Inflating one's individual score or statistics in a video
game without productive contribution to gameplay. Usually refers to a style of
play that neglects all other activities except those yielding
easy points to personal score.
In games requiring teamwork, the "padder's" contribution to the
team effort and their team's capabilities usually suffer as a result.
One probable origin of the expression is the video
game Battlefield 2, where various, originally supportive activities could be abused to gain individual score without actually contributing to gameplay. In Battlefield: Bad Company 2 the tradition continued, as reviving dying players repeatedly with the defibrillator "pads" yielded relatively high personal score, but in most instances contributed
little to the team effort, as the medic would essentially abandon all other activity, sometimes
even being counterproductive by preventing teammates from playing freely.
*a round ends*
padder> "OH YEAH #1"
player> "we lost you statspadding
dick, you cost us 30 tickets for your 2 kills"
padder> "YEAH BUT I AM THE BEST"
player> "no, you're just a score
whore"
*player has joined the other team*
Red1> "god I hate stat padding"
Red2> "same, I just got revived three times in grenade spam"
Red1> "I know right, you're just stuck there, dying over and over again because some
asshole keeps reviving and not shooting the enemies"