Battleboarding

In its rise in popularity, battleboarding has given birth to a unique online subculture with its own rules, activities, and terminologies.[1][3][2] Some of these influences have become present in other online communities and popular media.[4] Some of the common slang and terminologies used in battleboarding subculture includes:

• Battle Field Removal - Often abbreviated to "BFR", this is a rule that a fight can end if one character is taken out of a battlefield. This rule is used for characters who have the powers to teleport or transport enemies without actually killing them.
• Battle Royale - A term originating from Comic Vine where multiple characters are pitted against each other. The name is probably derived from the film Battle Royale or the video game genre of the same name.[3]
• Bloodlusted - A hypothetical situation wherein the characters are pitted against each other while in a furious, berserker-like state.[1][2]
• Calc - These are calculations battleboarders use to determine how strong a character is, or his or her powers or weapons.
• Composite - A term originating from r/whowouldwin that denotes a version of a character that contains all of his or her feats across different versions or alliterations. This version is mostly created by battlboarders and sometimes tends to be disregarded as original characters.[3]
• Feat - An accomplishment that a certain character has done using his powers, weapons, or other ability during combat.
• Lowballing / Downplaying - The opposite of wanking where battleboarders instead exaggerate how weak a character is.
• Morals Off - A hypothetical situation wherein the characters are pitted against each other while disregarding whatever good moral compass they have.[1][2]
• Power Level - Also known as "tiers", this refers to categorizing different fictional characters in terms of how powerful they are.
• Power Scaling - A term used in battleboarding to refer to creating an artificial stat or feat for a character by comparing him or her to another character he or she has defeated in canon.[1]
• Prep - A hypothetical situation wherein the characters being pitted against each other are given some time to prepare for the fight.
• Respect Thread - Forum posts or articles that contain all of the scans and feats of a character.
• Scan - These are actual screenshots, scanned pictures, or even actual pictures of comics, manga, or literature that battleboarders use as evidence that a certain character has performed, and can probably still perform, an actual feat.[1]
• Speed Blitz - Taken from the German word "Blitz" and popularized by the World War II strategy known as "Blitzkrieg". Like its namesake, speed blitz is a term used for choosing a winner because he is too fast for his opponent to be able to effectively react. Essentially, it's making a verdict on a match-up due to advantages in speed.
• Speed Equalized - A hypothetical situation wherein the characters are pitted against each other while disregarding any advantages they have in terms of speed (unless their powers are literally super speed). This situation was born out of the observation that most characters have inconsistent speeds and they can theoretically fight at whatever optimal speed the people choose them to be in, in a fight.[1]
• Stomp - A description used for the result of an unfair matchup where one character has no means of winning the fight, with the act of "stomping" referring to a character winning such a matchup.
• Standard Battlefield Assumption - Often abbreviated to "SBA", is a term used when people pit two characters against each other without any added rule or situation. This generally means that the fight that’ll take place will start with characters meeting each other for the first time, without any prior knowledge of each other, and starting off at a relatively medium distance while in their base forms.
• Tank - A term used for when a character is durable enough to withstand attacks from his enemies. The term is taken from the war vehicle of the same name.[3]
• Wanking - A term that refers to an error where battleboarders exaggerate how strong a fictional character is, usually by overcomplicating a certain feat or abusing power scaling.
• X-Factor - A term originating from Deadliest Warrior and Deadliest Fiction. X-Factors are essential stats in a character that cannot be quantified like other stats such as strength or speed. Instead, x-factors are about comparing characteristics like experience, brutality, calmness, and logistics between each character.[3]

Battleboarding has gone on to inspire other media with its subculture and terminologies. Many web series such as “Ultimate Showdown of Ultimate Destiny”, Seth The Programmer, and Jobbers and Goons were inspired by it.[1][14]

There have also been websites and fanfiction inspired by the online activity, most notably by Death Battle. These include the long-running G1 Death Battle Fan Blog, r/deathbattlematchups, and the popular Death Battle Fanon Wiki and DBX Fanon Wiki.[2][4] Death Battle also released its own dice and card game, complete with rules and effects taken from battleboarding.[2]

According to video game developer Nick Antonis, the company Naxeex took inspiration for their superhero sandbox games from battleboarding shows and sites such as Death Battle and VS Battles Wiki. Antonis stated, “You can always count on them to be updated on new series and characters. Actually, a lot of our games, stories, and characters were inspired by these websites.”[15]