More Dakka

About

More Dakka is a gaming catchphrase typically used in reference to the firing rate of an automatic ranged weapon in first-person shooter video games. The word "dakka" is an onomatopoeia describing the sound produced by fully-automatic weapons in action. In general, acquiring "more dakka" leads to a faster rate of bullet discharge and thus improves the player's overall chance of taking out hostiles.

Origin

The word "Dakka" originated from the tabletop wargame Warhammer 40,000. One of the army factions in the game, the Orks, are well-known for their obsession with automatic firearms (even if they don't aim, shown by them having a rather poor Ballistic Skill of 2, where as a normal human has one of 3), to the point where it is within their culture that the faster your gun fires, the better.

This is represented by their guns being Assault 2 rather than Rapid Fire (the difference being that with Assault 2, you can always fire two bullets no matter how far you move. Rapid Fire fires two rounds up to half range, and one round if you didn't move at all, but only past half-range. However, again to simulate Ork inaccuracy, the Shoota has a shorter range of 18", where as a "lasgun", which is as close to a "normal" gun as you can get in the setting has a range of 24"). It is also an upgrade available for Flash Gitz (the most wealthy Orks, typically decked out in a bunch of gaudy jewlery with the most expensive guns, called "snazzguns". The More Dakka upgrade makes it Assault 2 rather than Assault 1)

Usage

Whenever one wants to make the sound of an automatic weapon, they typically write dakka-dakka-dakka to simulate the noise of the gun. Commonly speaking, whenever one brings up the possibility of there being "enough dakka", the response tends to be met with that there is no such thing as enough dakka (typically spelled very poorly, in reference to the Orks having rather humorously overdone cockney accents).

In the Ork's own language, Dakka stands for either "Attack", "Noisy Weapon", "Shoot", or "Fight". The second piece fits into the Ork's view that a gun needs to be LOUD for it to actually be effective. Orks have a hard time believing that a quiet weapon can actually do anything, so they make their guns louder to make them better. As such, Ork "Shootas" (an Ork's equivalent of an assault rifle) and "Sluggas" (the Ork equivilant to a pistol) tend to make a lot of noise when shot.

Recognition

While very few entries specifically reference More Dakka, TVtropes.org compiled a list of examples that revolve around fast-firing weapons: http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pmwiki.php/Main/MoreDakka

Similarly, 1d4chan (the wiki revolving around 4chan and tabletop games) has an entry on Dakka, located here: http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Dakka

The meme itself is rather small, but anybody who has even a passing understanding of Warhammer 40,000 and knows of the Orks has at least some awareness that they love Dakka above everything else.