Guild Wars 2

One thing i’ve noticed that really bothers me is people come chat in these forums and abbreviate so many things but not ONCE do they define the thing they are abbreviating.

Please..if from now on you guys could abbreviate things AFTER you’ve defined them at least once on your post’s, me ( and possibly others ) would appreciate it lol

Can you write a few examples? I think that many of these are frequently used in the game, if you cannot recognize them, just ask for help or use google.

I know exactly how you feel as I hate abbreviations too. It took me a while to figure out what CC meant,. Everyone uses it in the class forums, and I don’t think I ever saw a definition for it.

However, it’ll never happen. There’s just too many people out there that can’t even be bothered to type out “you”, much less a definition for an abbreviation they’re using.

Milkshake.4038:

Can you write a few examples? I think that many of these are frequently used in the game, if you cannot recognize them, just ask for help or use google.

The most recent example i just saw was ’’DS’’ .

People were talking about farming mastery points by spamming ’’DS’’.

I had NO clue what that meant lol..

and it would suck to have to google an abbreviation for this game while on the forums. i’d be on google more than here -__-

Endless Soul.5178:

I know exactly how you feel as I hate abbreviations too. It took me a while to figure out what CC meant,. Everyone uses it in the class forums, and I don’t think I ever saw a definition for it.

However, it’ll never happen. There’s just too many people out there that can’t even be bothered to type out “you”, much less a definition for an abbreviation they’re using.

Honestly i STILL don’t know ’’CC’’. i think it has to do with ’’controlling’’ someone/something based on the context it’s usually used in but not 100% sure lol

i am glad someone feels some of my pain haha

People get used to abbreviating.

Searched wiki and found this gem:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

there’s a handy page on the wiki for stuff like that (you can search the list too). it’s something I keep bookmarked, just in case
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

edit: ninja’d by Mushuchalaka.9437

Mushuchalaka.9437:

People get used to abbreviating.

Searched wiki and found this gem:
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

Never seen this before. Thank you!

nottsgman.8206:

there’s a handy page on the wiki for stuff like that (you can search the list too). it’s something I keep bookmarked, just in case
https://wiki.guildwars2.com/wiki/Abbreviations

edit: ninja’d by Mushuchalaka.9437

Someone else just showed me. Never seen it, thanks !

One of the worse imo is the abbreviation CS, if you ever read Mesmer sub forum: it can either mean continuum split or confounding suggestions….I guess the only positive thing about this abbreviation is the fact that no matter what CS people are talking about, it gets equal hate from players who struggle against mesmers generally, so there is not so much confusion (pun intended) about it in the end :p

It’s just a time thing. As you play the game more the abbrevs(had to do it) become like second nature.

Honestly, I did not know what DS stood for for a while until I was checking out the map rewards and just kinda read the name Dragon’s Stand and it clicked.

“CC” Stands for Crowd Control and “DS” stands for Dragons Stand, Which is one of the games maps. Guys if u dont know what these Abbreviations are u can ask here or in game im sure others will tell you.

Thanks for the link it is useful….However it is not comprehensive. I am really scratching my head hard: anyone can tell me what LoS means?

carlito.8954:

The most recent example i just saw was ’’DS’’ .

People were talking about farming mastery points by spamming ’’DS’’.

I had NO clue what that meant lol..

and it would suck to have to google an abbreviation for this game while on the forums. i’d be on google more than here -__-

I am glad to see that your problem is solved with the wiki page. Yes it is sometimes confusing, but you will learn them fast

flog.3485:

Thanks for the link it is useful….However it is not comprehensive. I am really scratching my head hard: anyone can tell me what LoS means?

Line of Sight – if you draw a line from you to your enemy and there are no obstacles (trees etc.) between the 2 points.

You used lol, didn’t you OP?
so, how is that different?
If y o u know what it means, its OK to use it?
;)

Thanks to everyone for your positive reply.

One thing i didn’t find on the wiki abbreviations page was "RnG’ i’ve seen this one when people are talking about luck or traiding post (TP) ?

carlito.8954:

Thanks to everyone for your positive reply.

