A griefer is a player who does things in a game to deliberately cause annoyance ("grief" in the sense of "giving someone grief") with the intent of deriving pleasure primarily or exclusively from the act of causing another player grief. Such a player is a particular nuisance in online gaming communities, since griefers often cannot be deterred by penalties related to in-game goals.[3]
Exact griefing methods differ from game to game, an act of griefing in an area of one game may be an intended function or mechanic of another game or the same game in another "area." Common methods may include but are not exclusive to:
Player killing in games that do not have separate areas, or an option, to keep those who want this type of gameplay from attacking those who do not.[4] This does not include games that are designed with constant player combat in mind.
Intentional friendly fire or deliberately performing actions detrimental to team members' game performance, including wasting key game elements and colluding with the opposition for the primary or exclusive purpose of causing grief to team members and deriving pleasure from that act rather than deriving some benefit.(referred to as "ghosting")
Any methods of reversing another player's progress for the primary or exclusive purpose of causing grief to team members and deriving pleasure from that act rather than deriving some benefit. (such as randomly destroying other players' creations in Minecraft or Terraria)
Written and/or verbal insults, false accusations of cheating/griefing
Spamming when done with an element of intent to bother other players rather than derive some benefit.
Camping at a corpse or area to kill someone as soon as they resurrect when done for the sole purpose of causing grief to another player or players.
Acting out-of-character in a role-play setting when done with the intent of harming of disrupting the game play of others.
Luring many monsters or one big one to chase the griefer and then rushing to where others are (kiting), for the purpose of getting other people killed by this surprise mass of monsters. The line of monsters in pursuit looks like a train, and hence this is sometimes called "training".[5]
Blocking another player's way so they cannot move or get out of a particular area, or access an in-game resource (such as a non-player character) for the purpose of harming that player without deriving any benefit from the act
Deliberately blocking shots from your own team or blocking a player's view by standing in front of them so they can not damage the enemy with the sole purpose of harming your own team, rather than deriving a benefit from doing so.
A griefer is a player who does things in a game to deliberately cause annoyance ("grief" in the sense of "giving someone grief") with the intent of deriving pleasure primarily or exclusively from the act of causing another player grief. Such a player is a particular nuisance in online gaming communities, since griefers often cannot be deterred by penalties related to in-game goals.[3]
Exact griefing methods differ from game to game, an act of griefing in an area of one game may be an intended function or mechanic of another game or the same game in another "area." Common methods may include but are not exclusive to: