Nomenclature used in Asheron's Call

It can be intimidating when you first start playing a multiuser
online game because players use lots of abbreviations which mean
nothing to a new player. So here are some to get you started in AC
- some will help with other games too.

ACDM: Asheron's Call: Dark Majesty.  This is the expansion pack
released which includes the complete game.  You must buy ACDM to
visit certain parts of Dereth.  Also "AC:DM" and just "DM".
AFK: away from keyboard
BRB: be right back
BRT: be right there
buff: 1) to cast beneficial protective spells.  (will you buff me?)
2) the spells cast in that manner.  (my buffs are down)
3) to increase the effectiveness of.  (dagger skill was
buffed)
camp: to wait around and repeat a quest in order to gain the
reward multiple times or for multiple people.  For instance,
people used to "camp" the Tumerok Overlord to get his (sometimes
really good) loot.  Turbine implemented keys (SIKs) and quest
timers to help reduce this.
CoC: Code of Conduct -- the implicit contract you made with
Microsoft when signing up for the game on prohibited and
acceptable actions in-game.
DI: Death Item (see below)
IGN: In Game Now, used on AC bulletin boards.
IGP: I Gotta Pee!
gem: Using a Gem of Stillness, which dispels all negative spells,
leaving buffs intact.  "Gemming" is considered by many PKs to be
extremely overpowered in pvp combat, and is about as popular as
portal-logging.
grief player: A player that attempts to abuse the game system and
lack of enforcement to make the game less-fun for other players.
Things like intentionally leading back monsters to overwhelm and
kill someone, cutting into lines to complete a quest, trade skill
fraud, lying in order to gain items, handing heavy objects to
burden someone, etc are characteristic of a grief player.
GSA: Greater Shadow Amuli (Shadow-hunter armor).  GSC is Greater
Shadow Celdon, and GSK is Koujia.  Sometimes prefaced with PP
meaning "pre-patch" before the armor level and elemental prots
were nerfed.  Pre-patch Shadow armor will be returning in Feb 2002
to lower the value of the existing sets, due to rampant duping
using game bugs.
macro/script: a program that controls your character without human
intervention, often to do repetitive tasks.  Technically, this
violates the CoC, but it is not acted against except for extreme
disruptions.
MMORPG/MMCRPG: massively multiplayer online/computer role playing
game
mob: monster brinkrl@Eng.Auburn.EDU:  This term dates back to MUDs
and is an abbreviation for the word 'mobile', referring to
anything in the game that moved from room to room within a MUD.
Don't use "mob" to mean a group.
nerf: reduce the effectiveness through patching.  Coined from the
Nerf brand of harmless foam toy guns/swords/etc.
no-drop: item will never be dropped on death
no-pass: item cannot be handed to other players
PK: character that's a player killer -- it can attack other PKs,
and shows up in red on the radar.
portal-log: If you enter a portal and logout while in portal, you
never actually appear at the destination.  This is only
significant if you're PK and being chased by other PKs which can
follow you.  Doing this is considered an abuse/cheat by most PKs.
prop, patch: AC gets monthly updates, usually the second tuesday
of the month, which advances the storyline and adds new items,
quests, spells, and dungeons, and fixes bugs and tweaks play
balances.  This is also the time when, like clockwork, Archers,
UA, and mages all claim they were nerfed.  This monthly update is
called the prop (for "propagation" of the update), the patch (a
misnomer), and The Monthly Whining (tm).
PVM: player versus monster (combat)
PVP: player versus player (combat)
pyreal: a metal which is used for currency, although most items
you will trade between players are based on the SIK as currency.
RL: abbreviation for "Real Life" which is a strange concept to
some.
SIK: Sturdy Iron Key, used to unlock one of several unpickable
chests scattered about Dereth with reasonably good loot.

Singularity Key: a key to a Singularity Trove, which has Really
Phat UberLoot (tm).  These troves can contain items superior to
the best items found by the regular loot generator.
shard: This usually is referring to a rare monster part used in
the construction of Shadow Armor.  You can find shards on a Broken
Fragment (cracked shard), a Fragment (tiny shard) or a Dual
Fragment (small shard).  They can be combined together such that
4 cracked = 2 tiny = 1 small.
skill check: The determination of success/failure by comparing the
difficulty of the action to your applicable skill.  Skill checks
are made to determine if your weapon hits, if you evade, if you
resist, if your spell costs less to cast, etc.  There is a random
factor involved in all skill checks.  When your skill is equal to
the difficulty of the action, you have a 50% chance of success.
twink: to "power-level" a character by using a high level magic
and weapons to help him kill creatures far beyond his normal
ability to kill.
UA: unarmed combat, the domain of the Sho.  All those slanty-eyed
folks know Karate, just like real life.

uber: German for "over," used as a prefix to denote a particularly
good item.  Often misused to denote anything with magic that you
can't activate.

Subway:(aka Hub) Abandoned Mines near Arwic, with portals to many
towns.
BSD: Black Spawn Den, one of 3 dungeons packed with big tuskers.
Cit: Lugian Citidel, one of 3 dungeons packed with lugians.
DOC: Dungeon of Corpses, packed with drudges and a couple virindi.
Jungle Sub: Jungle Shadows on the Veseyan islands with many
portals.
LOD: Lair of Death, a dungeon containing olthoi near ruins of
Arwic.
ML: Marae Lassel, the new island introduced in Dark Majesty.
OHN: Olthoi Hordes Nest, level 30+ dungeon with ... hordes of
olthoi.
OP: Obsidian Plains, the big crater in the southern dires.


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