Ogging
Encyclopedia : O : OG : OGG : Ogging
Ogging is term for a strategy developed for an online multiplayer game called XPilot and the later version of the game called Netrek. These games were popular in the early to mid 1990's as they were compiled for Unix which was the source of most of the internet access available at the time, mainly through universities.
The "ogg" is a kamikaze-style attack with the goal of eliminating a target of high importance without regard for the survival of your own ship. It was typically used to destroy enemy ships carrying armies or as a coordinated multi-ship ogg against a starbase.
According to the Jargon File, "ogg" was sometimes also used by extension in the context of other games or in real life.["ogg" in the Jargon File]
History
In these games, ships are depicted on-screen as a two letter combination where the first letter represents your team and the second letter represents your ship. For example, Ka was a Klingon ship assigned to be represented by the letter 'a'. Og, therefore, was an Orion ship assigned to the letter 'g'. Although the specifics of the origin of the term are lost to the mists of time, discussion on the Netrek newsgroup has suggested that the term was first coined by a player who happened to have been assigned the designation Og and this is what people would frantically type out when his brand of attack was coming — "Og!". The second 'g' was simply added to make it more legible as a regular word (similar to egg).Addendum (7/8/06 by KMB, netrek handle(s): Akira, Redjac, Sun Tzu, MaTiLdA, Kill The Scums, Fidei Defensor, Ame Damnee, and others) While the concept of the suicide attack may have occurred in other games, such as Xpilot, Xtrek or Empire, the term "Ogg" was first used in either the Baker or Wean Hall computer labs at Carnegie Mellon University in the 1990-1991 school year (I do not rememeber which exact lab or whether it was before or after Xmas break that year). Myself, Jay Hui and Steve Racunus (sp?) were playing netrek in the early hours of the morning. Steve was a Fed (F# something) and was scumming against a lone Orion player. The server god at the time (Terence Chang, who brought netrek to CMU from Berkeley the year before), was watching the game and logged in as one of the non-player robot slots (the game is 8x8, so the player slots are 0-9,a,b,c,d,e, and f). Since he joined the Orions and was the first "robot" in the game, he was "Og". Terence was one of the best players in the game and proceeded to terrorize Steve, such that at one point in the middle of the quiet computer lab, Steve burst out with "Help!! It's 'Oh' 'Gee'!". Followed quickly by additional screams of "Help" and the first uttering of "It's Ogggg! It's Ogggg! Helllppp!!". Given the hilariousness of the situation, the term followed Steve and quickly was picked up among other netrek players.
Fake Ogging
Often a player would cloak and make ogging-like movements if injured or in order to buy time until reinforcements arrived; this was known as fake ogging. Fake ogging could also convince a team's starbase was under attack while providing a distraction for a carrier.References
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