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Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?

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Anticheese:
Hi, I was just playing Doom I a few moments ago and got up to level 5 on nightmare (Oh the pain!) and descided to start another game on nightmare but on a different episode.

"Are you sure you want to do this? It's not even remotly fair."

NERF - Not Even Remotly Fair

For those who don't know, the term Nerf is applied mostly in online gaming where an item, skill or similar is overpowered and needs to be balanced to provide an equal playing experience for everyone.

Could that term have originated from doom?

Discuss.

Lardarse:
I think that the term nerf actually comes from those Nerf guns that let you shoot foam missiles at each other. So nerfing means to make it soft and foam-like.

But I like the way that you're thinking...

Turgor:
Lardarse is right, but Not Even Remotely Fair is funny enough to become a second explanation retroactively

Lardarse:
You mean a backronym? :-)

Jim9137:
I think NERF was commonly used to refer to games that were... nerf, over here, anyway.

Might be wrong, though. My acronym slang has been rusty.

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