gemning

Gemning is a term used primarily in online gaming to describe the practice of enhancing equipment by inserting gemstones into sockets or slots. In many role-playing and massively multiplayer online games, items can have one or more gem sockets, and players acquire gems with varying stats and rarities to place in those sockets. The process aims to improve character performance by boosting attributes such as strength, stamina, mana, or critical chance. The effectiveness of gemming depends on the game’s rules, including color or type matching, level requirements, and the existence of higher-tier or “meta” gems.

In practice, players consider build goals, item availability, and market price when choosing which gems to insert. Some games emphasize color matching, where the gem’s attribute aligns with the socket’s color, while others reward raw stat value or specialized effects. Gems may be obtainable through dungeon runs, crafting, quests, or trading, and patches or expansions can alter gem availability, stat values, or socket counts. The term occasionally appears with alternate spellings such as “gemming” or is used interchangeably with socketing and gem-setting, though the precise mechanics vary by game.

Outside video games, gemming can colloquially refer to the setting of gemstones in jewelry, though professional terminology for that practice is more commonly gem setting or stone setting. The gaming sense of gemning remains the most widely recognized usage in contemporary media.