So Shamus was talking about his experiences in WoW, which I have recently become bored with (too many Donnys), and I saw the following in the comments, which I had to expropriate:
The IQ of the dumbest member of the group divided by the number in the group equals the intelligence of a given mob.
Or to make it sound a little better: “The intelligence of a mob is equal to the IQ of the dumbest member divided by the number of people in the group.”
I’m sure the jackasses ganking everyone in Gadgetzan the other night would disagree. “Huh, huh, huh, u suxxorz! I keel u!”
Or, given that they were Horde: “KEK!!!!!”
I think Heinlein made that observation/joke 50+ years ago, and I doubt it was original with him. Some googling indicates his version was “average of IQs divided by the number of people.
Thought it sounded familiar.
And it remains true today. What has changed is that groups can form so much more easily. And it’s easier to be loudly obnoxious.