News Flash: Griefing People Makes Them Angry

I read with some surprise about the professor who joined an MMO only to grief people to no end, and observe how they reacted to it. Fine, cruel way to treat people I guess since they had no choice of opting out of his “experiment”, but I’d accept that if he had some kind of point to make… so that’s not the worst of it. The worst of it is the conclusions he comes to from this “work”.

Taste these:

“He believes it proved that, even in a 21st century digital fantasyland, an ugly side of real-world human nature pervades, a side that oppresses strangers whose behavior strays from that of the mainstream.”

“Myers was stunned by the reaction, since he obeyed the game’s rules.”

“It started to not be fun,” said Myers, a video game aficionado. “I became the most hated, most reviled player.”

“He said his experience demonstrated that modern-day social groups making use of modern-day technology can revert to “medieval and crude” methods in trying to manipulate and control others.”

Someone actually grants funds for this nutcase? Hell, I could have told you all of those things at once, without the need to be a total dick to people for two years: There are social systems in any context that go above and beyond that of the rules and laws of the context. Yes, this goes for online communities as well. No, you wouldn’t be stupid enough to do that to someone if you weren’t online and anonymous.

I’d urge Mr. Myers to try it out AFK sometime. A subway train could be a good place, for instance (though I’m certainly open for other suggestions, these things are common). Place yourself in the middle of the doorway. Stand in the way of peolpe trying to enter or exit the train. If they move to sidestep you, follow to block the movement.

This is not illegal or against subway rules, but it will still make people really fucking angry. The social context tells you “don’t do that”, not because it causes people to become “medieval and crude” when they force their way past you violently, but because you’re being a real dick to people if you do.

People started out by asking kindly, but then stepped up their efforts to change his behavior as he ignored them. Like people under threat from abuse AFK, they first tried all the normal, appropriate ways of dealing with normal, reasonably sane people, but then had to go to extremes when this didn’t work.

This has nothing to do with him being a “stranger” (hint: everyone’s a stranger in an MMO), but with the fact that he was making their lives miserable to the best of his abilities.

In any game there will be things that are possible according to game rules, but forbidden due to social context. In Battlefield and other shooters, it’s spawn camping. In golf, it’s crossing another player’s line of putt on the green. In World of Warcraft, it’s ninjaing a target or piece of loot from other players. I could go on for a long time.

In the end, we come down to the simple fact that this guy gets paid for being a twat to people for two years, and tries to interpret it scientifically as some sort of bullying on their behalf.

There are plenty of interesting areas to research when it comes to games… games are still a young medium, and especially the social effects and interactions of MMOs are fascinating. So picking an area with slightly more relevance could be nice. Better teach this guy the basics of human psychology before letting him near another study, though.

6 Comments

• 

  By Wyatt, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 12:15

  Hehe, so that IS what you were looking for! And I note with some amount of wry amusement that the comic was in circulation about three years before the study began….

• 

  By Joel, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 14:32

  Blocking the subway doors is against rules; it’s obstructing an exit, which you are clearly instructed not to do. Even entering the train before others exit is codified.

  You ever think that you may take your video games too seriously? If a spawncamp will actually ruin your whole day, you have a serious problem.

  Also, in an FPS you can go on a server where the rules state “no spawn camping”, “no setup killing”, et c.

  Similarly, there are PvE realms in WoW where people can escape being murdered indiscriminately.

  While his general conclusion is pretty intuitive, the actual experience and insights of being that outcast for that period of time is surely enlightening—for him if not for us.

• 

  By slicedlime, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 16:06

  Well that’s somewhat besides the point, isn’t it? He knowingly broke social rules in a way he would never dream of doing in a different context, and draws conclusions about the way people then acted as if the social ruleset didn’t exist just because he chose to ignore them.

• 

  By HHH, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 16:14

  Wait, when I read it, he was playing it the way as the game intended, heroes fighting villians. He wasn’t griefing.

• 

  By WaywardZ, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 18:23

  @HHH,
  Ah, but he was teleporting said villains into a 100% no win situation. Exploiting the game mechanics to do so. Even if this is “as intended” it is no less a dick move, and hence griefing.

• 

  By Adam, Tuesday, July 7, 2009 @ 19:05

  I agree with you on this.

  When I read the article I was laughing with his tactics but then thought how lame for him to judge people on behavior that he intentionally created.

  Wonderful that its now an academic paper that is out there to be misused by more academic idiots.

  Lookup “fansy the bard” from eq for a bit less serious take on this stuff.

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