< Fun with Acronyms

Fun with Acronyms/Video Games

  • EVE Online players will notice the ingame target painter is very useful. Meta versions of it are sometimes more expensive but give a little more boost. The meta versions have complicated names that can be turned into the following acronyms (PWN, PWNT, PWND, PWNED and PWNAGE)
    • Alliance and Corporation names tend to exhibit this as well, despite ticker names being limited to five characters. The Goonswarm alliance and corp used to be set up that viewing the full, long name of a ship would include "OH GOD BEES".
  • Total Annihilation has the Kinetic Bio Organic Technology.
  • L''eague O''f L''egends.
  • First Encounter Assault Recon.
    • Rooster Teeth Productions created a Machinima for the director's edition of F.E.A.R. called People Acting Normal In Crazy-ass Situations.
    • Also, a particular piece of NSFW fanart played with this and gave FEAR 2 the acronym S.C.A.R.Y, or She Can Actually Rape You, for the game's ending.
  • In Duke Nukem 3D, some of the mooks you face include LAPD cops that have been mutated into pigmen. If you take a look at the back of their uniforms, the acronym has been changed to LARD.
  • In the Grand Theft Auto games, there is an anti-technology society known as Citizens United Negating Technology For Life And People's Safety -- don't figure that one out if you're easily offended.
    • Not to mention GTA III's Citizens Raging Against Phones.
      • San Andreas example: Ban Immigration Greencards Outright Today!
        • San Andreas also has Community Resources Against Street Hoodlums, which was an actual unit of the LAPD. [1]
      • In Grand Theft Auto IV, the army no longer shows up at higher wanted levels. Instead, Niko is pursued by heavily armed agents of the National Office Of Security Enforcement, the Grand Theft Autoverse's version of Homeland Security.
        • The Federal Investigation Bureau.
      • In Vice City Stories, there's an anti-drug program called Consider Our Kids Everyday.
  • The revolutionary group AVALANCHE from Final Fantasy VII doesn't stand for anything. Nor does the elite private army unit, SOLDIER. This is due to the fact that those terms, in the original Japanese version, were written and pronounced in English, and in Japanese, English words are written in all caps. So, they were never meant to be acronyms at all. Why yes, Sony does have a reputation for putting out Blind Idiot Translations around this time, why do you ask?
  • And while we're at the videogames, many fans have tried to figure out what the 'SeeD' elite mercenaries stands for in Final Fantasy VIII. It sets up the entire theme of them being trained at 'Gardens', and it's ALWAYS spelled with a capital S and D - but we never find out what, if any, significance there is in this.
    • The ending implies that "SeeD" and "Garden" have no meaning, and the terms came about as the result of a Stable Time Loop. This doesn't account for why the Kramers capitalize just the S and the D, though, as they only heard it spoken.
  • Drug Runners And Takers in the old NES game Wrath of the Black Manta
  • Special Tactics And Rescue Service in the original Resident Evil, a surprisingly sensible name.
    • Umbrella Chronicles has the Tyrant Armored Lethal Organic System, named after a giant from Greek mythology.
  • Shantae: Half-Genie Hero; Risky's new battleship is a "Part Omni-Organic, Part Titanic, Ocean-Optimal Tinkerslug. She gets upset when Shantae calls it a "P.O.O.P.T.O.O.T.".
  • Portal has GLaDOS, a Genetic Lifeform and Disk Operating System
    • The Aperture Science Computer Aided Enrichment Center, or CAEC. Cake, anyone?
  • City of Heroes:
    • Before Issue 21 revamped the starting levels, new heroes used to report to one of five divisions of the Federal Bureau for Super-powered Affairs, depending on their origin:
      • Tech: Department of Advanced Technology Application
      • Mutation: Genetic Investigation and Facilitation Team
      • Science: Scientific Experimentation Research and Application to Paranormal Humans
      • Natural: Enhanced Logistics for Insight and Tactical Excellence
      • Magic: Modern Arcane Guild of Investigation
    • The police force of the Rogue Isles in City of Villains is, sensibly enough, the Rogue Island Police.
