“Oh that’s quite nice,” you might have thought after seeing screenshots or the map of the new desert level coming to Playerunknown’s Battlegrounds. Sure, I guess looking at pictures is ‘fun’ if you like that sort of thing. But I am a deeply serious Plunker, in it to win it. Now that another new batch of desert screenshots is out, I am deciding what I’ll nickname these building types and landmarks to efficiently communicate with my Plunkpals and facilitate victory. There are no Butlins over in the desert, chums, no more C-Dot or Red Murder Houses. Let’s settle some new names together.

Nvidia’s blog slammed up five new screenshots on Thursday so let’s examine them and try to figure this out. (Click ’em for bigger versions.)

Lots of derricks here. If I played with Pip more I’d name this area Most Haunted, but I don’t know if my regular Plunkpals are familiar enough with the work of television medium Derek Acorah to appreciate that.

Those three doodads (chimneys?) on the hill to the left are surely a useful landmark. What’s a memorable trio? Sugababes, obvs. Maybe another name for Pip’s benefit.

Lots going on here! I am at least thankful that the shops have different names. Well, some different names; the duplicates will be tricky. That big unfinished framework in the middle instantly makes me think Tetris. The pair of orange and white striped refinery towers poking up out the mid-right can only be Pet Shop Boys.

Since playing with climbing & vaulting on the test server, I’m also trying to figure out which strange places I can reach in these screenshots. If I ever get killed by someone who’s hidden prone on top of the taco(?) cart, I’ll be annoyed that their daft idea worked but fair play to them.

That rock formation behind the barn has an animalistic look to it but it’s a tricky one. Is it a sitting dromedary? Or a St. Bernard dog with a cat curled up on its back? Hmm. What do you see? We’ll need to get a definitive ruling on this pareidolia.

Heck. I do not have a name for this building archetype. Maybe that’s good. It’d likely be something only Pip would understand anyway.

I remain fascinated by what different groups name places and why.

Still no firm word on when we’ll get to visit the desert ourselves. This map is one of the big features due to officially arrive in Plunkbat when it leaves early access and launches as version 1.0. Last we heard, that should happen in late December. The other big features are overhauled balistics and the climbing & vaulting system, all of which saw action on the test server earlier this week.

What I most enjoyed about climbing & vaulting was seeing a whole new terrain layer appear from objects that were always there, always visible, but I’d never paid attention to in that context. Several times I was surprised to find myself on top of objects and places I’d seen a thousand times before but never had awareness of as places to stand. Every single player being able to vault, not needing to know how to crouch-jump, changed it too. And I’d see enemies in places that were previously inaccessible, where I’d never expect to find someone and didn’t factor into my understanding of the space. A whole layer of the world was hidden in plain sight.

Did it change that much? Ah, the game is still same ol’ Plunkbat at heart. But definitely I miss climbing & vaulting now the test server is offline.