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Esports Glossary

This article explains common terminology used by Generation Esports as well as the wider gaming/esports community. 

 

  • AFK

    • Away From Computer.

  • Application 

    • You apply to join the communities for tournaments (e.g. MSEL, HSEL, MGL).

  • Away team/player

    • The team/player that will join the custom match. I.e. this team does not create the custom match.

  • Ban

    • The rejection of a map, character, equipment, etc. within a game/match. See the help site for more information for each specific game.

  • Battle Pass

    • A digital ticket purchased to allow access to paid tournaments.

    • Individual Pass: Passes that are linked to a user's account and can be gifted.

    • Team Pass: Passes linked to a team can be assigned and revoked to various team members by team administrators.

  • BG

    • "Bad game", usually expressed at the end of a game, often in a negative manner.

  • BM

    • Bad manners.

  • BR

    • Battle Royale game (examples include Fortnite, Apex Legends, and CoD: Warzone)

  • Bracket

    • The tree of matches used in the playoff/elimination stage of the competition. 

  • Buff

    • Increasing the effectiveness of a game mechanic or ability.

  • Bye Win

    • Advancing to the next round of the tournament due to an odd number of teams. 
    • Bye Wins are counted as a 0-0 win. Players/teams awarded a Bye Win are given priority status in the queue system for the next match.

  • Challenges

    • Challenges are a new way to compete and play on the Generation Esports platform. You can compete against yourself, your friends, and others in your community, along with everyone on the Generation Esports platform. After you join a challenge, simply play ranked in the associated game to passively climb the leaderboard for prizes based on your performance in-game.

  • Community

    • A hub for tournaments and announcements for specific organizations (e.g. HSEL, MSEL, or NJCAAE.)
    • Teams may be associated with multiple communities.

  • Cross-Platform

    • A game where users can play together in multiplayer regardless of their platform. Example: PC, Xbox, and PlayStation users all can play together.

  • Cross-Platform Tournament

    • A tournament in which we allow players to use any number of platforms to be matched against each other.

  • DDoS

    • Distributed Denial of Service
    • A flooding of information on the game’s servers or a user’s connection causing an increase in lag or negatively impacting server stability. 

  • Debuff

    • Decreasing the effectiveness of a game mechanic or ability.

  • Discord

    • The industry-standard app for esports team communication and organization. See our Discord 101 article for more info.

  • DPS

    • Damage Per Second
    • In class-based games, the DPS role is responsible for causing the most damage to the other team.

  • DQ

    • Disqualification from one or more matches.

  • Esports (spelling)

    • According to the AP Stylebook, the correct spelling is esports. Only capitalize it at the beginning of a sentence or as a part of a proper noun (ex. Generation Esports).

  • EZ

    • Quick chat for “easy”. Sometimes used in a negative manner.

  • Finals / Grand Finals

    • The final match in the previous single-elimination bracket that consists of two teams. Tournament finals should follow standard playoff match length and rules unless otherwise specified.

  • First-Person Eliminator

    • A label that is interchangeable with first-person shooters.

  • Flaming

    • Displaying hostility towards other people by insulting, swearing or using otherwise offensive language.

  • Forfeit (FF)

    • To submit a loss before the match has completed.  

  • Format

    • The ruleset defining the structure of the tournament stages and game rules.

  • FPS

    • "First person shooter" game (e.g. Valorant, CS:GO, CoD: Cold War)
    • Sometimes referred to as "First Person Elimination" or "Team-based Objective Game"

  • Free to compete 

    • Game competitions that have no participation fees.

  • Free to play (F2P)

    • Games that cost no money to download and play.

  • Game Connection

    • An individual's name which will display in-game for a specific game connected on their Generation Esports profile.
    • See also: Gamertag, In-game name, screen name

  • Gamertag (In-game name, screen name)

    • Unique custom name created by all players which can be seen in-game. 

  • GG

    • "Good game" - a quick chat pleasantry exchanged at the end of the game. 

  • GLHF

    • "Good luck, have fun" - a quick chat pleasantry used before the game or round starts.

  • Hack

    • A form of cheating. Common examples of “hacking” include scripting (see below), aim-assistance, gaining additional information about player/equipment location (map hack), and eliminating visual textures (wall hacking).

  • Home team/player

    • The team/player that will set up the custom match 

  • IGL 

    • "In-game leader"; the player who determines the strategies and final decision maker for the team in the heat of competition.
  • Invitational
    • A tournament with a limited number of players invited to compete. 

