For years, the stereotype of a video gamer as an anti-social loner sat in his or her bedroom mesmerised by a TV screen was not that short of the mark.

The language used by online gamers can be bewildering, however, with a strange variety of terms.

Some people have turned trash talking into an art form, almost all of which cannot be repeated here.

Younger gamers are the worst offenders and anyone whose verbal assaults get out of hand can be muted or booted off the game by the host, the person who initiated the game.