The Importance of Terminology in Cross Gaming
by Mark Daniel Martinez

I’d like to let you in on a little know secret of helping keep multiple gaming rules and rulings separate in your mind. This little technique, although quite simplistic, is useful and helps prevent you from making classic cross gaming mistakes like exhausting your Monsters while attacking, drawing two cards at the Draw Phase or resolving the wrong link of the chain first. That little secret is terminology.

I find most Yu-Gi-Oh! players began their gaming careers with this game. As such, they were introduced to a number of terms and expressions that were never official game terms, but something that casual gamers across the world used to signify events and abilities. As such, you likely entered into the game already making the classic cross gaming mistakes of mixed terminology, without even knowing more then one game yet.

But this subtle, seemingly insignificant difference has been cause for a handful of incidences where the rules of one game were overlaid onto the rules of another, creating small, yet significant gaming errors that ended up being taught as general practice amongst even the most serious players.

But as a cross gaming gamer, I have found that the lack of taking game terminology seriously, leads to a lot of misinformation about what things are and how they work. And I believe that this subtle confusion is not as innocuous as it may seem. Gamer terminology is a vital factor in understanding rulings and digesting complex game situations, complexity that is only exacerbated when original, obscure deck building is involved.

So as a little aid to myself, I’ve always forced myself to keep the terms from one game separate from another. Not only does this help keep from overlapping the mechanics of two different games, but it also makes me more effective when teaching others how to play. I once witnessed a former Yu-Gi-Oh! player teaching a new guy how to play VS. He told him that he needed so many resources to “recruit his monster”. He immediately corrected himself, “I mean, to summon your character.” Neither of these were technically correct, and I only had to help that guy later, since he had no idea what a monster or a summon was, so as to draw the correct conclusion from what he had been instructed. Later I heard someone misapplying the term “Activate”, a VERY specific mechanic in VS, when describing the way effects come into play. He used the very generic Yu-Gi-Oh! definition of the term, and this was another instance where I had to step in and help someone confused by the misapplication of the term.

If you’re a cross gamer, for the next few weeks, give it a conscientious try.  Refer to your Battle Steps in Yu-Gi-Oh! as they should be, and never call your discard pile your Graveyard, unless the game you’re playing actually calls it that. You’ll note the subtle differences very soon, and the fluidity of your own game will increase, and maybe even encourage you to take up another, finances willing. This may seem insignificant, but I feel it’s helped me greatly over the years as both a teacher of the game and a fan. Anything to make playing this game less confusing can only be beneficial to everyone.