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A mob or MOB is a non-player character (NPC) or monster in a computer game, for example a role-playing video game or MMORPG or Multi-User Dungeon(MUD).

[edit] Purpose of MOBs in gaming

Killing mobs may be required to gather experience points, 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 (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.

[edit] 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 in 1980, when he added "mobiles" to MUD1.^[1]

Backronyms for "MOB" include "monster or beast" and "mere ordinary beast", among others.

[edit] Usage

[edit] MUDs (Multi-User Dungeons)

Source code in most MUDs uses the term "MOB" to refer to a generic NPC,^{[citation needed]} including DikuMUD,^[2] which was in turn influential in the creation of Everquest.^[3]

[edit] MMORPGs

A "MOB" in an MMORPG 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 rather than being referred to by a general type ("a goblin", "a citizen", etc.).

[edit] References