What is "Proc"? What is "Proccing"?

Question: What is "Proc"? What is "Proccing"?

Answer: "Proc" is a computer gamer term. It rhymes with "dock". "Proc" is both a noun and a verb.

"Proc" and "proccing" is used to describe whenever a random gaming item activates, or a random gaming event occurs. Particularly common for massive multiplayer online games, procs are random events where special armor or weapons provide the user with temporary extra powers, or whenever the opposing monster suddenly becomes more powerful in some way.

• e.g. "Whenever my trinket procs, I get extra dodge for 20 seconds"
  
• e.g. "My rifle speed-up never procs enough for my tastes."
  
• e.g. "My ring usually procs once every two minutes"
  
• e.g. "Don't let his lightning charge proc, or else we are all dead"

Here are some examples of gaming procs:

• a special spellcast suddenly becomes available to the player.
• a sudden armor bonus will activate and last for 10 seconds.
• the player will temporarily receive more health points, allowing her to fight a monster longer.
• the monster will suddenly gaing extra strength to crush the players in front of him.

Origin of the term "proc"

Oddly, the term proc has been influenced by many sources. No single source has been definitively credited with the term "proc", but here are the most likely candidates.

• 1) PROCess. This is the most accepted source of the expression "proc", but many programmers prefer the second explanation below:
  
  
• 2) PROCedure. Coming from the world of Pascal programming, there were text-based games where gamer commands would be typed like "proc meleestrike wraith"
  
  
• 3) special PROCedure. This is variant of the #2 explanation above.
  
  
• 4) Programmed Random OCcurrence. This is also a favorite explanation of "proc" amongst programmers. This alleged origin also describes the randomness of a proc, and how it is not a guaranteed event.