5
\$\begingroup\$

I've found some acronyms (like BBEG@) despite being a long time gamer were new to me and have had to look up via google and suchlike to find out what they are.

Is it worth either

  • Adding acronyms to a section in the FAQ
  • Adding a markup method so acronyms can have a "hover to translate" popup
  • Having a standard offsite link to redirect to people for questions about them?

@ Big Bad Evil Guy

\$\endgroup\$
3
  • 2
    \$\begingroup\$ linking to the gnomestew RPG dictionary would be useful \$\endgroup\$
    – wax eagle
    Jul 6, 2012 at 11:44
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ We tried adding a RPG Glossary here on the site but people got all butthurt about it for reasons that were unclear to me and it was abandoned. meta.rpg.stackexchange.com/questions/935/… \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Jul 6, 2012 at 13:15
  • \$\begingroup\$ Fair enough; had a look through to see if anyone else had asked something so though a suggestion was in order :) \$\endgroup\$
    – Rob
    Jul 9, 2012 at 9:49

3 Answers 3

Reset to default
14
\$\begingroup\$

If something's confusing in an answer... you're not alone. Leave a comment.

We have comments not least because they can help people communicate aspects of answers that are problematic. If you see something you don't understand, especially in an otherwise good answer, leave a comment so that the person may improve it.

\$\endgroup\$
5
\$\begingroup\$

"Read a book!"

An acronym you don't know, just like a word you don't know, is an opportunity to look something up and learn something. Whether it's an abbreviation like "BBEG" or ten cent words like "fatuous and jejeune" (Gygax Himself used these words to describe me once and I had to look them up) or a turn of phrase like "ten cent word," it's not really a need of the site to self-define everything.

People are welcome to link or explain or whatever a term they think might be unusual, or ask in a comment (or better yet, chat) to get filled in on a term they don't understand, but there certainly should not be a site policy on it.

Someone said something new to you; you looked it up and learned something. That's working as intended (tm).

\$\endgroup\$
3
\$\begingroup\$

You have a good point, and this can be especially confusing when looking at a new game or genre.

I suggest our default policy be that an acronym should be written fully at least once in a post. For example:

When we ran into the Big Bad Evil Guy (BBEG) he refused to fight us. Ya da ya da ... the paladin attacked the BBEG ... the BBEG disintegrated the paladin ...

\$\endgroup\$
2
  • 1
    \$\begingroup\$ Have to disagree. "While playing Dungeons & Dragons (D&D), my 7 Hit Die (HD) Player Character (PC) had to make a Difficulty Class (DC) 14 Fortitude (Fort) save..." \$\endgroup\$
    – mxyzplk
    Jul 6, 2012 at 23:02
  • \$\begingroup\$ @mxyzplk That's a very valid point. \$\endgroup\$
    – C. Ross
    Jul 7, 2012 at 0:56

You must log in to answer this question.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged .