Aggro Aggro is a term used in MMORPGs and other online games to refer to monsters which attack player characters without any type of provocation . Monsters which do not attack this way are usually called " Docile " . Docile creatures will only attack the player after an offensive action has been performed against them . Aggro can refer to the action of a monster attacking a player or it can refer to the monster itself . Synonyms for aggro include " Aggressive " and " Enmity " , although the latter is also used in many other cases and the terms are not always interchangeable . Appearances . " Final Fantasy XI " . In " Final Fantasy XI " the term is often used by players , especially when attempting to sneak by powerful mobs undetected , or during partying in which unwanted aggro could be dangerous to the party ' s success as a whole . Deliberately causing monster aggro is a form of pulling . Monsters means of detecting players to attack are often described in terms of aggro , as follows : Most aggro monsters will not aggro players if they / check as " Too Weak to be Worthwhile " to that player ; however , / healing or / sitting players can be aggroed by monsters of any level . Any monster that is naturally asleep as indicated by animated " z " s rising from it will not aggro by any means , although it will wake up if attacked . It is worth noting that the means by which monsters track down fleeing players is not necessarily the same as the means by which they aggro players in the first place ; in particular , mobs that aggro by hearing usually track by scent , which can be foiled by the spell Deodorize , the item " Deodorizer " , or the simple expedient of running through a shallow body of water . For normal monsters , players who manage to put a sufficient distance between the monster and themselves will lose aggro . When this happens , the monster will go after the character with the next highest enmity ; if there is no such character , the monster will turn and walk back to its spawn area . If the monster is far enough away from its spawn area , it will despawn entirely . It is also possible to de - aggro monsters by successfully using the Beastmaster job ability Tame on them . Many monsters have a quality known as linking , where they will aggro any player who is attacking another mob of the type that they link to . Linking mobs typically link to their own type and sometimes another related type , such as saplings linking to treants . When a monster aggros a player , normally it only aggros that player and not the player ' s pets , party members , etc . However , a few monsters have Party Hate , meaning that if their initial aggro target dies or escapes somehow , they will then turn to track down if necessary and then attack another party member even if that party member did nothing . " Final Fantasy XII " . In " Final Fantasy XII " , unlike many other " Final Fantasy " titles , the battle system occurs in real time , rather than the traditional turn based system . In addition , monsters are seen on the overworld map prior to engaging them in battle . Because of this , " aggro " can refer to aggressive monsters in this game as well , despite the fact that " aggro " is usually only seen in MMORPGs .