How to speak Metaverse
A Glossary of Virtual Terms
afk – a moment or more when the master mind is ‘away from the keyboard’
avatar – an animated digital “object” representing the embodiment of the user in a virtual environment, controlled by the user
code warrior – a slang term for programmers (a derivative of the term ‘road warrior’ from the Mad Max movie series)
IM – instant message (can be a noun or a verb)
in-world: the state of being logged in and active in Second Life
LM – a landmark; a beacon marking a specific location in Second Life, and the teleport shortcut that takes you there
metaverse – a virtual environment where humans, as avatars, interact with each other in a 3D space (a term coined by Neal Stephenson in his 1992 novel Snow Crash)
newbie – a slang term for a newcomer to virtual worlds, or to the internet itself
phased plasma gun – a fictional weapon from the television series Babylon 5
prim – a virtual solid object of any shape, used as a building block in Second Life (an abbreviation of the word ‘primitive’, which is part of the lexicon used in geometry)
rez – to bring an object into 3D space within Second Life (commonly attributed to the movie Tron)
sim – a region in Second Life (an abbreviation of the word ’simulator’)
virtual world – a computer-based simulated environment based on the real world