10 gaming words you need to know in 2021

Today we’re taking a look at terms and words that you should know when getting into competitive games in 2021.

As you know, G-Loot is all about adding that extra layer to your competitive experience and making esports available to everyone. With that in mind, we wanted to let you in on some know-how to keep up with the expanding vocabulary of competitive games. Here are 10 words that you should know going into this year.

Cracked

Starting off, and this is one that you’ve probably heard a ton as of late: cracked. Now, if you’re an Apex Legends player, you might think of cracking someone's shield. However, it’s a compliment meant to say that someone is insanely good or that they just did a crazy play. So you might say ‘I was totally cracked playing G-Loot today, I made $12!’

Sweaty

Next up is sweaty. If you’re a Smash player such as myself, don’t worry; we’re not talking about BO here. Sweaty is basically the newly coined term for tryhards or tryharding. Basically saying that someone is playing too intensively when it’s not necessary, AKA, they must be sweaty.

Smurfing

If you’re born in the last century, you might think of the color blue when I say smurf. There’s an explanation for that, but in any case, this is a term used to describe skilled players who make new accounts to play with lower-ranked players—which often leads to them destroying everyone. Used in a sentence, it would be something like “smurfing is not allowed on G-Loot” Ha. See what I did there? Yeah, don’t try it.

Int

This is one that I actually had to double-check, “Int” or “Inting” originates from League of Legends and a streamer in particular known as Tyler1. Int is short for Intentional and refers to someone intentionally losing the game. If you’ve played a Moba in the long term, you’ve probably been teamed up with someone that you can think of with this term. We wish them the worst of luck.

Clutch

“Clutch or Kick” the classic banter one-liner between teammates in any competitive game. When the last player is left alone to save the day, and they need to pull off the impossible, that’s when they need to clutch and rescue the team from defeat. This actually came from sports commentary, which I didn’t know either. Hey, we both learned something today!

Whiff

The next one is a term that all esports communities claim ownership of... Did you miss that lob in Rocket League? Spray around the outline of someone in Apex? Or maybe you missed that mix-up in Tekken. That’s a Whiff. The one thing that makes not only the player reel back in pain but also everyone watching.

Ping

Ping is a word that has had two meanings over the last few years. Originally, it only referred to the latency to the server that you’re playing on. Having a bad ping makes no one happy. While Apex Legends might’ve not been the first game to implement it, it was the game to popularize the second meaning: the ping system, where players mark something by highlighting it in the game.

Lurking

Number 8 is—wait, you weren’t counting these? Oh well, the next one is lurking. This means hiding or concealing yourself until you can pop out and surprise your unsuspecting opponents, preferably with a sick play. Apparently, the origins are from Scandinavia, which makes me wonder if a certain Counter Strike player had anything to do with it...hmm...

Dinked

One of the more odd ones in this list is dinked. In generic terms, it means that you either scored a critical hit or, more often than not, a headshot on an opponent—but they survived by the skin of their teeth. Hopefully, your teammates will jump at this opportunity to help finish them off, unlike the ones I get matched up with in Solo Queue... Jeez.

Farming

Lastly, we’re talking about something most gamers might not be too familiar with, which is farming. Not, like, cows and stuff. In-game farming. Like real farming, it refers to doing something repeatedly to gather and accumulate something of value. Taking down an EZ trio and stealing their loot in Apex? That’s farming. Having an insane K/D ratio on Icebox? That’s also farming. Playing the top 5 levels of the mines over and over in Stardew Valley? Meta-farming!

And those are our picks for words that you should know when getting into competitive gaming in 2021. We hope that this will ease you into the community you choose to join and don't forget, many of the games featured in this one are also available on G-Loot.

So, did we miss any words that you think we should’ve included? If so, let us know, and we’ll see you in the next one.

TLDR? Watch the video version of this article.