spawn camp

English

Alternative forms

• spawncamp

Etymology

From spawn (“a location on a game map in which a player spawns”) +‎ camp (“to stay beside something to gain an advantage”).

Verb

spawn camp (third-person singular simple present spawn camps, present participle spawn camping, simple past and past participle spawn camped)

1. (intransitive, video games) To stay near a spawn point in order to kill players immediately after they spawn.

   Some servers will ban you if you spawn camp too much.

   • 2011, Galen Foresman, “What's Wrong with Camping?”, in Luke Cuddy, editor, Halo and Philosophy: Intellect Evolved (Popular Culture and Philosophy; 59), Chicago, I.L., LaSalle, I.L.: Open Court, →ISBN, page 156:

     While one team is effectively pinned down by spawn campers, the team that has successfully spawn camped may proceed to complete any other goals of the match unobstructed.

2. (transitive, video games) To kill (players) immediately after they spawn.

   How am I supposed to do anything if I get spawn camped in five seconds?

   • 2020, Austin Moorhead, quoting Sinatraa, Young Guns: Obsession, Overwatch, and the Future of Gaming, New York, N.Y.: Hachette Books, →ISBN, page 64:

     Of the turning point, he said, "We each got off our heroes and started playing random heroes. Dafran played Soldier for some reason, I stuck with Tracer, and we just ran to their spawn and then started spawn camping them."

Derived terms

• spawn camper