Abbreviations used here

[TrickWithAKnife]

Surely I'm not the only person who is confused with all the abbreviations and terms people use when talking about their projects.
I'm hoping there can be a list made so some newer people can figure out what is going on, and maybe not stumble into topics they would otherwise avoid.
Here's some examples:

I've compiled a list based on the replies below. If I made a mistake, please let me know. Credits to the people who posted in this topic.

...we tend to use English-language meanings here, even when those meanings diverge from the Japanese.

VN = Visual Novel
KN = Kinetic Novel
OELVN = Original English Language Visual Novel
EVN = English Visual Novel

ADV = Adventure (line-by-line text)
NVL = Novel (screen of text)

WiP = Work in Progress

DA = Deviant Art
Nanoreno = THIS
IntRenAiMo = International Ren'Ai Month
LSF = Lemma Soft Forums (You're looking at it right now)

BxB = Boy pursues Boy
BxG = Boy pursues Girl
GxG = Girl pursues Girl
GxB = Girl pursues Boy

Yaoi = Dominant guy and passive guy, with sexual content
Shounen-ai = Similar to Yaoi, but more G-rated
Bishounen = Games featuring beautiful boys targeted at girls

Otome = Games aimed at girls
Shoujo = Games aimed at younger girls
Bishoujo = Games featuring beautiful young girls, mainly targeted at a male audience. The opposite of an Otome, Bishoujo games are usually called Galges (ガルゲ）

Ecchi = A work that's sexy/erotic without rising to the level of being pornographic
Hentai = A work of anime or manga (or any similar medium) that contains sexual or pornographic art

Yuri = Love between females with explicit scenes
Shoujo-Ai = Soft version of Yuri.

Galge = [Gal-game/(ガルゲ)], which are games featuring female [girl/gal] that are directed to male audiences.
Otoge = [Otome-game] which are games featuring male [otoko] that are directed to female audiences.

Shotacon = Games that sexualize underage boys.
Lolicon = Games that sexualize underage girls.
If you find either of those previous two appealing, please seek psychiatric help. I'm not joking.

[Hijiri]

OELVN = Original English Language Visual Novel (It's much easier to use EVN; English Visual Novel)
Yaoi = Yama Nashi, Ochi Nashi, Imi Nashi (No climax, no point, no meaning)

[teacup]

OELVN = Original English Language Visual Novel
BxB, BxG, GxB = Boy pursues Boy, Boy pursues Girl, Girl pursues Boy... meaning a BxB game will have a Boy protagonist with Boy love interests, etc etc.
Otome = Literally means maiden. Kind of hard to define but... otome game mainly means a game for girls. Some people say otome is the same as GxB and others say they're different things, I'm not really sure what the difference is.
Shoujo = It means [young] girl.

[Auro-Cyanide]

OELVN mean Original English Language Visual Novel, though personal I dislike the term since Visual Novels are simple a medium and the word is in english, making OELVN kind of pointless.

Otome means maiden in Japanese, mainly used to refer to games aimed at girls. People often use it to refer to GxB pairing games, but I'm pretty sure you wouldn't be technically wrong calling without pairings but still aimed at a girl demographic 'otome'.

Yaoi refers to guy on guy pairings. There is an argueable difference between yaoi and shonen-ai depending on the level of sexual content, but this is often overlooked in english.

Shojo/Shoujo means girl and refers to the female demographic. Within that are a number of contained stereotypes, cliches and tropes that allude to what girls like.

Someone should explain Nanoreno. I would, but I still don't quite get it.

[Hijiri]

Yaoi refers to guy on guy pairings. There is an argueable difference between yaoi and shonen-ai depending on the level of sexual content, but this is often overlooked in english..

Actually, general Consensus in the Western areas is that Yaoi is porn while shounen-ai is the G-Rated love stuff.

[Auro-Cyanide]

Yaoi refers to guy on guy pairings. There is an argueable difference between yaoi and shonen-ai depending on the level of sexual content, but this is often overlooked in english..

