Newbie

The term "newbie" or "newb" is used to refer to people who are new or inexperienced at an activity. The closely-related term "noob is an insulting term used as a synonym for "idiot" or "troll".

When spoken rather than typed, it is hard to differentiate which word is being used. In speech, a "you" sound ("nyoob") can be used in the word "newb", and a simple "oo" sound can be applied to "noob".

Origin
It is unknown exactly where and when the general term originated, but it was created long before the release of Halo: Combat Evolved. The phrase "new guy" likely led to a modification of the word "new", resulting in the synonym "newbie"; at some point after that, the two vowels at the end were removed, resulting in the monosyllabic "newb".

"Noob" is likely a corruption of "newb", in the style of "lulz", "noes", and "pr0n". Like "lulz", the meaning of "noob" has been altered with a negative connotation; a newb is simply somebody who is inexperienced at something. Everybody can forgive them, because everybody was once a newb. However, a noob is somebody whose inexperience causes them to be annoying, typically through the use of spamming, unskilled tactics, team-killing, etc. . ("Lulz" specifically refers to "LOLs" at someone's expense, whereas "noob" often refers to someone who acts "newbish" deliberately.)

"Nub," "narb," and "Nerb," can be considered further corruptions of "noob". The word is also sometimes spelled as "n00b" during online conversations.

Variations
There are many different variations of this term. Some include:


 * newbie, newb
 * New guy. "Ugh, we have a newb on our team."


 * noob
 * General insult against another player. "Noob" is particularly used to insult a player's intelligence or integrity. "Noob, stop teamkilling!"


 * nub
 * General insult against another player. "Get out of my way, nub."


 * narb
 * Sarcastic variant of "noob", usually used amongst friends. "Don't make me teamkill you, you narb."


 * phoob
 * A player of higher skill, but who acts extremely childish. "That guy may have killed me, but he's still a phoob."


 * nerb
 * A player who talks in a stereotypically "nerdy" fashion, abuses power weapons, and teamkills. " Stop teamkilling, Nerb."

Usage
Though they are pronounced similarly, the words "newb" and "noob" have very different meanings.

The term "newb", as said above, is a term used generally to describe a new person or a person who lacks skill in a multiplayer game. An example: "Hey guys, I'm kind of a newb to this game mode, so I'm sorry if I die a lot.

The term "noob", on the other hand, rarely is used to mean a person who is new. The term "noob" is most commonly used as a derogatory term against a fellow player to show anger or annoyance. The term can refer to someone who deliberately upsets other players, inhibits the progress of their team, engages in unfair tactics, or deliberately demonstrates a lack of skill. An example: "The red team has a freakin' noob that camps with a Shotgun."

Traditional "noob tactics" in multiplayer include camping, janitor-like behavior, screenwatching, Noob Combos, overusage of power weapons like the Rocket Launcher and Energy Sword, and spawn killing. More recently, in Halo: Reach, noobs frequently use Armor Lock in a cheap and sometimes ineffective manner. It can be argued that some tactics traditionally considered to be "noob tactics" require an appreciable amount of skill to use. A quote from Red vs Blue very effectively presents another viewpoint regarding such tactics: "it's a legitimate strategy".