Torn player slang and memes
What TornLife's research has established about Torn player slang and memes, and the questions players asked about it.
What TornLife has verified
- The meme spread beyond its origin board: a reply in the unrelated Tutorials & Guides board on 2026-07-26 jokingly complains a guide lacked 'memes' or 'buttholes', and a moderator graved a copycat Graveyard thread titled 'Butthole reveal.' on 2026-08-08 for being repetitive, and a player publicly asked others to stop on 2026-08-09. (player reports; Butthole reveal., )
- 'Butthole' functions as a running forum joke/dare: players post threatening or inviting others to 'show your butthole', a running gag rather than any in-game item, mechanic or player nickname. (player reports; Please buy my account, )
- The Torn Wiki's general 'Competition Status' profile element, documented before the Rock Paper Scissors feature existed, is described generically as an area that displays how well a player is doing in a competition if they choose to participate; this is the same profile slot later used to show the Rock/Paper/Scissors icon. (documented; Profiles › Profile Information › Medals / Personal Information / Competition St…, )
- The viral surge began with a General Discussion thread titled 'SHOW US YOUR BUTTHOLE!' opened by Ben_Hagen on 2026-07-22, which credits player Chirrut_Imwe with starting the trend and describes it spreading via 'copycats everywhere now'. (player reports; SHOW US YOUR BUTTHOLE!, )
- No patch, update or official item introduction is associated with the term; all sources are ordinary and Graveyard-board forum threads, not patch notes or wiki entries, confirming this is purely a community-driven forum joke, not a game feature. (documented; Please buy my account, )
- Rock, Paper, Scissors is a real Torn feature/event, released around February 20, 2024. Each player is assigned one of three elements (Rock, Paper, or Scissors), displayed on their profile when no competition is active. (documented; Rock Paper Scissors › Overview, )
- The wiki's Rock Paper Scissors article is explicitly marked as still in progress, meaning the mechanic was not (as of the May 2025 capture) fully documented. (documented; Rock Paper Scissors › Overview, )
- NPCs in the game are also assigned an element in the Rock Paper Scissors system; the NPC Duke was reported as scissors, which a player called an unfair advantage because Duke is a commonly-fought NPC. (confirmed by Torn; NPCs Have Rock Paper Scissors, )
- A Torn developer acknowledged the Duke/scissors NPC advantage as a genuine unfair advantage for the scissors faction, in a reply dated 2026-02-20, with no fix confirmed in these sources. (confirmed by Torn; NPCs Have Rock Paper Scissors, )
- Multiple separate forum threads (at least six in this pack, spanning Feb 2024 to Sep 2026) were opened by players confused about what the Rock Paper Scissors icons/event mean, with several threads simply moved to Q&A or graved as duplicates rather than answered in-thread. (player reports; Rock , Paper, Scissors...Stupidist idea EVER, )
- Multiple forum threads across 2024 to 2026 were literally titled 'Rock Paper Scissors', 'Rock/paper/scissors update?', 'Numbers under Rock / paper /scissors', 'What is Rock / Paper / Scissors for', and 'Rock, Paper, Scissors', all asking players or staff to explain the same profile feature; none produced an official explanation of its purpose or the numbers shown. (documented; Rock, Paper, Scissors, )
- The word 'Scissors' also names an unrelated crafting tool used in the Forgery skill's Passport project (for Cover Cutting, Page Trimming, and Lamination steps), with no connection to the Rock Paper Scissors profile competition. (documented; Forgery › Projects › Passport — Passport, )
Questions about Torn player slang and memes
- What does the Torn slang/meme term 'buttholes' refer to, and why are players currently discussing it a lot?
'Butthole' is pure forum slang for a 2026 meme/dare — players jokingly post demanding others 'show your butthole' — not any in-game item, mechanic or…
- What is "Rock, paper, scissors" in Torn - is it an in-game feature, or slang for a counter-relationship between certain game mechanics?
It's a literal in-game profile feature, not slang for a game-mechanic counter-relationship. Rock Paper Scissors is a mechanic released around 20 Febr…