SWG Terms

AbilityAn ability is any new command or ability that a player can acquire as they advance their character. For example, a Novice Medic has the ability to use stimpacks to heal damage on themselves or other characters.
ActionAn action is simply a command that you can use within the game. You can access a fairly comprehensive list of actions by using the Actions screen. You can reach this by pressing the Actions button on your button bar (it's the one that looks like little lightning bolts), or by hitting CTRL-A.
Advanced ProfessionAn advanced profession is a profession that you can only reach if you have unlocked it by learning other skills first. This is in contrast to "starting professions" which are available to anyone at any time.
AttributesAttributes refers to the nine statistics that make up the definition of a character: Health, Action, Mind, Strength, Constitution, Quickness, Stamina, Focus, and Willpower.
BadgeA badge is a text string that shows up in your profile, indicating that you have accomplished some particular task. Certain quests in the game might grant you a badge, as might merely exploring, fulfilling some game objective, or in fact, pretty much any circumstance that we feel is worth recognizing. You can see your badges on the Personal Status page of your Character Sheet.
BankThe bank is a location where you can leave items and deposit money. The Galaxy largely runs on a credits system, whereby money is transferred electronically when you purchase something. However, you might also have money on hand (perhaps you, uh, liberated some credits from someone). You can deposit this money in the bank for safekeeping. You can also leave items in the safety deposit box at a bank. You can only have one safety deposit box in the entire Galaxy.
Battle fatigueAs you accumulate wounds, you also accumulate Battle Fatigue. Battle Fatigue makes it harder for Medics to heal your wounds. You can erase your battle fatigue by watching entertainers.
BazaarThe Bazaar is an auction system that uses the HoloNet to link disparate worlds together in open commerce. You generally find Bazaar terminals near spaceports, and you can use the terminals to browse listings locally, on the planet you're on, or even on distant planets. Some items are sold at auction, and others are sold in instant sales.
BHAn abbreviation for "bounty hunter."
BindA slang term for setting the location you'll return to when you die. See "Cloning."
BioYour Bio is a place where you can type in any text you like. Other players can read your bio when they examine you. You were offered the opportunity to enter in a Bio during character creation, but you can also edit it at any time on the Personal Status page of your Character Sheet.
Black rot, Black crudSlang terms for wounds. See "Wounds."
Blue GlowyA slang term for the phenomenon reported to occur with certain Jedi Masters when they die. According to some sources, certain Jedi have the power to make their spirit live on in the Force even after death.
BorkedA slang term popular during the SWG beta. It means "messed up" or "non-functional."
Burst run, BRAn ability that all players have, burst run lets you run at an accelerated speed for a short period of time. The tradeoff is that it will damage your health, action, and mind a fair amount. It is often used for quick escapes. By default, Burst run is mapped to F5 on your toolbar.
CampScouts and Rangers in SWG have the ability to create camps or campsites. Camps have a variety of special characeristics: medics and entertainers can heal wounds in them, you can log out safely in them, and advanced camps will keep creatures away.
CantinaA cantina is a generic term for a structure that allows entertainers to heal wounds and battle fatigue. The most obvious of these places is, of course, an actual cantina, but other places such as theaters also permit entertainers to ply their trade.
CapacityCapacity is a measure of how much stuff can fit inside a container. It is displayed as a bar graph and as a number at the bottom of your inventory window and your datapad.
Cash, cash on handAlthough most of the Galaxy runs on credits and wireless transfers, in many locations of the Galaxy, the use of hard credits is still common. You can go to a bank to get cash, or you may, uh, "find" it on corpses. (We're sure you weren't involved in the unfortunate victim's demise, of course). In general, terminals and other commercial establishments will draw from your cash on hand first, and then draw from your bank account.
CH, CTAbbreviations for "creature handler" and "creature tamer" respectively. Both refer to characters who are engaged in the Creature Handler profession.
Chat tabYour chat box can have multiple tabs on it, letting you switch between different panes of the chat window. Each tab displays a different sort of chat (or a mixture of different types of chat--it's very configurable. See the Holocube topics under "Communicating with Others" for further details). You can also drag these tabs off into their own chat windows. Slang, however, still calls these "chat tabs" for some reason.
Clone, cloningWhen your character dies, the game isn't over! Instead, we let you pick up where you left off, placing your character at a cloning facility. You can clone yourself for a fee at any cloning facility, and then from then on, the default location where you reappear after a death will be that cloning facility. See also "Bind."
