Talk:twink

etymology 4, def. 2

That would be "A second Character with some of the best equipment they can have, especially used in MMORPGs." Kappa 02:10, 28 December 2006 (UTC)

The meaning of twink relating to MMORPG is inaccurate. (Text above modified to clarify and link to article. --Enginear 17:40, 19 February 2007 (UTC))

It is in fact a derogatory term used to describe novice players who are playing above their skill level due to exceptional equipment gifts from higher level and more experienced benefactors.

The usage is a direct comparison to a twink as used in gay slang.

The gifts were often used to entice new players to swell the ranks of a new player guild/clan/association. These gifts gave such an advantage to the twink that newcomers to mmorpgs have come to perceive the term as one of merit.

The notion that it is a second character is completely fallacious as this usage was always a tongue in cheek reference to the fact that "alts" (as second and additional characters are referred to) almost always receive the sort of gear a twink would. — This unsigned comment was added by 69.205.197.145 (talk)., originally in the lower thread Twink MMORPG is innacurate, moved by --Enginear 18:21, 19 February 2007 (UTC)

Moving discussion to talk page. I can't decide. Andrew massyn 20:12, 5 May 2007 (UTC)

I have heard TWINK and seen TWINKY as an acronym for Two Income No Kids (Yet) and this is in the 1990s so pre-dating the twink as gay slang definitions I can see in urban dictionary .com YES I am aware of DINKY and DINKY - I wonder if the DINK has come because of knowledge fo TWINK. I am writing from growing up in East Midlands UK where the gay slang term was not known to me and had never heard it. Later on I have hear dit used as a euphemism for any gay couple.— This unsigned comment was added by Pispalapartnership (talk • contribs) at 13:18, 14 December 2009‎.

Redux

It's been over 6 years since the above discussion, and perhaps the way the word is used has developed somewhat since then. Regardless, the current wiktionary definition of the word is, in my opinion, lacking this particular meaning.

There are many, many references out there that will confirm the current MMORPG meaning of 'twink'. I'm sure the term exists in many MMORPGs, but World of Warcraft is the one I'm most familiar with; searching for "world of warcraft twink" in google currently yields 15,500,000 results. Some examples of sites that prove the prevalence of this meaning of the term: [1], [2], [3], [4], [5], [6]. Several sites also feature many thousands of forum threads discussing twinks, all of which use the term in this same, specific sense.

So, what is this sense? It is most certainly not, or at least no longer, within the living memory or even knowledge I expect of the vast majority of those using the word, in any way associated with effeminacy or even weakness. The definition presented on Wowpedia, the World of Warcraft equivalent of Wikipedia, is:

Twinks are player characters below the level cap who have gained the best powerful gear for their level with enhancements such as expensive weapon enchants, leg patches and BoE/BoP greens, blues or epics. Twinks are mainly used in PvP fighting and Battlegrounds [where their superior gear provides a significant and substantial advantage over average-geared characters of that level]

The term is used extremely widely, and always, in my experience (and as can be readily confirmed by searching online for the above terms), with the same meaning. Far from having connotations of not having earnt their power, twinks are considered something of an achievement, something that takes a great deal of time, effort and/or in-game money to properly create. Players spend a huge amount of time and money obtaining the very best items for every possible slot, and the existence of hundreds of twinking guides reflects that players actively seek this themselves, rather than simply being handed these items as gifts, as Enginear states. Far from having connotations of weakness or effeminacy, twinks are super-powered, often semi-invincible characters. I have personally played hundreds of games where 2 or 3 twinks have almost single-handedly defeated an entire opposing team of 10 or 15 players, due to their ability to defeat enemies in one or two shots, or to simply heal themselves faster than they take damage. The incredible power of twinks was in fact such a serious problem that the makers of World of Warcraft specifically changed the game so that twinks are placed in their own bracket, away from other characters.

I therefore seriously disagree with Enginear's definition. Perhaps that was the case back in 2007; at any rate it has meant something quite different for many years now. The one part I can agree with is that a twink is not necessarily a secondary character or 'alt'; some players are almost solely into twinking, so they would almost certainly consider their main character to be one of their twinks. Finally, the word is also used a verb: twinking, to twink, etc.

As to the current stated definition: "A player in a multi-user dungeon who engages in obnoxious or abusive behaviour." that also seems to be an outdated sense, or perhaps merely a far less common one. Twinks certainly have the potential for that kind of behaviour, but that is not the meaning of the term these days, certainly not in World of Warcraft (currently still hanging in there as the most popular MMORPG). Since this particular sense seems to be quoted from 1997, this discrepancy is not too hard to understand. At any rate, the 'new', current meaning of the term should be added. -- Taohinton (talk) 01:24, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

Incidentally, the myriad "twinking guides" out there also serve to illustrate the general MMORPG use of the term these days; they are guides for players on how to make themselves a twink, to create a twink out of one of their characters. I don't think you'll find a single twinking guide out there that is a guide on giving gifts to other players' lower level characters. -- Taohinton (talk) 01:37, 29 July 2013 (UTC)

French translation for gay slang

I suggest that in current French gay slang the term crevette is closer to twink than minet. Please see #9 at http://www.thelocal.fr/20150730/ten-things-you-didnt-know-about-gay-paris ☺ Dick Kimball (talk) 17:03, 12 August 2015 (UTC)

RFV discussion: December 2021–January 2022

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twink

Etymology 3 noun sense 3 and verb sense 1. Noun sense 3 has two quotations, but they're both from the same newsgroup and both from the same year. Meanwhile, the verb form has no attestation whatsoever. This is such a bizarre, specific, and likely antiquated sense for a word which – in another sense – has such a wildly different and sometimes offensive meaning that I think it really needs full WT:ATTESTation. TheTechnician27 (talk) 17:37, 22 December 2021 (UTC)

cited Kiwima (talk) 05:22, 26 December 2021 (UTC)

RFV-passed Kiwima (talk) 19:54, 2 January 2022 (UTC)