The Gamer's Quarter

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Look, folks, I just don't know what the hell you're talking about when you write things like ROTT and MAME and DKFONFYD. Please, please, please if you're talking about anything more obscure than SNES or PS2 or something like that, just write out the damn name? Are all of you in that big a hurry? Does it make you feel cooler to get all jargon-y and unintelligible? Okay, then!

Yeah, so this is a rant thread.

To be a little more sensible, I'll just ask that at the very least if you want to use an acronym, please introduce it once in its entirety before you reduce it to mindless capital letters.
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

Typing Multiple Arcade Machine Emulator every post is kind of unweildy. Plus it's really not obscure at all. I agree with the general thrust of this argument though.
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dhex · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 11:54 am Post subject:

you can just ask.

that's what i do.

and then i learned things about japan that made me sad.

lesson: don't ask.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I hate it when people will talk about something in detail without ever saying the name of what they're talking about. Usually when you ask them, they act all coy and say "stop being a fucking noob?

dessgeega · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 2:09 pm Post subject:

i can't stand when people use "smb" to refer to super monkey ball.

because there's another game that can be abbreviated "smb".

one which springs to mind more readily for me.

(it's super mario brothers.)
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Ketch · . Joined: 17 Sep 2005 Posts: 420

ApM · Posted: Sat Dec 09, 2006 5:09 pm Post subject:

I don't think it's acronyms you want to ditch, it's abbreviations.

MAME should be OK because that's what the damn thing is called. It has an acronym because open source has a long history of stupid acronyms, not because its "real" name is too long or something.

ROTT might have had "ROTT" as the DOS filename, but the name of the game is "Rise of the Triad". (It's a really goofy first-person shooter based on Wolfenstein 3D-era technology, and probably the only one where you could turn the gore levels so high that shooting a dude could cause seven bloody eyeballs to fly out.)

I guess it's too easy to assume that everyone else's knowledge of videogames overlaps exactly with yours, but on the flipside I would kind of miss just writing SMB2j rather than having to spell out "the game called 'Super Mario Bros 2' in Japan".

How about this: If you must use an abbreviation, add a Mobygames or Wikipedia link.

Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:02 am Post subject:

Mister Toups · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:26 am Post subject:

It's a matter of decorum. If you are unsure that your audience will be familiar with the abbreviation don't use it. If it's something that you figure everyone should be familiar with, then go ahead and use it.

Otherwise we couldn't use words like scuba or laser because they are, in fact, acronyms which later "became" words.
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GSL · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:37 am Post subject:

I like the idea of spelling out an unwieldy title in the beginning of a line of conversation (forum thread, TGQ article, etc.) and then referring to an easily identifiable acronym afterwards for convenience.

It's a bit like pronouns!

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

One will find that most of these acronyms are decipherable with a simple google search (for example, google 'smb2j', or maybe even better, 'smb2j wiki'). And that's really only if you aren't already familiar with the acronym or can't figure out what it refers to by observing context. I mean, it shouldn't be that big of a deal if you're paying attention and willing to figure things out on your own from time to time. Abbreviations and acronyms are pretty much a given in any sort of online communication.

My latest pet peeve is, uh, somewhat unrelated: people saying 'FTW'. It annoys me even more than 'LOL' (which I only use in lower case, and only when I'm being sardonic). But anyway.

Hey, isn't Ocarina of Time kind of a funny one? You see lots of different abbreviations. Zelda: OoT, ZOOT, TOOT, and so on.
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Winged Assassins (1984) · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 12:54 am Post subject:

Whenever I see 'FTW' I keep thinking that these people have more angst than they should.
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Toto · 4th Man Joined: 21 Mar 2006 Posts: 122

guys i think this is a good opportunity to ask
what the hell is tl;dr

Lockeownzj00 · . Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 214

I find ftw quite hilarious in online FPSes.

Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

helicopterp · . Joined: 13 May 2006 Posts: 1435 Location: Philadelphia

Like I said, y'all, this was mostly just a rant. I'm glad some of you turned it into a more practical discussion.

For what it's worth, I just called the super mario bros. 2 from japan "Lost Levels," which I always thought was pretty easy to understand, since it was such a big deal on Super Mario All-Stars.

Hey, I don't know what FTW means. My two favorite guesses are "FOR THE WIN!" (as a sportscenter-esque comment for the end of an argument) or the irrelevant, moody "fuck the world."
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internisus · . Joined: 25 Nov 2006 Posts: 354

Well, it took me the equivalent of a month in continuous internet activity to figure out UIH.

