For information on spawning in biology, see spawning.

In video games, especially first-person shooters, spawning is the creation of a player's avatar in the game and respawning is the recreation of that avatar after the avatar's death. This occurs at the beginning of the round or immediately after being killed. Most games have "spawn points" scattered throughout the map, though in levels designed for team play, there may simply be two areas, one for each team. Some players will lie in wait around spawn points to kill players as they spawn, a practice known as spawn camping. Spawn points for in-game objects other than players are often used and abused in a similar fashion in other types of games, such as MMORPGs. Similarly, the word respawn can be used to describe an item or NPC that reappears in the same area after it has been picked up or killed (respectively).

Spawning is also sometimes used in computer gaming in reference to installing a multiplayer-only version of a piece of software on a computer.