    • The trial where you finally defeat Praetor Tilman, who calls herself "Mother" (enemies call her "Mother Mayhem"), is the Minds of Mayhem trial. (This also means the Master of... badge for that trial is comically abbreviated "MoMoM.")
  • The plot of Trauma Center revolved around a group of man-made parasites known collectively as GUILT, which stands for Gangliated Utrophin Immuno Latency Toxin. Particularly hilarious, because every form of GUILT is a giant parasite of one form or another.
  • In Snatcher, the task force assigned to hunt down and destroy the titular robots is known as JUNKER: Judgement Uninfected Naked Kind & Execute Ranger - in the Japanese version. If you prefer something with less Engrish, there's Japanese Undercover Neuro Kinetic Elimination Ranger.
  • Night Trap casts the weary player as a hacker assistant to Dana Plato in employ of the special forces unit, the Sega Control Attack Team. Sega was never above these puns, or using their names in their games.
    • In versions made for non-Sega systems however, it was changed to Special Control Attack Team.
  • The Sonic the Hedgehog games had the military organization Guardian Units of Nations. The actual meaning of the acronym was never stated in-game until Shadow the Hedgehog, but could be gleaned from some obscure sources around the time of Sonic Adventure 2's release.
    • G.U.N., and S.H.I.E.L.D. from X-Men, are possible U.N.I.T. shout-outs.
    • In the comic series of Sonic X there's an anti-Sonic group hanging about by the name of the Society for Observing and Neutralizing Interdimensional Creatures and Xenomorphs. S.O.N.I.C.X. The blue blur himself finds this rather hilarious.
    • It might be a Punny Name considering GUN is the spelling of the Japanese word for military.
  • In Team Fortress 2, the competing intelligence agencies are known by the names of their front companies - Reliable Excavation Demolition and Builders' League United.
    • There's also the Heavy's two unlockable melee weapons: from the Heavy update came the Killing Gloves of Boxing. The beta also had the Gloves of Running Urgently, which were recently re-added to the game.
  • In the Wild ARMs series, the acronym ARM or ARMS stands for something different in each game. In Wild Arms, it's Ancient Relic Machine, in 2nd Ignition, it's Agile Remote Mission Squad, in Advance 3rd, it's Artifacts of Ruins' Memories, and in The 4th Detonator, it's Ambient Reorganization Material.
  • In the fan-made RPG Barkley, Shut Up and Jam: Gaiden, the main antagonist of the game is the leader of the terrorist organization BLOODMOSES. What does BLOODMOSES stand for? Nobody knows, nor does anybody seem to care, as it's never revealed in the game. However, since this game was only the first chapter in the Hoopz Barkley SaGa, it may be revealed in a future chapter.
  • The robot that came with NES systems was called the Robotic Operating Buddy in the US.
    • And the Family Computer Robot in Japan. Make of that what you will.
  • The antagonists in Evil Genius are 5 international alliances; named P.A.T.R.I.O.T. (consisting of "Allied" nations such as North America and Japan), S.A.B.R.E. (Europe and British Colonies, like India), H.A.M.M.E.R. (Russia and Cuba), A.N.V.I.L. (China and... more China), and S.M.A.S.H. (Africa and South America). The player is never told what those stand for.
    • According to an advertisement, ANVIL stands for Asiatic Notorious Villain Incapacitation League.
  • The Legend of Zelda: Twilight Princess has a really hackneyed example with a bizarre minigame known as "The S.T.A.R. Game", whose acronym is basically the game's rules and goal: So all you must endeavor is to Track down all the glowing orbs And collect them all before time Runs out!
  • Command & Conquer gives acronyms to the Mission Control systems, including the Electronic Video Agent, the Computer Assisted, Biologically Augmented Lifeform, and the Logarithmically Engineered Governing Intelligence Of Nod.
    • You forgot the very hero faction of the entire series, the Global Defense Initiative (or, if you want to get technical, the United Nations Global Defense Initiative, but "UNGDI" is a bit more tedious than just "GDI"). No "fun" in it, however.