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

My best guess with that one was "up in here".
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I thought FTW was just a dyslexic "WTF" for a while. The first google match is "From the Wilderness" which I think is better than "For the Win"

Anyway someone's actually been calling Monkey Ball "smb"? I think I probably misread some posts since I would have assumed, yes, Super Mario Brothers.
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Dracko · . Joined: 10 Oct 2005 Posts: 2613

I always thought FTW stood for For the Win.
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sawtooth · . Joined: 02 Nov 2005 Posts: 419

Shadow of the Night

Symphony of the Colossus

Symphonies of the Empire

Does the XP in windows XP actually mean anything?

tl;dr
e;fb
ftw
wtf

antitype · . Joined: 11 Jan 2006 Posts: 292

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

Urban Dictionary is pretty good for non-gaming acronyms.

UIH
tl;dr
FTW
XP

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

AFAIK: As far as I know
IIRC: If I recall correctly
IBTN: I belive this news

That's all I got aside from the well known ones.
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Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I Believe This News? When would you ever use that?
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Lockeownzj00 · . Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 214

scenario:

1: michael richards totally didn't say that!
2: dude, yes he did. he's a person. a racist person. not kramer.
3: IBTN.

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

Here are some from NTSC-UK:

CBA = Can't Be Arsed

TBH = To Be Honest.

TBH was overused to the point where people started using it ironically, like 'FFVII is the best game ever TBH!!1' or 'FFVII IS TEH BEST GAME EVAR TEEBEEAITCH' <--- this means you don't like FFVII.

This is why I cba reading ntsc-uk tbh!!!1

Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I've seen TBH a lot over here as well. Also IMHO (in my humble opinion) which I really kind of hate.

Harveyjames · the meteor kid Joined: 06 Jul 2006 Posts: 3636

I still don't get I Believe This News. Are you meant to use when you don't believe that news, or when you do?

The Kramer thing isn't a great example because I still don't know if he's a racist or not. Jerry Seinfeld says he isn't so Neutral

Lockeownzj00 · . Joined: 16 Aug 2005 Posts: 214

I donno. I was taking it as a Fark-like quip meant to be used during some controversy on the authenticity of an article.

Plus, the Kramer example wasn't on whether he actually is or not--it's whether or not person #3 believed this news.

IBTN FTW!

Pijaibros · Posted: Sun Dec 10, 2006 11:22 pm Post subject:

For a long time I thought FTW stood for "Fuck the World". In fact, it takes a second to decode the acronym to what it's supposed to be from what I think it should be.

Swimmy · . Joined: 16 Sep 2005 Posts: 990 Location: Fairfax, VA

OTL is the most important. Remember to genuflect, kids.
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Nana Komatsu · weak sauce Joined: 17 Jul 2006 Posts: 1293

I always preferred ORZ myself.

FortNinety · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 9:38 am Post subject:

I've always been dissapointed that people never started using "PStwo" when mentioning the system after it was redesigned like everyone universally did with the PSone.

Lackey · . Joined: 11 Jul 2005 Posts: 1107 Location: Canada

I can start calling mine a PSTwo, if you like. I've been trying to think of what to call it anyway; PS2b?
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FortNinety · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 11:02 am Post subject:

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

I've always just called it the Smaller PS2. Straight and to the point, I guess.

I think the reason PSone/PS1 caught on so fast was because PS-X, while being the universally known acronym for the system, had that X that nobody really knew the meaning of except for the hardest of the hardcore.
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dessgeega · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:10 pm Post subject:

yeah, could someone explain that to me?
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OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

The PS-X thing?

According to "urban legend", it stands for PlayStation-eXperiment or eXperimental or something like that and it was the working title for the system while it was at Sony. That's the most widely accepted explanation, but I'm not sure if it's true or not.
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Pijaibros · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:47 pm Post subject:

I thought the X in PSX stood for -eXpansion for when Sony was working with Nintendo to make a competitor for the Sega CD attachment.

Lestrade · Posted: Mon Dec 11, 2006 12:50 pm Post subject:

Or, people got a chuckle thinking they were writing "pee-sex," which is sort of compelling in a "how exactly would that work?" kind of way.

Sorry, I'm bored!

Karoshi · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 43 Location: Philadelphia, PA

I often need a lexicon to decipher SRK forum posts.

Shapermc · Hot Sake! Joined: 14 Oct 2004 Posts: 6279

BalbanesBeoulve · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 84

You guys haven't mentioned the acronym taking the internet by storm, ITT.

a_plus · . Joined: 09 Jan 2006 Posts: 252 Location: olympia

i can't understand anything anyone says anymore! i've never heard half of this stuff.
i just get sicker and sicker of the internet.

ijgsasoft

Karoshi · . Joined: 16 Mar 2005 Posts: 43 Location: Philadelphia, PA

OtakupunkX · . Joined: 23 Mar 2006 Posts: 730

FortNinety · Posted: Thu Dec 14, 2006 9:17 am Post subject: