I've never seen "nerf" used colloquially and today i've seen it at least a half-dozen times across various sites. Y'all APIs?

it's popular with gamers to describe the way certain weapons/items get modified by the game developer to perform worse.

buffing is the opposite, when an item gets better.

I've heard nerf used colloquially since like the 90's.

?

Different circles. I imagine they don't game.