  • Mass Effect, in a rather bizarre example, has the Spectres. Despite the fact that Spectre is never capitalized, the fact that the official name for the branch they belong to is the Office of Special Tactics and Reconaissance suggests that it was, in fact, intended to be an acronym. This is even sillier when you realize the position was originally created by aliens.
    • Not necessarily. If we assume both are actually translated from alienese, then the english acronym would have been made up by the translators to match the full name. Now, the silly part (in-universe) would be why the acronym isn't simply Special Tactics And Reconnaissance, but in real life we can all guess why the writers passed on STARs.
    • Also, General Area Defense Integration Anti-spacecraft Network is the name given to the point-defence laser arrays on starships.
    • The Illusive Man: there are some who call him...TIM. This is probably unintentional, but still amusing.
  • Used in Phoenix Wright: Ace Attorney - Trials & Tribulations. When one character is presented with evidence, she will classify it as "SuPer Admin Restricted Desktop Access" and ask for a password, leading to this well-known exchange: "A password? This is madness!" "No, Maya, this is SPARDA."
  • In No One Lives Forever, the villanous organization is known as HARM. A running gag of the series is that files and characters often refer to what it stands for without ever revealing it to the player.
    • Intelligence items that can be collected by the player humorously detail the exchange between the crime organization and the Hair Alternative Replacement Membership club in a dispute over the H.A.R.M. "trademark".
    • HARM ends many of its communiques to its agents with the phrase "Remember what HARM stands for!"
    • The good guys' organization is called UNITY. No full name given.
  • Following on from the example above, Phantom Brave uses Human Activists for Rare Monsters. Guess what the leader's misguided policies actually do...
  • In Sam & Max: Reality 2.0, the Freelance Police meet the C.O.P.S., or Computer Obsolescence Prevention Society, a support group for outdated computers.
    • The series' title can also be shortened to S&M.
    • Also there's THEM, the Temporal Headquarters of Enlightened Mariachis.
  • There's a popular Nethack Game Mod called Super Lots of Added Stuff Hack 'Extended Magic.
  • The Kingdom of Loathing has the Hippy Army's F.R.O.G. division, which stands for Fairly Rotten Oral hyGene.
    • There's also the Irritating Series of Random Encounters and the Familiar Underground Community of the Kingdom.
    • and the Comrades of Animals Really Need to Infiltrate Villainous Organizations and Rescue Everyone Button
  • Persona 3 has the Special Extracurricular Execution Squad, which fits in with the game's themes very well.
  • Too Human has the Non-Organic Rational Nanosystems, the sentient programs that sift through the data of Cyberspace, for the Organically Distributed Intelligence Network and his Aesir.
  • Examples in the Metal Gear series.
    • The Nuclear Emergency Search Team that Nastasha works for in Metal Gear Solid is an actual organization in real-life.
    • FOX, the organization Naked Snake works for in Metal Gear Solid 3: Snake Eater, stands for Force Operation X.
    • Metal Gear Solid 4: Guns of the Patriots has Snake and Drebin being pursued by a variant of the Stryker called the Mobile Gun System. Also, there's the Sons Of the Patriots system.
    • SOP is also a subversion; the military and private contractors who use the system would think it means "Standard Operating Procedure," which is what the acronym means in actual military parlance. The system is designed to provide a whole new level of assurance that soldiers will never deviate from standard procedure, after all.
  • Many Guild Wars fans have noted that the title of the Expansion Pack, Guild Wars: Eye of the North could be reasonably abbreviated as "GW:EN;" perhaps not coincidentally, the question of what happened to Gwen after the Searing is resolved in the expansion.
    • In said expansion, the Asura use constructs called Genius Operated Living Enchanted Manifestations.
  • Mega Man ZX and its sequel, Mega Man ZX Advent had the ROCK (Rebirth Of Crystalized Knowledge) and MEGA (Meta Encapsulated Granulated Awareness) systems for its transforming system in the Japanese and English releases respectively.
