Protect Yourself Against Game Griefers, Online Cyber-Bullies

As there are bullies in real life, there are also cyber-bullies in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The gaming community calls them "griefers." These virtual thugs most often target new players (AKA "noobs") in general, launch a vendetta against one specific player, or aim at the game itself by manipulating its mechanics.

Griefer Gangs

Like most bullies, griefers often travel in gang-like packs. In the game "Eve Online", players form their own "corporations". A group of griefers dubbed "The Guiding Hand Social Club" infiltrated a specific player's "corporation" for more than a year; then looted the targeted player's virtual bank account.

In the popular massively multi-player online game "World of Warcraft", a virtual funeral was held for a real-life WoW player who had died. A gang of griefers "raided" the virtual funeral, "killing" all mourners. This could easily be the ultimate in vile MMORPG behavior.

Bait and Switch Griefers

In player-vs-player servers in "EverQuest", new players have been lured to hidden areas of the game and trapped. Their characters were then murdered and their corpses looted. And, to add insult to injury, the griefers then waited at a "spawning" spot for the murdered characters to resurrect, killed them again, and sack the corpses.

Grief Against the Machine

In October 2006, griefers launched an attack on the mechanics of the game "Second Life" by launching a self-replicating "worm-like virus" that spawned an on-screen "gray goo", causing the entire game to be shut down and, thus, locking thousands of players out.

Tips against in-game griefers

• Don't use the griefer's tactics against them. They probably are more adept at it than you are.

• Don't give your character a provocative name. This may make you a natural target.

• Don't give out your real name or any other personal information while in-game.

• In massively multiplayer online games like, player support groups (Guilds in EverQuest) form a built-in neighborhood watch function against cyberbullying.

• Another option, but less desirable in the highly interactive milieu of the Internet, is to choose a multiplayer online game with limited interaction between players, such as "City of Heroes."

Ending with a Warning

Electronic Arts' warning to griefers includes: "We'd rather not go into the specifics of all the actions we consider grief tactics, but we do want to make it clear that it is not okay to ruin the fun of UO (Ultima Online) for other players, specifically when that is the intent behind your actions. It is important to realize and accept that everyone plays this game differently, and everyone has different expectations from the game and from the other players."

This pretty well sums it up.

SOURCES:

http://www.reuters.com/article/lifestyleMolt/idUSN0343424320070705

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Griefer

http://www.microsoft.com/protect/family/activities/griefers.mspx

"Inflicting pain on 'griefers'", David Becker, CNET, URL: (http://news.com.com/Inflicting+pain+on+griefers/2100-1043_3-5488403.html)

"Gamers don't want any grief", Martin Davies, Guardian, URL: (http://www.guardian.co.uk/technology/2006/jun/15/games.guardianweeklytechnologysection2)

"Second Life Miscreants", Stephen Hutcheon, The Age, URL: (http://www.theage.com.au/news/web/miscreants-stage-membersonly-attack/2006/12/21/1166290662836.html)