Please do me a favor: go to the Oxford University Press Languages website and vote goblin mode for the buzzword of the year. (Opens in a new tab)

I am asking you to do this because, for the first time in its history, Oxford University is asking the public to choose the word of the year. 'We wanted to open the final stage of the Word of the Year selection process to the true arbiters of language: the people of the world.'

To facilitate this, Oxford's "team of expert lexicographers" decided to crown a laureate from three words. Metaverse is bullshit (opens in new tab). The other is #IStandWith, which is a run-of-the-mill prefix modifier.

So guys, vote Goblin Mode. Because goblin mode is the rule. What is goblin mode? Says Oxford, "It's rejecting social expectations and doing what you want to do." Isn't that what we PC gamers are here to do? Aren't we here to indulge in six consecutive rounds of MOBAs rather than go grocery shopping?"

Vote for our lifestyle. Vote for taking care of yourself, rejecting society's suffocating norms, and having joy. Vote for not showering today, eating an entire bag of potato chips, taking a bite of cheese off the block, and building a tower of empty drink cans next to the monitor during a 12-hour session. Vote for sneaking off to watch Vampire Survivors while the baby naps. Vote for not wearing makeup, combing your hair, or changing out of your pajamas. I vote for the energy to have fun instead of trying to improve myself.

Because, we ask you, the metaverse the CEOs are trying to sell you is terrible, a degraded version of the Internet that is bound to collapse like the various irrational Ponzi schemes it is based on.

Not just for us, of course. For goblins all over the world. For goblin mode.

You can vote for your favorite Oxford buzzword of the year on the website languages.oup.com (opens in new tab).