Kane99 Posted February 19, 2021 Share Posted February 19, 2021 I never thought of this before, but an article from Kotaku brought up an interesting discussion about why we say "boss" instead of enemy. Do you find it weird that we say "Boss" battle, or the final "Boss"? But why do we call it the boss anyway? Is it a tie-in to how we hate work and our bosses? Or did we somewhere just pick "boss" and it stuck? Anyway, the article and podcast discusses how the boss term came to be, and what games they first remember hearing the term boss being used. Do you remember any games that may have started it? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Patrik Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Maybe they are called Bosses because they are the reason behind every regular enemy you are facing during your gameplay ? :P Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Empire Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 Well, bosses are so damn hard, they are the boss of all boss and they have powers to do heavy things and at times the boss heath is so great, means lonker to kill. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
killamch89 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 I mean bosses are normally the ones responsible for most of the calamities that you face in-game. They are also way stronger that the average enemy and more annoying with some cheesy taunts. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Kane99 Posted February 20, 2021 Author Share Posted February 20, 2021 I think you guys confused the topic. It's about the word "boss" or "bosses", But why do we call it the final boss? Because if you think about it, it doesn't really make any sense to call them bosses. What is a boss? When I hear boss in game now, I think of an employer instead of an enemy. I can blame that on the article for pointing it out, because I never thought much about it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
m76 Posted February 20, 2021 Share Posted February 20, 2021 (edited) Boss means higher in the hierarchy than regular cannon fodder enemies. It does not refer to their character being any kind of boss in the normal sense. But sometimes "boss" enemies can be actual bosses, other times they are just harder to defeat than regular enemies. Hence we also refer to some enemies as mini-bosses. The ones that are tougher than normal, but not the uber enemy of the game. So for example in Doom, the hell knight is a mini-boss. The cyberdemon is a boss. Edited February 20, 2021 by m76 Kane99 and killamch89 2 Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Reality vs Adventure Posted March 8, 2021 Share Posted March 8, 2021 Bosses are at the top of the hierarchy in their own territory or domain. They are a branch of the tree. At the top is the final boss. But I think that final boss should be called something else. Cause it's no boss. It doesn't answer to anyone above. Final boss should be called death match. Cause it's the end of it all. Win or lose. Since we can play over and over till we win, the death match really refers to the last enemy. Cause they'll die. But regular bosses may be called that because like in jobs, or a racket, they are just part of something bigger. Your link refers to the final boss being a dragon. That could work calling them a dragon, since dragons don't answer to any other. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Heatman Posted August 5, 2021 Share Posted August 5, 2021 On 2/20/2021 at 11:09 AM, Patrik said: Maybe they are called Bosses because they are the reason behind every regular enemy you are facing during your gameplay ? 😛 Exactly. They are the last hurdle that you have to cross before wining or completing the game. So, basically they send out the waves of enemies you deal with before getting to them. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
