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Meat ShieldMeat shield is jargon used in games in reference to a player or unit who is designated to protect weaker units behind it using brute force. In computer role-playing games, tank is a similar jargon word that is perhaps more respectful of the character's role. Meat shields are usually picked for one of two reasons: - The meat shield is inconsequential relative to who it is protecting and thus its death is preferred to the death of the units behind.
- The meat shield has a high damage tolerance. A good example of this would be swordsmen with archers behind them. The swordsmen have shields, and thus take less damage from their foes and protect the archers behind.
A "tank" in an RPG tends to fall in the latter category because the player characters are usually not treated as expendable. Tanks are warriors, with arms and armor, fighting skills, and high hit points. The characters a tank protects might include a healer who keeps the tank (and other party members) alive. This word may also be applied to players in team-based first-person shooters who play "point", thereby either drawing fire to themselves or doing intial damage to the enemy team, enabling their teammates to clean up the distracted or weakened enemy players.
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