One thing i didn’t find on the wiki abbreviations page was "RnG’ i’ve seen this one when people are talking about luck or traiding post (TP) ?

Random number generator, people like to hate it, because they don’t get good loot and others do

Nadha.6097:

You used lol, didn’t you OP?
so, how is that different?
If y o u know what it means, its OK to use it?
;)

I agree. While myself, and others, know that lol stands for Laughing Octopus LOL, it’s only fair that it be annotated at least once in every thread it appears in for better acclimation of new users.

Nadha.6097:

You used lol, didn’t you OP?
so, how is that different?
If y o u know what it means, its OK to use it?
;)

No it isn’t different.

However, in my defense i think it’s safe to assume ’’Lol" is a commonly used abbreviation by modern day forum users.

You cannot compare ‘’Lol"( My neighbor is 65 and doesn’t speak english but knows what this means by the way) to ’’DS’’, ’’CC’’, ’’TP’’ and so on….

Now take that winky face somewhere else LOL

Milkshake.4038:

carlito.8954:

Thanks to everyone for your positive reply.

One thing i didn’t find on the wiki abbreviations page was "RnG’ i’ve seen this one when people are talking about luck or traiding post (TP) ?

Random number generator, people like to hate it, because they don’t get good loot and others do

Awesome, thanks!!

Unfortunately it’s an amazingly easy habit to get into, and very hard to break or even catch yourself doing.

The same happens in pretty much every field of employment, or even education, and even in everyday life (if you’ve ever forgotten your pin number when using an atm machine you’ve also likely forgotten that there’s 2 abbreviations and a redundant word in that sentence).

I’ve only been in my current job for 6 months and I still have to ask what some of the abbreviations mean, but then I’ll use others without even thinking about it – until someone newer than me or from another department pulls me up on it and asks what it means.

Admittedly It’s not quite as bad as in games though. In Guild Wars 1 I once caught myself typing “FS R/E LFG ZB HM”* into chat and it was only after hitting enter I realised the entire sentence was abbreviated.

But in any situation I’ve found by far the best approach is: If you’re not sure ask. Sure it can be intimidating sometimes; the other day I had to interrupt a seminar of about 40 people to ask what ‘ILM’ meant because all I could get from the context was ‘not Industrial Light and Magic’ (turns out it’s some organisation that does management training). It felt awkward at the time but no one minded and it turned out I wasn’t the only one who didn’t know so it was a helpful reminder to the whole group not to assume everyone else knows just because you do.

In Guild Wars 2 you can also use /wiki [search text] to search the Wiki without having to directly tab out of the game. Many abbreviations are set up as redirects (for example /wiki LFG takes you to the page on the Looking For Group tool) and if not it will search the whole Wiki for pages which use that phrase.

*If you’re curious this translates to “Frozen Soil (using) Ranger/Elementalist Looking For Group (for) Zaishen Bounty (in) Hard Mode”. And in my defence I don’t think the full version would have fit in the stupid character limit that game had.

carlito.8954:

Nadha.6097:

You used lol, didn’t you OP?
so, how is that different?
If y o u know what it means, its OK to use it?
;)

No it isn’t different.

However, in my defense i think it’s safe to assume ’’Lol" is a commonly used abbreviation by modern day forum users.

You cannot compare ‘’Lol"( My neighbor is 65 and doesn’t speak english but knows what this means by the way) to ’’DS’’, ’’CC’’, ’’TP’’ and so on….

Now take that winky face somewhere else LOL

Fun fact for you: back in ye olde days of the late 90’s when mobile phones were starting to catch on and text messaging (with a stupidly tiny character limit) was the new thing LOL was actually the subject of a lot of confusion and occasionally upset among some people.

Why? Because while many people used it to mean ‘Laugh Out Loud’ (and at the time it was restricted to things that were actually very funny) to others it meant ‘Lots of Love’.

So a text like “heard ur dog died, hope u ok lol” could accidentally cause a massive falling out between the sender and recipient.

carlito.8954:

One thing I’ve noticed that really bothers me is people come chat in these forums and abbreviate so many things but not ONCE do they define the thing they are abbreviating.