  • In Japan, the Mega Man Legends series is called Rockman DASH: Digouter's Adventure Story in Halcyon Days.
    • Wouldn't that make it Rockman DASHD?
  • Unreal Tournament III attempts to justify the presence of Capture the Flag in its single-player campaign by changing them into Field Lattice Generators. Lampshaded by the player character, upon hearing this:

It looks like a flag, it waves like a flag, it's a flag.

    • Also the GES Bio Rifle Green Exploding Shit and the ASMD Shock Rifle And Suck My Dick.
  • In Beatmania IIDX 11 RED, RED stands for "Revolutionary Energetic Diversification version". Conveniently enough, the color scheme for IIDX 11 was predominantly--you guessed it--red.
  • S.T.A.L.K.E.R: Shadow of Chernobyl stands for Scavenger, Trespasser, Adventurer, Loner, Killer,Explorer, Robber
  • Warhammer Online: Age of Reckoning is one in itself.
  • Warzone 2100 loves these, though they're mostly based off real-world munitions.
  • The Japanese abbreviation for arcade game is "AC." Several games have subtitles that, when written in acronym form, spell "AC":
    • Melty Blood: Act Cadenza
    • Guilty Gear: Accent Core
    • Altairlion from Alpha 3 has GRaMXs (Gravity-control Rapid acceleration Mobility break Cross(X) shoot).
    • Finally, new line of mech in OVA is GESTALT for Global Expanded Stamp out Tactics works ALTogether.
  • Two scrolls in My Sims Kingdom, one of which is called "S.C.R.O.L.L.", give you the power to create items such as a D.O.O.R., a C.L.O.C.K., and S.I.D.I.N.G.. There are even three lengths of (decorative, as far at I can tell) piping, which are called, from smallest to largest, p.i.p.e., P.i.p.e., and P.I.P.E.. These scrolls are associated with a robot named T.O.B.O.R., who mixes this with Sdrawkcab Name. None of the acronyms are expanded.
    • Actually, in My Sims Agents, it is revealed in the course of a dispatch mission that T.O.B.O.R. was originally built to be a fruit juicing supervisor, and the acronym of his name stands for Tangerine Orange Banana Orange Revisor. Still no idea about those others, though.
      • "Tobor" may also be a Shout-Out to a villain from the old TV show Captain Video by the same name.
  • In EarthBound, there is a billboard in Threed warning children not to spend all their time playing video games. It was erected by the supporters of the Parents Opposing Obsession Plan.
  • In Star Control, the cowardly Spathi ships fired B.U.T.T. (Backward Utilised Tracking Torpedo) missiles out of their rear.
  • Starship Titanic provides us with P.E.T and S.M.E.F.
  • Outpost 2 has the Disater Instant Responce Team and Garbge and Ore Recycling Facility. The DIRT was present in the first game as well, along with another version of the GORF called a SPEW and an atmosphere regulator called a CHAP.
    • Sewage Processing and Environmental Waste and Closed Habitat Atmospheric Production. Outpost 2 hid several of these in the fluff as well, including the controller for the guard posts, the Targeting And Fire Tasking computer (TAFT) or the Robot Assist Mechanic of the Garage (RAM). Also present was a Shout-Out to another Dynamix game hidden in the flavour for Eden's Meteor Defence system - it fires a High Energy Ray - Composite. In the Cyber Storm series of games, you play as the commander of a taskforce comprising several giant mecha, called Humaniform-Emulation Roboticized Combat units.
  • Thunder Force V has the Attack Drone CRAW (Constituted Ray Art Weapon-unit)
  • Ace Combat 3 has the COFFIN (COnnection For Flight INterface) system.
    • Another, more subtle example in Ace Combat 5 are the callsigns of your wingmen: Archer, Chopper, Edge, Swordsman.
  • Senko no Ronde's Booster of Over-Armed Shell System is the term used to describe what happens when a player's Rounder attaches to larger and bulkier weapons, thus emulating the appearance, mobility, and firepower of a danmaku shmup boss. The subtitle for the game's sequel, Dis-United Order, continues this tradtion.