Combat fatigue, FatigueFatigue is a measure of how much combat fatigue you have accumulated as you've been wounded. The more you have, the harder it is for medics and entertainers to heal your wounds. You can relieve your combat fatigue by listening to or watching entertainers in cantinas. Combat fatigue is displayed on your Character Sheet.
Combat targetYour combat target is, simply put, the creature or NPC you are currently attacking. It is indicated with red brackets.
Commodities marketAnother term for the Bazaar. See "Bazaar."
Con, ConstitutionOne of the six attributes that governs the behavior of your pools, Constitution affects the rate at which your Health pool regenerates.
Consider, /conYou can evaluate the relative difficulty of an opponent by using the Consider command ("/consider" or "/con" for short.)
CovertPlayers can join the Rebel or Imperial faction in order to participate in the Galactic Civil War. Once they sign up, however, they can be Covert members, or Overt members. Covert players are "hidden," undercover members of that faction, and have reduced faction perks--they cannot place down factional structures, and cannot wear factional uniforms.

Coverts cannot be attacked by enemies, because the enemy does not know that they are members of that faction. Because of this, Coverts can also not attack players of the enemy faction.

Coverts can attack NPCs of the enemy faction, and can heal or otherwise assist fellow members of their faction, but this will publicly reveal them as members of the Alliance or the Empire, and then they can be attacked by enemy players for a period of a few minutes. This is known as a "temporary enemy flag." See "TEF" for more details.
CR, corpse recoveryWhen you die, it is possible for items to be left on your corpse, at the location where you died. The act of going to recover the items is generally termed "corpse recovery."
Crafting stationA crafting station is a device that allows you to craft more complex items with your crafting tool. In order to get the benefits of a crafting station, you merely have to be near the crafting station at the time that you boot up the crafting tool. There are multiple types of crafting station for different types of item crafting.
There are stationary crafting stations scattered around the cities. You can also make them to place in your own buildings, or even outfit a droid as a crafting station.
Crafting toolA crafting tool is an item that allows you to craft other items. Upon using these items, you will be presented with a screen giving you a choice of what item to craft. There are several different kinds of crafting tools, each offering a different type of item that you can make.
CS (cloning station)CS is an abbreviation for "cloning station" or "cloning facility," a location where you can clone. See "Cloning."
Data item The datapad is a special sort of inventory accessed using the Datapad button on your Button Bar, or using CTRL-D. The datapad stores only data items, and cannot be used for storing actual physical items.
DB Short for "death blow," the act of actually killing a player.
Declared A declared player is one who has signed up for the Imperial or Rebel factions. This term is sometimes only applied to players who are Overtly declared. See "Overt" and "Covert."
Despawn When a lair, creature, NPC, stronghold, or other spawned object disappears from the game world, this is called a despawn.
Digiteer A Digiteer is a digital actor, a character played by an employee of LucasArts or Sony Online Entertainment.
Discipline Each profession in SWG has the same arrangement of skills. They all come off of a single root skill, and then they branch into four separate branches. These four branches are called disciplines. Each discipline tends to have a unique flavor to it, and serves as a sort of specialty.
Draft schematic A draft schematic is a recipe for building an item. As you acquire new skills, these skills may grant you new draft schematics. As you advance, you can also lose access to draft schematics--this is done according to the rules of the various trade organizations in the galaxy, to ensure that lower-level crafters are guaranteed a market for their goods. There is a tab on your Datapad where you can view all the draft schematics you have. You may also want to check out the entry on "Manufacturing Schematics." There is a tab on your Datapad where you can view all the draft schematics you have. You may also want to check out the entry on "Manufacturing Schematics."
Dynamic POI A dynamic POI or dynamic point of interest is an encounter that spawns in the world at a somewhat random location. Once it has been resolved one way or another, it will go away, never to return in exactly the same way or place.
Dynamic spawn SWG uses a spawning system whereby creatures do not always appear in exactly the same place. This is different from "static spawns" which always spawn the same things in the same places.
Elite profession "Elite" is a term for professions that require you to have mastered multiple specialties or professions before you can unlock them.
Email Within the context of SWG, "email" usually mean the in-game mail that you can access by clicking the little envelope-shaped button on the button bar.
