Ganking, corpse camping and ninja looting from the perception of the MMORPG community

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).…”

“…In this case, the griefer's disruption of other players' game experience may be an expected behaviour for anyone who identifies as a griefer (although it is important to note that identifying under the griefer social identity does not necessarily mean they socialize with other griefers). This explanation is partially supported by the frequency of griefers surveyed in studies not thinking of their actions as wrong (Achterbosch et al 2013) or feeling that their behaviour is just part of the game and justified Coyne et al 2009). …”

“…Examples of activities in MMOGs range from fighting monsters to gain experience, attaining items to develop the player character or socializing with other players (Achterbosch et al 2013). Among the many motivations players have for playing MMOGs, one motivation in particular is to manipulate or dominate other players against their will (Yee 2006b).…”

The Ethics of Multiplayer Game Design and Community Management

“…'Toxic' or hostile player-community behaviours encompass a wide range of disruptive and unsporting activities [85], some of which are increasingly associated with misogyny [28] and other discriminatory and gatekeeping attitudes identified in parts of gamer culture [65]. These behaviours commonly take the form of abusive chat and verbal harassment, but may also incorporate in-game 'griefing' behaviours that serve to cause other players 'grief' by disrupting their gameplay, usually for the griefer's "personal enjoyment or gain" [1]. Griefing may include acts such as scamming other players, taking another players' rightfully-earned rewards ('ninja-looting') or kills ('kill-stealing'), and repeatedly killing players who are new or at a disadvantage [1].…”

“…These behaviours commonly take the form of abusive chat and verbal harassment, but may also incorporate in-game 'griefing' behaviours that serve to cause other players 'grief' by disrupting their gameplay, usually for the griefer's "personal enjoyment or gain" [1]. Griefing may include acts such as scamming other players, taking another players' rightfully-earned rewards ('ninja-looting') or kills ('kill-stealing'), and repeatedly killing players who are new or at a disadvantage [1]. Unwanted, digitally-enacted sexual interactions between players have also long raised concerns in multiplayer spaces [32], and have more recently led to discussions of the legality of 'virtual sexual assault' and harassment [31,80,83].…”