A Message to All Griefers

I can never understand why someone would want to greif someone. What joy does someone get out of purposely causing havoc in ones SL?

I know that many of us play this game to escape RL situations that we are dealing with. We dont look for trouble, we keep to ourselfs, emmersed in our projects or socializing wth our small circle of close friends we have grown to love and concider our second family.

I was triple neg rated yesterday on a my building skills (:/) I am like ok everyone has a right to their own opinion. When i Looked at this persons profile I i noticed that they have given 48 neg ratings and the postive ratings this person has gotten was only in the teen numbers. Their account has been active since July 2004. I am going to assume that this avatar is an alt. Anyhoo, I IM'd this person and asked why they neg rated me and then they proceed to swear.. fouly and unnesscary. F this and F that. This person was reported and copy of the chat was sent to LL.

To get to my point. I am angry. Not being neg rated, by being harrassased. I dont know why someone would want to grief me. I am currently working on a build project on a private sim and mainly keep to myself. My friends laugh at me cause I answer my IMs like 1/2 hour later. I love this game for the creativity that soars from one sim to another.

I love this game for another reason. A personal reason. My father is in the last stages of cancer. chronic neutrophilic leukemia, which is a very rare form of leukemia, that has no cure or treatment. He was admitted to the hostpital in January, to have his spleen removed because it was in enlarged to the size of a foot ball. And last week he has just gone down hill and on Sunday he was admitted back to the ICU unit were he is now on life support and the DR's have said they will keep him on life support for 96 hours. My father is withering away to nothing. The vital man I once new is no longer there.

SL has helped me cope with this horrible tragedy and to be griefed and harrassed is not something I am looking for or want.

TO ALL GRIEFERS: Before you harrass someone .. remember there is a real person behind the avatar. They maybe here to escape RL, to deal and cope. Put yourself in that avatars shoes for one moment before you grief and ask yourself what is the real reason why you are griefing. There is a real person behind there.. and they maybe here just to escape an emotional hurting that no one can understand. SL helps you forget for a brief moment.

~Tya

Tya you are so right.

Grief-ers can't stand to see other people happy.

Doing anything to make others unhappy or interrupting their game brings them pleasure.

Though there are a few grievers who either...

1. Don't feel they need to use the "report" system and would rather (and enjoy) getting revenge.

2. People who feel the "Linden Solution" they got was not enough.

I have never had anyone file an abuse report on me. I am truly stumped and so are my friends as to who this person is and why they would

There doesn't have to be a "reason".... some people just do.

Mostly those who either don't care or don't know that there is a person at the other end of the screen.

On top of that... most who get asked to stop by anyone besides a Linden respond in the violent way you described.

I'm glad SL has helped you cope... try to excuse those who can't... and report those who try to involve you with their lack of copping.

I've found the best defense against a flame-thrower is a clown hat and nose.

From my experience, Greifers fall into 4 categories:

1. Immaturity - the world revolves around you, and the rest of us are here to entertain you.

2. Attention Sponges - notice me! Notice Me! NOTICE ME!

3. Anarchists - Rules have no meaning, and anyone that takes them too seriously deserved to be griefed in the first place.

4. Revenge - People that feel that they or their friends were treated unjustly, and take an eye for an eye approach. (or an eye for a hair)


About the only realistic solution to grief I see is having the tools to prevent the grief before it happens. Then, the folks that fall into the above categories can attempt to grief all they want, only to be frustrated by its ineffectiveness and move on.

Travis

hmm ok I guess that's much better put than my "no reason" but I meant no REASONABLE reason

If you copied that conversation (all the swearing), send that to abuse and that alt will be taken care (closed forever)....but nothing to stop them from coming back as another alt..

Ok, try to remember back to the 5th grade... Remember the kid who sat behind you, and poked you with a pencil? And then you turned around, and said "Stop!", but they just laughed at you, because they thought it was hilarious to hear you say stop, and clearly be pissed off? And then you went to the teacher, and they just told the kid to stop too? And then the kid would keep doing it, all the while saying tattle tale?

The kid with the pencil is the griefer, you saying stop is your first attempt at a solution to the problem. The kid continuing is the griefer's enjoyment. The teacher is the linden. The kid continuing to poke you is the griefer's alt.

