Yeah, why does anybody go out of his way to find namings with a negative connotation? Did some ECS manager overhear a discussion of his gaming kids and picked words at random? And then nobody in the company had the balls to tell him this would be a stupid idea?
ECS is making an attempt to change their position in the marketplace and improve their consumer-grade products. That being said, the choice of names here isn't a good sign - unless this is a total publicity joke.
For your edification Ian (and others who have no reason to know), "gank" in today's gaming world essentially means repeatedly killing a another player that is far below your level (so has utterly no chance of defeating you no matter how good a player he is), or having a gang of players kill one player. While it is considered to be one of the normal situations that you have to put up with in a PvP (Player vs Player) environment, the people that do it are considered to be the low-life scum of the PvP world. There is no positive connotation to it.
"Killsteal" is the same way. It means exactly what it says - another player steals the kill you started to make on some entity. It is also considered to be bad form, and in most games there is actually a lockout mechanism to prevent it happening these days. If you "tap" a mob first, only you get credit for the kill , so only you get the experience points and whatever loot drops. Others might be able to assist you, depending on the game, but they don't get credit.
Aggro - is a situationally good or bad word. It essentially means to draw the attention of the mob (mob is a general term basically meaning any entity a player would want to attack). If you are "tanking" then you are assigned the job of "taking aggro" and you do everything you can to build up your aggro numbers by generating more "threat". However, if your job is to damage the mob but you are a class that goes down quickly if attacked, generating more threat than the tank and so "aggroing" the mob is a very bad idea, as it can get you and the whole group killed.
So, to most gamers, the least offensive name here would be "Aggro". I actually don't have a problem with that name, but like others here, wouldn't touch a product named "Gank" or "Killsteal" no matter who made it - and it would throw a bad light on the whole company, for me. Someone needs to clue ECS in.
Unless, of course, it IS intended to be a joke and they have no intention of actually naming their products "Gank" and "Killsteal", in which case I'd say "Well played, and very funny." :)
While I agree with the below comments, buying a motherboard called GANK/AGGRO/KILLSTEAL is sorta weird. And I'd like to point out while AGGRO and KILLSTEAL came from MMORPG's (World of Warcraft, Guild Wars) I'd like to point out that there is a "Complexity Gaming" Logo in the background of the first Picture. They 'had' a League of Legends competitive team up until they got eliminated. The word "Gank" got much more of it's popularity from League than anything else.
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ChadnSteff - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
It's ECS, who gives a whoop?dac7nco - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
Nobody. Additionally, I couldn't bring myself to buy a motherboard called GANK or KILLSTEAL if it was from ASUS either.ShieTar - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
Yeah, why does anybody go out of his way to find namings with a negative connotation? Did some ECS manager overhear a discussion of his gaming kids and picked words at random? And then nobody in the company had the balls to tell him this would be a stupid idea?Sabresiberian - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
ECS is making an attempt to change their position in the marketplace and improve their consumer-grade products. That being said, the choice of names here isn't a good sign - unless this is a total publicity joke.For your edification Ian (and others who have no reason to know), "gank" in today's gaming world essentially means repeatedly killing a another player that is far below your level (so has utterly no chance of defeating you no matter how good a player he is), or having a gang of players kill one player. While it is considered to be one of the normal situations that you have to put up with in a PvP (Player vs Player) environment, the people that do it are considered to be the low-life scum of the PvP world. There is no positive connotation to it.
"Killsteal" is the same way. It means exactly what it says - another player steals the kill you started to make on some entity. It is also considered to be bad form, and in most games there is actually a lockout mechanism to prevent it happening these days. If you "tap" a mob first, only you get credit for the kill , so only you get the experience points and whatever loot drops. Others might be able to assist you, depending on the game, but they don't get credit.
Aggro - is a situationally good or bad word. It essentially means to draw the attention of the mob (mob is a general term basically meaning any entity a player would want to attack). If you are "tanking" then you are assigned the job of "taking aggro" and you do everything you can to build up your aggro numbers by generating more "threat". However, if your job is to damage the mob but you are a class that goes down quickly if attacked, generating more threat than the tank and so "aggroing" the mob is a very bad idea, as it can get you and the whole group killed.
So, to most gamers, the least offensive name here would be "Aggro". I actually don't have a problem with that name, but like others here, wouldn't touch a product named "Gank" or "Killsteal" no matter who made it - and it would throw a bad light on the whole company, for me. Someone needs to clue ECS in.
Unless, of course, it IS intended to be a joke and they have no intention of actually naming their products "Gank" and "Killsteal", in which case I'd say "Well played, and very funny." :)
ShieTar - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link
Well said. So in conclusion, "Aggro" would be fine, as long as the board comes with a nice set of thermal armor.Zefeh - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
While I agree with the below comments, buying a motherboard called GANK/AGGRO/KILLSTEAL is sorta weird. And I'd like to point out while AGGRO and KILLSTEAL came from MMORPG's (World of Warcraft, Guild Wars) I'd like to point out that there is a "Complexity Gaming" Logo in the background of the first Picture. They 'had' a League of Legends competitive team up until they got eliminated. The word "Gank" got much more of it's popularity from League than anything else.piroroadkill - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
Can't Kill steal in Guild Wars 2!extide - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
Gank really came from DotAheinousjay - Monday, June 17, 2013 - link
"Gank" came from the late 80s/early 90s gangster rap scene. It meant pretty much the same thing.Paulman - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
"Are you serious!? [LOLOLOLOL]" <- literally my initial reaction to reading this :Dcreed3020 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
This launch comes across very much as a "me too!" effort.Case mods are interesting, I'd love to see them in person to learn from them.
twtech - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
Yes, they are technically gaming terms... usually accompanied by shouting, curse words, and insults.Did ECS figure out what those words meant before deciding to use them in product branding?
geekman1024 - Wednesday, June 12, 2013 - link
While ECS customers are getting AGGRO'ed, somone at ECS is going to get GANK'ed and KS'ed.Solidstate89 - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link
Killsteal? Gank? Who the hell signed off on these horrible names?lever_age - Thursday, June 13, 2013 - link
No, they're not trying to target the gaming market, but rather a subset that is proud of its poor manners and taste.Actually, I want to know which branding agency was responsible, as it should rightly go bankrupt immediately.