You might have heard a lot of gamers use the word “OP” and been wondering what it meant. If you’re not familiar with the language of gaming, OP is an archetypal term in gaming slang, along with other common words like GG, Noob and AFK.
Considering that this slang makes up a lot of the gaming conversations among the players, it’s important to know at least the most common ones so that you don’t find yourself Googling these terms in the heat of an intense battle.
Although the list of these slang terms is massive, OP is a very popular one that has even found its place in the mainstream language. So, without further ado, let’s get into discussing the definition of OP, it’s usage and some adjacent terms that you should know.
What Does OP Mean in Gaming?
The abbreviation OP is short for “Overpowered”, well, mostly. We say ‘mostly’ because it can have different meanings in different places. But in sports, anime and most video games like PUBG, LoL and WoW, the word OP is used for that purpose only.
As you might have guessed it, OP is used to describe characters or items that are too strong relative to the other elements of the game. Besides that, it can also refer to the player who manages to defeat others with ease. Sometimes players may use OP to appreciate the performance of someone (OP Gameplay) or an event (OP Kill) just to elevate the person or situation.
When to Use OP?
OP (or Overpowered) is used when a player, character or weapon is deemed to be indomitable, meaning that it has much fewer weaknesses, and often requires very specific techniques or strength to be defeated. As a result, they dominate the gameplay and win most of the time.
It becomes clear that anytime you encounter such items or characters in a game, it can be called being OP. Apart from that, you can also use OP whenever a player showcases an incredible performance such as single-handedly wiping out an entire enemy team.
Examples of OP Things in Games
Image: Simon Eckert
Some examples of OP characters in recent games would be Torbjörn (Overwatch), Kratos (God of War) and Starkiller (The Force Unleashed). Similarly for a weapon, the Gjallarhorn is a mighty overpowered rocket launcher in Destiny.
The AWM is an OP Sniper Rifle in the game PUBG, and no other sniper rifle can even come close to it. You don’t even have to spend time practicing your aim, as this rifle will OHKO (One-Hit Knockout) most of the players.
That’s not all! A lot of the games (usually offline) allow cheat codes to spawn certain items or vehicles that are way beyond the standard level of gameplay.
For example, entering the cheat code “tuck tuck tuck” in Age of Empires 3 summons The Tommynator monster truck that wreaks havoc on your opponents’ villages. It is an absolutely OP vehicle that can destroy your enemies within seconds.
How to Use OP with Other Gaming Acronyms?
If you’re an active gamer, you are bound to encounter the term every game you play. Sometimes in isolation, but often used with other gaming slang terms. Let’s take a look at a few instances of how OP can be used with other gaming slang.
Something being OP leaves the game in an imbalanced state and is often followed by the call for a “Nerf” or “Re-balance”. Here is another popular term – Nerf, which means reducing the power of the character/weapon in order to bring that to a similar level to other elements in the game.
You can even use OP like an adjective with any other feature to upraise its value, such as ‘OP gun’ when you think a particular gun is very dominant; ‘OP mod (modification)’ when a patch lets you do crazy things in the game; ‘OP ping’ when your internet connection is too smooth or too laggy, etc.
Some Common Misinterpretations of OP
It’s unsurprising that a simple slang term can have multiple meanings and comes with the possibility of misinterpretations. Not everyone is an avid gamer, in that case they might not be so sure about the meaning of the acronym.
- People might see OP as an acronym for “Outstanding Performance”. While this can be counted as a valid interpretation in some scenarios, gamers generally use other terms for those occasions (GG, Owned, etc.).
- The initialism OP can also be mistakenly identified to mean “Opposition”. The correct term for that is OPP or OPPS (or sometimes lowercase “op”).
- Similarly, the acronym OOP can also be confused with OP. The former is a completely different word and may mean things like “Out of Place” or “Object Oriented Programming”. OOP can also be a typo for Oops!
Other Meanings of OP
Apart from gaming, OP is an acronym for a couple different things which are also useful to remember.
The most common usage on the Internet is to refer to “Original Poster” (sometimes Original Post). This usage is popular in discussion boards or Internet forums like Reddit & 4chan.
Image: Dictionary.com
The OP (or Original Poster) is the person who starts the thread in that particular forum. When the other people have to address that person, they simply type “OP” instead of their username.
Besides that, OP can also mean “Operation” or “Operation Post” in Military realism games. In certain games, players sometimes use OP for “Original Pick”, referring to something being so dominant in a game that it’s always the first pick.