Please..if from now on you guys could abbreviate things AFTER you’ve defined them at least once on your posts, me ( and possibly others ) would appreciate it. lol

As someone whose written scientific papers before, I agree. :P
But, shorthand exists for a reason, and that reason in this case is that the jargon gets used so much it ends up earning its own shorthand.

Think of it like a puzzle! You’ll feel all smartie after you figure it out.

It’s easy to get a grip on.

Take for instance, the term ‘burst.’ This refers to sudden and massive increase of damage. Formerly this was known as a ‘spike’, or ‘team spike’ because the overall D.P.S on a target suddenly raises. However ‘burst’ is also the in game mechanic name for warrior f1 skills, A.K.A ‘burst skills.’ So when a warrior ‘bursts’ they are ‘spiking’. When anyone else ‘spikes’ they are ‘bursting’. I feel this should clarify it for you.

However to give another example, “C.C” is crowd control. This means controlling ones target or targets. This traditionally has meant stun locking them so they cannot do anything to prevent the chain of actions. However more recently it also applies to crippling, immobilising etc…which traditionally was known as ‘snaring’ or ‘debuffing.’ So when a person ‘stun locks’ you to the point you can’t do anything this is being ’CC’ed’ however, if you’re just crippled this is also known as “CC’ed” or ‘Soft CC’ed’ which in actual fact is snaring. So basically if you snare someone or worse you have CC’ed them and if you stun lock them this is also ‘CC’ or stun locking..However crippling is not ‘stun locking’ even though both are currently referred to as forms of ’CC’ing"

No go forth with tbis wisdom and play round with ‘burst spike CC’ing snare stun locking.’

Rauderi.8706:

carlito.8954:

One thing I’ve noticed that really bothers me is people come chat in these forums and abbreviate so many things but not ONCE do they define the thing they are abbreviating.

Please..if from now on you guys could abbreviate things AFTER you’ve defined them at least once on your posts, me ( and possibly others ) would appreciate it. lol

As someone whose written scientific papers before, I agree. :P
But, shorthand exists for a reason, and that reason in this case is that the jargon gets used so much it ends up earning its own shorthand.

Think of it like a puzzle! You’ll feel all smartie after you figure it out.

Exactly right. It’s a natural development in a lot of situations.

If when I’m at work I had to say things like “The Department for the Environment, Food and Rural Affairs are going to clarify their application of The Conservation of Habitats and Species Regulations 2010 (as amended) and we will need to update the Volunteer Management System to match” all the time instead of “DEFRA is clarifying Habs Regs so VMS needs updating” I’d never get anything done.

Likewise if I was in Silverwastes and had to say “Will a commander please go to the Amber Sandfall base” instead of “Com to Amber plz” I’d spend so much time typing at best I wouldn’t contribute anything myself and at worst I’d get killed repeatedly.

However, that doesn’t mean everyone should be expected to know what they mean right away, and that’s why there’s no harm in asking if you don’t know. And the same goes for anything else – like why a commander is needed at each base and what’s going to happen there for them to command.

I’m a big fan of making myself the “sacrificial noob” by going into a map I’m not familiar with (or in some cases one I am, if I know there’s been issues with people not understanding what to do) and saying, in map chat, “I’ve not done this map/meta-event/boss/whatever before. Can someone tell me what to do?” “Ok, and what is a [event specific term]?” “And how do we know when that’s about to happen?” Ok, thanks for explaining."

And honestly I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve gotten a bad response. Even then it was one idiot whispering me abuse (report, block, forget) while someone else explained.

carlito.8954:

However, in my defense i think it’s safe to assume ’’Lol" is a commonly used abbreviation by modern day forum users.

Yeah, but this is a GW2 forum and here it is safe to assume that most members know CC, DS, LoS, RnG …
SCNR ;-)

If you don’t know them use the wiki (as written above) or just ask, most members are quite nice. :-)

Broken Memory.1436:

“CC” Stands for Crowd Control and “DS” stands for Dragons Stand, Which is one of the games maps. Guys if u dont know what these Abbreviations are u can ask here or in game im sure others will tell you.

