Learn the language of our Microsoft Ants community! Or reminiscence the time we all spoke in the Ants & Uncles lobby!

1v1 : 1 on 1 player game. Often players will challenge other players in a 1-on-1 trez (Treasure map) map game. You would often hear 1v1 in the lobby, especially when there's beef or a heated argument they would settle their differences in a 1v1 game.

2v2 : 2 on 2 team game.

6-0ed : It means SKUNKED or complete and utter domination of a 1v1 match where your opponent loses all 6 of their starting ants and you have all of your starting ants after a big rumble (5-0ed means your opponent loses all their 6 starting ants and you lose just 1 of your starting ants. 4-0ed means your opponents loses 6 and you lose 2, and so on and so on). Players often brag in live chat, "YOU GOT 6-0ed, buddy!"

Ants : It means Microsoft Ants!

Ants & Uncles : A popular Zone.com Ants Lobby.

Anters : A community of Microsoft Ants players.

AFK : Away From Keyboard or Away From Computer.

Ally : Ally is to team up. Teams are typically designated prior to match, however, occasionally and unconventionally  teams can 

ARC : Attack. Retrieve. Capture (ARC). ARC was a popular alternative game among the Ants community. Whenever Anters got bored playing Ants they would hop in Sierra ARC servers to play this 2D game. It was common for many Anters to play both ARC and Ants. 

Aussie(s) : To US domestic users it means severely bad laggers. Look at all TL clan members.

Auto-Guide : Bomb Ant who places bombs in certain spot so their ants can automatically guide on their own without the user mannually guiding them.

Auto-Comb : Auto-Comb or Auto-Hit is when a Combat Ant attacks enemy ants without a command.

AW : AntsWar was a weekly/monthly Ants tournament ran by JC and a few MemberPlus. JC started AW on January 1st, 2001.

Bombz Away : A popular new map. I remember each player had just 1 single ant (which was a bomber) and had to bomb into the center of a maze to get the food. I might have this map confused with HellRaiser. Someone please confirm!

Boot : When gaming host kicks player in a gaming room.

Bounce : Bounce is reference to Ants rumble near the water. You can get a lucky bounce that saves your ants from drowning or your ants can catch a unlucky bounce from a rumble.

Bug : An error in game's code or design. Very rare, but at times you will see a regular Ant steal points from their opponent's hill, Combat Ant hitting its' own ants, an Ant being invisible, and other technical issues.

Comb : Ambigious meaning of Combat ant or Combat powerup.

Candy : Referred to as food on the map that was worth 30 points. 

Clanhopper : A clanhopper is an individual frequently switching clans.

Clans : A group of players under a tag. Clan Wars was a popular Zone Ants gaming lobby for clans.

CTRL + A : A hotkey command for newbies.

CTRL + H : A hotkey command to hatch.

CTRL + L : A hotkey command that allows you to see the HP of each individual ants (your ants and your teammates/opponents' ants).

CTRL + N : A hotkey command that selects one particular ant.

CTRL + O : A hotkey command to go to Game Options.

CTRL + S :  A secret hotkey command only for Experts.

CTRL + Q : A hotkey command for Quitters.

DC : DC or dced means disconnected meaning in the game or lobby.

Downloaders : Ants player that would download intentionally during the game. This was a finese for certain players trying to find an edge in the game.

Dud : When a bomber or ants fails to fling themselves, instead of flinging outward or inward, they explode upwards.

Experts : Pretty self-explainatory. Players who are experienced level.  Typically Experts will host a game room "Experts Only" or just "Experts" to get most out of their gaming. Oftentimes Experts would boot smurfs, posers and newbs. Strictly only playing with other known experts.

F9 : Now you are in for it!

F10 : Let me be!

F11 : Attack!

F12 : Do you want to ally?

FFA : Shorten for the Free-For-All. Typical map most players play in a FFA match was Medium (also known as Med 187).

Frapped : When Anters record video of owning their opponent. Fraps is also a recording application.

Freezers : Anters in a game who would freeze and likely dropout of the game. However, there were certain Anters who would manipulate and take advantage of their freezes. While their opponents' ants are motionless they drown or kill them as fast as they possibly could before the freeze cease.

Flood : Flood is when a chatter spams the lobby. The perpetrator uses a flooder program.

Gag : When sysop (moderator) or zmasters disables zoners to chat in the lobby. Usually for flooding or typing racists/spiteful remarks.

