MarioWiki:Glossary

This article is under construction. Therefore, please excuse its informal appearance while it is being worked on. We hope to have it completed as soon as possible.

The Glossary is a list of gaming and Wiki terms used in the Super Mario Wiki. While entries in this list link to mainspace subjects, this page does not include definitions for fictional characters, living people, events, places and things appearing in the Mario series or relating to it in the real world.

A

Autoconfirmed users

Users who have an account on the MarioWiki for at least one week and have made at least 10 edits.

B

Bureaucrats

A user that has deleting, CheckUser, blocking, deleting, UserRights, and rename rights

Beta

A pre-release form of a video game. Beta versions of games are partially playable, but often do not utilize the final enemy placement, textures, or interface.

Beta Elements

Concepts that appeared in the beta version of a video game, but were cut for the final release.

Binary

A system of numerical notation to the base 2, in which each place of a number, expressed as 0 or 1, corresponds to a power of 2. The decimal number 58 appears as 111010 in binary notation, since 58 = 1 × 25 + 1 × 24 + 1 × 23 + 0 × 22 + 1 × 21 + 0 × 20.

Bit

The unit of information; the amount of information obtained by asking a yes-or-no question; a computational quantity that can take on one of two values, such as false and true or 0 and 1; the smallest unit of storage - sufficient to hold one bit.

BMP (bitmap)

A picture created on a visual display unit where each pixel corresponds to one or more bits in memory, the number of bits per pixel determining the number of available colors.

Byte

Adjacent bits, usually eight, processed by a computer as a unit. Larger units are called kilobytes, megabytes, gigabytes, terrabytes, etc.

C

Cache

A small fast memory holding recently accessed data, designed to speed up subsequent access to the same data. Most often applied to processor-memory access but also used for a local copy of data accessible over a network etc.

Canon

A system of classification that separates official media products from unofficial media products, therefore determining which characters, locations, events, etc. "actually" exist in a series' fictional universe.

Cookie

A piece of data downloaded to a computer by a website, containing details of the preferences of that computer's user which identify the user when revisiting that website.

Conjecture

An unofficial name for an article.

CPU (central processing unit)

Refers to a computerized player or opponent in a game. Also known as AI (artificial intelligence).

CSS (Cascading Style Sheets)

An extension to HTML to allow styles, e.g. colour, font, size to be specified for certain elements of a hypertext document. Style information can be included in-line in the HTML file or in a separate CSS file (which can then be easily shared by multiple HTML files). Multiple levels of CSS can be used to allow selective overriding of styles.

D

DYK

Short for "Did You Know?"

E

Easter Egg

A message hidden in the object code of a program as a joke, intended to be found by persons disassembling or browsing the code.

F

FA

Short for Featured Article

Filler Character

A conjectural term used for characters that were created to fill a void. I.e. Waluigi is the opposite to Luigi as Mario is to Wario.

Fourth Wall

When a video game character happens to notice that he or she is in a video game or when he or she is referring directly to the player.

G

GIF (Graphics Interchange Format)

A standard compressed file format used for pictures.

Glitch

A mistake in video games that programmers forgot to debug.

H

Hexadecimal (Hex)

A numbering system that uses 16 as the radix, employing the numerals 0 through 9 and representing digits greater than 9 with the letters A through F.

HTML (Hypertext Markup Language)

A set of standards used to tag elements of a hypertext document (such as this wiki). It is regularly used for displaying pages and formatting in the World Wide Web.

HTTP (Hypertext Transfer Protocol)

the standard protocol for transferring hypertext documents on the World Wide Web. Compare HTML.

I

IP (Internet Protocol)

A code used to label packets of data sent across the internet, identifying both the sending and the receiving computers.

J

JPEG or JPG (Joint Photographic Experts Group)

A standard file format for compressing pictures by disposing of redundant pixels.

L

Life

In platformer games, there are a certain amount of lives that the player has. He or she can lose them by being hit by enemies too much or even gain them by finding extra lives. If the player loses all of his or her lives, a Game Over ensues.

N

NPC

Abbreviation for "non-playable character." Refers to any character in a video game that cannot be used by the player. Some examples are Bowser and Princess Toadstool in Super Mario Bros.

P

Patroller

A user who is given blocking, rollbacking, patrolling, and CheckUser rights.

Plagiarism

The copying of another person's work without giving any credit to the original author. This also includes altering the text (such as making the switch from active to passive. EX: "Mario stomped on the Goomba" to "The Goomba was stomped by Mario.").

PNG (Portable Network Graphics)

An extensible file format for the lossless, portable, well-compressed storage of raster images.

R

Recovery

The act of restoring one's health, usually through restorative items, such as Coins or Mushrooms. Alternate methods include visiting Toad Houses or Inns. In Super Smash Bros. games, the term refers either to reducing one's damage percentage or returning to the stage after being attacked or falling.

RAM (Random Access Memory)

The main memory of a computer, in which data can be stored or retrieved from all locations at the same (usually very high) speed.

ROM (Read Only Memory)

Computer memory in which program instructions, operating procedures, or other data are permanently stored, generally on electronic chips during manufacture, and that ordinarily cannot be changed by the user.

RPG

Short for Role Playing Game. Some examples are Mario & Luigi: Superstar Saga and Paper Mario.

S

Self-Destruct (or SD)

The act of knocking oneself out in a Super Smash Bros. game. A common example is missing a jump from one platform to the next and falling into the bottomless pit.

Server

A program which provides some service to other ( client) programs. The connection between client and server is normally by means of message passing, often over a network, and uses some protocol to encode the client's requests and the server's responses.

Sockpuppet or Sock Puppet

An extra online identity created by a member of a discussion forum, etc, to agree with opinions submitted under his or her usual online name

SPAM

Short for Stupid Pointless and Annoying Message.

Spin-off

A game that has other gameplay types rather than the usual gameplay type it has (eg: Mario Tennis, Mario Kart)

Sysop (system operator)

A user who has given deletion, blocking, rollback, CheckUser, protection, and patrolling rights

Stub

An article that lacks sufficient information.

T

Template

An electronic file with a predesigned, customized format and structure, as for a fax, letter, or expense report, ready to be filled in. Templates must be added with {{Template Name}}

TOC

Short for Table of Contents.

Transformation

The assumption of another form by a character, usually through magical powers or the use of an item, such as a Super Mushroom. Transformations range from a change in size to the assumption of an entirely new identity (see Giga Bowser Transformation).

Troll

Deliberate attempts for disrupting or lowering self-esteem of another user.

TPP

Short for Talk Page Proposal.

U

Unlockable

A character, gameplay mode, item, or other element that can only accessed after completing a certain task in a video game.

Userbox

Boxes that users are free to create and use to describe themselves.

Userspace

Anything that belongs to a user such as signature, certain sub-pages, talk pages, and the user page.

V

Vandalism

Any addition, deletion, or altering content intended for the sole purpose of disrupting the peace of the wiki.

Vaporware

A term for games that did start development but never were published.

W

Wiki

Software that allows users to create, edit, and link web pages easily. Wikis are often used to create collaborative websites and to power community websites.

Z

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