I don't understand griefing

[salinv]

Schadenfreude, e.g. happiness at the misfortune of others. A lot of people love schadenfreude - you could almost say it is part of human nature. I find it deplorable, but I honestly cant say I haven't done it at times.

Griefing is basically (in my mind at least) the conscious act of taking the active role in schadenfreude, and I find that the people who do it typically exemplify why I think the internet can be an absolute cesspool of humanity.

Also: GIFT; Gabriel's Internet Fuckwad Theory: Average Human Being + Anonymity + Large Audience = Total Fuckwad.

 

[TehDomino]

It appears I didn't make my first post clear enough.

Seeing as the OP never mentioned in either a gameplay way, or attitude towards another person via communication both go hand in hand.

If by griefing, then you turn and do the same thing, nerd rage or whatever you may do, what makes you think you are any better. Therin is still the problem the people that get mad/angry/rage at the people doing said griefing and taking everything personally is what is enabling them in the first place.

With the amount of control and privacy that can be had in todays games, take the high road don't respond to their actions, ignore them, if they are affecting gameplay leave and go somewhere else.

As for the lunch guy, you may still rage at someone because of their actions in the game, I said 'over' not 'at' video games.

I'll refer this; www.apa.org/pubs/journals/releases/vio-1-4-259.pdf

American Psychological Association (APA)

An interesting read if you have the time or can be bothered.

 

[Vigormortis]

snip

I wasn't speaking on the outcome. No matter the variety. I was speaking on the act itself and the intent therein. If you are trolling or griefing someone, you're being a dick. Pure and simple. You are resorting to using some of the very worst aspects of human nature. It's one of the purest forms of Schadenfreude. You're not just enjoying watching someone in misery, you're actively causing that misery.

So you'll pardon me if I don't exactly condone many of the acts of the trolls and griefers that populate the internet. (and the real world, for that matter)

Also, may last point was an analogy. A loose analogy, admittedly, but not meant literally. It was more about saying these people are often someone who's miserable, for whatever reason, and decides the best way to make themselves feel better is to spread that misery around.

I might add, though, that a family can be rich but still be living in what would be considered a "broken home". Especially if it's a regularly hostile or inhospitable environment. Emotional harm can be just as devastating as physical harm.

[Side-note]
I already said the one kind of griefer I could tolerate. I.E. one who is griefing a griefer to scare them off. I'd like to add that there is also a kind of troll I can stand. That being a self-deprecating troll.

This is a rare breed of troll that will actually make a fool of themselves with the intent of both humoring themselves and eliciting laughter from those in the game with them. They're not there to ruin the game for others, they're there to make the game more fun.

Unless they start taking it too far, then they cross that line between humorous and annoying.

 

[Vigormortis]

Schadenfreude, e.g. happiness at the misfortune of others. A lot of people love schadenfreude - you could almost say it is part of human nature. I find it deplorable, but I honestly cant say I haven't done it at times.

Griefing is basically (in my mind at least) the conscious act of taking the active role in schadenfreude, and I find that the people who do it typically exemplify why I think the internet can be an absolute cesspool of humanity.

Also: GIFT; Gabriel's Internet Fuckwad Theory: Average Human Being + Anonymity + Large Audience = Total Fuckwad.

You've basically taken my entire stance on the topic, and the posts I've made so far, and condensed them into a handful of sentences. Thank you.

 

[Hal10k]

I also don't know why people flarburdurgle or zoppitysnazzle.

Watch a few episodes of The Cosby Show; that should clarify the matter.

 

[Faladorian]

Clearly, you believe that being an ass online is a legitimate form of entertainment. Nice job proving my point. There is no reason for being a pain in the ass to others for pleasure that can be considered wise and thoughtful.

It doesn't have to be "wise and thoughtful" to be entertaining. Some people think armpit farts are funny. Granted, most of them aren't even in middle school yet, but the point stands that different people have different ways of entertaining themselves.

It's the same idea as watching a cat chase after a laser pointer. Sure, it's at the expense of someone or something else, but it's still entertainment. It doesn't mean the person with the laser pointer is stupid; in fact, it means the cat is stupid. And so are people who fall for trolls, because they're always very obvious and very easy to ignore. If you take the bait, that's your fault.

You may now leave me be as there is nothing left to be said.

Right, as if you weren't asking for an argument by saying "there really is no argument that will counter this."

 

[JoesshittyOs]

Why is it fun? Well, just look at this:

Now do that yourself. Notice the intense amount of lulz it generates to crush a camper's skull with a helicopter. There's your answer.

No fucking joke, I just got done watching about 4 of those guys video's almost 30 seconds before posting that. My mind has been blown.

And yeah, this is where I find it funny. When it's something that's hard to do like what this guy does, than it's fun. When it's just a guy sitting and making life harder for everyone, it's annoying.

Edit: As in I was watching the videos before I saw your post. I'm still a little buzzed.

 

[TheYellowCellPhone]

I'm disappointed that nobody has said this yet. Two almost full pages, not a single image or quote of this

Can't explain it.