Experience, XPExperience is a measure of how knowledgeable you are about a given subject. You can earn experience in many different subjects in SWG, and each type of experience is earned in a different way. For example, you earn Pistol Experience by killing things with a pistol, and you earn Dancing experience by entertaining people. You can check your current levels of experience on your Skills window.
Extract resources"Extract resources" is a special ability granted to Scouts. It allows them to harvest meat, hide, and bones from the carcasses of dead animals.
Faction points, faction perks Faction points are acquired by doing actions for the Rebellion or the Empire. If you acquire enough faction points, you can join that faction (see also "Declared," "Overt," and "Covert."). Once you are a member of a faction, you can spend faction points to acquire faction perks, which are special benefits that are only granted to members of the faction. Examples of faction perks include special structures you can build, uniforms to wear, and titles.
Faction, faction standingThere are two meanings to the term Faction in SWG. One of them refers to the two warring sides in the Galactic Civil War, the Rebel Alliance and the Empire. Players can join these factions and engage in player vs. player combat with one another, as well as advance in standing with the faction. See also "Faction Points." The other type of faction is simply the game tracking how various groups of NPCs feel about you. If you are consistently mean to Jawas, eventually Jawas will come to hate you, and may attack you on sight.
Factory A factory is a structure used by crafters to mass produce items. You can obtain a factory and feed a manufacturing schematic into it. As long as the factory has enough resources and the manufacturing schematic permits, it will replicate the desired item.
Foc, Focus Focus is one of the attributes that defines a character in Star Wars Galaxies. It affects the cost to the Mind pool when you make use of an ability.
FS Short for "Force Sensitive."
FSS, Force Sensitive SheepA joke from the early board and beta community for Star Wars Galaxies. Many players wanted these to be in the game. They're not.
GCT Short for "Generic Crafting Tool," the simplest type of crafting tool available to players.
GCW Short for "the Galactic Civil War."
GMT Short for "guild management terminal."
Guild, guildhall A term for player association, or for the structure that serves as the headquarters for one.
HAM, HAM barsThe slang term for the status display showing bar graphs of your Health, Action, and Mind stats.
Harvester A structure that mines resources for you regardless of whether you are online or offline.
Health One of the attributes that makes up a character, Health is a pool that is spent when you do actions that are centered around physical strength.
HolocronThe help system within the game.
Hospital A special sort of structure where medics and doctors can heal wounds.
Hotel A special sort of structure that acts as a cantina and also permits safe logout from the game.
Hybrid professionAn advanced profession that draws on disciplines from different professions.
Imp Short for Imperial.
Incapacitated, incap, incapped This is what happens to you when any of your pools reaches zero. You are knocked out (and left vulnerable) for a period not to exceed a minute or so. Should an enemy reach you and choose to do so, they can kill you while you are in this state.
InorganicsOne of the two broadest classifications of resources in the game, the other being Organics. Examples of inorganics include metals and polymers.
Insurance You can buy insurance at terminals in cloning facilities. When you die, any insured items are automatically returned to you, rather than remaining with your corpse. See also "Corpse recovery."
Knowledge base The Knowledge Base is a customer service tool available from the Customer Service button on the button bar.
LALucasArts, publishers of Star Wars Galaxies.
Lair A lair is a location where creatures or NPCs are spawning out of some sort of structure or object. For example, an insect mound might spawn rockmites. Lairs have a tendency to hang around unless destroyed, and creatures tend to defend their lairs. Some otherwise peaceful creatures may be more aggressive when you approach their lairs.
LD Shorthand for the Lucky Despot, a cantina in Mos Eisley built into a crashed starship.
Learning capacityAnother term for skill points.
Look at target This is the target you set when you click on something. It is indicated by blue brackets.
LotsEach player is allowed a fixed amount of space on which to build. This is measured in "building lots." Different structures take up different amounts of lots.
LP, launchpad The LaunchPad is the application that comes up when you first launch Star Wars Galaxies. It lets you log into your account, and features a chat system, account management, and the ability to set some out of game options.
Macro A macro is a set of user-entered commands bound to a hotkey. You can create your own macros in SWG by going to the Actions window (CTRL-A or from the button bar) and choosing the Macro tab.
Mail Shorthand for the in-game email system. You access your mail through the button bar (the button with the envelope icon).
