What Does RNG Mean?

In many games being streamed on Twitch or viewed on YouTube you will hear the term RNG used frequently. RNG means Random Number Generator.

An example of this in video games would be the random card draws in Hearthstone: the game uses a Random Number Generator to dictate the next card you draw or outcome of a coin toss…this is why so many people are heard cursing about RNG on streams. It’s like cursing a coin for coming up tails when you wanted heads.

Separately from card games like Hearthstone there are things like dungeon crawlers. RNG can have a large role in these as well, dictating when you get certain loot drops and when you don’t. If you’ve been farming a World of Warcraft boss for hours and still haven’t gotten his/her rare drop, don’t give up! Every time you kill the creature you ‘roll’ and if the rolled number X is greater than or equal to the required number for loot drop, you’ll get your item.

There are many more examples to be found throughout the world of gaming, these are just a couple to provide a basic explanation.

A little bit extra: a physical RNG device can be found in many homes as a pair of dice! Roll them to receive a random number. Bam! RNG.

Thanks for stopping by,
Aeliantis