Deception in video games: examining varieties of griefing

Abstract

Purpose -Though not new to online gamers, griefing -an act of play intended to cause grief to game players -is fairly understudied in LIS scholarship. The purpose of this paper is to expand the inventory of griefing varieties, consider their deceptive elements and examine attitudes towards the phenomenon. Design/methodology/approach -The authors collected and content analysed 80 (non-elicited) posts from the Something Awful forum thread and compared them to the results of ten (elicited) e-mail interviews. Findings -As a complex phenomenon, griefing has multiple interpretations and opposing attitudes. The thread results show that griefers, as perpetrators, have predominantly positive or neutral attitudes towards the act. About 15 per cent of the examined griefers reportedly resort to deceptive techniques. More extravagant griefs that require verbal interactions in player-versus-player (PvP) online games involve deception and often fall into two categories: scamming or greed play (prioritising personal benefits). The authors found self-reported instances of deception by scheming, luring, entrapment, pretence and verbal concealment in griefing acts. The interview respondents, as predominantly victims of griefs, do not think of griefing (or may not be aware of it) as an act of deception and primarily associate it with harassment (inciting emotional reactions) or power imposition (exerting superiority). Casual griefing -refusing to comply with the rules for mere entertainment -stands out as another griefing variety. Originality/value -With the growth of popularity of video gaming, libraries are largely unaware of griefing and should be prepared to address it in video game use policies for online gaming units or tournaments. Online gaming affords a unique opportunity to examine deception in computer-mediated human-to-human communication. The complexity of the phenomenon and associated opposing views are offered here to be weighted by the LIS scholars and professionals.

The enjoyment of griefing in online games

“…This type of griefing would be an example of Foo and Koivisto's (2004) griefing category of power imposition, whereby the griefers in WoW enjoyed exploiting a loophole in a feature of the game to grief other players. These forms of griefing have been confirmed in other studies seeking to understand the behaviour (Achterbosch et al 2013;Rubin and Camm 2013).…”

Gender deception in asynchronous online communication: A path analysis

“…Research has found that people are motivated by "play" to engage in deceptive online environments (Caspi & Gorsky, 2006). People enjoy the sense of excitement that accompanies engaging in online deception such as a Butler lie (Hancock et al, 2009), or griefing 4 strategies (Rubin & Camm, 2013). In online dating profiles, deception can frequently be identified in daters' photographs and communicative cues (Guadagno et al, 2012;Hancock et al, 2007;Hancock et al, 2010;Toma et al, 2008).…”

Toxic Teammates or Obscene Opponents? Influences of Cooperation and Competition on Hostility between Teammates and Opponents in an Online Game

“…In gaming communities, such negative behaviors are often grouped under the label of "toxic behavior" (Kwak, Blackburn, & Han, 2015). Toxic behavior in online games can be common across genres, and most players experience these behaviors as they spend more time playing online (Rubin & Camm, 2013;Warner & Raiter, 2005). Discouraging anti-social behavior is an increasing goal among game producers, with major companies like Blizzard actively monitoring players' in-game interactions for signs of "trolling" intentionally playing poorly or in a way that elicits a negative response from others, (Morrisey, 2010).…”