People having fun making othe players " Rage " : is it healthy ?

[Maltah]

Joining a PvP server is a lot like getting into a boxing ring. Sure, punching people and enjoying it is probably a behavior we frown on in most areas of life, but we don't say that the boxer is a sociopath for punching the other guy because the other guy is in the ring too and has agreed to the rules of the game within that ring. As long as both parties abide by those rules, all is well.

You don't get into the ring and then talk about how, "It's only ok to punch me when I want to be punched!" If you don't want to get punched, you don't get into the ring.

Same with PvP servers. When you join one, you're agreeing to the rules of that server even when those rules result in something that is unpleasant for you. The solution for you - if you don't like that environment - is to simply not "step into the ring".

I would argue that joining a PvP server is the same as agreeing to a boxing match. However, in said match you agree to not sucker punch someone in the nuts.

Much like the boxer who - in most cases - doesn't go around punching everyone in "real life", most PvPers don't make a habit of going around and "griefing" people in real life, either. Trying to make all these connections between in-game and real-life actions is nonsensical at best.

There's a certain aspect to their personality that can be derived from them being a boxer. It takes certain types of people to do that (as with almost all things in life). Same thing with people who get enjoyment from griefing (which has been defined already) others in a game. There has yet to be given a compelling argument against your actions in a game towards other people not being an indicator of some aspect of your personality.

[Deleted]

Wonder why Winter got banned

[Maltah]

Right, because that would be against the mutually agreed-upon rules of the "game" within the ring.
There's yet to be a compelling argument FOR your actions in a game being an indicator of your personality, either.

I guess you could argue that your actions in a game, whether or not it's a facet of who you are (which I would strongly argue that it is because certain types of personalities simply don't do these things), are still going to cause people to form an opinion of you one way or another. If you don't care what that opinion is that's fine, but I think it's naive for a player to act indignant if the target of their hours worth of griefing comes to the conclusion that they just might be an asshole.

You can take actions in a game too far, even within the rulesets. You might not break the rules, but you could reasonably be considered a poor sport.

[Vermicious]

At this very moment my daughters are playing Little Big Planet Karting. My eldest keeps elbowing my youngest toons karter, which is causing her to slam into things and not get the little weapon spawns. Lily (the youngest) complained to me about this.

I told her: Baby, it's part of the game - elbow her back.

If it was WoW, I'd say almost the same thing: Baby, it's part of the game. You wanna make a toon on a PvE server instead? If you don't you have to deal with that sort of thing or get better (level up, gear, skill, etc).

They understand it's a game and not personal. And they're 8 and 4

And you're also teaching them that it's ok to be a bully. Shocker.

[Deleted]

Destruction is some quasi-Fire Mage Warlock wannabe spec with an Imp (now sacced; also the worst pet(not mechanically though)) that tried to infiltrate the master class oO

Played (Fire-)Destro back in Vanilla with my Warlock. Fire Mages were never able to reach the sheer awesomess, though.

[Brubear]

Right, because that would be against the mutually agreed-upon rules of the "game" within the ring.



There's yet to be a compelling argument FOR your actions in a game being an indicator of your personality, either.

I think some people are having difficulty separating the concepts of the game from things not related to the game. For example, simply "trolling" in the context of attacking people on message boards, or even hacking or DDoSing services is significantly different from playing a game aggressively. Rather similar to how being ruthless in a game of Monopoly is significantly different from flipping the table and throwing the board across the room.

Again, actions within the structure of a "game" are very distinct from action taken outside that game - even if they're taken because of the game!

While it might not be an outright "TROLLING = SADISM!" the study I (meant to) link shows a correlation.

To quote the abstract;
"In two online studies (total N = 1215), respondents completed personality inventories and a survey of their Internet commenting styles. Overall, strong positive associations emerged among online commenting frequency, trolling enjoyment, and troll identity, pointing to a common construct underlying the measures. Both studies revealed similar patterns of relations between trolling and the Dark Tetrad of personality: trolling correlated positively with sadism, psychopathy, and Machiavellianism, using both enjoyment ratings and identity scores. Of all personality measures, sadism showed the most robust associations with trolling and, importantly, the relationship was specific to trolling behavior. Enjoyment of other online activities, such as chatting and debating, was unrelated to sadism. Thus cyber-trolling appears to be an Internet manifestation of everyday sadism."

Like I said, not conclusive proof, but it does lend credence to the viewpoint that trolling is a anti-social behavior at best and is definitely worth further study.

[icausewipes]

Wonder why Winter got banned

Prolly used Chaos Bolt.


When I played camping a lowbie in STV built character.

[Deleted]

I would argue that joining a PvP server is the same as agreeing to a boxing match. However, in said match you agree to not sucker punch someone in the nuts.

Correct, because you agreed to limitations. Never do you do the same in World of Warcraft where you are able to fight any opponent, which is a specific phenomenon in PvP servers. We must keep in mind that behavior in video games that is deemed bad can likely play a role in increasing an individual's moral sensitivity.

"'Rather than leading players to become less moral,' Grizzard says, 'this research suggests that violent video-game play may actually lead to increased moral sensitivity. This may, as it does in real life, provoke players to engage in voluntary behavior that benefits others.'" - http://www.buffalo.edu/news/releases....pAwMzSgq.dpuf

While violence is mentioned as a specific form of activity, "griefing" likely falls under the same umbrella.

[Seezer]

Ofcourse it does. Making people rage makes me Happy, and being Happy makes me Healthier.

You're always raging. Which negates the effects of being happy from making other people rage. So you're back to being just miserable. And being miserable isn't healthy.

[Mormolyce]

Not really.

When people try it on me I just troll them right back. I'm a way bigger troll than most of them.

[THE Bigzoman]

Used to do it all the time when I felt they were acting out of line.

[taliey]

This kind of behavior is why we're always viewed as toxic, immature, or otherwise unsuited to live a normal life.

And then they wonder why people view them in such unflattering imagery.

[xylophone]

People do it mostly to provoke reactions like this thread. Not that I would know anything about that...

Schadenfreude is best freude.