User:Grue/Roflcopter
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The Roflcopter (sometimes called ROFLCOPTER) is an Internet phenomenon that originated on the Newgrounds flash website. It is a notable example of using ASCII Art and animation to great effect. After acquiring a healthy fanbase on The Vestibule and the forums of Something Awful, it swept the Internet by storm, gaining a strong and loyal following, plenty of Urban Dictionary entries, and even a Flash game devoted to it.
[edit] Origins
The term ROFLcopter originated on forums such as Fark, and meant a newbie who continuously spouted faux-l33t acronyms such as ROFL ("rolling on floor, laughing") that longtime members considered cliché.
Another claim is that it is named after the Gyrocopter unit in Warcraft 3. Because the gyrocopter is often considered a pointless, weak unit, players would "ROFL" each time they saw one. however the word "roflcopter" predates Warcraft 3 therefore not being the origin
Still another is that a Counter-Strike map included a helicopter emblazoned with ROFL, but this probably alludes to the Something Awful usage.
[edit] ROFL Attack
This Flash game started the next age of the Roflcopter saga by encouraging the development of other ASCII art animations based on popular Internet slang. In this game (based on the Choplifter genre), one is an Elite ROFLER, manning the ROFLCOPTER, using WASD to maneuver it and the mouse to fire an unlimited supply of bullets shot from the ROFLING gun inside the Roflcopter at the enemy LOLLERskaters (ground units) and LMAOplanes (air units). In addition to the ROFLING gun, one can also deploy a limited number of OMGmissiles, which travel horizontally and can hit LMAOplanes, and WTFbombs, which are dropped onto the LOLLERskaters. The Roflcopter can also wield a BBLshield with limited charge that will prevent damage from any attacks or enemy units that hit it. The game ends when the health meter runs out, after which you are presented with a screen of statistics.
The game was developed by TheCrunge, which also maintains a high score list for registered users of its site. The game is modeled after the game Heli Attack 2, playable on Miniclip.com.