Manufacturing schematic A manufacturing schematic is a schematic that has been experimented on and filled out by a crafter. Once a crafter has created an item and experimented on it, he or she is given the opportunity to either create a single prototype item, or to create a manufacturing schematic instead. The manufacturing schematic is a data item that can be traded or sold, or fed into a factory to mass produce items. Manufacturing schematics only have a certain number of uses before they expire.
MarketplaceThe marketplace is another term for the Bazaar. See also "Bazaar."
Merc Merc is short for "mercenary." A mercenary is a player who has signed up for player vs. player combat, but is not affiliated with either the Rebellion or the Empire. They are treated as if they were Covert members of a faction. See also "Covert," "Faction," and "Overt."
Mind One of the three pools, the Mind stat is primarily used for tasks that depend on concentration and focus. See also "Attribute" and "Pool."
Mission terminal or MT A mission terminal is a special terminal you can go to that has job postings. They are located throughout all the cities.
Narrative POI A narrative POI is simply a point of interest that happens to have a quest or puzzle associated with it. See also "Dynamic POI" and "POI."
No build An area where players cannot build structures.
NWW An acronym for "Newbie Welcome Wagon," an informal organization of players who welcome new players of SWG.
Onion Also referred to as the "Skill Onion". This refers to the group of skills in each profession that are made up of the Novice box at the bottom, the Master box at the top, and all the boxes in the middle. The shape of this loosely resembles an onion, hence the nickname. To see this shape, use CTRL-S in game to bring up the Skills Interface.
Organics One of the two broad categories of resources, organics are things like meat or flora. See also "Inorganics
Overt An Overt player is a player who has joined a faction and has signed up for vulnerability to player vs. player combat 24/7. Overts get some special faction perks that are not available to Covert members of a faction, since their affiliation is publicly visible and they run great risks. See also "Covert" and "Faction."
PA, player association A Player association is a group of players who have formalized their group using the in-game tools. PAs have access to a guildhall (see also "Guildhall") and have a variety of tools to help them manage their membership.
Paperdoll The paperdoll is a depiction of your character that you can see in your inventory. It is hidden by default, but you can access it by clicking on the little yellow arrow buttons at the top of the Inventory window.
Persistent message Another term for the in-game email system. See also "Mail."
Pet A pet is a creature that has been tamed by a player who has the Creature Handling profession. Pets grow and become more powerful over time, so pets that have been kept alive are valuable. In addition, pets can perform a variety of useful tasks including defense of their owner.
PM Short for persistent message. See also "Persistent Message" and "Mail."
POI Short for "point of interest." This simply means a location that holds some interest. Some of these are dynamically spawned, and others are always placed. See also "Stronghold," "Lair," "Dynamic POI" and "Narrative POI."
Pool There are three pools in your set of attributes: Health, Action, and Mind. You spend pool points in order to execute special moves and abilities. When others attack you, they lower your pools. Should any of your pools reach zero, you will be incapacitated.
Posture Posture simply means whether you are standing, kneeling, laying prone, or sitting down. Postures have a very great effect on combat, affecting accuracy, likelihood of your being hit, amount of damage taken from different weapon types, and speed of movement.
Profession A profession is a collection of four related skill disciplines. You start out the game choosing a starting profession from among the six starting professions offered, and as you advance you can explore further choices as they become available to you.
Profile Your profile is a collection of information that you enter about yourself. This information can be searched by other players. Among the elements in your profile are any details that you enter into the Matchmaking system, and flags such as Looking For Group or Newbie Helper that you decide to turn on, and what title you have chosen to publicly display.
Qui, QuicknessOne of the attributes that defines a character, Quickness affects how much abilities based on the Action pool cost to use.
Reb Short for "Rebel."
SampleSampling is the act of extracting a little bit of resources from the terrain. This is an ability that is granted to Artisans as part of the Surveying discipline. See also "Survey."
Schematic A schematic is a blueprint for crafting something. They come in two kinds: a draft schematic, which is a blank recipe, and a manufacturing schematic, which is a recipe that has been experimented with by a crafter. See also "Draft Schematic" and "Manufacturing Schematic."
SCSAn acronym for "single character servers."
Shock, shock woundsAnother term for battle fatigue. See "Battle fatigue."
Shuttle, shuttleport A structure where you can catch shuttles that travel between different cities on the same planet.
Skill box Another term for a single skill in a profession.
Skill Onion Also referred to as the "Onion". This refers to the group of skills in each profession that are made up of the Novice box at the bottom, the Master box at the top, and all the boxes in the middle. The shape of this loosely resembles an onion, hence the nickname. To see this shape, use CTRL-S in game to bring up the Skills Interface.
