Nerf?

Vicodine

The master of clickbait returns, this time around, I was just wondering from where the word "Nerf" got into gaming as THE term for making something weaker/less challenging/less dangerous. I toyed with the idea it has to be somehow related to the Hasbro "Nerf" branded foam firing guns etc, and turns out I was almost spot on ...



Here's the definition I found on urban dictionary

To weaken or make less dangerous. Taken from the "Nerf" brand name, which makes sports equipment toys out of a soft foam (e.g., the Nerf football is soft foam rather than the hard leather of a real football). Used frequently in the context of computer game balance changes.

Literally Hasbro made Nerf to nerf guns, or a football.

Oh and one more bit of info, "Nerf" is the foam from which the bullets/pellets/balls etc. are made of.

Have any of you ever thought about the origin and meaning of "nerf"? How did you find out what it exactly meant. And when did you first see or use the term.

Also, from now on, whenever you are asking for or talking about Nerf, don't forget to include the correct logo somewhere in your post

DannyLV702

I'm still new to all these terms, so whatever I learn I just accept and move along hahaha. I've never been one of those players with a résumé of previous games played similar to this one. But yeah, I never even wondered what it meant lol

Luigi_Vampa

Never really thought about it. But...

Vicodine

Typhoios wrote: »

Never really thought about it. But...

No, no, no, no, no that's completely wrong, when it comes to SW:

Nerfs are grumpy, antlered herbivores, resembling yaks, raised on many planets, including Alderaan, Gestron and Corellia, for their milk and meat. Herders of the beasts are well known for being as scruffy looking and surly as their livestock, and to be called a "nerf herder" (as Han Solo is by Princess Leia) is considered a strong insult.

Volkodav

Nerf were sponge balls.Nerf balls.Soft and not too deadly. There were Nerf darts,Nerf bats,and lots of other Nerfs. XD

Molag_Crow

You learn something new everyday!

I never had nerf stuff, guess it was mainly in America. I never knew it derived from there, as I used to hear the term around 2006-2007 on Runescape and then WoW, etc.

Luigi_Vampa

Since we are learning the origin of words today. Can someone tell me where proc comes from?

willymchilybily

You guys are telling me you never use to own or have a nerf gun that you use to shoot at a favored uncle at christmas? or run around the garden firing nerf guns at each other?

that was like 90% of my childhood, what the hell were you doing instead? though nerf guns now make me jealous

my child hood:

current children

Volkodav

willymchilybily wrote: »

You guys are telling me you never use to own or have a nerf gun that you use to shoot at a favored uncle at christmas? or run around the garden firing nerf guns at each other?

that was like 90% of my childhood, what the hell were you doing instead? though nerf guns now make me jealous

my child hood:

current children

Actually,CrowsDescend mentioned that it must be an American thing,and this may be right.I never thought about it.I just played with all things Nerf.Lol!

willymchilybily

Volkodav wrote: »

willymchilybily wrote: »

You guys are telling me you never use to own or have a nerf gun that you use to shoot at a favored uncle at christmas? or run around the garden firing nerf guns at each other?

that was like 90% of my childhood, what the hell were you doing instead? though nerf guns now make me jealous

my child hood:

current children

Actually,CrowsDescend mentioned that it must be an American thing,and this may be right.I never thought about it.I just played with all things Nerf.Lol!

im from uk, i had nerf

Volkodav

willymchilybily wrote: »

Volkodav wrote: »

willymchilybily wrote: »

You guys are telling me you never use to own or have a nerf gun that you use to shoot at a favored uncle at christmas? or run around the garden firing nerf guns at each other?

that was like 90% of my childhood, what the hell were you doing instead? though nerf guns now make me jealous

my child hood:

current children

Actually,CrowsDescend mentioned that it must be an American thing,and this may be right.I never thought about it.I just played with all things Nerf.Lol!

im from uk

Aha! So Nerfs were there too! Nice to know we werent the only ones to have all the fun. XD
Where in the UK? I used to live in Folkestone,Kent.

starlizard70ub17_ESO

Gotta love that gatling nerf gun, great for taking down super mutants

Cuyler

Typhoios wrote: »

Since we are learning the origin of words today. Can someone tell me where proc comes from?

"Proc is a common term used primarily in game programming to refer to an event - a "process" - triggered under particular circumstances. For example, in WoW, a particular weapon (that hits many times) might have a 10% chance on each hit to apply a special effect, such as poison damage. When WoW users talk about "how often this weapon procs", they are talking about the likelihood of the special effect occurring.

Proc was originally short for "spec_proc" (spec_proc is short for "special process"[1]) which is a term used by the original programmer of Circle-MUD, Jeremy Elson. It might have been used by the original programmers of diku-MUD as well. Special processes in Circle-MUD are functions that can be assigned to objects, players, and locations in the world such that each time an event occurs, the special process function will be invoked. Special processes were used in Circle-MUD for a wide variety of purposes: Creating room events when a person typed a specific string of text, causing a weapon or piece of armor to perform a magical action, and even causing a mob to do something that it wouldn't normally do"

source: Googlrino

DurzoBlint13

Never heard the word nerf until the Destiny forums. And that is all there is in those forums. If anyone thinks there are a lot of nerf posts in this game (and yes there ARE too many) go visit Destiny forum sometime and you will see what cry babies can do to a game

DannyLV702

Krabby donuts

Fuzzywuzzy196

I heard it first sometime back in 2008, when I first started getting into online gaming, and the origin kind of just clicked for me once I heard what it meant. I actually had to explain it to my mother last night.

Fuzzywuzzy196

Cuyler wrote: »

Typhoios wrote: »

Since we are learning the origin of words today. Can someone tell me where proc comes from?

"Proc is a common term used primarily in game programming to refer to an event - a "process" - triggered under particular circumstances. For example, in WoW, a particular weapon (that hits many times) might have a 10% chance on each hit to apply a special effect, such as poison damage. When WoW users talk about "how often this weapon procs", they are talking about the likelihood of the special effect occurring.

Proc was originally short for "spec_proc" (spec_proc is short for "special process"[1]) which is a term used by the original programmer of Circle-MUD, Jeremy Elson. It might have been used by the original programmers of diku-MUD as well. Special processes in Circle-MUD are functions that can be assigned to objects, players, and locations in the world such that each time an event occurs, the special process function will be invoked. Special processes were used in Circle-MUD for a wide variety of purposes: Creating room events when a person typed a specific string of text, causing a weapon or piece of armor to perform a magical action, and even causing a mob to do something that it wouldn't normally do"

source: Googlrino

Now this I did not know.