A taxonomy of griefer type by motivation in massively multiplayer online role-playing games

There is an anti-social phenomenon known as griefing that occurs in online games. Griefing refers to the act of one player intentionally disrupting another player’s game experience for personal pleasure and possibly potential gain. Achterbosch [2015. “Causes, Magnitude and Implications of Griefing in Massively Multiplayer Online Role-Playing Games.” PhD thesis, Faculty of Science and Technology, Federation University Australia] carried out a substantial two-phase mixed method investigation into the behaviour and experiences of both griefers and griefed players in massively multiplayer online role-playing games. The first phase consisted of a survey that attracted 1188 participants of a representative player population. The second phase consisted of interviews with 15 participants to expand the findings with more personalised data. The data were analysed from the perspectives of different demographics and different associations to griefing. One of the most unique findings is the factors that motivated a player to cause grief to another player. This paper analyses these factors to propose a taxonomy of ‘Griefer’ types (griefer being the individual who imposes upon others). The taxonomy consisted of eight types of griefers, based on their motivation for griefing. Some types related to previous studies, although new types of griefers were discovered such as the retaliator and elitist and these are discussed in detail in the article.