17 common PC gaming terms all beginners need to know – The Indian Express
For someone who is just getting into gaming, be it as a hobby or a future job opportunity, things can seem quite intimidating at first. In online multiplayer games, especially, where you’re forced to communicate and exchange information quickly, you could encounter a lot of technical words and phrases that sound foreign. So, we have compiled a list of commonly used gaming terms and simplified them for your understanding.
AFK
Possibly the most common term, the abbreviation AFK stands for “away from keyboard.” This could be used to inform your teammates that you are temporarily taking a step away from your session (example – loo break) or to signify that a certain player is not actively playing. Internet disconnections for example can also cause an AFK situation, where the player is unable to take control of their character.
Camping
Camping is a cowardly way of hunting and racking up kills. (Image credit: Call of Duty: Modern Warfare)
In online shooters, you’re supposed to run around the map and hunt for kills. But occasionally, you might encounter a player or two that prefer sitting in a well-hidden spot on the map and waiting for the enemies the walk before their sightlines. Once they do, they instantly get a kill and continue using the same brainless strategy throughout the game. The people who do this are referred to as campers.
FPS
In the gaming space, FPS can be used to refer to multiple things. As a genre, it stands for first-person shooters, where you see the game through the character’s eye level. Their arms and weapons are visible on the lower half of the screen, and you mostly never see their face. Example – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive and Halo Infinite.
A first-person shooter. (Screenshot – Counter-Strike: Global Offensive)
On the technical side, FPS means “frames per second,” which denotes how smoothly a game is running. Anything below 30fps is considered choppy, while anything beyond 60fps is considered peak performance.
TPS
In a third-person shooter, your character’s entire body is visible on-screen. The game camera is usually placed at a point slightly above and behind the character.
FOV
A field of view is the maximum angle of the observable world your eyes can see. Anything in front of you is within your FOV, while anything beyond your peripheral vision cannot be seen. In games, you can change your FOV setting based on your preference.
Difference between 60 FOV and 120 FOV in Battlefield 5. (Image credit: YouTube – Wolfgang)
The higher your FOV, the more your eyes can see and process, but it also puts a strain on your graphics card. If you set it to a lower degree, your field of vision will be constricted, and hence less information processing.
AAA
Triple-A is generally referred to titles that are built by big studios such as EA or Square Enix. These games are usually regarded for their high-quality presentation, heavy marketing, …….