Hey friend! As fellow gamers, we’ve both likely had the misfortune of getting “ganked” – ambushed and defeated – while playing our favorite online games. But have you ever stopped to think about where that gamer slang term came from, and how it found its way into our vocabulary? Well, turns out “gank” has quite a fascinating history and evolution over the decades! Let’s take a walk through its etymological journey.
Born in the Streets, Raised in Hip-Hop
The earliest known use of “gank” can be traced back to 1987, when it appeared in the N.W.A. hip-hop track “Dopeman.” Here, it was used as a slang term meaning to rob or steal – often with connotations of gang or drug related crime. According to etymologists, “gank” was likely derived from the word “gang” and originated as an American street term in the 1980s.
Hip-hop artists and urban communities continued using “gank” through the late 80s and 90s to refer to ill-gotten gains and ripping people off. For example, it shows up in lyrics by Ice-T and the Geto Boys with the same robbery implications. According to Oxford dictionary editor Jonathan Dennis, early literary examples like these “reflect the violently acquisitive world of American street gangs” that spawned the term.
Transitioning to Sports and Gaming
By the early 1990s, there is evidence that “gank” had started to move beyond solely criminal contexts. We start seeing it used in sports coverage to refer to a player seizing the ball or advantage away from the opposing team. This usage maintained connotations of suddenly stealing something from someone else against their will.
It was only natural then for “gank” to find its way from the streets and sports fields into the burgeoning world of online gaming in the late 90s. Early internet forums show players using it to describe robbing monsters of loot or having experience points stolen by other players in text-based MUD games.
But it was the rise of massively multiplayer online games in the 2000s that really locked in “gank” as gamer parlance.
Entrenching in MMORPGs and MOBAs
As MMORPGs like EverQuest, Ultima Online and eventually World of Warcraft took off, “gank” became firmly entrenched gamer slang. It referred specifically to high-level players ambushing and killing lower level players without giving them a fair fight – stealing both their loot and dignity in one go.
By the mid to late 2000s, “gank” was rampant in the growing world of multiplayer online battle arena (MOBA) games like DotA and League of Legends. Unlike MMORPGs, “ganking” in MOBAs often involved coordinated ambushes and required real strategy between teammates. But the sense of overwhelming and surprising an opponent still remained.
With the explosive growth of streaming and competitive gaming over the last decade, “gank” secured its place in the gamer lexicon. Let’s look at some examples of how it spread to other multiplayer genres:
-
First-person shooters: Getting killed unexpectedly from behind or multiple enemies at once.
-
Battle royales: Getting third-partied or teamed up on by multiple opposing squads.
-
Survival games: Getting raided and losing everything while offline.
No matter the genre, players unite in their frustration of getting “ganked” by both the game and fellow players. It‘s evolved as a catch-all term for any ambush scenario that feels unjust.
Gamer Slang Grows Up
While it originated nearly 40 years ago a criminal slang term on the streets, “gank” is now legitimately recognized as an English word:
verb (ganked, ganking)
- To ambush and kill (a character in a video game).
- To steal or seize (something of value, like a ball).
It appears in most major dictionaries, and is even considered valid for usage in Scrabble and word games (much to the chagrin of purists!).
According to Google search trends, global usage of “gank” has steadily risen over the past decade as gaming became more mainstream. It’s now firmly embedded in the lexicon of both hardcore and casual gamers.
The Frustration of Getting Ganked
As a long time gamer myself, I’ve had my fair share of unpleasant ganking experiences. Getting overwhelmed by a roving gang of Horde players while questing in World of Warcraft…Ambushed at the jungle buffs while playing League of Legends…Raided offline and losing everything I worked for in Ark: Survival Evolved.
The word evokes a universal feeling of helplessness in the face of an undeserved defeat. But it’s also a unique gaming term that binds us together as players, transcending generations and genres. Love it or hate it, “gank” is here to stay!
The Journey From Streets to Screens
Etymologists almost never get to see a word’s history play out in real-time like we have with “gank.” Its journey from criminal slang to mainstream gaming lingo gives a fascinating insight into how urban culture and technology shape each other. Next time you get “ganked” in your favorite game, you’ll have a deeper appreciation for the word’s unlikely evolution from the streets to the keyboard over 30+ years of cultural change.