Actually, general Consensus in the Western areas is that Yaoi is porn while shounen-ai is the G-Rated love stuff.

I've seen plenty of people use the word otherwise, though they are mostly young (and on DA... take what you want from that). It's kind of like the different degrees people use the term Yuri. It also probably caused by people having different levels of sensitivity and there being a whole heap of levels between porn and G-rated. I prefer the term BL (Boy Love) myself since it's more a general description.

[Sapphi]

Someone should explain Nanoreno. I would, but I still don't quite get it.

Hey, now that you mention it, what the heck does that stand for?

[teacup]

Someone should explain Nanoreno. I would, but I still don't quite get it.

Hey, now that you mention it, what the heck does that stand for?

Nothing, apparently ^^;

[Gambit74]

If you're going to include Shoujo, then you should probably include Shounen as well, which basically means young boy from what I can understand (Probably in their teens).

[Auro-Cyanide]

If you're going to include Shoujo, then you should probably include Shounen as well, which basically means young boy from what I can understand (Probably in their teens).

Yeah, there is:

Shoujo: Young girl
Shounen: Young boy
Seinen: Older men
Josei: Older women

And I suppose you can chuck Hentai in there too if you want.

[Taleweaver]

Strictly speaking, yaoi describes a special kind of fictional homosexual relationship between men. It's always a sexual relationship (purely romantic hand-holding isn't yaoi) between a dominant partner (called seme) and a passive partner (called uke). Many stories about these relationships share other qualities too and are often criticized as not very original, thus the term "yaoi" as "Yama Nashi, Ochi Nashi, Imi Nashi" (no climax, no point, no meaning).

Among non-Japanese native speakers, "yaoi" is often used as an equivalent for "gay sex story".

Another term that might pop up is "ecchi". Ecchi is the Japanese pronounciation of the English letter "h" (as in "hentai") and, in Japanese, means "related to sexual or perverted activities" - for example, instead of asking someone if he/she wants to make out, you might ask if he/she's interested in doing some "ecchi". In the context of fiction and also VNs, however, "ecchi" is usually understood as softer erotica or soft porn (nudity yes, some lewd touching maybe, sex-related comedy definitely, explicit sexual acts no).

[aestate]

Someone should explain Nanoreno. I would, but I still don't quite get it.

Hey, now that you mention it, what the heck does that stand for?

Nothing, apparently ^^;

I tried to reason it out with the abbreviation it's based on (NAtional NOvel WRIting MOnth) but it's impossible. Logic has failed me. ;A;

On a less related note, why not include "yuri" and "shoujo-ai"? I don't think I see these two terms used quite as often as "yaoi" and "shounen-ai", though. Maybe it's the demographic of this forum?
(Which reminds me, the obvious "LSF" = Lemma Soft Forums. lol.)

[TrickWithAKnife]

I can add them if I someone explains what they mean.
I can speak some Japanese, but it's more of daily conversation.

[PyTom]

You should probably clarify that we tend to use English-language meanings here, even when those meanings diverge from the Japanese.

For example, Ecchi in English generally means a work that's sexy/erotic without rising to the level of being pornographic.

[gekiganwing]

One web search for 'Nanoreno' lead me to an article on the Toothycat wiki that defined the term as "(Inter)National Renai Game Writing Month."

Not too long ago, I would throw around terms such as "dating sims," "renai games," and "hentai games." I use the first of the three phrases sparingly now, and I've stopped using the other two terms. Unless I find a game which includes complex simulation gameplay, I avoid calling it any sort of simulation. If I'm discussing a worksafe, non-simulation game which is about fictional relationships, I will use terms such as "romance game" or "harem story," depending on which is appropriate. And if I'm talking about an NSFW game, then I'll call it a "porn game."

There's a terminology guide on the BL Games forum from 2007 that has some different definitions. The Translation Library stopped updating in early 2010, but it had a brief glossary. And there was an FAQ on Megatokyo, but it's outdated now, and it's difficult to find it except through archive.org.