Terminology

Welcome to the  page, where you'll find commonly used terms, abbreviations, and acronyms used by both the players and developers of DayZ Standalone. 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 and  buttons repeatedly to lean left and right, to "wiggle" your body in order to show someone that you do not have hostile intent.

Infected
 * Although the hostile AI are commonly referred to as "zombies," DayZ's anti-characters are actually living humans infected with a virus -- not the undead. When referred to by their correct status, they are known as "the infected."

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.

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.

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.

Bandit
 * In the most literal sense, this is a player who prefers to take other players hostage and steal their gear rather than kill them and potentially ruin that gear. Sometimes also applied to a player who hunts down and kills other players for fun.

Hero
 * The opposite of Bandit. Heroes tend to help players and avoid KoS, unless provoked. Heroes often go out of their way to hunt bandits and will also hunt spawn campers.

Friendly
 * A player who has no hostile intentions towards others and will usually make an attempt to socialize with other players when encountered.

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 or roleplay purposes.

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.

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.

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.

Server Hopping
 * The act of switching from server to server to gather loot rather than scanning multiple places on the same server.

Loot Cycling
 * The Process of removing all the loot in a building or area: causing new loot to respawn.

Development
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.

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.

Locations

 * 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.
 * Novo - Novodmitrovsk
 * NWAF - Northwest Airfield (the International Airfield)
 * Stary - Part of the name of several towns, but used by itself typically refers to the town of Stary Sobor.
 * Svet - Svetlojarsk
 * 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"