  • The title of S.C.A.T., a Forgotten Worlds-style shoot-'em-up by Natsume for the NES, stands for Special Cybernetic Attack Team. (The European and Japanese versions used different titles.)
  • The "Acid" portion of Metal Gear Acid apparently stands for "Active Command Intelligence Duel.
  • The bad guys in the NES version of SNK beat-'em-up P.O.W. are named "GOON" (Government Of Offensive Network). In the Japanese version, they were called "GOD" (Government Of Darkness).
  • In Left 4 Dead 2 in the Dead Center campaign in The Streets, the CEDA, based off of FEMA, sent trucks with the words Disease Emergency Assessment Dispatch to the scene. Note that CEDA is trying to save everyone from a zombie apocalypse.
    • There's also CEDA itself, which stands for Civil Emergancy and Defense Agency. The misspelling was apparently intentional.
  • In Afterlife, you manage an Heaven and Hell for mortal Ethically Mature Biological Organisms, who upon death appear in your Afterlife as Stuff Of Unending Lifes for the powers that be. One of the types of SOULs in your afterlife may be a AAAAOPRASUMARALFist, who believes that there's always an Afterlife, one only goes to hell, is punished for every one of its major sins, and then gets reincarnated. It's basic AAAAOPRASUMARAL Fism: Absolutely Always An Afterlife, Only Pit Realms Await, Souls Undergo Multiple Afterlives Reincarnationm Always Loop Fate. And that is just a few in the game.
  • Descent II: The first level is named Ahayweh Gate. Which stands for "Abandon hope, all ye who enter here". There's also the Portable Equalizing Standard Transbot, and the Preliminary Integration Groundbot.
  • A quest in the browser game Billy vs. SNAKEMAN rewards you with the H.A.R.O.: the High-Explosive Anti-RNG Ordnance.
  • Shin Megami Tensei: Strange Journey has special suit call Demonica (DEMOuntable Next Intigrated Capability Armor)
  • In Suikoden V, the Secret Alliance for the Protection of Pretty Hunks In Real Endangerment exists to both protect and ogle the more attractive male members of your forces.
  • This happens far too much in eRepublik.
  • Fallout 3 loves these.
    • Of particular note is the acronym for the role playing system the Fallout series uses, S.P.E.C.I.A.L., developed after negotiations with Wizards of the Coast broke down to use their DND system.
  • Fallout: New Vegas, with the Fully Integrated Security Technetronic Officer, shortened by the Courier to Fisto the Sex Bot.
  • World of Warcraft has its share, including the Goblin Experimental Engineering Korporation and Gnomish Nutritional Effervescent Remarkably Delicious Sweets.
    • For April Fools Day, 2010, Blizzard announced an enhancement to their player statistics system called the Equipment Potency EquivalencE Number. Yes, it gets bigger as you get better gear.
    • Belbi's Eyesight Enhancing Romance Goggles (replace Belbi with Blix for the Horde version) is a reward for the annual Brewfest festival, which makes other NPC's more "attractive" when you put it on.
    • M.O.T.H.E.R. (Matron of Tenacity, Herald of Endless Research) is a Titanforged watcher designed to acquire and store knowledge, a living supercomputer.
  • Gears of War brings us the Coalition of Ordered Governments. This seems to be acknowledged in-universe, with the soldiers and even politicians calling members of the armed forces gears.
    • Likewise, all COG field personnel wear "COGtags", so this has not gone unnoticed by anyone in-universe.
  • The Grant City Anti Crime force in Dead to Rights.
  • Street Fighter IV has a weapon called Boiling Liquid Expanding Cell, which shorten is name called BLECE. Assuming the OVA is canon, it is what is sounds, a weapon that releases some kind of energy that causes parts of living cells to boil and explode.
  • Classic LucasArts adventure games run on the Script Creation Utility for Maniac Mansion or SCUMM for short.
    • SCUMM is also a host for embedded game engines such as iMUSE (standing for Interactive MUsic Streaming Engine), INSANE (standing for INteractive Streaming ANimation Engine) and others.
