Over in Vague Patch Notes, I have an ongoing series of columns that I describe as being primarily about having useful notes for us to refer back to. They’re ideas that we circle back to as writers on this site but often just present as resolved facts rather than discussing in any depth. But the other day I saw someone confused by a term used in an article, and I was reminded that not only is that a term I literally coined (yes, one of those is in here), but it’s something we all use and remember – but it’s not actually common around the world.

So today I wanted to lay down some definitions for terms we – our writers and our community and to some extent the broader MMORPG fandom – use but aren’t frequently defined on anything approaching a regular basis. I also am reserving these spots for things where a quick search of columns will not provide any sort of useful notes, either. Now, on with the show!

1. Murderhobo

Many MMORPGs have housing, crafting, and so forth. Your character occupies a place in the larger world, and while you may personally spare no thought for this fact, the game’s designers do. But some MMORPGs do not really have anything more than a series of places full of things to kill and your experience of playing the game is basically just going from place to place murdering everything, then doing it again in a different place. Or the same place, maybe.

This can refer to both the design style, like how World of Warcraft facilitates players being nothing but murderhobos, or the particular player, like how Kyle plays his games like a real murderhobo. Neither is complimentary.

2. Gankbox

There are sandbox games where not only is it possible to use open PvP to just wreck random new players for no reason whatsoever beyond being a jerk, there is zero other reason to play these games. They are focused entirely around the idea that if you start the game early, you can ruin people’s day for no reason! Again, this is not complimentary.

3. Temport

A temport is any game that is brought over to a US market from elsewhere, usually either China or South Korea, with a slapdash localization and a general feeling of “this is playable and can be released to make a little bit of money before we lose interest.” It’s the MMO equivalent of cheap garbage marketed around a surge in popularity with no intent of really building a lasting franchise or impact.

4. Transmedia synergy

This is basically still clowning on an ancient quote from Trion, but it’s more importantly noted as a case wherein an MMO is in some way crossing over with something that has no logical connection to the game itself. Think of things like Destiny 2 scented candles. Why is there a connection here? It doesn’t matter. Spend money on this unrelated thing to show your fandom for this thing.

Also, yes, this is much more tongue-in-cheek. Like, I will mock about transmedia synergy and laugh at the description of the Mountain Zu in Final Fantasy XIV, and then I will go out and buy a bunch of Mountain Dew to get that mount because I’ve lost control of my life. Guilty as charged.

5. Mains / Alts

If you look up the definition of “main” on Wikipedia, you’ll see that it’s a state in New England until you realize you made a typographical error. When we talk about this in context, though, we’re talking about something much more simple. However wide your stable of characters or played classes/ships/specs/whatever, there is one that is your primary choice, and that is your main. Everything else is an alt. These are things that can shift over time.

6. Sunset

We don’t use “shutdown” to describe when we have to wave goodbye to a game because there are a lot of shutdowns that don’t mean the game is shut down. A server shutdown doesn’t mean the game is gone forever. There’s also just the gentler poetry of saying farewell to a game which may have meant a lot to you as a sunset instead of calling it just a shutdown. So this is the term we use. And if you think that we’re being awfully diplomatic when we shouldn’t be, please remember that we once got to write about our own sunset.

7. Raid

There is an endless amount of debate over how many people make a raid. It is all stupid and it is all wrong because a raid is not about size, and when we refer to it as a concept rather than as a term about a specific game, we are not thinking about whether it has a group of eight or 20 or 25 or 50 people. Rather, a raid is a structured piece of content that players cannot queue for and is pitched at a premade, coordinated group of players. Raiding is more about the structure, designer-assumed social cachet, and the need for parallel support structures than about an exact player count. [We’re going to fight about this in the comments, aren’t we. -Bree]

8. Sandpark

In MMO land, there is a honestly rather poor dichotomy of “some games are sandboxes and some games are themeparks,” which I’ve been railing against for years. However, it’s clear that some games are… well, more resistant to these classifications anyway. There’s vertical progression but lots of horizontal progression as well. There are meaningful player economies alongside structured PvE rewards. The result is a game that feels, well, like a sandpark – as if it’s not confined to one particular content model and at least theoretically has all of the open exploration and free-form options of a sandbox with the structured benefits and guidance of a themepark.

In some cases, the confusion and lack of clarity of a sandbox with the rigid behavior and lack of options as a themepark. There’s no rule saying that the people making these games are doing a good job! But we usually mean the former.

9. Survivalbox

This is Bree’s favorite term [Yes] and genre [Wait, no!]. She loves these games so much, and anything she says to the contrary is her fibbin’. Because really who doesn’t like a wide open field wherein your goal is to build a base and construct a factory line? [Got me there. -Bree]

I am exaggerating very intentionally because in a survivalbox the whole point is that your character is always fighting against three or four meters that are constantly draining (like food, thirst, and willingness to have your stuff wrecked), so you’re constantly refilling meters between gathering other stuff. There are also online servers that usually but not always include open PvP, because nothing is more fun than building stuff just for random jerks to wreck it. [I hate everything in this paragraph. -Bree again]

Ironically, one thing this genre is really bad at doing is surviving. If you think a game is “like ARK: Survival Evolved but X,” you are describing a survivalbox.

10. Rogue server

We use this as a blanket term for any kind of MMO server that is not officially sanctioned by the company or companies that own the rights to the game. This can cover everything from emulation for games that are no longer online to private servers for games that are still running. We generally cover the former and not the latter, but there are other edge cases such as the City of Heroes servers that do not have the Homecoming team’s license agreement. Life is wild.

Everyone likes a good list, and we are no different! Perfect Ten takes an MMO topic and divvies it up into 10 delicious, entertaining, and often informative segments for your snacking pleasure. Got a good idea for a list? Email us at justin@massivelyop.com or eliot@massivelyop.com with the subject line “Perfect Ten.”