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Griefer

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A griefer is a slang term used to describe a player in an online video game who plays the game simply to cause grief to other players through harassment.

History

The term griefer was used around the turn of the twentieth century by American baseball away teams to derisively refer to the home team. For example, immediately following the 189-game Pacific Coast League season, the Pacific Coast League (PCL) and the Southern State League organized a five-game series between the 1907 PCL champion Los Angeles Angels (or Looloos as they were also called) and the San Diego Pickwicks, who were then champions of the Southern State League.[1] In the Thursday, November 7, 1907 edition of the Los Angeles Times, the local newspaper for the Los Angeles Angels touted the upcoming series under the headline,

SAN DIEGO BASEBALL--LOS ANGELES COAST CHAMPIONS WILL PLAY TODAY IN FIRST GAME OF FIVE WITH GRIEFERS.[1]

The term was applied to online, multiplayer computer games by at least the year 2000 as illustrated by postings to the rec.games.computer.ultima.online USENET group.[2]

Overview

Griefers differ from typical players in that they do not play the game in order to achieve objectives defined by the game world. Instead, they seek to harass other players, causing grief.[3] In particular, they may use tools such as stalking, hurling insults, extortion, forming gangs, electronic killing and looting.[3] Viewed along the same line as noobs,[4] griefers also are thought of as an underclass of lesser-known undesirables.[5] Griefing as a gaming play style is not simply any action that may be considered morally incorrect. Though each staff for each online game defines griefing in a manner that best fits their game, certain criteria must be met for an action to be considered griefing. For example, in one MMORPG, an act of griefing involves the following three types of actions to be considered grief play:[6]

  • The unfair use or abuse of a game mechanic that was not intended by the game's developers.
  • The inability of the victim to exact some means of retribution beyond utilizing similar unintended game mechanics.
  • The intended purpose of an act of griefing must be to negatively impact the game play of another person.

An act of griefing usually meets all these types of criteria as well as any game specific criteria set by the developers of the game.[7]

Many players fail to recognize that there are usually multiple criteria required for an act to be considered griefing. These players will often consider the following actions to constitute griefing; kill stealing, player killing, spamming, team killing (or team wounding), door or path blocking, ninja looting, spawn camping, and corpse camping. These actions often meet one of the criteria but may fail to meet others.

Griefing shares much in common with laming, another term in online gaming, though the former tends to have stronger connotations. Although laming is less well-defined, fulfillment of the first criteria is often enough to classify an act as laming, thus, many of the above listed actions, while not accurately considered griefing, may legitimately fall under the category of laming. Though the two terms are very similar, griefing is typically more specific, particularly in regards to the second and especially the third criteria.

It is important to note that griefing methods differ from game to game depending on that game's mechanics. Changes and upgrades can sometimes prevent or lessen some acts of griefing, though the large player community of such games can sometimes find a way around it.

Usage

Griefer is the noun form used to refer to the player causing grief using the previously mentioned methods.[8]

To grief is the infinitive form. It appears to be ambitransitive; however, no linguistic research has been done on usage variations to date.

Griefing is the noun form used to refer to a griefer's activity. It is the gerund form of to grief.

Examples

Training is a method of griefing popular in MMORPGs that do not allow any player vs player combat. The act of attacking another player is prohibited and therefore manipulating game mechanics in an unintended way can make this act constitute griefing. It involves a PC guiding mobs into attacking his/her character, and then moving the character to an area populated by many other PCs. The griefer then utilizes a technique, such as an in-game command or leaving the zone, to lose aggro, or mob interest. The mobs then attack the other PCs, often killing them. This is a form of monster player killing. This example is only true in games that do not permit Player Versus Player combat. As it fails to meet all three criteria in a Player Versus Player environment. In some cases, it may meet all three criteria in some cases but fail to meet them in other depending on the ruleset that this action takes place in.

Griefers often claim that all other players are guilty of the offence that they are themselves committing. They may accuse others of cheating, hacking or, while blocking a doorway, claiming that those trying to get through are in fact the guilty parties.