“DS” is also used to abbreviate “Death Shroud” as opposed to “RS” for “Reaper Shroud.” Although “DS” is used interchangeably for them too, and is more common. So, it’s all about context.

or “kitten” stands for ???? idk

I have decided that I am going to be the one negative comment here.

Most times I will simply ignore the plaintive cries of the newbies who don’t understand all of the abbreviations being used in the mchat. Sometimes I will however point out the ease with which they can look things up if they would only try. I am usually considered an unhelpful person at the least and a few times, a troll.

At the OP(Original Poster) I would say that perhaps you should take some time to familiarize yourself with some of the more basic things. Yes we are using abbreviations to refer to things in chat but I would guess that most of us have been playing long enough to know what they mean. Some of these abbrevs. are long used names for concepts that have spanned many games of this type for years and are relatively well known concepts. CC, DPS, LoS and AoE are just a few of them.

It’s really not that I don’t want to answer your questions in game in mchat but rather that I don’t want to take ten minutes explaining to you what it is and how to find/use it.

I do feel it is your responsibility as a player to find the answer to your questions. Especially since the answers aren’t always as simple as they seem in mapchat.

Perhaps I have become jaded from the new crop of players who cannot seem to find any answers on their own without being hand-held through it. I do it enough with my friend who barely plays the game, I’m not doing it for someone who refuses to even try to find an answer on their own.

and btw…this is what Google found for me by just typing in “MMO CC” https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Crowd_control_%28video_gaming%29

Lol Necrotic. I love people like you. Cause playing a game and trying to enjoy yourself is all about research right? Lets do some work so we can play a game.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lol Necrotic. I love people like you. Cause playing a game and trying to enjoy yourself is all about research right? Lets do some work so we can play a game.

By that logic why even bother reading the “manual” for the game? Maybe you haven’t and managed to figure out all of the controls by trial and error.

And likewise just ignore all the text and instructions you receive from the game itself like the NPC chat and the Story Journal. Ignore all of the tooltips as well. You don’t need to know what your skills do just press one through five and repeat until the monsters are dead.

I too love people like you as well who say how much they are just there to have fun in the game yet were just complaining about x or y issue or problem that they couldn’t be bothered to look up that is just driving them insane/mad with frustration.

/s :P

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lol Necrotic. I love people like you. Cause playing a game and trying to enjoy yourself is all about research right? Lets do some work so we can play a game.

I agree w/ Necrotic. When it comes to the choice of doing the research yourself or expecting others to do the work for you… well, do the kitten research yourself. Often it takes just as much time to do the research yourself as it does to post the question. If you still can’t find the info THEN ask; that’s cool.

~EW

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lol Necrotic. I love people like you. Cause playing a game and trying to enjoy yourself is all about research right? Lets do some work so we can play a game.

I agree w/ Necrotic. When it comes to the choice of doing the research yourself or expecting others to do the work for you… well, do the kitten research yourself. Often it takes just as much time to do the research yourself as it does to post the question. If you still can’t find the info THEN ask… that’s cool.

~EW

There’s a difference between a simple question (like “hey what’s the abbreviation mean”) and something a lot more in depth though. Basically what you’re saying is that its not ok to ask a kitten question in map chat for something so simple. Goddess forbid we bother anyone with a simple question right? Because if you can’t be bothered to answer what an abbreviate means, I can’t imagine you can be bothered to help with anything else either (“anyone seen ‘x’ boss” “how long before ‘x’ is up” etc etc) . We should just tell everyone to make sure they have at least a second monitor and keep the wiki open.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

There’s a difference between a simple question (like “hey what’s the abbreviation mean”) and something a lot more in depth though. Basically what you’re saying is that its not ok to ask a kitten question in map chat for something so simple. Goddess forbid we bother anyone with a simple question right? Because if you can’t be bothered to answer what an abbreviate means, I can’t imagine you can be bothered to help with anything else either (“anyone seen ‘x’ boss” “how long before ‘x’ is up” etc etc) . We should just tell everyone to make sure they have at least a second monitor and keep the wiki open.

