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

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Thrumdi wrote:

Grognard - a hardcore wargame player, and

Blame Napoleon for that one. :p

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SkyCore wrote:

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.

Including POE almost pseudo trading via texting in a back alley, right ?

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AmityXIII wrote:

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.

Well damn, this is why I made this thread. I nerd out over etymology.

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Thrumdi wrote:

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?

Cannot forget the other BIG MUD term used in most MMO's today, Proc, short for procedure.

This whole discussion kind of reminds me of the kids complaining about Grey Goo sounding "Childish" when they started playing Grey Goo...

Mob = mobile object :)

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Thrumdi wrote:

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?

Gib - to turn a mob or player into giblets (most often very quickly, originates from doom/quake)

Gank - Gang Kill, three or more players killing one. old mud term.

Frag - kill, from standing too close to a fragmentation grenade and getting fragged in team fortress mod for quake.

Nerf - to be reduced to the effectiveness of a nerf weapon. almost never used accurately anymore, which may be because actual nerfing is incredibly rare now. (i don't think anything in poe has ever been nerfed)

Sac - sacrifice, old mud command to destroy items on the ground that you don't want. really mean to do to a dead player before they're able to run back to their corpse and retrieve their gear.

Mob - group of person or specially baddies and since everyone is being grammar elitist it's mob and never mobs. Mob has been around since i can recall in almost every online games.

It's amazing how many people still has no clue where mob come from.

A mob is a mob, many mobs are many mobs... it can be used as singular or plural... just because when you hear mob you think a group of bad guys dressed in black suits and carrying guns doesn't make it a Pural" only... The term "mob" used in gaming has nothing to do with "mob" you rather not mess with irl.

Also the term mob definitely did not come from WoW. Oh and I am TOTALLY aware of WoW is the first MMORPG and all that cool stuff young kids today seems to believe.

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nubmoj wrote:

Mob - group of person or specially baddies and since everyone is being grammar elitist it's mob and never mobs. Mob has been around since i can recall in almost every online games.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mob_(video_gaming)
Clearly used the term mobs to describe more than 1 mob in gaming.

But okay. There's always mob never mobs. Gotcha.