That's my anology. My solution is to "ignore" them, i.e., block them from your land, put up a giant shield, whatever, as long as the person knows you really don't care, and they arn't gonna get much enjoymnet out of annoying the living shit out of you.

And if that doesn't work... get your friends to start blocking him or her from stuff, make the griefer's SL a living second hell, until they give up, and die in a corner somewhere.

I'd... I'd FORGOTTEN..... OH DAMN AND YOU HAD TO REMIND ME!!

Years of therapy and trying to cope down the drain!!!

*runs away crying..

You forgot :

5. "It's art!" "Performance art" and "post-modernist art" being among the excuse pool for this particular subset.

I'd like to add:

5. Personal Gain - Hmmm, now how can I get that land/item/etc. without paying for it? "gve lyndns plz!!1!"

I would be interested, however, if the Liason/Abuse Handling Lindens would put up a detailed, up-to-date list on popular griefing problems (for example, push and cage guns) as well as their solutions for newbies, preferably in the Welcome Area(s).

And Tya, I'm sorry to hear that. It's unfortunate, but not everyone knows/cares about the person behind the avatar. My advice would be to ignore griefing vidjiots (read as: idiots) for what they are, and find people sympathetic to how you feel.

As Travis Lamber mentioned, preventative measures are your best defense. I haven't tried this product yet, but I saw an auto-targeting gun turret for sale on SL Exchange:
http://www.slexchange.com/modules.php?name=Marketplace&file=item&ItemID=7910
Anyone gives you grief, drop 'em in the gun's blacklist and watch them fly.
One caveat: it probably only works on land you own.

Persig

haha Lianne you are personally responsible for my happiness today. great cartoon.

Penny Arcade changed my life

What is the opposite of griefer?

Joyer?

Your mom?

*rimshot* (just kidding)


I think a lot of SL griefers don't consider what they do to be griefing. To them its entertainment and almost hope people (try) and do it back to them. Just another way to treat the game.

Tya,

Very sorry that you have had to put up with a moron when you are going through this difficult personal period.

The truly awful thing is that if they had known, it wouldn't have made any difference. It seems to me that griefers tend to be lacking empathy - halfway to being psychopaths, in fact.

Anyway, I hope that the coming period will be bearable for you and that second life will remain a welcome escape for you. It is important to remember that an attack from a griefer might seem like something that is personally directed at you - but of course, it isn't. It is important to remember this, and not to feel personally attacked. A griefer is really no different from any glitch or bug in second life - one of those things that we all have to put up with from time to time.

Take care,
Selador

SO true

We (if you have a computer, I think you count) live in a rather sociopathic society to begin with. First life is a world run by "griefers".

I think a lot of it in SL is the sense of power that they can achieve, revenge for all the slights of their life, and such power-imbalance issues.

For some of them, it also incorporates a desire to destroy all escape routes from "reality", where their kind reigns supreme.

"Why do you spend so much (time|energy|money) on a GAME?"
"Why do you? Why not just drink protein shakes for nutrition, go to work, come home, go to sleep and wait to die?"

Wow you must have done something bad for that person to triple negative rate you. Maybe you should be nicer in the future.

^^^ butthead.

I'm starting to find myself tempted by this category:

<<4. Revenge - People that feel that they ... were treated unjustly, and take an eye for an eye approach. (or an eye for a hair) >>

I've only been on SL for 2 weeks + - , been killed twice and assaulted 3 other times, all while I was minding my own business, building or away. SL response to my abuse reports have not been very satisfactory. I'm beginning to suspect that at least one particular Linden was present at two of the assaults, in fact may have encouraged the first one. The last assault I overheard a chat where he was talking about how many "PvP points he had racked up that day", I said "Hello, excuse me..." when someone he was next to pulled out a rifle and shot me. I sent the Linded an IM about it last night and am waiting to see his response before I report him.

But if this keeps up I'm tempted to go into Ninja mode and get some satisfaction, only on those who have attached me of course. There don't seem to be much consiquences for such behavior on SL.

I've read about two self defense weapons that are supposed to mirror any assault you recieve back on the assaulter. Has anyone tried any of these? Are they effective? Is there a downside to using these?