Carry

When one player performs far better than the rest of their team and effectively wins the match for them, they are said to be carrying. “He carried us” is high praise; “I got carried” admits you were not much help. A “hard carry” is an especially dominant performance.

Carry as a role

In some team games, particularly multiplayer online battle arenas, “carry” is also the name of a role. A carry character starts weak but grows much stronger as the match goes on, and the team’s plan is to protect them early so they can win late. The rest of the team may give up resources to help the carry grow. This is a formal role rather than slang about performance.

Carrying in co-operative games

In online role-playing games and co-operative shooters, a carry can mean an experienced player helping a less experienced one through difficult content they could not finish alone – a raid, a hard boss or a high-level activity. Friends do this for each other all the time. In some games, though, carries are also sold for real money by other players or services. These arrangements usually break a game’s terms of service and risk account bans or scams.

The related idea of “boosting” – someone else playing your account to raise your rank – is typically against the rules and can lead to penalties.

What newcomers should know

Being carried by friends is a normal part of learning a game, and most experienced players enjoy helping. Watch what they do and ask questions. For parents, it is worth knowing that offers to “carry” or “boost” accounts for money often come from strangers and are a common route to scams or losing an account. A simple rule – never share log-in details with anyone, and never pay outsiders for in-game help – avoids most problems.