Is "biobreak" the new "stepping out for a moment"?

This is the first I’ve heard of “biobreak”. Then again, Percy is a new one for me too.

That’s a new one for me too. It sounds like 10 pounds of crap in a five pound bag to me. Just say you have to go see a man about a horse. Ladies can adapt that as needed.

I prefer to “visit the ladies room”.

What haha? Sounds like a word you would use to describe a zombie outbreak fueled through biological means or something.

Also lol, pointing Percy at the porcelain.

I am on an industry committee that has some Tech representatives on it. They use “biology break” all the time.

That conjures up an image of people heading to the bathroom in Hazmat suits. Then again with most public bathrooms you need a Hazmat suit!

We’ve been using that for years, and believe me, I do not work among trend-setters.

I first heard “bio break” on Teamspeak/Ventrillo etc when playing World of Warcraft.

Someone would “brb bio-break” or “Need a bio-break. AFK a minute.”

It was mostly Scandinavians and Dutch players, and this would be going back 6 or 7 years or so when I first heard it used. In later years it was abbreviated to just “bio!”.

I’ve not heard it anywhere else.

I like “biobreak”. That’s my new word. Thank you.

My family used to use “10–100,” which they claimed was CB radio terminology. Maybe @Squeeky can confirm.

I have taught my son the appropriate ASL handsign for “toilet”, to avoid having a shrill 5-year old voice crying out exactly which biological function needed to be served in a public place.

The only place I’ve heard “Bio break” is when playing MMOs.

Bear in mind that many people are poor, slow, and/or lazy typists, so the briefer the better. However, just going AFK may be seem as an asshat move while “biobreak” is seen as a valid reason; a full bladder is a more legitimate excuse to leave the game for a moment than just a sudden urge to wander off.

Yep same as @jerv

Though a lot of times I say “I have to go powder my nose”

@anniereborn 23 letters and 6 spaces versus 8 letters and an optional space….

You have 0.75 seconds to type one; which do you choose?

why do I only have .75 seconds @jerv ?

@anniereborn In situations where time doesn’t matter, neither does brevity, so your way is fine under those circumstances. And if you can’t grasp how time matters in some games, I don’t know how to explain it any better than I can explain colors to a blind person.

Do you even game?

@jerv I am in Second Life. I don’t normally do anything with that much of a time constraint. If I ever did it would be “brb”.

BRB is super annoying when you’re questing and have a job to do, and other people are relying on you to accomplish a task.
BRB? Why? Are you answering the door for the pizza man, or taking a shower, or going to work?

Exactly, @Seek_Kolinahr. Even in non-time sensitive situations, BRB is usually some kid who is going AFK just for the hell of it and won’t be back for a couple of hours. Maybe it really is a sudden, short-term thing like a pizza guy or getting the cat off of the fridge, but most BRBs I see are never right back; average is about 20 minutes, and sometimes I wander off in-game and five hours later get a /tell that they just came back!

In other words, BRB is, at best, vague, and often abused enough that BRB is often read as “Screw you guys, I have better things to do!” unless used within a group that is personally familiar with you, like a guild or clan. And if you are in a vital role on a team action, like a healer on a boss fight or an outpost Battle, BRB is even ruder; you’re actually walking out on a job that you said you’d do. Go up to your employer at a random time during the day, say, “BRB”, and just wander off somewhere for a few hours. See how well that goes over.

Biobreak is somebody who has a definite and immediate need to go, but will be returning shortly. We know that you have a very valid reason for your absence, but also that you will be back in a reasonable amount of time.

Second Life, eh? That doesn’t even qualify as gaming. It’s a virtual world and nothing more. If Second Life is a game, the so is walking down the street. When Second Life has PvP, wild animals, and/or open warfare, along with win conditions, I might change my mind.

Oddly enough, I’ve tried out Secondlife, and while I can be open and awesome in game world, all of the same awkwardness and social quirks I show in real life, I feel in the SL world as well.

Playing myself is no fun. I’m already myself and I’d rather not be there.

@Seek_Kolinahr A common phrase from me in Ryzom is, “I have an idea. Get ready to run!”, followed seconds later by explosions, fire, being chased by large things, and general chaos. IRL, I am not nearly so reckless.

Therein lies the difference between SL and actual gaming; being something other than yourself. And I’m not talking the typical internet false persona where everybody is handsome/pretty and rich. I am not the commander of a T49 tank destroyer, nor a special forces operative, nor a Tryker, a Shadowrunner, or a Dragonborn in my daily life, but when I game, I get to be those things and not just a pixelated version of myself like SL.

I never said SL was a game or that i was a gamer. I was just saying that I use “BRB” in that virtual world. I don’t need to explain why. But that is when with friends who know I am not gonna just walk off and not come back.

@anniereborn There is no such guarantee in most games though. It’s a little different dealing with my guildies than with most others for that reason; I know my guildies, but most of the BRBs I get from non-guildies tend to stretch for 20–2000 minutes.

For us non-gamers, brb is acceptable. If I ever start gaming, I’ll have to learn the lingo. Sounds stressful.

@Juels After a few years in the military, a few years as a machinist, and a few decades as a car buff and a computer geek, I’m used to all sorts of lingo. Compared to that, gaming lingo is easy.