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This article is the first of a three-part discussion on the nature of, and relationship between, cyber-bullies, griefers and the legal concept of harassment.
Because the terms “cyber-bully” and “griefer” are often tossed around interchangeably, I’d like to clarify when and under which circumstances they are meaningfully distinguished (at least for our purposes), and when they are not. General definitions, set in their proper context, will probably suffice for this purpose. Where such definitions fail to adequately reach, or address, problems involving physical or psychological damages, we will look to the law to determine (a) whether it has come to recognize meaningful distinctions between griefers and cyber-bullies. More importantly, we will look to the law to (b) get a better understanding of the types of remedies it provides where damages are incurred (Note: though it would seem to “round-out” our discussion to lie it alongside an actual case study, our blog format is not suitable for such elaborations, so anyway . . . ).
Let me begin with a general clarification of the term “griefer.”
The Griefer
“Griefer” is a slang term used to describe a player in a multiplayer video game who plays the game simply to cause grief to other players through harassment. Griefing is a malignant form of emergent gameplay (see “griefer” at Wikipedia.org).
I think of griefers, metaphorically, as the annoying kids at a birthday party; they keep yelling, crying, and throwing things until you ignore them long enough for them to realize they’re not actually changing anything with their off-the-wall behavior. If you give them credit, or attribute any change to them, good or bad, they’ll continue acting out. In this sense, griefers are simply immature pranksters who only feel important when they can successfully frustrate other people.
The video below shows how a griefer disrupts a Second Life interview. They invade the interview with flying penises, and plaster obsenities and racist materials over the scenery. For this reason, viewers should be be over 18 years of age.
Griefers dedicate their online lives to destroying the time others have, while engaging in virtual communities; they are a sub-culture unto themselves. Griefers’ existence revolves around the idea that there is nothing online so serious that it cannot, in one way or another, be ridiculed or trifled.
The idea that SecondLife (a popular online game) is a “free place to live your second life,” is said to be under attack by griefers, but it’s the money makers who are worried because here, griefers affect their revenue streams, which is why those who have a vested interest in such games have turned to real world courts to settle their disputes with griefers.
Looking back on Wikipedia’s definition — particularly where they suggest griefers want to “cause grief to other players through harassment” — we find literal evidence that griefers intend to harass. And, while some might reasonably overlook the more playful intent of griefers as “good clean fun,” the money makers are not alone in wanting to draw a line. Countless others have been affected where griefers have chosen to harass innocent others, particularly those who are not involved in any game whatsoever.
This is where we distinguish “griefers” from “cyber-bullies” . . . the only question remaining, for purposes of assigning legal responsibilities, is whether such distinctions are at all productive?? I will address this question in the second part of our discussion, which begins with a clarification of the term “cyber-bully.”
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