Mixed Reality Gaming Glossary: 25 Terms Explained Simply

Headset gaming comes with a pile of jargon. This mixed reality gaming glossary explains 25 common terms in plain English, grouped so you can find what you need. Examples use Tank Avenger: Mixed Reality where helpful.

Headset and platform terms

Mixed reality (MR): virtual objects shown in and interacting with your real surroundings.

Virtual reality (VR): a fully digital world that replaces your view of the room.

Augmented reality (AR): digital content overlaid on a view of the real world, often via a phone.

XR: umbrella term covering VR, AR and MR.

Passthrough: the live camera view of your room shown inside the headset. Tank Avenger needs it to work.

Meta Quest: the family of headsets Tank Avenger runs on, provided they support passthrough mixed reality.

Room terms

Room setup / Space Setup: the process of capturing your floor, walls and furniture so apps know where real surfaces are.

Play space: the clear area you use to play. Tank Avenger suggests roughly 2 × 2 metres.

Boundary: the safety outline your headset shows to keep you from walking into things. Keep it enabled.

Anchor: a fixed point in the room that a virtual object stays attached to.

Arena: the play area of a level. In Tank Avenger, it is built around your real play space.

Interaction terms

Hand tracking: the headset follows your hands without a controller, depending on the game and device.

Room-scale: play that uses real movement around a space.

Gesture: a hand motion that triggers an action, like catching a NUKE and throwing it away.

Haptics: vibration feedback you feel.

Game-design terms

Telegraph: a visible warning before an enemy attack.

Ricochet: a bounce of a projectile off a surface. The Normal Gun bounces once and the Fast Gun twice.

Cover: objects that protect you from fire.

Spawn point: where a player or enemy appears. In Tank Avenger's Level Builder, you can put one by the door.

Level builder: a tool for creating your own levels.

Progression: how you advance and improve over time, through levels and upgrades.

Power-up / ability: a temporary or special helper, like Shield, Speed Boost or Air Strike.

Loadout: the set of weapons or tools you bring.

Mode terms

Deathmatch: destroy every enemy on the field.

Capture the Flag: capture and defend the enemy flag.

Survival: fight through wave after wave of enemies.

Juggernaut: a mode about becoming the ultimate powerhouse.

How to use these terms

When shopping for games, the most important ones are passthrough, play space and room setup. They tell you if your headset and room are ready. Design terms like telegraph and ricochet help you read reviews and understand why a game feels good or frustrating.

A tip about room setup

If a mixed reality game's arena does not line up with your room, re-run the room setup with floor, walls and furniture captured, then restart the game. That tip comes from Tank Avenger's support page and applies widely.

Safety words worth knowing

Always keep boundary features enabled, clear obstacles and take breaks. Virtual objects do not protect you from real ones.

Keep exploring

For related reading, our other guides cover passthrough, room-scale play and tabletop games. To see many of these terms in action, visit the Tank Avenger page.

Where to go next

Once the vocabulary is familiar, the best way to learn is to try a game and watch the terms appear in practice. Run room setup, notice the boundary, place an arena on a table and look at how passthrough shows your hands. You will find that the words stick quickly when you can connect them to something you have seen. Keep this glossary handy for reference, and refer to the other guides in this series when a term needs more depth.

FAQ

What is the difference between VR, AR and MR?

VR replaces your surroundings with a digital world, AR overlays content on the real world, and MR blends virtual objects with the real world so they interact.

What does passthrough mean?

A live camera view of your room shown inside the headset, which mixed reality games build on.

What is a spawn point?

The place where a player or enemy appears in a level.

What is a level builder?

A tool inside a game that lets you build your own levels, like Tank Avenger's Level Builder.