Hi there! If you‘ve heard video game players toss around the odd little term "MOB" and wondered what it meant, you‘ve come to the right place. This comprehensive guide will explain everything about what a MOB is, where the term originated, and how integral MOBs are to modern games.
Overview – MOBs Are Moving, Non-Player Characters
When discussing video games, MOB stands for "mobile object". Specifically, a MOB refers to any character, creature, or entity in a game world that can move around on its own without being directly controlled by a player. So in essence, MOBs are "living" elements like characters and animals that make games feel vibrant and lifelike through their autonomous behaviors.
Now let‘s dive deeper into the history and increasing complexity of MOB technology:
Origin – Text-Based Multi-User Dungeons
While graphics and physics engines grab all the gaming tech hype these days, we can trace independent in-game movement all the way back to text-based Multi-User Dungeon (MUD) games from the 1970s-80s. These games had multiple players together in a shared world described purely through text.
The first known use of "MOB" comes from MUD creator Richard Bartle‘s documentation describing creatures that could move on their own as "mobiles". This got abbreviated to "MOB" when referring to any entity with autonomous movement capabilities. Of course, limitations of text-based games meant these early MOBs were simple constructs without complex behavioral algorithms. But the foundation had been laid!
Evolution – Simple Text to Sophisticated AI Characters
Fast forward to MMORPGs (massively multiplayer online roleplaying games) like Ultima Online and Everquest in the mid-90s through 2000s. These games built vibrant graphical worlds filled with scores of independently moving NPCs (non-player characters) to breathe life into their realms.
But most NPC behavior was still quite simple, as the Everquest "grind spots" where players herded and killed the same predictable enemies demonstrate. However, increased processing power and memory of 2000‘s home PCs allowed more sophisticated AI decision trees.
By contemporary masterpieces like Skyrim and Breath of the Wild, individual NPCs can have dynamic conversations, establish emotional relationships with certain villagers, engage in series of procedural tasks, and occupy roles like blacksmith, guard captain or court jester distinguished through attire, scheduled behaviors across day/night cycles, triggered world interactions and dialogue trees.
Today‘s NPCs sell the illusion of "virtual lives" for inhabitants more convincingly than ever thought possible even 5 years ago. Let‘s analyze some common MOB varieties:
Types of MOBs
| Type | Behavior | Examples |
|---|---|---|
| Passive | Ignore players, focus ambient actions | Birds, butterflies, grazing livestock |
| Neutral | Retaliate if provoked but otherwise passive | Wildlife like boars or wolves |
| Hostile | Immediately aggressive toward player | Armed bandits, mythical beasts |
Modern hostile MOBs also coordinate intelligently in groups with strategic repositioning, situational use of ranged vs melee attacks, and environmental advantages like flanking or taking cover. Some may even shout taunts, battle cries or desperate pleas for mercy (!) in their final death throes…
Of course, no discussion of MOB world interaction would be complete without touching on Minecraft, the phenomenally successful pixelated sandbox whose quirky visual aesthetic masks tremendous depths of creature complexity roaming its biomes. That brings us to our next section:
MOBs in Minecraft
Minecraft‘s 100+ extensively coded hostile and passive MOB types play utterly integral roles driving survival/creative mode core play progression through:
Hostile Mobs – Iconic enemies like Creepers, Endermen and the Wither Boss gate access to valuable gear for conquering sequential challenges. Some even transform the environment itself, like Endermen picking up blocks or Silverfish bursting from infested stone.
Passive Farming – Breedable livestock provide essential renewable food and material resources. Massive animal pen complexes generating exponential yield outputs for trading offer prestige.
Utility MOBs – Players can customize pathing, triggers and abilities for dispensers, iron golems, even armor stand book delivery drones using commands.
This sheer depth of engineered MOB interactivity with environments and players is a leading factor in Minecraft‘s unprecedented long-term appeal even 13 years after its first alpha.
Why Shorthand Like "MOB" Matters
You may be wondering why obscure insider jargon and abbreviations like "MOB" gained such traction rather than plain English clarity. Well across 3 core factors, gaming shorthand dialects evolved as essential tools:
Typing Speed – Text communication channels alongside early voice chat meant brevity efficiency was key. Transmitting instructions rapidly in team coordination carries strategic impact.
Community Identity – Fluency in insider vocabulary signals status, experience and authority. As gaming grew more mainstream through the 2000s, lingo mastery took on prestige as a community membership marker.
Bridging Multi-Language Players – Even simple acronyms smooth over complex raid instructions across European guilds with mixed nationalities. Specialized vernacular forms a universal communication bridge.
So next time you‘re puzzled by an odd bit of "gaming Greek" like MOB, remember it serves an important social function! Game on!!
Hopefully this guide has shed insightful background to demystify this bit of specialized gaming vocabulary for you. Understanding the language allows richer connection to passionate fan communities who live vibrant secondary lives in the expansive fantasy realms they love.
Let me know in the comments if you have any other gaming slang terms you‘ve heard that could use explaining!
