If said lowbie is in Horde territory, or in Elwynn, I just like to remind them that the world isn't safe. I never camp, unless it's someone my level. Camping lowbies is just lame.
The Horde and Alliance aren't at war either, and haven't been for the entirety of WoW. MoP is the closest we came, but instead of doing that Blizzard made the Horde the Alliance went to war with NPC only and all of the Horde players were, without choice, put into the rebel group which was not at war with the Alliance.
If you want to go back to Medieval stuff, an Englishman didn't simply kill a Frenchman for being a Frenchman during the Hundred Years War either.
Revenge is a bitch. Only do it because when i was a lowbie i was constantly ganked. I chose to be on a PvP server but when i was killed several times in a row by one person, it'd piss me off a little bit. However, i had no problem with be killed hence why i chose a PvP server. I just give them a taste of what happened to me at a lower level. Boy oh boy, payback is always great!
I, for example, feel the urge to help lowbies, especially from the opposite faction. For example, I spotted a Warscout and there was a random lvl 87 horde (I'm ally) nearby. I /waved and /pointed at Warscout and made couple of other gestures until he understood that he needed to tag the mob and I finished it off for him. I always help lowbies with rares if i see they are in trouble. Guess I hope that encourages them to be kind aswell, although that hope lays on a thin ice ^^
You could also say that and i understand your reasoning. I mean it's just payback in a way to the opposing faction that ganked me. That sounds much better. I got tired of being ganked by horde so once i hit 90 and got pretty damn geared i was like lets take a stroll down memory lane. Started ganking left and right. I mean it is called World of WARcraft for a reason xD
There were 2 rogues going around T.I ganking yesterday. That can ONLY come about from a power trip brought by insecurity. It's not PvP, it's just assholes griefing. Gankers, like trolls, lose the minute they start doing what they do. I never bother to even fight back. I lose 5 seconds of playtime in the form of running back, they lose integrity. Fine with me. Unfortunately most of their 'LOL U MAD BRO, BUTTHURT BRO?' attitudes keep them from realizing how pathetic they are.
The joy or ruining somebody else's fun. Lowbie ganking has nothing to do with getting high levels to come back... it is done to frustrate someone else. It is satisfying to think that I caused somebody to swear at their monitor or just deflate someones fun for a minute or two whilst they run back to their corpse not knowing if they are going to get ganked again.
Red is dead
Blizzard kept world pvp in the game because some people enjoy it.
If you don't go and play on a PvE realm, the fact that there's tons of locked/full PvP realms means that many people do enjoy it and that's why they keep it.
Also I don't see how a ganker is likely to be a sociopath
this is something i have been asking myself when i see max lvl players basicly camping players that 40-50 lvl below them, and i grind my teeth everytime it happens. its so unfair when you get ganked by 90 and you have no way in fighting back. this is one of the main reason why i changed to a pve when i lvled. they are doing it just to be doucebags and piss people off, there is no other reasons.