 

[Westaway]

I've never laughed harder than when I placed lava across a friend's wooden town in Minecraft.
It's like trolling, but much more interactive.

Trolling is extraordinarily interactive, what are you talking about?

 

[KeyMaster45]

could someone explain to my why it is fun to wreck peoples game times?

There's a very, very simple answer for this. They do it for the lulz.

 

[salinv]

Schadenfreude, e.g. happiness at the misfortune of others. A lot of people love schadenfreude - you could almost say it is part of human nature. I find it deplorable, but I honestly cant say I haven't done it at times.

Griefing is basically (in my mind at least) the conscious act of taking the active role in schadenfreude, and I find that the people who do it typically exemplify why I think the internet can be an absolute cesspool of humanity.

Also: GIFT; Gabriel's Internet Fuckwad Theory: Average Human Being + Anonymity + Large Audience = Total Fuckwad.

You've basically taken my entire stance on the topic, and the posts I've made so far, and condensed them into a handful of sentences. Thank you.

Happy to help. Though, I must say that I didn't even read more than two posts in this forum until just now.

Honestly, most people grief because they like to see some others suffer, or rather just revel in the misery of others. It is sad to say, but take some enjoyment from others misfortune, a "Haa, glad I'm not him" sort of mentality. If you don't get angry, they have no misfortune to gain happiness from.

However, when people are doing it online, they are typically venting; they can't get that release from griefing others in real life - they just can't bring them selves to do it to others, to there face, and witness the consequences of their actions (one of the few reasons why I sometimes like society - it frowns on this type of behavior and acts accordingly). Since they wont do it in real life, they do it on the internet, where they have absolute anonymity which gives them a safety net from the consequences of their actions, and the large audience of those around give them the validation of their actions.

Either that, or they are absolutely horrible human beings.

 

[salinv]

It's not really a desire to see the world burn, but rather the desire to burn down the world. Those that watch and push it on are watching the world burn.

 

[Frission]

Schadenfreude, the pain of others is hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9B-ZoS0wvU
Did someone post this yet? They should.

Edit: Too late

 

[salinv]

Schadenfreude, the pain of others is hilarious.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t9B-ZoS0wvU
Did someone post this yet? They should.

Edit: Too late

Love that musical; if I ever get the chance, I intend to see it.

 

[Geo Da Sponge]

It's a way for people who are alpha jerkoffs on the inside but are forced to act as powerless betas in real life to blow off steam. Pity them.

I do, they can only have fun at the expense of others

To be fair, when you're playing a competitive multiplayer game then all of your fun is at the expense of others.

 

[Total LOLige]

Nothing gives me more joy in the world than griefing a bunch of annoying kids who treat a game of Call Of Duty so fucking seriously in a hardcore match. Even better, they deserve it.

Gotta love the RPG teamkill at the spawn trick.
I usually do shit like that to annoy the "Go fuck your nan" "You paki bastard ****** noob" "You're a shit fag" type of player

 

[Bravo 21]

I have no real idea, I think it's mostly the the fun of wrecking somebody's day, and imagining them rage. At least, my most significant experience with griefing, I got to a friends house drunk after a party, and decided that the best thing to do would be play some RDR, 'cause I have a pc, so I can't play it at my place. I ended up playing online for a few hours, and at one point I spent about an hour following one guy around shooting at him. Not sure if this was truly griefing, as he killed me nearly as many times as I killed him, and it seemed to be vaguely within the spirit of the game (the cowboys killling each other, as everyone else I encountered shot at me on sight). Eventually he quit, and I went on my merry psychopathic way, shooting anything that moved.
The moral of the story is: Lot's of people enjoy acting like drunk asshats on the internet

 

[GigaHz]

If you don't understand the appeal of griefing, or find it deplorable, you are likely the type that griefers feed off of.

Plenty of strong opinions in this thread against griefing but few 'for' it. Am I the only one who finds it enjoyable both on the receiving and giving end? I mean, sometimes you can get so wrapped up in a game that you forget what you're doing barely matters in reality. Some joker comes in, takes advantage of those who take the game far too seriously and typically rage ensues. You either laugh at it or you shake your head and take appropriate action.

I'm the type to find the humor in it, assuming that there's some kind of effort/planning behind the griefing. Not a fan of cheating/exploits (unless done in a funny way), audio rape or slander, but everything else is fair game.

This may come as a shock to a lot of you but I'm willing to bet that most of you have griefed before in your life without even knowing you did. If you have ever played a game without following the rules while someone else was taking the game seriously, congratulations! You are among the 'bottom feeding scum' as one poster so lovingly put it.

I know I did this growing up, mostly for board games. If only I knew that my actions would cause me to grow up as a degenerate, I would have thought carefully before I married twice while playing 'The Game of Life'.

 

[Dfskelleton]

It really depends. A deeply rooted pleasure in humans is to bring misfortune to others, assuming the misfortune isn't serious. It's funny to listen to people get so angry over little things, like being inconvenienced in a video game.