Request: help me with my linguistic essay!

[Getatron]

Hello everyone lurking the Escapist,

I lurk these forums and have lurked for some time now. I rarely post, but that's 'cause I'm a bit too lazy to actually log in. However, most - if not all - of you have a grasp of the English language, and its slang. It's this slang I'm interested in studying right now for a linguistic essay at the Department of English at Stockholm University where I study. It's nothing big, so I figure I could make a small survey over here.

The topic I chose to study is a minor survey of the word n00b, noob, newb, and what other forms it has, as well as its usage.

If you like, please fill in this small form. Thank you very much for participating!

Gender: <male/female>
Have been playing for:
Use gaming-expressions: <yes/no>
If yes, how frequently?:
To me, noob means:
I use noob in these circumstances:


Thank you again!

 

[Ldude893]

Gender: Male
Have been playing for: 8 years.
Use gaming-expressions: No
If yes, how frequently?:
To me, noob means: An unexperienced player who refuses to learn
I use noob in these circumstances: None

 

[LHZA]

Gender: female
Have been playing for: 16 years
Use gaming-expressions: no
If yes, how frequently?:
To me, noob means: not sure
I use noob in these circumstances: Pretending I know more about internet slang then I actually do.

 

[Blue_vision]

Gender: Male
Have been playing for: 10 years
Use gaming-expressions: Yes
If yes, how frequently?: Whenever they come up in conversation? Depends on what I'm talking about and with who. For some people, never; others, once a minute or two of conversation
To me, noob means: An incorrectly used silly derogatory term. Originally people that are new to something (mostly video games,) and have not yet learned how everything works, but I find this is used a lot less and it's really just a way of saying "I'm better than you."
I use noob in these circumstances: I used to, but I don't think I've even said it in the past year or two

 

[Wutaiflea]

Gender: Female
Have been playing for: 20 years ish
Use gaming-expressions: Yes
If yes, how frequently?: Infrequently (largely for comic effect)
To me, noob means: It used to mean "newbie", meaning "new to the game". Now it's just a generic insult.
I use noob in these circumstances: I don't use "noob" exactly. I usually say "newbie" or "nooblet" (particularly if they were nice) to describe someone new to a game.

 

[Amarsir]

Gender: Male
Have been playing for: 10 yrs
Use gaming-expressions: Not really
If yes, how frequently?: Only ironically
To me, noob means: "Newbie" or perhaps "Newb" are someone who is just starting to learn. "Noob" is someone who won't learn, regardless of experience. But its use says more about the speaker than the subject, so I prefer the more classic term "idiot."
I use noob in these circumstances: Only iornically to mock the kind of person who would typically say it.

I want to warn you btw that this forum is probably not a statistically random sample of players. I suspect the people calling each other "noob" on Xbox Live aren't likely to come here and help with someone's homework. :/ Just keep that in mind.

 

[Evil Raccoon]

Gender: Male
Have been playing for: 12 years +
Use gaming-expressions: Meh, sometimes
If yes, how frequently?: Only in the presence of fellow gamers.
To me, noob means: A beginner of the game who doesn't understand the game mechanics completely
I use noob in these circumstances: I throw it around here and there, only if the people annoy me.

 

[manic_depressive13]

Gender: female

Have been playing for: 8 years

Use gaming-expressions: I don't know what qualifies as a "gaming expression". Would you consider something like the abbreviation "gl hf" at the beginning of a game of Startcraft to be a gaming expression? Then yes.

If yes, how frequently?: When the situation calls for it.

To me, noob means: Someone who is bad at a game, generally because they refuse to learn.

I use noob in these circumstances: I don't tend to use this one, but if I did it would be along the lines of "What a downer noob. I wish he'd stop being Jewish and learn to play the game." [sub][sub]Not really[/sub][/sub]

 

[Grouchy Imp_v1legacy]

Gender: Male.
Have been playing for: 20 odd years. Since the mid-eighties.
Use gaming-expressions: Yes.
If yes, how frequently?: Occasionally, for comic effect.
To me, noob means: Synonymous with 'Rookie'.
I use noob in these circumstances: Never. I don't see the point in giving people crap online; be polite or turn your mic off.

 

[Seriphina]

Gender: female

Have been playing for: 18 yrs

Use gaming-expressions: yeah mainly due to WoW and the reliance on understanding of abbreviations.

