Asherons Call: Grief Play in the LA Times

Gafoon was kind enough to notify us of an interesting article on LATimes.com. It's entited "Online Bullies Give Grief to Gamers". You'll have to register to read the entire article - I tried to register to post it here but just couldn't justify the $75 per article fee!

Anyways, it's very well written. Interestingly enough, it mentions MS but not AC. Go figure. A sample of the article can be found below:[blockquote][i]For a griefer, it's not the killing that is fun, because combat is inherent in many of these games. It's the misery it causes other players.

"Griefers feed on the negative reactions of the people they kill," said Frerichs, who savors his evil online persona and saves every nasty e-mail he gets from the people he has antagonized. "There's nothing sweeter than when you kill someone and they spout insults at you for hours. That's when you know you got him. It sounds really cruel, but it's fun."

Frerichs has received messages from parents of players, pleading him to play nice with their children, who are driven to tears by his antics.

Whereas Frerichs is motivated by a desire to role-play an evil persona, most griefers tend to be teenage boys who find it fun to see how far they can push social limits.