  • SCUMM was (briefly) succeeded by the Grim Fandango Engine, GrimE.
  • The Executable and Linkable Format, was originally designed along with Debugging With Attributed Record Formats.
    • Although that is more of a a backronym.
  • CAVE stands for Computer Art Visual Entertainment.
  • Red Alert 3 gives us Strong Homogenous Residual-Interactive Neutron Kinetic beam a weapon of Cryocopters.
  • In the MMORPG RuneScape, the group dedicated to the slaughter of monsters is Humans Against Monsters. They wear bright pink robes.
  • Wargasm is a 1998 RTS, the name of which besides being... unique, is apparently an acronym of War Ground Air Special Missions.
  • S.W.I.N.E., the name of a 2001 RTS (released as freeware in 2005), stands for Strategic Warfare In a Nifty Environment. Unsurprisingly, it involves pigs.
  • The original Pilotwings had an E.V.I.L. Syndicate which captures the player's flight instructors, leading to a rescue mission. Although we never do find out what E.V.I.L. stands for.
  • And who could forget the most powerful weapon in the first Ratchet and Clank, Rip Ya a New One.
  • In Activision's Atari 2600 game H.E.R.O., the player is part of the Helicopter Emergency Rescue Operations team and must rescue trapped underground miners with a one-man helipack.
  • In Dragon Quest IX, there's an "Herbalist" accolade presented by the Herbalist Institute for Potions, Poultrices, and Investments in Extracts.
  • In the Facebook game Mousehunt, one of the traps is called the Arcane Capturing Rod of Never Yielding Mystery.
  • KOS-MOS from Xenosaga: Kosmos Obey Strategic Multiple Operation Systems.
  • I'm not sure if this counts, but the Virus Invasion series is often abbreviated VI. When the sixth game came around, it was titled "Virus Invasion Legend" because "VI VI" would be just stupid.
  • Raskulls gives us the Super Nuclear Ultra Gem Grabbing Laser Extraction System.
  • One joke related to inferior ports is that "port" is an acronym for Piece Of Reprogrammed Trash.
  • In Hidden Agenda, an '80s-era computer game set in a Banana Republic, the Former Regime Personnel can either be prosecuted for their crimes or given a blanket amnesty. If given an amnesty, they will form a paramilitary group called LIMPIA, which launches death squad attacks on peasants, human rights activists, and labor leaders. "Limpia," as a conjugated verb, is Spanish for "cleanse" or "purge."
  • In Nine Hours, Nine Persons, Nine Doors there are two devices that function along with the numbered doors. The first one is a red device called the Recognition Device, or RED for short. It activates a bomb located inside the characters that will explode should you not deactivate it. Oh, and how can you deactivate it? Just find the Deactivation Device, or DEAD for short.
  • Free Space 2 has the Target Acquisition and Guidance Missile.
  • Super Mario Sunshine has Mario's water-spraying backpack FLUDD, or the Flash Liquid Ultra Dousing Device.
  • Solatorobo has CODA, which stands for Continent Orientation Defloat Alignment.
  • Pokémon Black and White introduces the alien Pokemon Elgyem (Little Green Men) and Beheeyem (Bug Eyed Monster).
  • Some of the Nancy Drew video games are known by three-letter nicknames, among them Shadow at the Water's Edge (SAW) and Trail of the Twister (TOT).
  • In Keith Courage in Alpha Zones, Keith fights for the Nations of International Citizens for Earth (N.I.C.E.) against the Beastly Alien Dudes (B.A.D.).
  • In a case of fun with what an acronym stands for instead of what it spells, checkpoints in Mighty Switch Force! are indicated by the U.T.D. -- which is a sensible-sounding initialism that you'd expect to stand for something like "Universal Tracking Device." Nope. It stands for "Ugly Twitching Dog."
  • In fault milestone one, SARA stands for Synapse Architecture Review and Assessment.
  1. ↑ Funnily enough, the San Andreas version is actually less corrupt than the real organization had ended up.
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