Janitor

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A janitor is a player who, in a multiplayer match, waits until other players are in the midst of fighting (or are otherwise weakened) before beginning an attack. Such players then proceed to "clean up" the remaining combatants, who at that moment tend to have lowered shields and ammo and are therefore easy targets. Such opportunistic players may also be referred to as kill stealers, trash-baggers, or "the cleanup crew".

The practice is generally looked down upon, and its practitioners are often considered noobs; indeed, the terms listed above are all derogatory. It is not considered cheating, but janitorial kills are often considered unfair. The basic reasoning is that such kills take advantage of distractions outside the attacker's control, and that in fair conditions (that is, without such convenient distractions), the attacker would not be able to kill their target.

Despite this, the tactic is relatively common, as it provides an easy means of scoring double and triple kills. It is typically used in Slayer game variants and in free-for-all games, where the objective is to kill everything in sight, rather than to cooperate in an organized manner; in such games, the action is more chaotic, and such distractions are more likely. In team games, such an action would be considered an "assist" rather than a janitorial kill (assuming that there are only two teams involved in the incident).

The tactic can also be considered a legitimate strategy or even smart game play; in the Official Guide for Halo 3, it is stated that "smart players survey the battle and choose the right time to strike". This strategy can also be used completely by accident. If a player traversing a map stumbles upon a battle that is winding down the survivors will be weakened and a player's first reaction would be to engage the enemy. The player who found the survivors didn't necesarily mean to use the janitor strategy and just found themselves in that situation.