Griefing: How do deal and still have fun

Griefing – It’s the one word every  online multiplayer sandbox player has heard. It sends a cold chill down your spine because you know what it means.   Hours of work, if not days of work all go down the tube.   Random acts of destruction taking place to the point you just want to log off forever. They don’t speak, they don’t listen. Griefers just destroy.

Griefing is the act of chronically causing consternation to other members of an online community, or more specifically, intentionally disrupting the immersion of another player in their gameplay. It's playing in a multiplayer game, in a contrary way, with the intent of harming other human players, ruining their experience, blocking progress, frustrating, confusing and aggravating innocent players for a kind of crazy yet odd thrill.  It is indicative of a serious real-world issue, usually a deep insecurity and sense of revenge. 

It has even happened to me: READ: Church Destroyed By User

And in the end, all you can really ask is why? Why would someone do this?

I’ve ventured around the Internet checking various perspectives on the issue. It all comes back to this: The person is just an unhappy gamer.   So why go online and ruin everyone’s experience? Because they want the attention. However, this is unhealthy attention and it can get you banned from any game out there. 

No one wants a negative person around in real life, so why deal with the same online? Some people have the ideology that online lives don’t matter, that you can treat people anyway you desire and get away with it. That is not the case.  In fact, it’s a form of bullying. According to the 2013 Youth Risk Behavior Surveillance Survey   15% of high school students (grades 9-12) were electronically bullied in the past year.   I don’t want to think about what’s going on at the lower ages. Is Griefing a form of Cyberbullying? In my opinion, yes.  And I know I might be taking this overboard because it’s so well known throughout the gaming community. However, if we’re going to have the right gaming experience that we all deserve, we need to push back against Griefing. It’s wrong and unfair. 

Here are some tips on how to deal with it:

1. Report it to Site admin. If they don’t have anything in place to combat it, this might help get the ball rolling.
2. Site admins: If you have nothing in place for greifing, consider some of your more active players and make them moderators. At least this way you can have some eyes on the ground in the game.
3. DO NOT ENGAGE THE GRIEFER. It’s best to take down their username and report it. You’ll spend too much time trying to debate with someone that will NEVER see it your way.
4. Relocate to another portion of the board.  Planet of Cubes has an endless world vision that can give you the experience you want.  Don’t worry about not having your own little paradise. It’s there.
5. If all else fails, log out. Take a break. Let them think you’ve moved on to something different and log back in later. I know you feel you shouldn’t have to do that but sometimes it works.

Most important, especially if you come across it in Planet of Cubes, don’t blame the game for the experience. The game is not griefing you, people are.  Let’s fix the processes together before giving bad reviews and posting negativity. That will fix nothing.  We’re all in this together, so let’s build and grow in the same way! :)