Skill points Every skill you learn in SWG costs you some skill points. You have a fixed number of skill points and can never acquire more. When you run out of skill points, you cannot learn any more skills. You can however surrender skills you do not want, and gain the skill points back.
Skill tree An alternate term for Profession. See also "Profession."
Skillmod A statistic that increases as you advance in skill. For example, as you acquire pistol skills, your Pistol Accuracy skillmod will increase.
SL Abbreviation for Squad Leader.
SnowflakesSlang term for Imperials, derived from the shape of the logo for the Empire.
Social professionA profession that is devoted primarily to providing services to other players. Entertainer, Musician, Dancer, and Image Designer are social professions.
SOE Sony Online Entertainment.
Spaceport, Starport A building that serves as a place to travel between planets.
Special moves Abilities granted to those pursuing the combat professions. Special moves are generally new kinds of attacks.
Specialist A title achieved when you master a discipline. See also "Discipline" and "Title."
Species There are eight possible player species in Star Wars Galaxies. In other games, these are sometimes termed "races."
Sta, Stamina One of the attributes that make up an SWG player character, Stamina affects the rate at which your Action pool regenerates.
Stat migration In SWG, your attributes never go up. However, you can rearrange the statistics that make up your character. This process is called Stat Migration, and it can be accessed via the Stat Migration button on your Character Sheet.
State States are conditions that can be applied to your character (or to creatures and NPCs). Some states are self-applied, and others are caused by special attacks or abilities being used on you. Examples include dizziness, berserking, and being stunned. States display directly under the status bars in the upper corners of the screen.
Stomach A generic term for the limits on how much you can eat or drink until you're full.
Str, Strength One of the attributes on a character. Strength affects how much Health-based abilities cost to use
Stronghold A term for a large persistent spawn that remains on the map until destroyed. Strongholds grow their influence over time and affect the spawning in the areas around them
Survey The act of using a surveying tool to check for resources in the immediate area. This is an ability in the Scout profession.
SWG The abbreviation for Star Wars Galaxies.
System messageMessages which show up in the center of your screen, around 1/3 of the way down from the top, are called "System messages." These messages often give information about things such as experience earned, server status, and other important information.
TamerShorthand for a player who has mastered skills from the Creature Handler profession.
Taurin The avatar name of a SWG dev member well known by the first and second groups of beta testers. Taurin, a Zabrak of tall stature with long, black hair, was more than happy to assist the beta testers in the beginnings of their epic journey. He can occasionally been seen wandering the swamps of Dathomir from time to time
TEF Temporary Enemy Flag. When a Covert player performs an action that reveals them as a member of their faction, thus blowing their cover, they receive a temporary enemy flag that makes them attackable by enemies of their faction for a few minutes.
Terminal Any one of many computer terminals that offer various services in the game.
Theme park A slang term for an area of the game with handcrafted quests and narratives. Jabba's Palace is an example of a theme park.
Title A bit of text describing your current attainment in a profession. When you start out in the game, your title is that of a Novice in whatever profession you selected. As you acquire skills, you may acquire additional Novice, Specialist and Master titles as well. other players can see one title out of the titles you have acquired, and can search for other players based on title. You can choose which title is publicly displayed on your profile and can be used to search for you on your Personal Profile under the Community button on the Button Bar.
Tulips A slang term for the Rebels, based on the shape of the icon for the Rebel Alliance.
Uberlair A slang term for Strongholds. See "Stronghold."
UXP Usage XP. Shorthand for a type of experience points earned only when someone uses your crafted item.
Vendor An NPC hired by a player to serve as a shopkeeper.
Waypoint A data item that records a location in the world. You can create waypoints using your datapad, and they are also given to you automatically by the game under many different circumstances. Waypoints are stored in your Datapad.
WillpowerOne of the six attributes governing your pools, Willpower affects the rate at which you regenerate the Mind pool.
WoundWounds are a form of combat damage that lowers the maximum value of a pool or of an attribute. Whereas normal damage heals over time, wounds require attention in order to be cured. You cure wounds to the Mind, Focus, and Willpower by watching or listening to entertainers. You cure all other sorts of wounds through medicines administered by a doctor. Wounds of all sorts can only be healed in certain locations, such as cantinas, camps, and hospitals.