No, that’s not what I’m saying; please don’t put words in my mouth. What I’m saying do a quick google search before you ask something redundant or quick to figure out in the forums. Even the forums code of conduct states: “Read the forum before asking a question. There’s a good chance your question has already been answered.” https://forum-en.gw2archive.eu/forum/rules Forum searches suck, but google doesn’t.

~EW

carlito.8954:

One thing i’ve noticed that really bothers me is people come chat in these forums and abbreviate so many things but not ONCE do they define the thing they are abbreviating.

Please..if from now on you guys could abbreviate things AFTER you’ve defined them at least once on your post’s, me ( and possibly others ) would appreciate it lol

LOL? what does that mean?

Yeah, I’m kidding, but also that illustrates the point:

• People who realize acronyms need to be defined… already do define them.
• A lot of people don’t realize that not everyone understands every abbreviation.
• Most people who don’t realize it… aren’t reading this thread.

In other words, the OP is correct, but this post won’t change anything.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lol Necrotic. I love people like you. Cause playing a game and trying to enjoy yourself is all about research right? Lets do some work so we can play a game.

Yet that’s exactly what the OP is proposing. The only difference is that he’s trying to shift the work onto other people. As if everybody around him has an onus to specifically go out of their way to use long forms for abbreviations on the off chance that he might not know what they are. Making every single other person do work for you instead of you doing work yourself seems like a heck of a lot more work overall.

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

LanfearShadowflame.3189:

Lol Necrotic. I love people like you. Cause playing a game and trying to enjoy yourself is all about research right? Lets do some work so we can play a game.

I agree w/ Necrotic. When it comes to the choice of doing the research yourself or expecting others to do the work for you… well, do the kitten research yourself. Often it takes just as much time to do the research yourself as it does to post the question. If you still can’t find the info THEN ask… that’s cool.

~EW

There’s a difference between a simple question (like “hey what’s the abbreviation mean”) and something a lot more in depth though. Basically what you’re saying is that its not ok to ask a kitten question in map chat for something so simple. Goddess forbid we bother anyone with a simple question right? Because if you can’t be bothered to answer what an abbreviate means, I can’t imagine you can be bothered to help with anything else either (“anyone seen ‘x’ boss” “how long before ‘x’ is up” etc etc) . We should just tell everyone to make sure they have at least a second monitor and keep the wiki open.

No, but believing yourself entitled to an answer in map chat just because it’s a “simple answer” isn’t any better.

I wish I could tell you exactly how many times I have had a question occur to me in game that I then searched out an answer to on the wiki…but I can’t. I don’t keep track of things like that. It has been fairly often though.

One could argue the bedrock of conversation itself is to have your audience understand you. One can point to the other side in this case and say lazy or responsibility.

So what do most professional writers do? Actually what the OP(Original Poster) is asking for, the first time you abbreviate you define it. Now I know this isn’t going to happen, but for the writer to say it is the readers responsibility, well one could say the writer is lazy.

Someone throws out the RTFM (Read the fabulous manual) well most games don’t have these any more as we all know and well the poster is here seeking knowledge so they are trying actually, not being lazy at all.

That said, there is a link to a site for the GW (Guild Wars) abbreviations, best bet.

Ladies and gentlemen, what are forums for, if not to ask questions? (And, I was actually referring to map chat with my comment, not necessarily forums as the mentality carries over to in game too) To have conversations regarding topics we feel need discussing? And occasionally (ok super often) to whine and blow off steam.

“Well search for the answer first”
Considering the search function for the forum itself is borked, and most people don’t know about the google option, some tolerance might be in order. Perhaps instead of telling them “look it up” a more constructive response on how might be better. Goodness knows we tolerate innumerable duplicates of certain other threads….

“They are just shifting the work”
Really? Its so much work for someone that knows the answer to choose to take the time to answer. Which people did, because that’s what people do in this community. If you don’t want to, fine, that’s completely your choice. If you don’t know, you’re under no obligation to go look it up for them. However, it is also not your right to tell them or otherwise imply they are somehow wrong for asking.

Yes, he is asking people if they would maybe the first time they mention something to not abbreviate it. This actually isn’t an unreasonable request. Granted most people still wont do it.