  • KD/KDA

    • Kill/Death ratio or Kills/Deaths/Assists
    • In elimination or FPS games, this refers to the ratio of the number of times a player has eliminated opponents versus the number of times that player has been eliminated. Eliminations are divided by times eliminated, and if that number is above 1.0, that means the player has positively contributed to the team's success. 
      • For KDA, assists (helping a team member achieve an elimination) are also figured into to this ratio, usually not weighed as heavily as one whole elimination.

  • Lag

    • A slowed response time between a gaming device and the game’s servers. 

  • LAN

    • Local Area Network

    • A networking term, it is also used as shorthand for in-person competitions. As in, "we're going to the Rocket League LAN this weekend," or, "We're having a Halo LAN party."

  • Leaderboard

    • A chart that displays the seeding of the players/teams for a specific game tournament.

  • Lobby

    • The “waiting room” which all players connect to before the round begins. 

  • Major Competitions

    • A Spring/Fall tournament hosted by HSEL or MSEL in which the players will be students all attending the same school, invited by an admin who is a teacher or faculty member.

  • Make-up match

    • An additional match which can be played through the queue by any teams that were unable to play one or more previous matches in a tournament.

  • Match

    • Also known as a single bout of competitive play. A match may consist of a set of games (e.g. Best-of-3, Best-of-5, etc.).

  • Match Chat

    • A public chat for all members in the game.

  • Match Dispute

    • A support ticket that is submitted to Generation Esports staff to protest the result of a match or inform about rule-breaking.
    • Examples for filing a Match Dispute are:
      • Score incorrectly reported
      • Game rules/settings not followed correctly
      • Non-rostered player participating in the match
      • Suspicions of cheating
      • Unsportsmanlike conduct (negative or offensive behavior)

  • Match-Making (matchmaking)

    • A service that searches for opponents to play against. 
    • See also, Queue

  • Matchmaking Rating (MMR)

    • A player or roster's tournament rating. On the Generation Esports platform, it is a hidden number assigned to a player/roster in a tournament that is based on combined performance factors including Win/Loss record. This hidden number assists in finding the best match in a given queue window.

  • Match Page

    • Main page generated by the queue used to join the pre-lobby game screen. 

  • MOBA

    • "Multiplayer online battle arena" game (e.g. Dota 2, SMITE, League of Legends).

  • Nerf

    • The weakening of the effectiveness of a game mechanic in an effort to balance the competitive experience.

  • Official Match

    • An official match occurs during any Generation Esports (HSEL, MSEL, NJCAAE, etc.) tournament. Regular Season, Playoff, and Final matches qualify as official matches.   

  • Online Subscription

    • An item purchased to play online in multiplayer games (e.g. Xbox Live and PlayStation Network).  

  • OP

    • Over-powered.

  • Party

    • Group of players and spectators from a roster that enter the matchmaking service together. Check your organization’s and tournament’s specific rules regarding spectators.

  • Party Chat

    • A private chat reserved for members of a party. 

  • Party Leader

    • The person who invited others to join the party in game.

  • Party Member

    • A person who accepted an invitation to join a party

  • Platform

    • Software used to set up teams, roster, and tournaments. 
    • Additionally used to refer to the gaming system used to play (PC, Xbox, Playstation, etc).

  • Ping

    • The response time between a gaming device and the game’s servers, measured in milliseconds.

  • Playoffs

    • The playoff stage of a tournament is a usually a single- or double-elimination tournament among the highest placed teams/players from the regular season. The size of the playoff pool varies depending on the game being played. Playoff tiers include the pre-quarterfinals, quarterfinals, semifinals, and finals/3rd place match. 

  • Premier Competitions

    • HSEL Premier is the highest tier of competition in HSEL and is the most direct path to HSEL Nationals. Teams must participate in qualifiers before the season begins to be granted access.

  • Private Match (Custom Match)

    • A match created on a platform by a user (or tournament admin) for express purposes of practice, scrimmage, or tournament play. 
    • Private matches are disconnected from the game’s greater community and matchmaking services.

  • Prizing

    • Items awarded to players based on completion of quests, participation, performance, and standing after a competition.

  • Purposeful Play

    • A term coined by Gaming Concepts, it is defined by integrating gameplay into classroom lessons to build esports skills.

  • Quests

    • Activities that can be completed within the Generation Esports platform to earn prizing and/or profile XP. Example: Win 5 matches.

  • Queue

    • The matchmaking service hosted by Generation Esports.

  • Queue Window

    • The period of time in which a team/player can enter the matchmaking service.

