Monster Infighting

In certain video games such as Doom, Doom II, and similar games released in the 1990s, some of the enemy monsters can be tricked into fighting each other, or infighting. This can usually be accomplished by moving so that the player and two monsters are colinear. Since a monster in Doom does not have the intelligence to cease fire in the event that a fellow monster blocks his line of sight, said fellow monster will be subject to friendly fire. Monster infighting, as it is called, will soon follow. According to Doom logic, however, monsters of the same type or species are immune to each other's projectiles (with the exception of firearms). This means that getting two of the same monster to fight each other is very difficult due to the fact that the above procedure will be ineffective. To cause homogeneous monsters to fight each other, the player must somehow get one of the monsters to melee attack and hit the other. This may be possible with the help of the invisibility power-up, which causes enemies to fire or attack the wrong direction. Monsters will also go after monsters that have caused them indirect damage by exploding a nukage barrel. In version 1.1 of Doom, a monster that had caused itself damage by destroying a nearby barrel would commit suicide. Monster infighting has become a novel aspect of Doom and its sequels, add-ons, and spin-offs. Indeed, most games do not give the enemies the ability to hurt each other, much less the ability to retaliate. In more recent first-person shooters, however, enemies are intelligent enough not to fire if a fellow enemy is in the way.

Roguelike games

Monster infighting, while not ubiquitous in roguelike games, is common enough in the genre that it is not considered unusual. In some games, such as Angband, only certain powerful monsters have the capability and inclination to initiate melee fighting with their comrades; this kind of infighting is considered a disadvantage for the player, because it means that a powerful monster cannot be corralled behind a "buffer" of weaker monsters — it will simply fight its way through to the player. In other games, such as certain variants and patches of NetHack, certain kinds of monsters carry an innate animosity toward other kinds; for example, in some games an orc will attack an elf in its line of sight, regardless of what the player is doing. This is typically considered an advantage for the player, although it can turn into a disadvantage if one (or both!) of the orc or the elf is a pet of the player.

 

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