Player vs. Player Play Examined

aws910 writes "An interesting story at news.com.com tells of the various efforts employed by various MMOG companies to abate the problem of Griefers." From the article: "Social miscreants can do more than ruin the game for better-behaved competitors. They can hurt game companies' bottom line by driving away customers and burning up support lines. Problems related to grief players often account for 25 percent or more of customer service calls, according to game publishers." Commentary from the old men of MMOGdom available at Broken Toys and Terra Nova.

Comments

n00b Bashing: the Sport of Losers.

[SIGALRM]

Ganging up on newbies is typical griefer behavior in games with large multiplayer universes, such as "Sims Online" or "EverQuest."

Not restricted to the MMOG universe, fractious behavior can be found in just about all online games. I was suprised once when a really good Q3A player stopped for awhile to give me a few tips, like adjusting /sensitivity and /cl_* vars. Respect for newbies who are genuinely interested in getting better ultimately leads to more competition. If they enjoy playing--they will likely stick w/the game and increase their skill.

Re:Welcome to society

[SIGALRM]

A virtual police or secuirty force... would solve the problem to a large degree

Intriguing idea... but would it be feasible to implement a solution that has real-world legal implications? If I ban you from a *game*--not a server--you purchased, depending on the EULA--I could envision some potential legal troubles for the studio/distributor.

Another point is, couldn't the virtual police become corrupt (again, as is common in many societies), and wouldn't you need extraordinarily complex systems such as...

a judiciary

lawyers

ombudsmen

investigatory units

a bar association

...etc, etc... to eliminate the possibility of abuse by the "authorities"? How would you like to be "imprisoned" in a MMORPG by some rogue "virtual cop" who decided you were acting improperly? Something to think about.

Being a MUD player myself...

[nathan s]

I have to admit sometimes it can be fun to pick on newbies, particularly the more annoying "give me equipment/gold/etc" newbies who seem to think that they have some sort of god-given right to everything you've worked hard to collect.

Being a MUD player, though, my form of revenge is limited to amusing things like charming mobs that the newbie is about to attack, so it would be something like:

Newbie: Oh, there's a giant spider...let me try to kill it...
@ Kill giant spider
Sorry, you must MURDER a charmie.
@ Murder giant spider
Sorry, you can't murder another player's charmie.
@ CHAT Y KANT I KILL THE GIANT SPIDER
[Silence is secretly ordering the spider to speak.] The giant spider says, "Why do you want to kill me, Newbie?"
Newbie: WTF?
@ CHAT THE GIANT SPDIR IZ TALKING TO ME!
Silence chats, "Maybe he just doesn't want to die." [secretly typing 'order giant spider fkiss Newbie']
@ CHAT BUT I WNT 2 KILL IT!
The giant spider kisses you passionately.
@ POKE GIANT SPIDER
Nothing happens.
@ KILL GIANT SPIDER
The giant spider dances around you merrily.
[Silence secretly uncharms the giant spider.]
@ DANCE GIANT SPIDER
The giant spider TOTALLY DEMOLISHES you with its fangs!!

Muahahahahha.

Note that this type of newbie is usually some lamer who has played other variations of MMORPGs before and has never had to work for anything. I agree, the ones who are seriously wanting to get better always get my help.:-)