Chaosforge Forum

General => Discussion => Topic started by: Anticheese on October 21, 2006, 08:08

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Anticheese on October 21, 2006, 08:08

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.

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Lardarse on October 21, 2006, 09:19

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...

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Turgor on October 21, 2006, 14:33

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

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Lardarse on October 21, 2006, 17:32

You mean a backronym? :-)

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Jim9137 on October 23, 2006, 06:44

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.

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Derek on October 23, 2006, 07:10

http://www.urbandictionary.com/define.php?term=nerf

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Anticheese on October 23, 2006, 21:00

Quoting: The Link

   

The term "nerf" comes from the online gaming world of Ultima Online.

At one point in the game, the developers reduced the power of swords in melee combat.

This resulted in players complaining that it was like they were hitting each other with nerf bats, not swords.

From then on, if ever something gets made less worth while than it had been originally, it has been considered a 'nerf'

Case solved. I guess that it still has the double meaning of the item being not even remotely fair as well

Title: Etymology of the word "Nerf" (in gaming) - Related to doom?
Post by: Aerton on October 24, 2006, 07:19

I like your version the most.