If yes, how frequently?: every day lol

To me, noob means: newb is someone new to the game or inexperienced and a noob is someone who erm i guess gets in over their head in a game. Eg. someone who buys a char on ebay and thinks cos they have a lvl 80 char they can play the game (referring to WoW again).

I use noob in these circumstances: Mostly as an insult i guess tho i don't call ppl in game noobs. I use it more a friendly joking term to friends, i have an American friend who calls me a rube. I think it's the same thing for him. GL <3

 

[milotheshort]

Gender: Male
Have been playing (i assume Video Games, although n00b could apply for other things) for: 18 yrs
Use gaming-expressions: Yes
If yes, how frequently?: in a game: 30-40% in rl: ~10% (depending on company)
To me, noob means: with two lowercase "O's", a person with more experience than a newbie, but roughly the same skill set.
I use noob in these circumstances:
Newbie - a person with little to no experience (the least derogatory of its incarnations), this person cannot be held as accountable for unfamiliarity with game controls, mechanics, or the like. (playtime less than 5 days~)

Newb - a slightly more experienced newbie, they tend to understand more game mechanics than a newbie, but tend to do/say more or equal as dumb things as the former. (~6-40 days of game play)

noob - a player whom still has not grasped complex concepts, and is below the learning curve of the game (mostly determined on Lvl or ranking). These players generally don't take criticism well. (any time frame over 40 days)

n00b - Most commonly used form, usually describing an elitest un-skilled or un-knowledgeable player. (being the l337 form of noob) Often these persons will troll game forums and start flame wars, based on un-proven or known falsehoods. Will see some using cheats, or bots. (any time frame over 40 days but usually a few months.)

fr00b - (stands for F*cking Retarded noob) these are the worst of the 5, they tend to be pretentious, unskilled, and suffer from mouth diarrhea. nothing they do or say makes sense (in context to the game or task). These have the propensity for TKing, spamming, or otherwise generally annoying and useless actions. Often they act as if they were a repository of knowledge and the most skilled player (of said game), often taking credit for things they don't know/didn't do. Synonymous with a SkriptKiddie in the realm of hacking/cracking. Often use cheats, hacks, bots, scripts or other methods to circumvent there evident lack of skill. (these are born not made, anytime period greater than 0.)

Honestly I think consulting Urban Dictionary for your paper might have been more efficient.

 

[Getatron]

I want to warn you btw that this forum is probably not a statistically random sample of players. I suspect the people calling each other "noob" on Xbox Live aren't likely to come here and help with someone's homework. :/ Just keep that in mind.

Thanks for the heads-up, I already considered the method. Then again, it's not a huge essay, and this is arguably as good as an "ordinary" query with a pen and paper, used when asking people on the street. Seeing as most, if not all, who hang around here are gamers in one way or the other, I figure it's much better to do my research here than on the streets where Bertha (76 years old) have never heard of the term. Scientifically speaking, when studying a sociolect, study it where it flourishes.

So that's what I do. ^^

 

[Getatron]

Honestly I think consulting Urban Dictionary for your paper might have been more efficient.

Thanks, I will do that for the general description. It's just not about the description, it's about the usage, and therefore I'm collecting a minor corpus. Science takes all forms!

 

[milotheshort]

i also forgot nub, nublet, nooblet, and n00blet. nub is worse than n00b but better than fr00b, and -let refers to slightly less than the full blown version of the base word. Ergo. if n00b is equal to "n" then n00blet is "n-1."

Also gl on ur paper.

 

[Pyotr Romanov]

Gender: Male
Have been playing for: About 10 years
Use gaming-expressions: no
If yes, how frequently?:
To me, noob means: Someone who refuses to take (kind) advice when annoying someone
I use noob in these circumstances: Never, really

 

[TundraStalax]

Gender: male
Have been playing for: 12 years
Use gaming-expressions: yes
If yes, how frequently?: only in-game, when I need to say something fast
To me, noob means: a "newbie" to a game, one who is inexperienced or otherwise used as a condescending term for anyone who isn't as experienced as the person calling out the term in person.
I use noob in these circumstances: I never do, mostly, I'm the newer guy to games

 

[DuctTapeJedi]

Female
I've been gaming off and on for eight years.
No, I typically prefer to use proper English.
Question Four: N/A
A noob is an inexperienced new player, or some one who is just generally ignorant.
I've only called people noobs if they really deserve it. I've only said it about five times in maybe the past two years. (ish)