A standard
pre-game greeting, used most predominantly in
RTS' (personal experience lending heavy credence to
Starcraft and
Warcraft III, both by
Blizzard, as examples). Grouped together with a veritable ocean of other
gamer jargon, "GL HF" is a typical
internet hybrid of efficiency and intent, shortened into single letters for rapid presentation.
Most frequently offered at the beginning of the game, it is both a wellwishing and a reminder:: "GL HF" = "Good luck, have fun!"
Though the usage of this 4-character clip-phrase is often proportionate to the frequency of use by the current gosu dominating the scene, it's still widely considered in nearly all competing countries, from America to Korea, good sportsmanship to offer this relatively miniscule but highly well-mannered phrase at the beginning of a match. In truth, many players have incorporated it into their pre-game routine as an automated twitch reflex, from the conditioning of thousands of repetitions. Sadly, even this little bit of online etiquette has to begun to fall more and more to the wayside, its meaning becoming increasingly hollow and automated, and its intent decreasingly sincere and well-intentioned.
The former part of the phrase is meant to keep fresh in the minds of all gamers that luck will always be a factor in a medium slaved to the ping lag of servers, fortune encoding of treasure drops and the pixelated randomization of damage distribution.
The latter serves to remind everyone why, inherently, they are there in the first place; to have fun.
Because, really; isn't that what playing a game is all about?
Well, unless of course you're 4K.Grubby, or Fatal1ty. Then you're just 1337.