I think that a lot of this griefing behaviour exists due to the limitations imposed on sanction capabilities that are inevitably part of a game or online world.

People generally avoid pissing others off for a mixture of two reasons, internal ones generated by feeling of guilt or empathy etc. and external ones generated by a fear of sanction in what ever form it will come in.
The internal ones come from socialisation, but we all know some nutter who pays them little regard. The sanctions are in place so that we can deal with those people.
In the real world this is done with laws and other rules.

These laws are often deliberately left open to some degree of interpretation so a judge or whoever can choose to some degree how to deploy them.
In a technical world this is not easy to do. You cannot think of everything that might happen. You cannot code vaguaries that can be applied when needed by an appropriate authority. The world has rock hard rules and is full of loop holes.

The griefers live in these loopholes. Something that they could not get away with in the real world where catch all rules would result in some form of a kicking being handed out. But neither can I see the virtual world closing them, so they will continue to be there.

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Unless you didn’t notice. In which case, well, you’re a bit of a sociopath, y’know.

KG

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PG: Griefing is creative, which makes it ok. It even makes it commendable.
AG: You can be creative without ruining peoples shit.
PG: Your opinion carries no weight as you have been affected by griefing

AG: You are ruining people’s gaming experiences.
PG: The internet is not real so I can do what I want and if you don’t like it, it’s your own fault for taking it too seriously.
AG: It’s not too serious, but gaming is something people simply like to do and you are preventing them from doing it.
PG: But it’s not real.
AG: Sure it is, players are real people, spending real time and, as mentioned in the article, sometimes real money.
PG: Exactly, it’s fun to piss them off for real.
AG: But you just said it’s ok to grief because it wasn’t…
PG: Your opinion carries no weight as you have been affected by bullying as a child.
AG: Wait, what if someone followed you around in your everyday life (real life) and constantly harrassed you and…
PG: LALALALALA can’t hear you, you got upset, hahaha, nahahah.

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except that’s legitimate political speech, if – to be overly kind – extremely rough around the edges. there’s an obvious point in the u.s. (at least) to be made that jesus is fair game for any artist with a sack of chocolate and a butt-plug.

That’s my point. “Free Speech” is legal, just as what griefers do is within the rules of the game. And, both the example I cited, and your colorful counterexample, are essentially cases of antagonism. Nobody exercises “Free Speech” for “Free Speech’s” sake. People exercise “Free Speech” for a purpose. And, in that case, the purpose is to piss people off. Griefers are no different.

And by the way, assholes don’t feel angst, even if they are 15 years old.

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They are assholes trying to destroy the enjoyment of the game for others. There is no noble cause. They simply enjoy removing a channel for others enjoyment.

I’ve played on a WoW PvP server for 3 years. When I camp someone until they log out, tell my guild to kill them on sight, and then camp them until they log out every time they are seen in the game world; I am not trying to understand the game world or create a real feeling of loss for the player. They’ve simply angered me and I don’t want them to enjoy the game anymore.

Basically, a lot of you are spewing overwrought bullshit to explain the apathetic or sadistic actions of angst ridden 15 year olds.

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They understand the games rules and flaws and social norms rather better than you do, which is why they’re so efficient at exploiting them for their own advantage and amusement.

Yeah, in the same sense that script kiddies are really l337 hax0rs.

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except that’s legitimate political speech, if – to be overly kind – extremely rough around the edges. there’s an obvious point in the u.s. (at least) to be made that jesus is fair game for any artist with a sack of chocolate and a butt-plug.

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