AlterWorld

Mesmerized, I listened to the artificial god. A god in vitro, how's that to you? "What do you want with me, then? You want to earn yourself a supporter by yanking me free from under the torturer's knife?"

The Fallen One chuckled. "You going to say no?"

"Well, if I don't have to drink i

"Please. Not all those horror stories. People positioned me as a Dark god but all it did, it defined my abilities. Your religion does deform me, of course. In another thousand years I might indeed transform into something… else. But I still have time. Help me preserve myself. Help me let them know that darkness is just as part of this world as is light. Not evil or cruel, just different. You're in a Castle of Light now. Did you enjoy their light? The light of the torch that scorched your flesh? Same with darkness. It's only a tool—an ability one can use as one sees fit."

"I see. I'm not saying no. What do you want me to do?"

"I'm alone, you see. The controlling AIs have long gone perma mode although they're yet to realize it. But those of them who play for gods of Light get stronger with every new believer, with every new Temple. They push me to the world's outskirts, believing me to be if not a bug or code error, then something fundamentally antagonistic, something for them to combat. If you restore the First Temple, it'll make me so much stronger. Choose another Dark god as the temple deity. It'll feed on the power of all of you and will eventually come to life and join my entourage. In exchange, I'll help you now and will keep an eye on you in the future."

"Deal," I said.

It all made sense. No one was demanding from me anything I couldn't or shouldn't do. I needed his help; his protection was worth its weight in gold. You'd better be friends with a world's original god, regardless of the color they'd painted him. It was high time I looked into this world's color scheme and repainted half of it in as many shades of darkness.

The god smiled. "In that case—what was it you said? Enjoy your resurrection!"

The Fallen One stepped toward me. A long black blade appeared in his hands. It sliced through the darkness-

Death alert! You've died in battle! Prepare for resurrection in your last bind point.

Resurrection in 5… 4… 3… 2… 1… 0!

- end of Book One -

MMORPG Glossary[1]

AFK

Away from keyboard

Aggro

As a verb, it refers to a hostile mob that has noticed a player and is actively trying to attack that player. As a noun, it refers to the amount of “hostility” the player has generated on the mob. In typical combat strategy, the fighter tries to take as much aggro as possible away from weaker players such as healers and mages.

Alt

Short for "alternate". It refers to the alternate character a player has from their main character. This is not a stable category as sometimes alts can outlevel mains and sometimes mains become moth-balled.

Alt Tab

The act of using the ALT+TAB keys to jump from application to application

Bind

In certain MMOs, characters are teleported back to a safe spot when they die. This spot is predetermined by the user. The act of determining the safe spot requires an explicit action by the user. That action is known as a bind. The spot is typically referred to as a bind spot.

Bind on equip

This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after they have been equipped. In other words, the item can be traded as long as no one equips it.

Bind on pickup

This term refers to items that become soulbound to the player after it has been picked up from a monster. In other words, the item ca

Bokken sword

A wooden training sword

Buff

Temporary boost to character attribute or combat ability

Camp(ing)

The act of waiting in an area to hunt a specific mob or a specific spawn

Caster

A mage or a wizard

CGN

Computer Game Nerd

Char/Toon

A player or their character.

Class

Professional archetypes. In D&D games, these would be warrior, healer, rogue and mage. The most typical class types are: close-range damage, ranged damage, healing, crowd control, support.

Cleric

Typical healing class in D&D style games

Combo

A combination of hits, especially causing severe damage like paralyzing or bleeding

Corpse

In certain MMOs, a corpse appears where the player died. Sometimes all the player’s items and money are left on the corpse and the player is teleported back to their bind spot. Corpses typically will decay after a certain time proportional the character’s level.

Corpse Run

The act of retrieving your corpse after you have died. This is typically a dangerous thing because people tend to die in dangerous places rather than safe places.

Crafting

A general category of skills that allows players to manufacture objects from raw resources

Crit

"To crit" refers to landing a critical hit either with melee or spells. Effective damage is usually increased from a base of 150% to upwards of 250% with extra talents/skills/buffs.

Crowd Control

Refers to a set of spells / abilities that temporarily paralyze or stun other mobs or players. Crowd control is an important group support ability when fighting multiple mobs.

DD

Direct Damage. Used to refer to a class of spells and abilities that allow players to damage enemies from a distance. The firebolt is the archetypal DD.

DD/DPS

A character whose primary role in a group setting is to deal damage to the opponents.

Debuff

The opposite of a buff. An offensive spell cast on enemies that weakens an attribute or combat ability.

Donator

A player who invests real money into virtual gear

DoT

Damage over time. Refers to a class of spells that deals damage over a period of time. These spells typically do more damage than DD spells overall.

DpS

Damage per second. Used when figuring out weapon speed and damage.

Drow

A Dark Elf race

Druid

Hybrid class in D&D style games—part healer, part support, part fighter.

Enchanter

A mage specializing in buffs

Epic

An extremely rare item or quest. Has come to mean something exceptionally cool and hard to get.

Experience

A quantity gained when completing tasks/quests, killing mobs, or various other achievements in games. When enough experience is accrued, characters often “level up” and become more powerful.

Familiar

Same as pet

Farm(ing)

The act of accumulating currency or a specific item by repeatedly killing a mob or repeatedly performing a series of actions

Gnoll

An NPS (AI-controlled character) race of humanoid hyenas

Guilds

Semi-permanent player groups. In typical games, players must use a substantial amount of capital to start the guild.

Health

A base attribute of characters

LFG

“looking for group”

Lich

A race of the undead

Loot

Currency or items that are dropped by a mob when it is defeated

Mana

A commonly-used pool of magic potential (magical analog of health points)