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Mob (computer gaming)
 
 
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A mob or MOB is a non-player character
Non-player character

A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a fictional character that is controlled by the gamemaster in role-playing games. When this definition extends to video games, an NPC in a video game is usually part of the computer program, and not controlled by a human....
 (NPC) or monster in a computer game, for example a role-playing video game or MMORPG
MMORPG

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a large number of player interact with one another in a virtual world....
 or Multi-User Dungeon(MUD
MUD

In Online game, a MUD , pronounced /m?d/, is a multi-user real-time virtual world described entirely in text. It combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, interactive fiction, and online chat....
).








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A mob or MOB is a non-player character
Non-player character

A non-player character, often shortened to NPC, is a fictional character that is controlled by the gamemaster in role-playing games. When this definition extends to video games, an NPC in a video game is usually part of the computer program, and not controlled by a human....
 (NPC) or monster in a computer game, for example a role-playing video game or MMORPG
MMORPG

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a large number of player interact with one another in a virtual world....
 or Multi-User Dungeon(MUD
MUD

In Online game, a MUD , pronounced /m?d/, is a multi-user real-time virtual world described entirely in text. It combines elements of role-playing games, hack and slash, interactive fiction, and online chat....
).

Purpose of MOBs in gaming

Killing mobs may be required to gather experience point
Experience point

An experience point is a unit of measurement used in many role-playing games and role-playing video games to quantify a player character's progression through the game....
s, money, items, or to complete quests. Combat between players and mobs is called player versus monster (PvM), or in a broader sense player versus environment
Player versus environment

Player versus environment, or PvE, is a term used in MMORPGs, MUDs and other online computer role-playing games. Usually a PvE mode can be played alone, with human companions or even with Artificial intelligence companions....
 (PvE). Players may attack mobs, but some mobs are aggressive, and may attack players.

Monster versus monster (MvM) battles also take place in some games.

Origin

Perhaps the most commonly-held belief about the origin of the term is that it derives from mobile or mobile object. One possibility is that the term comes from the variable name given by Dr. Richard Bartle
Richard Bartle

Richard Allan Bartle is a British writer and game researcher, best known for being the co-author of MUD1, the first MUD. He is one of the pioneers of the massively multiplayer online game industry....
 in 1980, when he added "mobiles" to MUD1
MUD1

MUD1 is the oldest virtual world in existence. It was created in 1978 by Roy Trubshaw at Essex University on a DEC PDP-10 in the UK, using the MACRO-10 assembly language....
.

Backronym
Backronym

A backronym is a reverse Acronym and initialism, a phrase constructed after the fact to make an existing word or words into an acronym.Backronyms may be invented with serious or humorous intent, or may be a type of false or folk etymology....
s for "MOB" include "monster or beast" and "mere ordinary beast", among others.

Usage


MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons)


Source code in most MUDs uses the term "MOB" to refer to a generic NPC, including DikuMUD
DikuMUD

DikuMUD is a multiplayer text-based adventure game written in 1990 and 1991 by Sebastian Hammer, Tom Madsen, Katja Nyboe, Michael Seifert, and Hans Henrik Staerfeldt at DIKU , the department of computer science at the University of Copenhagen in Copenhagen, Denmark....
, which was influential in the creation of Everquest
EverQuest

EverQuest, often called EQ, is a 3D fantasy fiction-themed massively multiplayer online role-playing game that was released on 16 March 1999....
.

MMORPGs


A "MOB" in an MMORPG
MMORPG

A massively multiplayer online role-playing game is a genre of computer role-playing games in which a large number of player interact with one another in a virtual world....
 usually refers to the generic monstrous NPCs that the player is expected to hunt and kill rather than NPCs that engage in dialog or sell items. Named mobs are distinguished by having a proper name
Noun

In linguistics, a noun is a member of a large, open class lexical category whose members can occur as the main word in the subject of a clause, the object of a verb, or the object of a preposition....
 rather than being referred to by a general type ("a goblin", "a citizen", etc.).