Since I can remember, I’ve been an unsuspecting (re: female) fan and member of many online communities that breed gamer/hacker culture, internet memes, and are generally considered wastes of server space, such as 4chan.org and SomethingAwful.com (note: both of these sites are NOT work-friendly and may contain some inappropriate material). I’ve also participant in many MMORPGs that members of these communities partake in and make fun of, such as Second Life and especially World of Warcraft.
Members of 4chan are known for being extremely computer and internet savvy, being able to uncover anything about anyone on the internet, while at the same time being the originators of enjoyable, ridiculous memes such as LOLCats. These users are also known for “griefing” other online communities, such as Habbo, WoW, and Second Life. Griefing is an antisocial behavior in which a user (or group of users, as the case usually is) decide to go against the collective, productive nature of the game by spamming a virtual world with graphics, killing other users while not in batttle, etc., as a way to make fun of how many users take these games too seriously. A famous example of griefing in WoW can be seen here (sorry, this goes against the no Google challenge, but I feel its important in explaining exactly what a Griefer is) :
If you don’t want to view the video, essentially what happens is a WoW player died in real life, and her WoW guild (and friends) decide to have a funeral for her in the game on a PvP server (a server in which players can kill each other), during which another guild raids the funeral and kills all of the users mourning this girl’s death. This was taken VERY seriously by the users whose characters were killed and was generally considered a “dick move” by the WoW community.
What I aim to do is research different aspects of griefing, specifically focusing on message boards like 4chan and Something Awful, and show how these individuals make sense of their virtual worlds and what it means to be productive on the internet. Additionally, I’d like to explore the few cases in which griefing behaviors have had positive outcomes in real life (i.e. the Kenny Glenn case, note: not work-friendly, and I would not suggest viewing the videos, especially if you like cats).
Comments? Thoughts?
Possibly Relevant Posts:
- The internet’s “waste of space”: How do griefers and trolls on communities like 4chan help us make sense of online communities? (5) | Elisa Verna
- SRSLY!?!?!?!? Online griefing, Internet Commentary, and Cyber-Bullying. (2) | Elisa Verna
- “The Internet Is Serious Business”: Who are griefers and what do their actions mean for the rest of cyberspace? (8) | Elisa Verna
9 Comments
This is an awesome idea. This subject is extremely polarizing. Some take the virtual world quite seriously, while many hold the blase stance of the griefer. It gets especially interesting when issues of legality come into play. Because of the economic implications in virtual worlds [real money exchanged for virtual goods, properties, etc.], the legal system may eventually need to decide whether to differentiate between the private and the public sphere in virtual worlds. Hard to imagine. One thing that I find interesting is that when griefers succeed in upsetting users with the goal of showing them that the internet shouldn’t be taken seriously, they almost contradict themselves by causing users to have such an emotional experience. I’m interested to see where you go with this.
I love this, and will be reading it with great interest. IMHO, 4chan is the most complete social manifestation of a tautology, in that they are constantly struggling to transcend the medium they are bound to work with (the internet). The way that they cross our typical real-world/online boundaries is a great topic to research.
I would also like to hear what you think about games like ForumWarz, which kind of add an extra layer of lulz-y distance to the same topic you’ll be researching.
Best of luck!
With the WoW raid like with other cases of griefing, what is questioned and is being exposed are the boundries of the online community’s social norms. What was extremely interesting and contraversial about this story, is that one can mmake the case that the group who was actually crossing the lines were the mourners. One of the most consistant charactaristics of virtual environments is the abscence of mortality. The funeral was actually hijacking a PvP server devoted to virtual death matches. Real death does not belong in these environments and Was retaliated against by the practice which the environment was made for – virtual violence. If griefing is an act of disturbing the norms of the online community, one could go as far as actually saying that in this case the mourners were the actual griefers.
So this falls outside of your virtual travel plans, but I still thought of you and your travelogue when I read it: “The Assclown Offensive: How to Enrage the Church of Scientology” by Julian Dibbell in this month’s Wired. I bookmarked it on Delicious; also here: http://www.wired.com/culture/culturereviews/magazine/17-10/mf_chanology
It is a great article, if a little slanted against Scientology, because it shows the special challenges and advantages of anonymous, non-hierarchical, community organizing. Some of the stunts documented really are disturbing, no matter your politics.
I look forward to your travelogue for great lulz, and also because it sounds really, really interesting. I’m particularly interested in how 4chan mixes the base and banal with higher political goals with equal intensity. How can the same community spend countless hours protesting the Church of Scientology and photoshopping lasers coming out of people’s mouths?
It’s also interesting how the anonymity of the internet (or Anonymous) allows people to transgress social mores without consequence. Are these people acting out of a deep-seated desire to cause anarchy and pain, or just because they can?
This sounds great and way over my head in terms of the case study material:) But I’m curious about how you are going to do the research? Reading and analyzing the videos and message boards? What are the specific things you will be looking for?
Viola – I’ll be looking at some of Julian Dibbel’s work on online gaming communities, and in regards to 4chan and something awful, I’ll mostly be looking at the sites themselves and interviews with the founders (i.e. “moot,” the founder of 4chan who revealed his identity a few years ago). I’ll also be researching a lot of Hacker culture, because it shares a lot of similarities with Griefers.
I’ve always been interested in this – and while being fascinated with the whole lulz culture, I’ve always wondered about how I felt about the limits that people went to for lulz. it’s one thing to make a point, it’s quite another to hurt other people in the process. but then again, ‘hurt’ is subjective, no?
gorditamedia beat me to it, but I also immediately thought of the article in the latest Wired. I’m not a fan of scientology (or any religion, for that matter) but they went pretty far for those lulz. what would happen if they went after one of the more ‘credible’ or mainstream religions, I wonder?
what I was also reminded of was the griefing that took place during an interview in Second Life with the flying penises. I looked and looked for the video (I distinctly remember watching it), but turns out that it really hurt the interviewee and youtube had to take it down. (don’t worry, that’s not a redirect to youtube!)
this last one was funny, but it obviously hurt someone. where do they draw the line? do they draw it all? has there ever been any backlash from those affected?
looking forward to your travelogue =)
FUcktards, why put a funeral on a fucking PVP server?