Useful Terms and Definitions

• Admin: Used to both indicate the staff on a MUD, as well as a high-level administrator on a MUD (usually one step lower than a Wiz/Wizard).
• AFK: Away From Keyboard.
• Alt: Alternate character. On games that allow alts, these are characters acquired by a player after establishing their primary.
• App: Application. Generally used to request a character in an RP-enforced game.
• Chargen: Character Generation. System used to set up your new character.
• Grid: The game world, where the action takes place.
• IC: In Character.
• Idle: Indicates both the time lapsed between commands inputted by a player or staff member as well as the act of being idle on a game, often caused by being busy in another window or away from the computer. Some people know they won't be paying attention to the MUD for a period of time and will set an 'idle message'.
• Idle Message: A message set on-game by a staff member or player who will not be available for some time; other players who send private pages to said player or staff member will receive this message in return.
• Judge: A staff member on a MU* who is called in by players to referee a combat scene.
• MU*: Generic term for text-based online games.
• Newbie: A new MU* player.
• NPC: Non-Player Character. Usually run by staff or staff helpers as plot devices.
• OOC: Out of Character.
• PC: Player Character. Any character run by a regular player.
• Primary: The player's main, most often played character. Usually the first character they acquire in a game that allows alts.
• Retcon: Return to Continuity. Essentially, this is a step taken by a game admin to reverse something that happened in an RP scene.
• RL: "Real-Life" as opposed to being online.
• Royalty: A mid-level administrator on a MUD.
• RP: Roleplaying.
• Sheet: Your character's collection of skills and abilities.
• Twink: Generally, this is a player that exploits bugs in a game or misbehaves without a suitable in-character explanation for their actions. Note: Some newbies may be mistaken for twinks because they stumble on something by accident. Avoid accusing newbies of twinking unless you've got adequate proof.
• Wiz: Short-form for Wizard. High-level administrator on a MUD.
• <User Input> This is used sometimes when references user-input placed within a command to explain to other players how it is used. The word(s) inside may not necessarily be User Input, however. Most often, anything in <> is meant to be replaced with your own input. The text inside the <> should refer to the input you'll need to type, like, <DBREF#> for example.

Back to Main Page