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Spam (gaming)


Spamming, in the context of video games, refers to the repeated use of the same item or action. For example, "grenade spamming" is the act of a player throwing a large number of grenades in succession into an area. In fighting games, one form of spamming would be to execute the same offensive maneuver so many times in succession that one's opponent does not receive a chance to escape the series of blows.

Chat spamming is the repetition of a word or line typed out by a player using a game's chat system. Most games have some form of text messaging built for in-game communication, there is little to stop a frustrated player from flooding a server with text in the same way a user can flood a chat room. Some servers enforce rules regarding spamming, possibly resulting in players being kicked or banned. Some games allow text to be turned off or mute the player after a limited number of messages at the same time, hence nullifying this form of spamming. People usually "Copy and Paste" or use spambots. Games that utilise Quake's chat color support can provide potential positive usage such as attracting brief attention to short-spammed preset messages which can be colour coded based on the context they are to be used, allowing the team communicate and receive better situational awareness to critical situations.

Grenade spamming or 'nade spamming involves throwing multiple grenades into an area. Grenade spamming can have two distinct subgenres. The first occurs when a single player will repeatedly acquire grenades (usually with the assistance of hotkeys) and throw them without moving. The second version involves a player or group of players all throwing large numbers of grenades into an area. Grenade spamming has the effect of real-life artillery barrages, suppressing an area of the map and killing any characters caught within the spammed zone. When multiple players spam the same area, it is near-impossible for the opposing players to avoid having their avatars wounded or killed, and this effectively denies that area to enemies.

In objective-based, or flag capture games like Counter-Strike, Team Fortress, Wolfenstein: Enemy Territory or Battlefield 4, Battlefield 3, grenade spamming is also used to keep the enemy from passing through a needed passage, or to spam the objective itself while allies perform a flank attack on the pinned opponents. This presents some problems in team-based attack-and-defense maps, where the defending team may have a (deliberately designed) strong defensive position from which to spam. In Starsiege: Tribes, a group of dedicated mortar spammers can confine an entire team within an enclosed area (such as their own base) indefinitely. Usually, victimized players will simply quit the server when this happens. Spamming grenades in Tremulous often has significant consequences such as obliterating the player's own base if friendly fire is allowed, and if done repetitively the user may get banned.


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