Green : Green is referred to Anters wanting to host the map or wanting top position of the map (Normally on a 1v1 Trez map).

Guide : A skill players would manually guide their ants individually to accumulate points faster.

Hat : Hat was refer to as fire powerup.

Hatch : When players use or lose their points for a new ant.

Heal : Heal or healing means Ants recouping their health by entering their anthill.

Hexed-map User : I know little to nothing about hexed map user. It's a type of hack, I don't think it's the same as speeding. I believe the player AnTMaN was accused of using hexed-map (allegedly). If someone like to inform me of this hack please reach out to me.

Hill : Hill is reference to anthill or base.

Hitbacks : When an ant loses control and momentum of a single 1 on 1 ant fight, typically when an ant has full control of a 1 on 1 ant battle it would oftentimes beat it down to no HP, however when the opposing ant is able to counter back, resulting both ants to flyback or get retaliated that is what is called a hitback. It's very rare for players to get hitback, most players give up on a single ant in a straightaway attack, but it's not entirely impossible to hitback and I'm not talking about angle hitbacks. You can actually counter a hitback when your ant is under attack by persistently left clicking your mouse!

Hole : Hole means anthole where only the opponent's thieves can steal points (50 points). Players will protect their hole with fire and /or bombs.

Host : A game room host who has the ability to launch the Microsoft Ants game. The host has the capability of launching the game and choosing the map. Also has the capability to drop players (and kick players out of the room) before the game is launch.

HP : Health points or Hit points of Ants.

HWG : HWG was shorten for Here We Go! Game room host often says hwg prior to launching Microsoft Ants to boot up the game.

Idle : Idle or Idling means to leave your computer running. The purpose of idling is to support the game and the community by idling the Ants lobby. Many Anters were idling the Ants Lobby due to lack of players.

Ignored : There would be a lot of back and forth arguments on just about everything (mostly on matches), but when one is done arguing they just say ignored.

Indeed : A stupid word that Ravage and all of IA clan members would say when they agree.

Iced-map User : Another type of hacking.  Once again I know little to nothing of this hack, but this type of cheating was very uncommon.

IGL : A ladder ranking system that Anters use for either tournaments or tracking records. Case 's Ladder was the often use platform Anters.

Islands : Expert map.

Isles : Expert map Islands.

Kthnx : An insincere remark. TA would often end a argument with this remark. Typically stubborn Anters not wanting to engage further argument.

Lag : When an Anter has a delayed action to the game. Lag can be cause by variety of reasons, such as slow Internet connection, hosting servers, and hardware issues.

Lobby : Ants gaming rooms or hosting servers. Lobby is designed for Anters to meet, communicate, and organize games.

Landhump : A skill Anter that is capable of manipulating their ant movement on land.

Latt : Short for the word Latency. Players with high latency were heavily discriminated in games due to likelihood of disconnecting/dropping out of games.

Launch : Game host booting the Microsoft Ants game.

Med 187 : A free-for-all game on the map Medium. The objective is to fight until no more ants were hatched.

Member Plus : A member plus is a volunteer on the MSN Gaming Zone, their role is to help in various ways to make the zone fun for all the zoners. The tasks they cover include staffing the Member Plus Help Room and Technical Help Room, Running Tournaments, and helping with activities and game-related questions in game lobbies.

Mudhump : A skill Anter that is capable of manipulating their ant to move faster on mud.

MS : MS is a ambigious word in the Ants community. MS is short for Microsoft, but it also means latency.

Newb:  Shorten for the word newbie, in other words new to the game or not experienced.

Noob : This word also means newbie, in other words new to the game or not experienced.

Owned :  When a player has another player's number, in other words dominating the other player matchups.

Ocean : Ocean was the only new map Zone created in addition to the 6 original maps (Treasure, Islands, Gaunlet, Tiny, Medium and Small). I was not a fan of this New Map, at least for me. I remember I hated this new map. Forgettable one for me.

Pard : Pard was shorten terminology for partner. You would need a pard in order to play a 2 on 2 game.

PHEN : Ambigious word in the Ants community. PHEN either meant the player PhEnoMeNaL (AKA Ownder) or the clan PHEN.

Popcorn : A popular New Map for Ants. I played this map a few times, but I honestly just cannot remember much about it. I believe this was a side vs side match. 

