The article "Mutilated Furries, Flying Phalluses: Put the Blame on Griefers," by Julian Dibbell talks about griefing in Second Life. Griefers are people who become apart of the game world by making offenses towards other players. “Not that griefers don’t like online games. Its just that what they most enjoy about those games is making other players not enjoy them.” These people take pleasure in destroying others game life. Their goal is to get the player annoyed/upset, while the player will eventually lead to log off. Griefing has become more popular over the years as it transformed into an organization. People take griefing very seriously however, not many understand as to why people grief. I think that griefing is out of control. I don’t see how someone gets such pleasure while they know one is miserable. Griefers actions hurt second life users real life because sometimes there is money involved. I believe that griefers are very immature which makes sense as why they would attack users with penises, thinking its funny.
http://www.gamepro.com/computer/pc/games/features/107088.shtml
In the article below a psychiatrist talks about griefers and why they get involved. The article talks about how griefers are split into two different groups, the defiant leader and the scapegoat leader. She said, "The defiant leader is sometimes with the group, but sometimes has one foot out. There is also always a scapegoat leader. This is generally a person everyone dislikes.” There are not only groups but specific psychological disorders that griefers possess. One many have depression, substance abuse, and psychotic disorders. For example, one being anti social personality disorder, which is also said in Debbells article. Pychiatrist Dr. Laio said, “They are likely to go online to vent frustrations with little regard for how it affects other people.” I tend to agree with Dr. Laio because users on second life would constantly be getting annoyed while they were being grifed however, the griefers know and as Debbell made it clear the grifers just continue to attack.
Subscribe to:
Post Comments (Atom)
2 comments:
The article you found was really interesting. Maybe there really are psychological reasons to define the griefers weird obsessions with making others miserable. I find it very unique that there is this type of person in the virtual world because isn't it true that people go to virtual worlds to escape things like this? Guess virtual worlds aren't all they are cracked up to be so you might as well live the real life that you have. Good blog and I think you really understood the article!
Good post. I'd have to agree with you that they are immature. Like we've said in class, this is exactly the reactions they wanted. But who does this stuff just to see people get upset? You have to have something seriously wrong with you to do that. If I would have lost a loved on from the 9/11 terrorist attacks and then saw the images that they created, i would have to have had some help getting over it (again). That issue is serious and shouldn't be mocked just to get a rise out of people. Your article was interesting and I'm not surprised at all. Good blog!
Post a Comment