MMO Linguistics 101
It’s been quite a crossover year for gamespeak. Miriam-Webster crowned “w00t” with the dubious honor of Word of the Year. Much digital ink was spilled over many, many a Lolcat. And the Halo book–completely lacking in 3D graphics and full of words printed on paper–even hung out on the Times bestseller list. Right now, a generation of cultural anthropologists are probably in the midst of churning out dissertations on the sociolinguistic nuances of World of Warcraft. Until then, EarthTimes.org features a no-nonsense crash course in MMO slanguage for the curious. If you don’t know the difference between HP, XP and NPC, the article could save you from coming across as hopelessly noob.