Popup : A annoying ad that tabs you out of the Ants game. Many use this as an excuse after losing a game, ultimately blaming on popups for interuptting their rhythm and losing critical points in the game.

Poser : A user that pretends and deceives others of being a particular Ants player, typically a well known expert. In the Ants community there will be often users deceiving to be aMiNo, AnTMaN and other skilled well known players.

Port Forward : A connection issue players had in the late 2000s and early 2010s. Players had to port forward their routers in order for them to play other players.

Powerup : Powerup is something that gives ants special abilities.

Prolly : This word is a slang word for probably. Or.. maybe it just means maybe.

Pull : Pull is a lagg, notably when an ant pulls back an opponent's ant to initial location. Pulls are part of the game and it is no more than a millisecond pull, however, when competiting against opponents with high latency pulls are egregious. I've seen ant(s) escaped in a rumble and get pulled back to initial spot 10 seconds later.

Quiters : Players that give up.

Red : Red is referred to Anters wanting bottom position of the map (normally in 1v1 Trez map game).

Rdy : Rdy is short for the word ready. It is an acknowledgement prior to launching the game.  It is also a cultural courtesy for host to ask the other players if they are "rdy" to go.

Rumble : Rumble means a fight.

Rush : Rapidly attacking opponents, giving opponents no opportunities to build defense and eat.

Sad : aMiNo's expression whenever someone opposes his opinions.

Smurf : Ants player that hides their original username identity. The purpose of smurfing was to gain advantage of other experienced players; by not knowing who the smurfing players are, they can play loose and free without the added pressure of humilating defeat. They have essentially nothing to lose, even if they lose a 1v1 game because their original names won't tarnish their original zone name's reputation and they have all to gain from winning, experience, confidence, and a leg up above their competitors. Not always, but smurfing Anter would expose their original zone name identity after a 1v1 game.

Speeder : Ants player using speedhack.

Speedcheck : An application developed by Jason Cook to check if players were speeding in game. This speedcheck was often use during AW tournaments.

Splice : This was referred to Ants simutaneously splitting food equally. Players would often keep count on bites of candy because each bite was worth 30 points, which was the most points on a single bite in a trez map. Candy has 10 bites and players would surround their Ants around on the last bite of candy and splice it 2-way, 3-way, 4-way, or 5-way, ultimately making it multiple amount of points.

Spike's World : Spike's World (Also known as Spike's World Online Game Magazine) was original hosting game for Ants from 1996 to 1998.

SS : Shorten for the word screenshots. Players will use screenshot application like hypersnap at the end of the game to capture screenshot of the final scores. Players taking the screenshots use it to prove, remind, and brag about beating certain players. Screenshots were also use to report incidents to sysops and Zonemasters. It was especially use in tournaments, since member plus weren't able to monitor a 2v2 game.

Sysops : Zone.com moderators. Also known as Member+ Anyone you saw with + sign in front their usernames.

T vs B : This means Top vs Bottom in reference to designated teams corelated to the map.

TA : An ambigious word in the Ants Community. TA either meant the player TheAnswer or it meant the clan Total Annihilation.

Train : Train or training means to hone a Anter's skill, teaching them how to improve their strategy and their game.

Treasure : The most popular played map in Microsoft Ants.

Trez : Short for the popular map treasure. The most popular played map in Microsoft Ants.

Tryouts : Tryouts were refered when clan members were recruiting (or examining) potential new members to the clan. Players trying out for the clan would had to impress the current authorizing clan member through a run of test(s) or through a game.

Walls of Fire : A FireAnt that builds fire to surround an enemy Anthill.

Warp : Warp or warpers are describe as ants moving faster than it should.

w00t : Is an expression of jubilation. Players will say, "w00t, w00t" after a epic game victory.

ZM : Users of Zone.com utilize Zone Friends system to privately message each other. "ZM me" was often said in the Ants & Uncles lobby.

Zone Friends : Zone Friends or ZF was a zone name friends' list on zone.com. Users use their Zone Friends to zone message, also known as personal message other zone members and Zone Friends. (Missed that ZM popping notifcation sound).

Zonemaster : Zmasters or Zonemasters were the administrators of the entire Zone.com website, not just Microsoft Ants, but also all the PC games in the site. Zonemasters were frequently reported on speeders, hackers and other incidents.

Zone Name : Zone name is an Anter's username on Zone.com

Zoners : Zone users.