Owned (slang)

For the state of ownership, see Ownership.

Owned is a slang word (e.g. "that guy just got owned"), that originated among 1990s hackers, where it referred to "rooting" or gaining administrative control over someone else's computer.

The term's original usage was close to that of the traditional meaning of the word "own" - for instance, "I owned the network at MIT" indicated that the speaker had cracked the servers and had the same root-level privileges that the legitimate owner of the servers had. "Owned", a later variant, became more common in the late 1990s, as did the more abstract usage referring to any compromised security mechanism. By 1997, "owned" was regularly used in website defacements, and it subsequently spread to gaming circles, where it was used to refer to defeat in a game. For example, if a player makes a particularly impressive kill shot or wins a match by an appreciable margin in a multiplayer video game, it is not uncommon for he/she to say "owned" to the loser(s), as a manifestation of victory, a taunt, or provocation. "Ownage" has become a modern equivalent to a “Turkey Shoot,” such as an experienced faction verses a beginner or disadvantaged faction.

Owned has now spread beyond computer and gaming contexts and become part of standard slang, and typically follows severe defeat or humiliation, usually in an amusing way or through the dominance of an opposing party. Other variations of the word owned include own3d, 0wn3d and pooned, terms which incorporate elements of leetspeak.

In 2009, Newgrounds described a security vulnerability in ActiveX as leaving Windows XP and Windows 2003 Server users open to a "Browse-And-Get-Owned" attack.

Pwned/Bwned

At some point, the variant term "pwned" appeared in the same subculture, which originated from typos that occurred when hasty gamers tried typing too fast on the keyboard, thus missing the "o" and typing "p" instead. Pwn has become a term in its own right. Additionally, a similar derivative "bwned" has recently come into regular usage among certain circles. "Bwned" conveys meaning and imagery similar to the more common and phonetically identical "boned," albeit in the context of a virtual experience, rather than more serious real-life situations typically associated with "boned." It is used to summarize any condition where an individual or team has been "owned" to the extent of becoming genuinely painful, uncomfortable or embarrassing mentally. e.g. "Tony got bwned hard... He just lost 50-3!"

Usually these conversations would occur in online arenas (such as Counter-Strike, Starcraft, and Team Fortress). If a player is killed/beaten, particularly in a way that is demeaning, e.g. with a melee weapon, one could readily use the term.

Also, in the "Call of Duty" series, it refers to a term in which you get killed or "owned" by a person carrying the riot shield weapon. also when you get "owned" by a monster cock while planting the bomb.