“Not entitled to an answer”
You’re right, no ones entitled to an answer. However the chances that no one has one iota of politeness and knows the answer is very slim.

“When I have a question, I go look it up”
Wonderful for you. I do too generally. However, like a lot people, if I have the answer and someone asks, I generally don’t have an issue taking 60 seconds to share the knowledge. I may even go so far as to give them the wiki link for future use or metabattle or how to search the forums or a few others. Believe it or not, there are actually people that aren’t aware of these tools.

On the Tekken Zaibatsu Forums this problem was very extended, with lots of character specific, situation specific and game specific abreviations, plus all the notations for the moves themselves, multiplied by the various platforms the game ran on.

The solution was simple, however: they added an exhaustive “Legend” section to the principal menu, and direced all the new people there.

EphemeralWallaby.7643:

Often it takes just as much time to do the research yourself as it does to post the question.

It very, very, very rarely takes as much time for someone to answer a question than it takes for them to ‘do the research’. Web pages take time to browse and load, especially if you have to alt-tab out of game to look them up. And, the internet doesn’t know the social context you’re asking about.

Sure, for something in-depth, it’s probably a good idea to direct someone to the wiki, but for things like Abreviation’s, it’s much faster for someone to ask and get a simple answer in light of the context than it is to minimize the game, open a browser window, try to phrase the question in a manner that coveys the context you’re asking, sort through chaffe if you use Google, and avoid ‘dead pages’ if you try to wiki. Especially when it comes to acronyms with multiple meanings (Like DS)

And… in the time it takes someone to say ‘Look it up", they can generally give the answer. So it’s not them saving their own effort – it’s going out of their way to spend effort they could have saved or spent constructively to instead just be an kitten.

Just one reason why I don’t like speaking in abbreviation’s.
There are 62 different things that IT is abbreviated for – http://www.abbreviations.com/IT
Just because you understand what you mean does not mean that anyone else does.

Sartharina.3542:

It very, very, very rarely takes as much time for someone to answer a question than it takes for them to ‘do the research’.

You’re right… most of the time it’s faster to look it up yourself.

Sartharina.3542:

Web pages take time to browse and load, especially if you have to alt-tab out of game to look them up. And, the internet doesn’t know the social context you’re asking about.

You must have missed the part where I was talking about the forums, not in-game.

Sartharina.3542:

Sure, for something in-depth, it’s probably a good idea to direct someone to the wiki, but for things like Abreviation’s, it’s much faster for someone to ask and get a simple answer in light of the context than it is to minimize the game, open a browser window, try to phrase the question in a manner that coveys the context you’re asking, sort through chaffe if you use Google, and avoid ‘dead pages’ if you try to wiki. Especially when it comes to acronyms with multiple meanings (Like DS)

As opposed to taking the time to type out and word your post correctly, then wait the 5, 10, 15, NEVER minutes it might take someone to respond while refreshing the forum page? And trust that it’s an accurate response? It’s hilarious to me that you’re arguing that as being regularly/reliably faster than a cursory google search.

Sartharina.3542:

And… in the time it takes someone to say ‘Look it up", they can generally give the answer. So it’s not them saving their own effort – it’s going out of their way to spend effort they could have saved or spent constructively to instead just be an kitten.

You’re forgetting to include the time it took the person to type out and post their question, and the time it takes for someone who reads it being willing to take the time to type out a reply…. And in all that time they could have gotten their answer by looking it up… saving everyone time, including themselves.

~EW

edit: if doing an initial cursory search yourself wasn’t a good thing, then it wouldn’t have been written into the forum code of conduct.

carlito.8954:

Nadha.6097:

You used lol, didn’t you OP?
so, how is that different?
If y o u know what it means, its OK to use it?
;)

No it isn’t different.

However, in my defense i think it’s safe to assume ’’Lol" is a commonly used abbreviation by modern day forum users.

You cannot compare ‘’Lol"( My neighbor is 65 and doesn’t speak english but knows what this means by the way) to ’’DS’’, ’’CC’’, ’’TP’’ and so on….

Now take that winky face somewhere else LOL

Why the freek are you guys talking about league of legends in guild wars 2 forum get the freek out of here you Kids