Terminology

Welcome to the **Terminology** page, where you'll find commonly used terms, abbreviations, and acronyms used by both the players and developers of *DayZ*. Some of what you'll find below are carryovers from the DayZ Mod, but the Standalone has produced plenty of slang all its own.

## General

**Aggro**

* A term borrowed from RPGs. This is meant to indicate when AI creatures such as infected or animals have entered a state of *aggressiveness* wherein they will chase and attack a player.

**Friendly Dance**

* A "friendly dance" involves using the `Q` and `E` buttons repeatedly to lean left and right, to "wiggle" your body in order to show someone that you do not have hostile intent. Often used by hostile players as a method of feigning friendliness.

**Infected**

* Describes the humanoid hostile enemies previously making up the citizens and military of the locations they can be found on Chernarus and Livonia, which are the staple of the game. Found wandering in towns and other settlements, they will attack players when provoked or upon noticing their presence. Also known as "Zombies".

**KoS '(kay-ohh-ess)'**

* Shorthand for "kill on sight". It is the act of killing other players immediately without attempting to learn their intentions.

**Loot**

* Loot is any weapons, food, ammo, or other gear discovered -- as opposed to things you craft or grow. Can also describe items carried by players, specifically when desired to be taken through robbery or combat by the player using the term.

**SA**

* Shorthand for "Standalone", as in DayZ Standalone, as opposed to the Mod version of DayZ from 2012. Since final release the game is generally now simply referred to as 'DayZ'.

**Mod**

* The original version of DayZ, built from *ArmA II Operation Arrowhead*.

## Players & Play Styles

**Bambi**

* Usually refers to a player character which has only just been spawned on the coast. They have little gear or supplies and often have no idea where they are. This term is sometimes, but rarely, applied to new players of the game in a more general sense rather than a new character within the game. Interchangeable with "Fresh Spawn" in most cases.

**Bandit**

* A hostile player that intends to kill or rob other players for their weapons and items. Originated from the skin applied in the DayZ mod when a player had reached a negative enough karma level through murdering other players and performing hostile actions. Antithesis of "Hero".

**Hero**

* Players that go out of their way to help other players, generally by giving new players food and gear. Originated from the skin applied in the DayZ mod when a player had reached a positive enough karma level through giving other survivors transfusions and other "friendly" actions. Antithesis of "Bandit".

**Friendly**

* A player who has no hostile intentions towards others and will usually make an attempt to socialize with other players when encountered. Single word statement often declared by both friendly and hostile players upon meeting another player.

**Lone Wolf/Solo**

* Players who typically roam Chernarus or Livonia by themselves, rather than as part of a group. Though for some people this might be because they are unable to find a group, a true "lone wolf" plays by themselves intentionally. This may be in order to maintain a high degree of stealth, for immersion, distrust of others, challenge, or roleplay purposes.

**Sniper**

* A type of player who makes very common use of high accuracy sniper rifles such as the M70 Tundra, VSS, or the LAR to name a few, they are most likely to be found hidden and locked away in tall buildings such as tenements, Radio Towers, or other rooftops, often a type of bandit, getting shot at by a sniper is a very dangerous situation, often a player will only hear the sound of the bullets whizzing.

## Servers

**Hardcore**

* A type of server wherein you are unable to use 3rd Person view. This term is no longer officially used and instead servers are referred to as "1st Person" or "1st/3rd Person", but this term is still sometimes used by players.

**Hive**

* Two or more servers which allow the player to use the same character across any of them. The "Main Hive" also describes official servers, although this term has fallen out of use.

**Low Pop / High Pop**

* Population refers to the number of people in a server. Generally speaking "low pop." servers are near-empty and "high pop." servers are full or near-full.

## Cheating & Exploits

**Hacker**

* A player who exploits vulnerabilities within the game or uses client modifications, usually to get an advantage over other players. Generally not applied to people taking advantage of game glitches.

**Combat Logging**

* When a player, in the midst of combat, logs out in order to avoid being killed and lose all their gear. Players now remain on the server for a short amount of time after logging off or closing the game executable to help negate this.

**Ghosting**

* The act of spotting another player and proceeding to switch to a different server which is on the same Hive to get a tactical advantage, rejoining the original server and killing them. Official servers will now extend the respawn timer and place survivors in a random location when attempting to switch servers to combat this.

**Loot Cycling**

* The Process of removing all the loot in a building or area: causing new loot to respawn. The game now has measures in place to reduce/prevent this method of finding loot easily.

**Server Hopping**

* The act of switching from server to server to gather loot rather than scanning multiple places on the same server. Official servers will now extend the respawn timer and place survivors in a random location when attempting to switch servers to combat this.

**Stream Sniping**

* The act of watching a player livestreaming the game to gain "meta" information on their whereabouts and plans, to either appear on the stream or kill the streamer's character. This is generally banned by major streaming services and is highly looked down upon by the community.

## Development

**Build**

* Refers to an absolute specific version of DayZ, more specific than its basic *Version*. Specifically references the six-digit number found at the end of the game's version number: 0.61.**138340**. Each version can have dozens of builds released to the public, so this number is used to differentiate between them for reporting/feedback purposes.

**CLE**

* Short for "Central Loot Economy". This is the part of the game engine that determines what, where, and how many of an item will spawn across the map.

**Version**

* Refers to each major update of DayZ, i.e. **1.02**. Used to broadly discuss the game's state in a given period of time.

## Locations

* **Chernarus** - Used by a majority of players to refer to South Zagoria/the ChernarusPlus terrain
* **Livonia** - Used by a majority of players to refer to the Topolin-Nadbór Region/Enoch terrain
* **Cherno** - Chernogorsk
* **Elektro** - Elektrozavodsk
* **Kamy** - Kamyshovo, or sometimes jokingly *Kambiwobo* (kam-bee-woh-boh) after a common misreading of the town's Cyrillic written name by English-speaking players.
* **Krasno** - Krasnostav
* **Nov**o**** - Novodmitrovsk
* **Nov**y**** - Novy Sobor
* **Prison Island** - Storozh
* **NWAF** - Northwest Airfield (Vybor Air Base)
* **Stary** - Part of the name of several towns, but used by itself typically refers to the town of Stary Sobor.
* **Svet** - Svetloyarsk
* **Tisy** - The name of a town in the northwest, but used by itself typically refers to the nearby military base.
* **VMC** - "Veresnik Military Complex" or "Vybor Military Complex"

## Building Callouts

*Below is a list of common in game callouts for specific buildings*

* Big Green House - "Green Mansion", "Double Green", "Two Story Green"
* Big Red House - "Red Mansion", "Double Red", "Two Story Red"
* Beige Inn - "Fortress House"
* Elevated Red House - "Split Level Red", "Stilted Red"
* Elevated Green House - "Split Level Green", "Stilted Green"
* Green-Orange House - "Rasta House", "Jamaican House", "Can of Peaches"
* Peach House - "Pink Roof House"
* Brown Two-Tone House - "Attic House"
* Tall Green House - "Green Mustache", "Skinny Green House"
* Yellow Barn House - "Barn House", "Scope House"
* Small Red-Green House - "Watermelon House"
* Small Green House - "Christmas House"
* Large Yellow House - "Granny House", "Food House"
* Large Cabin House - "Log Cabin", "Dark House"
* Small Brown House - "Gun House"
* Large Red Barn - "Red Tin"
* Construction Site - "Layer Cake"

## See Also

* *DayZ*
* Development
* Developers
* Servers
* Community Portal