Social aspects of griefing

While clear examples of griefing exist, much of the difference between griefing and non-griefing activities depends on individual player's understanding of the social norms of the in-game world. Activities one player considers griefing may be understood by another to be part of normal gameplay. While certain behaviors are generally recognized by the majority of players in a game as griefing, the ultimate classification of any single act as griefing rests on the intent of the perpetrator. Griefing may not occur if the perpetrator's intent is not to negatively impact the victims game play or if the victim is capable of exacting retribution at the present or in the future. The perpetrator must have an unfair advantage that was not intended by the developers of the game to exist.

A number of gaming groups are believed to exist for the sole purpose of griefing.[9] Again, the classification of these groups as griefing groups is subject to individual analysis and the required criterion for actions that can be considered griefing. In some cases the perpetrator may claim to be a griefer but be acting in a completely developer intended manner. The perpetrator's intent may be to grief but if the victim has a clear means of reprisal that was intended by the developers of the game, the offensive acts are not griefing but merely a means of playing the game.

Combating griefers

Many subscription-based games have taken steps to combat griefers, as they reduce the amount of enjoyment non-griefers take in the game and drive away business.[3] However, the opportunity to grief is present in the functional requirements of multiplayer games in general (spamming is a unavoidable given non-restrictive player to player communication). Also, some griefing activities are easier to curtail than others. While spamming can be prevented with an ignore function, preventing the use of exploits in the FPS genre requires altering game balance issues. This is not impossible, but would remove the strategy aspect of some team-based first-person shooters. Also, since all griefing involves manipulating exploits, only by eliminating all of them can programmers remove those opportunities from Player Versus Player oriented games and Non-Player Versus Player oriented games. Given the scope and complexity of most multiplayer games, preventing griefing in Non-Player Versus Player games can be next to impossible.

In light of this, most games allow either for server admins to reprimand offenders (up to and including banning certain IP address from logging onto a local server) or, as in the case of MMORPGs with persistent worlds, have a reporting process by which the activities of certain players can be brought to the attention of GMs. The GMs or Customer Service Representitives then decide on any disciplinary action (if appropriate). But in some MMO's griefing is reportable only as an abuse or exploitation of unintended game mechanics, which is frustrating to the victim of such acts as the griefer may not be dealt with as the report will go directly to the developers to fix the abused code.


References

  1. ^ a b Larwin, Tom. (January 2000) The National Pastime. The 1907 Pacific Coast Baseball Championship Series. Volume 20.
  2. ^ Google Groups: August 14, 2000 rec.games.computer.ultima.online
  3. ^ a b c Cite error: The named reference bullies was invoked but never defined (see the help page).
  4. ^ Bray, Hiawatha. (September 13, 2003) Toronto Star Gaming language the true measure of geek chic: n00bs, griefers just some of the personalities New York fan calls games the art form for 21st century. Arts section; Page 2.
  5. ^ Laverty, Rory. (September 8, 2002) The Oakland Tribune "Laverty")&xcal_numdocs=20&p_perpage=10&p_sort=YMD_date:D&xcal_useweights=no Online outlaws and fools make Web wild.
  6. ^ "Electronic Arts' definition of griefing for Ultima Online".
  7. ^ {{cite web } url=http://support.ea.com/cgi-bin/ea.cfg/php/enduser/std_adp.php?p_sid=p9IXL3si&p_lva=1418&p_li=&p_faqid=1417&p_created=994178773 | title=Electronic Arts' explanation clearly explaining a griefing action from Ultima Online }}
  8. ^ For usage example, see headline of Wai-Leng, Leung. (May 9, 2006) Digital Life. The odd players: Are you a Camper or Completist? Furry or Griefer? Section: Digital Life - Play. (published by Singapore Press Holdings).
  9. ^ Waghams, Nick. (July 6, 2003) The Augusta Chronicle 'Griefers' form harassing mob in Sims game.
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