  • Quick Chat

    • A subset of text acronyms/presets used to convey a message, typically in the chat within a game.

  • Region

    • Selection of the region you are playing from to have the best connection to the games' servers. 
    • Some games in HSEL are divided into regions to provide a more localized competitive experience.

  • Registration

    • Enrolling a roster for a tournament. 

  • Regular Season

    • A competition's main stage. During this stage, players/teams compete for the highest placements to move on to the postseason.

  • Round

    • The player can play one match per round, but there can be multiple rounds per stage.

  • Roster

    • A group of users participating in a specific game during a tournament or competition. The size of a roster will vary depending on the tournament entered.

  • Round Robin

    • A format of tournament in which rosters/players are placed into groups, and every member of the group plays an equal number of matches against everyone else in the group.

  • RTS

    • "Real-time strategy" game (e.g. Chess, StarCraft 2).

  • School Team Players

    • Students who are currently enrolled in their school and are eligible to participate on that school's team for the High School Esports League. 

  • Score Reporting

    • Using the platform to record what team earned the win/loss and the series score.

  • Scrimmage (Scrim)

    • A practice match that does not have any bearing on any active tournaments. 

  • Script (Scripting)

    • The use of coding or game modifications to cheat. See also, hack.

  • Series (Best of #, or First to #)

    • Rounds/matches of competition which consist of a game being played multiple times (e.g. best of 3, best of 5).
    • Exact rules may vary from competition to competition -- some games may require different maps or characters played in each game within the series.
    • Series matches are typically ended once a participant can no longer win the series. For example, any of the following scores win a best of 5 series: 3-0, 3-1, and 3-2. Although uncommon, for this reason, some competitions may refer to series lengths by the required wins ("first to 3") instead.

  • Shoutcasting

    • Announcing play-by-plays for audiences watching esports gameplay. Synonymous with sports announcing.

  • Single elimination

    • A competition format where if you lose one match, you are eliminated.

  • Skin

    • A unique cosmetic character or equipment design that the player can select. 

  • Smurfing

    • An experienced player using a new account to easily win matches against new players.

  • Solo

    • Games that have teams of one player (1v1 or free-for-fall games).

  • Spectator

    • An individual who is not playing the game, but watching through a player's point of view or a neutral point of view (e.g. broadcasters, see Streaming).

  • Stage

    • Stages are the designated rounds within a competition in which differing rules such as match length, new player/team registration, and match scheduling take place. For example, pre-season, regular season, and playoffs are separate tournament stages.

  • Streaming

    • Using apps such as Twitch, YouTube, Facebook, Kick, or Discord to broadcast gameplay providing others a player’s point of view in game. 
    • See the help site articles for additional rules about streaming.

  • Substitute

    • An extra player on a team’s roster who may not necessarily play in every game or match.

  • Support

    • In class-based games, this role is responsible for aiding their own team by healing damage, increasing the damage done by teammates, and sometimes even reviving eliminated teammates.

  • Swiss

    • A format of tournament in which players with similar records are matched against each other.

  • Tank

    • In class-based games, this role is responsible for protecting their own team by shielding teammates, absorbing damage, and drawing the attention of the other team.

  • Team

    • Organizations registered with Generation Esports must form an esports team. In the case of the High School Esports League, Middle School Esports League, or NJCAAE, teams must be composed of students from the same school.
    •  For team members to participate in events, the Team Administrator will create rosters from team members for the respective games and enter them into tournaments.

  • Team Administrator

    • The user who oversees the operations of a team and acts as a point of contact between the team and Generation Esports staff. 
    • For HSEL/MSEL/NJCAAE, Team administrators are faculty or staff of the school.

  • Team Captain (Assistant Coach)

    • A role on the Generation Esports platform that allows the team member additional control over team rosters and competition registration.
    • Users with this role are typically a team or roster's point of contact, or a team assistant coach.

  • Team game

    • A game that requires more than one person to make a roster. 

  • Tilt

    • A state of anger or frustration that negatively effects a player's game performance.

  • Title

    • Used synonymously with “game”.

  • Tournament

    • Competition (for individual tournaments within a greater event).

  • Training Grounds

    • The HSEL Training Grounds provides a beginner-friendly competitive experience in a low-stakes environment.​ There are no playoffs or winners in training grounds; instead, it is focused on fostering student development.

  • Unofficial Matches

    • Any match that takes place outside of any Generation Esports tournament. These matches include, but are not limited to, Scrimmage matches and Community Events.  

  • Veto

    • A team rejecting a ban selection.

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