Srs question, when did people start calling a single, individual monster a "mob"?

And did this start with POE?

It's goddamned fascinating. I'm not one of those people that gets bent out of shape when somebody misuses their/they're/there and other such things, in fact I could care less (...lul) but I actually am really curious how this started. "Mob" seems to be a word that could easily be in the "Top 10 words it's impossible to not know the definition of*" list.

*Don't end a sentence in a preposition.

No, it did not start with PoE. I first heard 'mob' used this way all the way back in 2005 in WoW.

The term "mob" is short for "mobile, which was used by Richard Bartle for objects that were self-mobile in MUD1. The term as it exists in MMORPGs is derived from the MUD usage. (Source code in DikuMUD uses the term "mob" to refer to a generic NPC; DikuMUD was a heavy influence on EverQuest.) The term is properly an abbreviation rather than an acronym, but backronyms for "MOB" such as "monster or beast," "mere ordinary beast" and "mean old bastard" have also been coined.

2005? Try 1978 - 1984.

I shared your pain. Back when I was little and played D2 LoD, people used it a lot. Every time, I was confused, because until then, my definition of 'Mob' was a group of some sort.
Eventually I asked someone why they were calling single monster's 'mob's. It's just something people use nowadays. What Amity said SOUNDS all well and good, and I certainly don't have the knowledge to say otherwise. I would say some people who have very believable reasons such as his sometimes are just essentially making it up. What he said, to me, is half believable and half far-fetched, but again, I certainly wouldn't say that I have anywhere near the required knowledge to say otherwise.

But yeah, I know what you mean, them dang-dern mobs.

~Az

Edit: The only part I would say I know for 100% is that it is short for mobile, referring to any general unit NPC. All that technical stuff, ta hell if I know! :p

"

AmityXIII wrote:

lifted straight from wikipedia

And to think I was going to give you credit for such a deep and insightful response... ;-P

"

Garr0t wrote:

"

AmityXIII wrote:

lifted straight from wikipedia

And to think I was going to give you credit for such a deep and insightful response... ;-P

Credit? You think I am worried about credit? Sorry, my objective was to provide accurate information. (Yeah yeah, Wiki isn't accurate) Well in this case it is. Sue me, I didn't feel like exhausting my time to pinpoint the information I originally obtained from the following...

http://www.amazon.co.uk/Designing-Virtual-Worlds-Richard-Bartle/dp/0131018167



Feel free to indulge yourself. ;)

Funny, i was just thinking about adapting a MUD to duplicate PoE without graphics.

Ive coded MUDs before, and i can assure everyone, the term MOB does indeed derive from them. Indeed most all of modern gaming owes to deep roots in MUDs.

The usage of mob for single enemies used to irk me, too.
Then I found out what Amity posted above, so now it doesn't bother me that much anymore.

It's a bloody stupid abbreviation, though, since there's a word that looks the same and means more or less the opposite.

From Wikipedia:

Mob (video gaming)
From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
A mob, mobile or monster is a computer-controlled non-player character (NPC) in a computer game such as an MMORPG[1] or MUD.[2][3] Depending on context, every and any such characters in a game may be considered to be a "mob,"[4][2] or usage may be limited to hostile NPCs and/or NPCs vulnerable to attack.[1] Common usage refers to either a single character or a multitude of characters in a group as a mob. In most modern graphical games, "mob" may be used to specifically refer to generic monstrous NPCs that the player is expected to hunt and kill, excluding NPCs that engage in dialog or sell items or who cannot be attacked.[1] "Named mobs" are distinguished by having a proper name rather than being referred to by a general type ("a goblin," "a citizen," etc.).[5] "Dumb mobs" are those capable of no complex behaviors beyond attacking or moving around.[4]

Purpose of mobs[edit]
Defeating mobs may be required to gather experience points,[6] money,[7] items,[8] or to complete quests.[9] Combat between player characters (PCs) and mobs is called player versus environment (PvE).[10] PCs may also attack mobs because they aggressively attack PCs.[4] Monster versus monster (MvM) battles also take place in some games.[11]

A game world might contain hundreds of different kinds of mobs, but if players spend a certain amount of time playing, they might become well aware of the characteristics presented by each kind and its related hazard. This knowledge might dull the game to some extent.[12]

Origin of the term[edit]
The term "mob" is short for "mobile,"[2][4][3][13] which was used by Richard Bartle for objects that were self-mobile in MUD1.[2] The term as it exists in MMORPGs is derived from the MUD usage.[1][2] (Source code in DikuMUD uses the term "mob" to refer to a generic NPC; DikuMUD was a heavy influence on EverQuest.)[14][15] The term is properly an abbreviation rather than an acronym,[4][2] but backronyms for "MOB" such as "monster or beast," "mere ordinary beast" and "mean old bastard" have also been coined.

Yep, mob means "mobile". I assume because originally there were monsters that didn't move. It's one of my favourite gaming slang terms.

My other favs are:

Grognard - a hardcore wargame player, and

Nub - an overgrown nub.

Got any other good ones?