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Back in the day, I played Counter-strike, Quake, Warcraft, Doom (I played PvP against people in my dorm using modem using IPX protocol pre-Internet). The first

Back in the day, I played Counter-strike, Quake, Warcraft, Doom (I played PvP against people in my dorm using modem using IPX protocol pre-Internet). The first place I saw it was definitely Counter-strike. My guess is that it originated in CS and then leaked out from there.

Nadya 5y ago
1989: http://phrack.org/issues/24/11.html http://phrack.org/issues/24/11.html Unless Y2K comes before 1989 it most certainly did not come from Counter-strike. Pwning something had existed throughout the 1990's hacker culture and likely was in use in the 80's too. There are some of us old enough to remember it being used. It probably stemmed from QWERTY keyboards and o/p being close to one another. "Pwned" is an easy typo from "Owned" and "owned by [some hacker/hacker group]" was always common way to deface hacked websites. It easily predates Counter-strike's release date by at least a decade so it could not have originated from CS.
- hug 5y ago
  “Phrack World News” and it’s acronym are a different usage to the word synonymous with “own” — which is not saying it wasn’t in use before counter-strike, but the link isn’t good evidence for it.
  - Nadya 5y ago
    I overlooked the acronym and that is a very fair point.
- ping_pong 5y ago
  Do a bit better research. It stands for Phrack World News in this context. I also read Phrack back in the day as well. How about trying to search through all the Phrack articles to find the use of the word "pwn" that doesn't refer to Phrack World News? Spoiler alert: you won't find any usage of "pwn" or "pwned" until well past 2000. If it was so much part of hacker culture you would have seen a reference in the earlier articles, but you don't.
fogihujy 5y ago
I saw pwn being used as a synonym for own in the mid-90's so it definitely predates Counter Strike. That being said, it probably originated as a typo and that could have happened on multiple occasions.
- quesera 5y ago
  You are definitely correct. Hack/phreak BBS culture and leetspeak went mainstream though IRC and video game chat. Everything old is new again, nothing new under the sun, etc. I'm waiting for !!1!!!1!11 to make a resurgence.
atatatat 5y ago
> The first place I saw it was definitely Counter-strike Nobody ever made that hilarious typo in a shooter before CS, lol You are the arbiter of truth.

Nadya 5y ago

1989: http://phrack.org/issues/24/11.html http://phrack.org/issues/24/11.html Unless Y2K comes before 1989 it most certainly did not come from Counter-strike. Pwning something had existed throughout the 1990's hacker culture and likely was in use in the 80's too. There are some of us old enough to remember it being used. It probably stemmed from QWERTY keyboards and o/p being close to one another. "Pwned" is an easy typo from "Owned" and "owned by [some hacker/hacker group]" was always common way to deface hacked websites. It easily predates Counter-strike's release date by at least a decade so it could not have originated from CS.

hug 5y ago
“Phrack World News” and it’s acronym are a different usage to the word synonymous with “own” — which is not saying it wasn’t in use before counter-strike, but the link isn’t good evidence for it.
- Nadya 5y ago
  I overlooked the acronym and that is a very fair point.
ping_pong 5y ago
Do a bit better research. It stands for Phrack World News in this context. I also read Phrack back in the day as well. How about trying to search through all the Phrack articles to find the use of the word "pwn" that doesn't refer to Phrack World News? Spoiler alert: you won't find any usage of "pwn" or "pwned" until well past 2000. If it was so much part of hacker culture you would have seen a reference in the earlier articles, but you don't.

fogihujy 5y ago

I saw pwn being used as a synonym for own in the mid-90's so it definitely predates Counter Strike. That being said, it probably originated as a typo and that could have happened on multiple occasions.

quesera 5y ago
You are definitely correct. Hack/phreak BBS culture and leetspeak went mainstream though IRC and video game chat. Everything old is new again, nothing new under the sun, etc. I'm waiting for !!1!!!1!11 to make a resurgence.

atatatat 5y ago

> The first place I saw it was definitely Counter-strike Nobody ever made that hilarious typo in a shooter before CS, lol You are the arbiter of truth.