I still can't believe we call them 'MOBAs'

One of media's god-given powers is to coin phrases, one of our last remaining superpowers. Inspired by this post from Kieron Gillen, I wanted to take a moment to recall our noble-but-failed attempt to rename MOBAs (a miserable term that describes every game and no game) more than a decade ago.

I am so out the loop that I have just learned folks use the phrase "imsim" now, and I'm tempted to come back to Games Journalism solely to kick everyone's asses.

— @kierongillen.bsky.social (@kierongillen.bsky.social.bsky.social) 2026-09-21T21:09:28.760Z

Just as Superman made the ultimate sacrifice against Doomsday, former PC Gamer editor Chris Thursten gave his editorial life to fix this awkwardly-named genre in his 2014 column, "Why I am deadly serious about the phrase 'wizard-'em-up.'"

We also tried "lane-pushing game" for a span, yikes. The media business requires one to place bets.

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