What Makes Griefers Grief?
from the here-comes-the-science dept
There are lots of reasons to explain why people are such jerks online, such as anonymity or a lack of direct human contact. You might imagine that similar reasons could explain griefers -- people who intentionally harass or annoy other players in online games -- but one psychiatrist says it's got more to do with group dynamics. She says that griefers could frequently be either "defiant leaders" (people who are ambivalent or reluctant to remain part of a group) or "scapegoat leaders" (who, as the name implies, become scapegoats and marginalized), and their griefing is a manifestation of their acting out these roles. Out-of-game psychology can influence these players, so for instance, if they're a scapegoat in their family, they might take on that role in a game as well. But, the psychiatrist adds that griefers could also just be mentally ill, whether they're depressed, have a psychotic disorder, or substance abuse problems. The bottom line, really, seems to be that people could be jerks in games for pretty much the same reasons they could be jerks in real life, which doesn't exactly help explain the phenomenon. As for a solution, GamePro recommends responding "with compassion", so if you can get a griefer to stop killing you long enough, try to get them on your amateur shrink's couch.Thank you for reading this Techdirt post. With so many things competing for everyone’s attention these days, we really appreciate you giving us your time. We work hard every day to put quality content out there for our community.
Techdirt is one of the few remaining truly independent media outlets. We do not have a giant corporation behind us, and we rely heavily on our community to support us, in an age when advertisers are increasingly uninterested in sponsoring small, independent sites — especially a site like ours that is unwilling to pull punches in its reporting and analysis.
While other websites have resorted to paywalls, registration requirements, and increasingly annoying/intrusive advertising, we have always kept Techdirt open and available to anyone. But in order to continue doing so, we need your support. We offer a variety of ways for our readers to support us, from direct donations to special subscriptions and cool merchandise — and every little bit helps. Thank you.
–The Techdirt Team
Reader Comments
Subscribe: RSS
View by: Time | Thread
WoW!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Adults vrs Kids
Reflecting on some of the high profile tragedies involving people who just lost-it, constant behavior like this must be a warning of what could potentially occur in the future, especially if there are other signs.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
adults
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[sarcasm]Yeah, that'll work.[/sarcasm]
I recommend a swift kick to the balls, if that's not available, a swift ban to the face. Griefers aren't going to stop if you ask them nicely, threaten their life, or anything in between. "GamePro" would know this if they had ever spent 5 minutes in an online game.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
http://www.appletvconverter.net
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: Re:
The device would be spring loaded and you could release it over USB and with the right software, over the internet.
I imagine a future where every internet user is required to have one, and eventually we'll make an upgrade to a "Switft Kick Boot" on a pneumatic arm from behind the chair.
I'm actually completely serious about doing this (for shits and giggles), so if anybody knows where I can get a telescopic arm (the kind that looks like this: XXXXXXXXX ), let me know. I can build the controller and the software no prob.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Uh huh
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Excuse me but I have another option...
you see in general, these jerks know they are being jerks, because when the same thing is done to them they dont like it either...
so 'with compassion' if you want I would prefer that they get a nice perma ban from whatever they are greifing in... then after a few bans they can realise their behavior is not acceptable anywhere, and either seek real life companionship, or behave correctly ingame...
hell in a real life game of chess, football or any 'sport' if someone greifed they would get thrown out of the game.... how is online any different to that?!?!?
with compassion my arse....
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
anonymity and Jacob Buck
Here watch:
Jacob Buck is a faggy fuck face who beats off to his mother pooping.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: anonymity and Jacob Buck
by the way, where did you say you live?
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I agree with MrPaladin
Asking anyone to extend to them compassion is like your mother telling you "ignore them and they will go away". These people have incredible patience and focus and loads more time than most people do...and their sole goal is to get a rise out of people. Ignoring them or being "nice" to them just ups the ante, makes them want to work even more to piss you off.
Ban em, eventually they'll either get the hint, or just move off somewhere else.
Griefers get off on griefing because there are no consequences, "compassion" will not give them those consequences...so until you can find a way to punch em in the groin over TCP/IP, banning them is one consequence they CAN experience.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
According to Heinlein, these people are never going to change and they are "better off dead". In fact, we'd all be better off if they were dead. They'd be happier and we'd be happier.
He called it his "Better Off Dead List".
I think "griefers" fall into this category.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Let's see, I have been a grief killer since the first MMORPG's... That just how I play the game. I don't give a rats ass about farming gold or getting a Vanq BattleAxe.. I just want to PvP. You are in the same world as me, if you want to survive, you must kill me.
I find it amusing now the band of noobs have formed together and trying to find psychological reasons for us to kill you... Now go back to your care bear land servers and hold hands and roast marshmellows.. If you want to play with real players join a fucking real server
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re: lol
I think that somebody needs a hug. :-)
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's a game
I am a professional tech manager and very outgoing in all aspects of my RL community, however, I get in game and am a virtual world killer. Why? Because its interesting and a different story line. It's fun.
Seriously, if you want to play an MMO where everyone is nice and there are no consequences, try Hello Kitty's Adventure Island...
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
c'mon.. you know it can happen, so you should be expecting it.
Its cloudy and you hear thunder.. you have three choices.
1) Stay outside by the flagpole
2) Run for cover
3) bring out your umbrella
obviously the majority of noobs choose 1.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Re:
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
I'm on a lower level 30 doing some questing in STV, and upper level 30's keep killing me, and then camping me to respawn and kill me again.
Well I'm sick of the griefing on me, so what do I do?
I log out of my current character. I log back in on my main character, and then take my level 70 all around the area and grief killing every character I can find, sometimes more than once. Then if I'm not satisfied, I move to a different area and kill some more. The original griefer's fault for pissing me off!
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
It's just somebody with letters after their name, who probably doesn't play games, hearing people crying second-hand and isn't considering their motivations for whining.
NOT SCIENCE.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Someone griefing you? Grief back, and if you give me some notion of e-morality then perhaps you should end yourself and relieve yourself of your misery AKA Your life.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
O noes
Most people will get shitty getting spawn ganked by a much higher level person. Theres a solution or two, gank them the F**K back (assuming you have a higher leve char), or move yourself (corpse drag, whatever) somewhere else and escape.
Or whine about it.
PVP is fun, in PURE pvp games (UO, Eve-O) ingame cash is purely to pay for your pvp habits. Get out of "OMGILUZESTUFFWAAAA" mode and ENJOY pvp. It is actually fun once you get into it.
[ link to this | view in chronology ]
Joke
[ link to this | view in chronology ]